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I think grammar is very important in English.It help me to speaking english better.Maybe many people expect grammar isn't important but with me It's very interested because I'm a vietnamese so I need it very much for study of mine.It is true for people who their country use to english

oh god I have to go to school

googl wrote:I think that grammar is very important. Every language has got many rules. And English (unlike my native language) has got VERY easy rules. .

What's your native language?

I think English is the easiest language to learn.It aslo has more original words than any other language. That is why it became a global language.

_Arale_

googl wrote:Polish. Do you know any natural language easier than English?

I don't think there is such an easy language to learn. If not, we wouldn't say learning takes time. A language or something you wanna learn will be easy for you. It will be easy for you and hard for those who don't have enough passion in the thing they're forced to do. So, the bottom line is things will be easy for those who have enough passion to do things they wanna do.

Grammar is rule not truth.It is made,not found.so take it easy.

Well, I think grammar is important though its difficult to learn and memorise all rules and regulations along with exceptions. When ever I read any thing which is perfect grammatically it is so easy to understand, this is the difference of grammar. I believe most of the English learners including me try to translate their native language into English which is not correct, English has its own pattern, i am no more following local authors books for English language because they have their own mixed version which is harmful for a learner. Regular efforts are required to master in grammar, one should never forget that till death we are learners, so don’t worry, when ever what ever you come across to something new try to learn it.

Without looking others posts I will have to say that I agree partly.If a teacher focuses on grammar too much and doesnt give importance to other components such as speaking and listening,it becomes waste of time.But in order to speak accuretely a person should know grammar of the language he or she wants to speak.

It highly depends on how it's taught and the learning strategies of every student. In my case, I can't live without grammar issues in class. I don't know why; it's somehow-somewhere and I-don't-know-what that attracts me in Grammar... maybe it's the best for very structural minds... Like mine!

If you don't have much to say you don't have to learn grammar. And a few words will suffice. It certainly depends on personal ambitions.

Then again, why do you need a language you don't have anything to say in?
There are passive speakers, so to say, who enjoy listening and don't want to bother others with their personal interpretations and opinions concerning the heard. But how can they be sure they understand the said correctly? Practice shows they can, and they usually are. The less you know the more you are ignorant and arrogant.

Grammar IS important!!!

GiddyGad wrote: The less you know the more you are ignorant and arrogant.

Grammar IS important!!!

Sometimes, an individual knows too much and still is being an ignorant or arrogant. It could happen, don't you think?

It deponds on which level of English speaker you like to be. Only being a speaker, the grammar might not be so necessary.
To me, I'd like my English to be perfect. You must learn it without choice.

It is absolutely wrong, that the Grammer is a waste of time, because grammer shows us how to present the PAST , PRESENT and FUTURE, if you dont know the grammer exactly how you will specify something about time. and even the grammer makes your words sophisticated. So everyone talks should be with manners . right.
thanks

simplyblessedwithlove wrote:Sometimes, an individual knows too much and still is... ignorant or arrogant. It could happen, don't you think?

This I could not disagree with, Blessed. You never know too much. Again, if one says that something (s)he doesn't know and feels boring to learn is unimportant, isn't it arrogance?
We all are unaware of many things and, therefore, ignorant - it's true and goes without saying. But can you be arrogant in what you know well enough?

GiddyGad wrote:

simplyblessedwithlove wrote:Sometimes, an individual knows too much and still is... ignorant or arrogant. It could happen, don't you think?

This I could not disagree, Blessed. You never know too much. Again, if one says that something (s)he doesn't know and feels boring to learn is unimportant, isn't it arrogance?

This is ignorance to me.

GiddyGad wrote:We all are unaware of many things and, therefore, ignorant - it's true and goes without saying. But can you be arrogant in what you know well enough?

Oh yes, definitely. Arrogance, ignorance or confidence is a state of mind showing through attitude. It depends on how much one thinks he/she knows about things and the way he/she's showing what he/she knows. Right?
Like people who think they don't need to learn English grammar for whatever reason and it's not important are ignorants to me. People who think they should not learn English grammar because their English is good enough are arrogants to me. And people who think they should know learn more English grammar although they've known something about it and their English are quite good are confidents to me.

For a native, grammer isn't so important, because he naturally know how to express himself clearly in english, but for a non-native speaker, grammer is so important!

Hello, dear all!

If you don't have a good sense about how to use proper grammer.The thing you speak scattered.Teacher or Friends maybe would think it's ok, it takes time.But what if you do business with others?People would think you are unprofessional and they are tend to build up a barrier between you and them and feel reluctant to accept you.

What's more,if you don't spend time on leanring grammar,you could never speak as native and natural as you hope to be.

