America 's Grammar Problem Essay

The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.

The Importance of Writing Badly was written by Bruce Ballenger. His intended audience are students who are victims of strict English teachers as well as the strict English teachers, themselves. In his essay, Ballenger portrays that students are more focused on being grammatically correct than the message in their essays. This is because of teachers who grade strictly on grammar errors and punctuation. Ballenger says, “A colleague of mine, an Ivy League graduate, is among the self-appointed grammar police, complaining often about the dumb mistakes his students make in their papers. I don’t remember him ever talking about what his students are trying to say in those papers.” (Page 74). Bruce Ballenger has effectively argued and persuaded his intended audience with his use of ethos, pathos, and logos.

In recent years, the majority of students enrolled in dual credit classes at Carrizo Springs High School, specifically the English class, have shown that they are not prepared for the workload and expectations of this college level class. Consequently, many of these students end up dropping the course after the first semester and find themselves in overcrowded “regular” English classes. If these students had received proper preparation and instruction in writing prior to their senior year and enrollment in ENGL 1301 Composition and Rhetoric, they would have been more successful in dual credit English, upper division courses, and future careers.

On the evening of Thursday July 23, 2015 I conducted an interview of Alex Benavides- a senior mechanical engineering major at Oklahoma State University. Benavides describes his experiences in his english courses as enjoyable, and notes that it helped him become a better writer. Benavides also states, that from personal experience during summer internships, that there are ineffective writers in positions where clean, flowing, and proper writing is a necessity. Proper grammar is essential in professional writing situations, according to Benavides, and is also often the first area critiqued by professors and teaching assistants. “You only get out what you put in when you write”, says Benavides, “be serious and grind, it makes the difference”.

Having poor grammar skills leaves one with the incapability to clearly speak or write and be correctly understood. Technology is destroying grammar skills of the adolescents generations. Texting has us turning grammar into shorthand sentences. For instance, using the number two as a short form for “to”. In the article “Does Grammar Really Matter?”, Mignon Fogarty writes, “let’s say you sent your company president an e-mail

The class itself was a nice course; descriptive lectures, peerless presentations, and topnotch films. Numerous amounts of essays, however, had my brain on the brink of destruction. A four page paper2 due every third Monday of every month; written about the novel we had just finished reading. To prepare for each essay, and reading of the novel, we needed to develop some basic grammar skills. A superfluous amount of words were written on the board before each book reading was about to start. One by one, my teacher, Mrs. Randazzo yelled out the definition, a couple synonyms and antonyms and wrapped it up with her catch phrase “write these down, they may be on a quiz *wink*”. The course was laid out to mirror the rules of prescriptive english. We were told to use correct forms of grammar, proper wording, and traditional sentence structure. Our textbook set the foundation we were suppose to build off of. My teacher made it very clear that once we entered the room, our ‘street’ language was of no importance and would not be answered. That style of reformation was atrocious. It made children hate her even more than they already had. Day after day there would be several unanswered questions due to lack of what David Foster Wallace would call, SWE (Standard Written English). Whilst she thought it was beneficial because it was teaching us to speak like educated human being instead of street rats, we children

At 11:15 on Monday, August 17, 2015, my first official college class, English 1101, began. In general, I had no idea what college classes would be like let alone how college English would be. Even though this class taught me a great deal in one semester, it took a large amount of time and effort to make the adjustment from high school. The simplistic writing style of high school was put to rest the moment the first college English class began. As a result, I learned quickly that college writing is complex and less systematic than high school writing. Five paragraph essays with three strict body paragraphs were no longer the norm for writing. Even though my professor helped guide my writing, I was no longer coddled through the whole writing

Writing a college-level essay can be tricky, especially if there is lack of inspiration or the ideas aren’t organized well enough to articulate into a draft. However, in the case of higher-level education; students are encouraged to stimulate their learning through writing, in order to acquire an analytical and understanding capacity to be successful in college. Coupled with planning, research, and hard work; writing essays for college becomes an easier task in a short time, resulting in the improvement of critical thoughts. In the article, Using Writing to Promote Reading to Learn in College, Hayes Christopher G, states that, “the written text allows both reader and writer to examine thoughts captured in time and recorded in words, thereby encouraging more complex thinking because constraints imposed by memory have been abolished by the written record” (Hayes 4). After all, more than any other invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness. This mastery gives society the ability to improve every day, by enhancing their personalities, considering that having a good use of language and information, will result in achieving great success. In the article: Reconsidering English Teaching for Improving Non-English Majors’ English writing Ability, Yuru Shen declares how, “it is self-evident that grammar plays a very important role in language learning, including English learning” (Shen 74).With this in mind, understanding that college level composition is important will

