Grammar? I Hate Grammar! (part 2)

As Long As People Understand Me, That's All That Counts

This am, to an extent large, truly. You may has to look at these paragraph a long times to figure what it am about out, but meaning across will come. Writing or speaking like this am the mark of a person whose is not good educated, and it am tough on the listener or reader. For long-time fans of SupermanTM comics, it is also a mark that you have come from the Bizarro world.

Grammar is Boring and Doesn’t Make Any Sense

I’m not surprised you feel this way. First, English grammar is mostly a set of exceptions held together by spit and baling wire. Second, many authors of foreign language textbooks come from a linguistics background (which can seem like the Bizarro world to most of us!), and will use phrases like “introductory conjunctive ending” and sentences like this:

The two past transferentives are followed by alternatives, which are mostly contrastives.

They have not abandoned plain language in order to confuse you; they’ve just gone overboard in an attempt to be precise about the concepts they are teaching. These linguists would tell you that the main reason grammar is so great is:

Knowledge of surface structure assists in determining the method of production of one’s utterances.

Huh? Go to the next page for a translation.

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