I said so cause i have a friend who learnt almost 10 years of english but still couldn't speak out a whole correct sentence.

RedRose wrote:For a native, grammer isn't so important, because he naturally know how to express himself clearly in english, but for a non-native speaker, grammer is so important!

I don't think so. It is also very important for a native speaker, cause he was not only just speaking to others. When he was writing or making a speech, a good grammar is necessary.

If we, non-native speakers just wanted to talk in English, grammar wasn't so important too.

No, grammer is important.

for us, Chinese grammer is different than English grammer. if we don't know english grammer, then our english must be confusing. at least english speakers can't undertstand it.

In my opinion, practicing is more important than garmmar in spoken language, whereas grammar is as important as practicing in written language.

Rosamunde wrote:I am a Chinese student.Though I like learning English,English tests at school is no fun to me.They emphasis too much on grammar,which makes us students feel bored all the time.

Still,we need to learn certain amount of grammars so as to learn the language more correctly, don't we?

I had a really good teacher during my first year in the U.S. She changed my ways of thinking why English grammar wasn't so bad and the more I tried to practice it, the more I'd love it. I mean, there are so many things to know. My boyfriend is Caucasian (who has passed all his English classes with an A 8) , by the way), but sometimes he has to think about my questions about English grammar. He's taken the language for granted; therefore, it strikes his mind sometime to think which and which should be correct .

Grammar is very useful for creating in each of us a language structure, a reference (an origin ?), whatever the language you speak.

But the meaning of the words can change (or not change), evolute, according to your using of these words. That is why the meaning of one word can be different from a region to another.

But the grammar structure does not change as fast as the meaning of the words. Once you've created a language structure into you it becomes difficult for you to change it. [But it is even more difficult to create a new language structure. That is why it is very important to communicate with the children (for them).]

Shokin

TP wrote:We don't need to learn English grammar to speak English. Grammar is a waste of time.

i don't think it a waste of time, maybe for the native. Grammer help us to cteate the correct sentences and to translate.

I don't think grammar is a waste of time. To me, it is worth of spending time on learning it.

If we want to express our ideas correctly or let other people fully understanad what we mean, we have to learn grammar. Otherwise, they may misunderstand us.

Besides, grammar is like rules of a game. If we want to enjoy the game, we have to know the rules.

If we want to find out the beauty of a language, we have to learn its grammar.

For me I think is very important beacuse How I make right sentence and i don't know the Grammar . also I learn english not just to speak I learn for every skills ( reading , writing , listening , speaking and grammar )

hello .
Yes i belive you . but before judging about the usage of grammer and how important it is we should look at our goal of learning a modern language .
if we are learning L2 for communication yes knowing the grammer basically is sufficiont . but in acadamic level we must know detaild information about grammer too .
for example it is a shame not to distinguish between thease two word . hear - listen

As an native English teacher, I think that students spend too much time worrying about grammar.

That seems controversial, and it really is.

A child listens, then learns to speak. He learns to read and then he learns to write.

I bet he learned to speak before he even knew what the word 'grammar' means!

I live in Brazil and I have learned Portuguese day by day, without taking any classes. Basically, I read and I listen to people. So, how did I learn? I simply try to repeat what I hear and read.

My Portuguese is far from perfect, that's because I have nobody correcting me, I have no grammar to fill in those small errors.

Grammar is important because there are always some doubts that we have about what we hear or read. But, generally students focus on the grammar too much.

Students often have difficulty 'accepting' a structure as an example and copy it.

If you know how we say things, and you understand it, then repeat it and modify it. Just like you did when you learned your native language. Grammar, then, just fills in the gaps!

So, grammar is important because it gives the necessary structure to the language. However, it's not necessary to know all the grammar in order to speak the language.

Jeff, you've raised some very valid points here and I agree with you. Most people are struggling to 'accept' something new, they focus too much on the question why a certain grammar structure is correct. It's not important to know why something is correct. What really counts is the fact that you know what sounds good. Yes, you have to develop a feeling for the language. You need to know what sounds good and what doesn't. Don't try to learn grammar rules. We use certain phrases and expressions not because there are grammar rules. Linguists analyze the way people speak and when they detect a pattern, they 'create' a rule. So why waste your time with grammar? Listen to the way people speak, imitate and copy them until you fell comfortable using the exact same phrases they use. Try sounding like them. Do native speakers use their grammar correctly? Yes, at least most of the time. Are native speakers able to explain the grammar rules they follow? No, although they can use the rule correctly, in most cases they can't explain those rules. Why? Simply because you don't need to know a grammar rule in order to use it correctly.

TP wrote:We don't need to learn English grammar to speak English. Grammar is a waste of time.

