Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

John Powell

Smart Brains Spotlight

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The topic for today is “Do we really need grammar for spoken English?“. Learning should be for life. Every moment of every day we are being presented with new and important lessons. Here we will present you one handpicked new and important lesson every day from smart brains and experts around the world.  

From Professor John’s point of view, the answer is yes, grammar is important, but one should use the grammar which most helps you transmit your message.

Thank you.

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Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Thanks, John Powell and Quora.

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

English Speaking Hacks

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

John Powell

How To Use “Have Been” and “Had Been” In English?

How can I become fluent in English?

How To Use “Have Been” and “Ha d Been” In English?

Spoken Grammar: why is it important? Michael McCarthy

Thank you, youtube –  Cambridge University Press ELT.

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Answer by John Powell, (Professor at University of Exeter, Studied Electrical Engineers & Operations Research at University of Cambridge). All credit goes to John Powell, Thank you!

7.8 / 10

How To Use “Have Been” and “Had Been” In English?

Not only is it important, it is completely unavoidable.

There are two main perspectives on grammar. The first is that it is prescriptive, i.e. a set of rules which, if not correctly applied, indicate that the utterance is invalid, incorrectly expressed. The second is that it is descriptive, i.e. that it is a capturing of the rules used by speakers when forming their utterances. You will see that the two perspectives are very close, but there is a crucial difference…

Imagine you hear a speaker say “I be going down the bottom field.” Is that ungrammatical?

Well, according to perspective 1, the prescriptive idea, it is ungrammatical; it should be “I am going down to the bottom field.” The problem, however, is that in quite a large part of SW England, “I be going..” would be unremarkable as an utterance. So in the second sense it is grammatical, for that particular group of speakers, in sense 2.

A good way to think about this is to focus not on conformance with ‘standard’ grammar, so much as on the effectiveness of your utterances with regard to the recipient. Thus, if you are a member of a group of barristers conducting a formal case review, you would not sprinkle your discourse with ‘like’ ( as in “So I’m, like, I object, Your Honour, and he’s like, Objection Sustained and I’m, like Yeahhhh.”) But in a group of young British speakers, such usage would be wholly appropriate, even to the extent that ‘standard’ grammar would be obstructive to the discourse.

  So from my point of view, the answer is yes, grammar is important, but one should use the grammar which most helps you transmit your message. This does not mean mindlessly aping the usage of listeners, if they speak in a different way; rather, it means modifying your grammatical (and indeed stylistic) usage so as to be most resonant with those listeners. Your objective isn’t to speak grammatically so much as to be understood and well-received.

This descriptive viewpoint does not totally invalidate the idea that there is a ‘correct’ grammar, a standard set of rules for correct usage. This can be one of two things. The ‘standard’ grammar can, legitimately, be a capturing by grammarians of a standardised, possibly national, usage taught, for example, in schools, so that students can be certain that they are using a grammar which will be most widely understood. It can also be a capturing of a minimal set of rules without which meaning is lost.

We all get upset at what we perceive as grammatical errors. I become angry and mouth-foamingly shouty when I hear someone use ‘reticent’ in place of ‘reluctant’, as in ” I’m reticent to answer that question.”, but in all likelihood the usage is changing and I should be more faithful to the idea that grammar is descriptive. I should, to use the vernacular, “Suck … it .. up”

But I’m reticent to do that.

:>)

Reference: John Powell.  “Is grammar important while you speak English?” originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Top English Self Study Tips You Don’t Want to Miss Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

Do we really need grammar for spoken English?

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Do we really need grammar for spoken English?