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Subject:Grammar and learning to write From:"Suzanne M. Faubl" <tscom002 -at- DUNX1 -dot- OCS -dot- DREXEL -dot- EDU> Date:Wed, 6 Dec 1995 10:36:57 -0500
Mike Huber writes:
"Correct grammar is just a tool. An important tool, and one worthy of long
and careful study, but not the goal of either children or tech writers"
While techwriters may agree that using correct grammar is not their main
goal (communicating effectively is), I do feel that we have a moral and
professional obligation to attempt to "make" the use of correct grammar the
most effective form of communication.
If we do not insist on using correct grammar, who will? Do we really want
to contribute to the demise of the english language?
Using correct grammar should not have to be a conscious goal of technical
communicators. It should be a given.
Schools should require children to pass a grammar basic skills test. I
teach technical writing to college seniors, and I would say that (way more
than) half of them regularly make errors on "routine grammar stuff" such as
dangling modifiers, subject-verb agreement, antecedent agreement, tense,
fragments, etc.
They should have learned these things in 8th grade.