Using personal reflection to consider my knowledge practices in grammar was useful in helping me understand how they were applied during my time at school. Uzuner & Mehta (2007) states that reflecting on personal experience can be if students relate it to formal content. Thinking back about how grammar was taught in my days I realised that it is now taught using different methods. I always knew that grammar was a weakness when it came to be taught in Australian Schools. Ever since ACARA took control of the Australian Curriculum, I believe now grammar is taught systematically and explicitly to students (Brennan, 2011, p.7). Engaging in week 8 post, showed that many of the students agree that grammar lessons in Australian should be increased

Junior year High School English was a major moment in developing my literacy competencies. It was the year that Mrs. Beulah Harper assigned the semester long research paper on an American author, complete with a grammar rubric that would make almost any editor cry. On the first day of my junior year, upon receipt of that piece of paper, I decided to use one of my limited elective choices and signed up to take a Grammar class. It was the best decision I ever made in high school.

School has always been a place of business, in my opinion. A place where we are educated and prepared for life, essentially. And the proper way of doing so, as I believe most people have been taught, is to enhance all skills such as vocabulary, grammar, mathematics, etc... This is why we are taught so many subjects, being tested and guided to follow whichever path we feel most comfortable or skilled at doing. During the process, is where skills are established and developed. The product that is intended after having gone through school is to shape a well skilled, educated, and productive person that can benefit society as a whole. In limiting the teaching of Standard American English, we would be limiting the amount of people that can fulfill their potential, raise the difficulty for teachers, and accept mediocrity. In keeping this dialect, students will gain new skills and learn the language of business to prepare them for any encounters along the way. There is no need, in my eyes, to minimize or put an extent to teaching the English dialect and that is what I will personally support in this essay.

Ever wonder how good grammar can lead to success? Think about it like this, say you just sent an essay to the college of your dreams, and you’ve worked on that essay for weeks fixing it, making sure the grammar is perfect. Finally the letter you been waiting for is here, and you’re so nervous and scared to see what it says. Once you open it you see that you’ve gotten accepted, and they’re amazed with the grammar used in your essay, and that they’ll love having someone with that good of a grammar at their college. Good grammar doesn’t only lead to good success, but great opportunities in life which is better for our future.

One of my weaknesses that I was quick to discover was that my use of grammar and punctuation was not as good as I thought it was. In high school, I had never faced any problem in those fields, but after a single assignment on capitalization in college, my confidence was shaken when I got a “C” grade on it. It was hard for

Every year, millions of students, no older than in eighth grade, compete in local level spelling bees with hopes of making it to the ultimate spelling competition, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Held at the end of May or beginning of June each year, millions of spectators around the world watch the bee, which is held just outside Washington, DC. The Scripps National Spelling Bee, while a fantastic educational experience, both for learning the ins and outs of the English language and for learning about the history of America, is in dire need of reform. I propose to you, the executives of the E.W. Scripps Company, that the Scripps National Spelling Bee reform the competition by determining the number of spellers from each state in a way that is proportional to the state’s population, standardizing the difficulty of bees prior to the national level, and decreasing the value of points earned from the new addition of vocabulary.

It is not uncommon to say that grammar instruction plays an important role in language teaching. Regarding the status and importance of grammar teaching, a variety of opinions have been made. Batstone (1994) states that “language without grammar would be chaotic: countless words without the indispensable guidelines for how they can be ordered and modified” (p. 4). More vividly, Wang (2010) makes two similes. She compares grammar to the frame of a house, which is a decisive factor to ensure the solidness of it. Additionally, she regards grammar as a walking stick, whose function is to help and support students to learn English. Thus, the nature of grammar instruction manifests its own significance as it helps students