And we dn't nid to learn kemistri to chow ou gum, kemistri is a waste of time. We need time to chow ou gum.

Grammer is not a waste of time, but don't make yourself lost in Grammer.

Just like new-born babis do. They listen, they look, and then they imitate without any hesitation in the grammer.Sometimes, I feel realy stupid to learn quite a few grammer rules.I can't use most of them in daily life.What appear in my communication with other people are always very simple and short praises and idioms.But many students around me care about grammer much more than how well you use them, I mean to speak. Most of them are not able to communicate with english spaeker, what is worse, it seem that they didn't realise the importance of speaking. their pronunciation is not correct, but they just ignore it, they spend a lot of time in the exercises of grammer, discussing a lot of complex questions like they are professors. But the fact is they even can't tell others how they think in a correct way, they are bookworms,for me , it's obvious that this kind of learning way is really not good for english learners.

We all should reread carefully the brief article of Openmind above.

When studying English, I'm sometimes very much interested in Grammar. I think if I cultivate it by reading and learning the rules of grammar by heart, i would know more about constructions of English in thinking and writing. And then I delve in Syntatic, Oxford Grammar, Collin Cobuild etc., not to mention suring Internet to find more updated documents.
Now I notice that search helps me more or less but not quite really remarkable. Its obviously helpful in writing and understanding the English construction. It equally helps you to work everything with care related to foreign language you've been studying.
But at the same time, it creates barricades in approaching the English language involved. Speaking becomes far slower, reading also cannot faster.. Listening non-native English speakers, I often try to figure out some grammar-related similarities and differences before putting forth comparisons in my mind.
Openmind's quite right. I dont have the feeling of English. And so I unintentionally creates by myself numerous obstacles of getting closer English language.
Most Languists now acknowledge that the interactive environments are very imnportant to expand the foreign language skills of students. And should you have a good language interaction, you would be find it not complicated in referring to Grammar so soon. Right ?

No I totally disagree with you, Grammar for those who are not the native speakers of english and they are living in such a country where the medium of conversation is English then for them it might not mean that much, however for the remaining countries where english is used and learned as a second language, Grammar is very essential since they can differenciate the tenses and formulation of the sentences and vocabulary.

I cannot agree with the statement. Once a person has time and desire to discuss, he is not altogether indifferent to modest science of learning languages.
1. Grammar is needed to those who is going to study another language, even to name a verb a 'verb' in order not to plunge into description of the syntax meaning and role of the word in a sentence. Without common grammar rules we'll study French for years - good French, I mean.
2. Happened to catch a mistake somewhere and joyfully rub hands that have? Be honest: educated speech and writing make us feeling fresh and active while hearing endless slang and interjections sooner or later gives you a headache.
3. Even if we accept that grammar is a prejudice, other prejudices are not better than this one, yet we follow them without further thinking.
4. Think of documents where a comma is found in incorrect place, so that the whole of the paper contents may become perverse in meaning and consequences. Grammar gives us chance to avoid disappointment in cases like that.
5. If a language is your native one, choose to know its grammar to show strangers you love it.

Teaching grammatical rules would be a real waste of time if you don't use them in your spoken sentences. If you only study them as "rules to remeber" but you don't use them in speaking, you will definitely lose them easily and get nothing but wasting your time.

TalkingPoint wrote:We don't need to learn English grammar to speak English. Grammar is a waste of time.

I am surprised , an English teacher is saying that we don't need to learn grammar to speak in English.

"You're an English teacher." And "Are you an English teacher?" Could you understand what I want to tell if I speak in either of these sentences. This is where we need grammar.

yes exactly and I recommend EffortlessEnglish method for better speaking skill!

We don't need to learn English grammar to speak English. Grammar is a waste of time.

Wow... I suprised. Are you sure?

I think the writer means unnecessary learning of difficult grammar that we do not need it in our speaking and listening.otherwise we need grammar to be understood clearly

friends grammar is a not waste of time .we don't understand pure grammar, our think is not possibal . we r not know english fully

I hate grammar like all students, cuz this is the hardest thing when someone is learning a foreign language. But Im pretty sure dat grammar int a waste of time. Grammar makes our speeches are richer or more advanced. We need to learn grammar, but u know. It isnt pice of cake.

No its not at all waste of time, if you know grammar properly you can speak better than who do not know grammar.However, while speaking you do not need to focus on grammar so much because if you focus so much,it will let you not speak fluently and fluency is the most important thing for speaking

Grammar is something important in learning

Hi all of you. I'm guest here. But on my side I believe that knowing grammar is goog. Grammar help to create any sentense of your own after getting new words. It much easier to read English book and being well understood. Thanks.

I am agree with all of you but we know basic of gramer to lean English.