March 4, 2013, 5:03 am http://www.nytco.com/
How Good is Your Grammar?
By KATHERINE SCHULTEN
It’s National Grammar Day, a perfect day to reflect on how well you speak and write, and
whether or not it matters.
How good is your grammar? Do you know when to use “affect” and when to use “effect”? Lay
vs. lie? Who vs. whom? Even New York Times reporters sometimes get these things wrong. Do
you think having good grammar matters? Why or why not?
Last August, the Room for Debate blog asked “Is Our Children Learning Enough Grammar to
Get Hired?” Five experts answered.
One, John Challenger, the C.E.O. of an outplacement consulting firm, wrote:
One of the easiest, quickest and most widely used indicators of a candidate’s worth is his or her
grammar. Misspellings, poor syntax and grammatical mistakes typically result in a swift
relegation to the “no” pile; the decision makers reason that the errors disclose either poor
communication skills or an indifference toward details.
Certainly, some professions require a solid grasp of the rules of grammar…However, there are
many positions in which written communication is rare. Yet candidates for these positions are
frequently eliminated based on their use of poor or nontraditional grammar. It is important to
remember that younger generations, particularly the generation entering the work force today,
grew up texting, sharing on Facebook and tweeting — using as few words as possible to get their
messages across. For younger generations, the content of the message is far more important than
the structure.
But Lynne Truss, author of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to
Punctuation,” argues:
[Students in public schools] are largely taught that grammar is unimportant compared with
“expressing yourself.” This makes me crazy. Imagine it’s the piano we are talking about. Which
would be better: a) to express yourself freely on it; or b) first learn to play the thing? Of course,
the difference is that people are not judged every day on their ability to play the piano. Kyle
Wiens is right to point out that when young people are taught to undervalue literacy as a life
skill, they are being cruelly misled.
Use a separate piece of paper to answer the following questions if you can’t answer them
neatly and in complete sentences on this page.
1.
Do you have good grammar? Do you have better grammar when you write than when
you speak?
2.
What grammar errors do you make most often?
3.
What errors do others make that cause you to cringe?
4.
How have you been taught grammar in school? In general, do you agree with Lynne
Truss that education today emphasizes “expressing yourself” more than correctness?
5.
Do you agree with John Challenger, who says that for people your age the content of the
message is far more important than the structure?
6.
Can someone with terrible grammar still be a clear thinker? Would you hire that person
for a job? Why or why not?