I have met, and heard from, people who sincerely believe that correct grammar and usage are unimportant or are, at least, unnecessary frills.  Because of my insistence on correctness, I have been called obsessive, anal-retentive, and worse.  And, to complete the picture, most of my students, who take English only because it is required, quietly believe (they won’t say it to my face) that what I teach is unimportant.

I have come to believe that trying to make these people think otherwise is futile.  Many of them have no idea why we have grammatical rules and conventions, and, if one can’t see the reasons for something, one is bound to question whether it is worthwhile.  Others mistakenly view proper English as some kind of elitist plot to discriminate against “the common man,” who, of course, cherishes some sort of ungrammatical dialect as a birthright.  Still others are too lazy to learn the rules and rationalize their laziness by asserting that the rules don’t matter.

The argument I hear most often goes something like this:  “As long as people understand what I’m saying or writing, why should it matter whether I’m grammatically correct?  If what I say is understood, why should it matter how I say it?”

If one gives it the least thought, such an argument is silly.  We can misspell words, and, as long as the misspellings are not too far off the mark, people can eventually figure out what the words are supposed to be.  Does that mean that we should permit a half dozen or more spellings of most words?  We could dispense with punctuation, including periods, and people might eventually be able to decode our meaning – although it would probably take them an hour to read a page.  While we’re at it, let’s trash the rules governing pronouns so that we no longer distinguish among, for instance, they, them, their, they’re (and, of course, the adverb there).  They might be some confusion, but them might eventually figure out what us means.  And, of course, we can do away with traditions governing word order and syntax (sentence structure), which are at the very heart of grammar.  People some understanding may difficulty have but figuring out it not impossible to do is.

When we recognize the absurdity of the “if what I say is understood, it’s okay” argument, we will begin to recognize the true function and purpose of grammar.  The rules exist not just to enable us to be understood but to create a framework in which we may be clearly and quickly understood.  Therefore, to facilitate understanding, we have, over time, agreed upon certain traditions of word order, syntax (sentence structure), punctuation, and all of the other elements of what we call grammar.  Indeed, it is probably unfortunate to call these conventions “rules” (which suggests that they were decreed by a dictator in some ancient ivory tower); they should rather be called traditions or conventions.

Thus, though grammar may be hard to master, these grammatical conventions make communication easier.  They are a means to an end, and those who say that grammar doesn’t matter would deprive all of us of those means.

Certainly, the usefulness of some of the finer points of grammar is debatable.  We will always have quibbles about when it is proper, for example, to use who and whom.  Such controversies often arise because language is dynamic – i.e., it constantly but gradually changes and will continue to do so.  In modern times, words and usage have begun to change much more rapidly, partly as a result of faster and more extensive communication among diverse groups with different traditions.  Grammatical conventions change too, though far more slowly than vocabulary and usage.  Modern English grammar actually differs only slightly from the grammar of Shakespeare’s time, whereas modern English vocabulary and usage are significantly different.

However, the “grammar doesn’t matter” advocates, who want to rescind any grammatical convention that they find to be bothersome or inconvenient, are going much too far.  And for what reason?  What comes to mind is this comment from an anti-grammarian:  “Who cares about rules made up by a bunch of dead Romans hundreds of years ago?”  Forget that this ignoramus hasn’t an inkling of the history of the language; the comment actually says, “I don’t know where the rules came from, I don’t know why they exist, and I’m too intellectually lazy to learn them.”  Not all people who cannot see the point to grammar are this ignorant, but many are dangerously close to this extreme.  And their numbers, alas, are growing.

The case for proper grammar is quite similar to the case for common courtesy, which also seems to be under attack recently.  Both are marks not only of refinement but of civilization.  Both comprise traditions that people have agreed upon over time to make our living together a little easier.  And both show respect for others.  The careful and courteous writer says to the listener or reader, “I care enough about communicating with you that I try to speak or write so that you can understand me easily.”  Correct grammar is one of the principal tools that we use to make such ease of understanding possible.

Rich Turner