Talking point: How good is your grammar?

On 4th March National Grammar Day was held, which is a good excuse for us to reflect on the way we learn English and on our grasp of grammar at a time when some official exams seem to have turned a blind eye on directly testing grammar; when there is a heated debate in countries like the UK and US about the limited knowledge of English a good share of the immigrants have; and when some British universities which participate in European projects complain about the poor language awareness of some of the students who come from the continent.

Get together with the members of your conversation group and discuss the questions below, most of which are taken from The New York Times learning network, in a lesson by KATHERINE SCHULTEN.

• How good is your grammar?
• How well do you speak and write in English?
• Do you have better grammar when you write than when you speak?
• How important is grammar for spoken and written communication?
• What grammar errors do you make most often?
• What errors do others make that cause you to cringe?
• Have you ever taught English grammar to anyone? 
• In general, do you agree with the statement that education today emphasizes “expressing yourself” more than correctness?
• Do you agree with John Challenger, who says that for younger people the content of the message is far more important than the structure?
• Can someone with terrible grammar still be a clear thinker? 
• Would you hire that person for a job? Why or why not?
• What importance do your English teachers give to grammar?
• Are grammar lessons boring?
• How much of the class time is devoted to grammar?
• And your homework?

To gain further insight into the topic, you may wish to read the contributions for The New York Times on the Room for Debate blog under the title Is our children learning enough grammar to get hired?

And if you wish to know how good your grammar is, you may like to try your hand at this Guardian grammar and punctuation quiz, where you have to answer 14 multiple-choice questions similar to those that year 6 pupils (11 years old) will sit in a National Test in spelling, grammar and punctuation in June.