Question:
I'm not sure of this, but I think the grammar part of your exam is something
that college prep students of past generations in the U.S. would have been
familiar with but that younger students are no longer taught. The way English
grammar is taught in the U.S. has changed (I
think). (Mark, if you're lurking, would you mind jumping in here? I'm not sure
of what I'm saying, and you're the one who can help.)
In my parents' generation (they're almost 80), all students would have learned
some grammar in elementary school (called grammar school). Students who went on
to high school and hoped to go on to college would have studied Latin. English
grammar was taught like Latin meaning that the parts of speech were broken apart
and analyzed in terms of their purpose in the sentence.
By the time I was in school (I was born in 1959), both Latin and grammar fell
into disfavor. They weren't being taught. I think it was decided that they
weren't doing the students any practical good and were a waste of time. I got a
heavy dose of grammar from my mother, but it was all geared towards avoiding
common mistakes. For example, I learned the difference between subject and
object pronouns so I could use them properly, but I'm lost on the use of a
preliminary subject (wouldn't know what it was except that you told me) because
most native English speakers get that right naturally.
Shortly after I graduated from college, I learned that grammar was being put on
the SATs (a standardized college entrance exam that nearly every college uses).
Apparently colleges were getting sick of admitting students who didn't know the
basics that any 5th grader would have know 40 years earlier. If they put
grammar on the SATs, the high schools would start to teach it.
My grammar is considered excellent, but I've only heard of a little of what you
mention below. I know subject phrases, verb phrases, direct and indirect
objects. Everything else you mentioned is completely foreign to me.
Would you say that learning English grammar has helped you understand written
and spoken English? Or do you think it was a waste of time? And do you
understand Danish grammar so well? Or is that something that you just use
without thinking about it?
Answer:
- I did Latin, French, German, English and Danish in High school. Latin
is pretty easy. You have a bunch of rules and you stick to them. German at
that level is a horror. You get all these different groups and a LOT of
rules, once you learn the rules you are okay. English gram at highschool
level is so easy it is hard to comprehend. Actually at that level English
gram is the easiest one yo can get your hands on. Then when I moved on to
the university level I was in for a huge surprise, and I longed back to the
German gram days :)
- I would say and many university students will agree(we have talked
about this a zillion times) that the level of grammar we are supposed to
know is far too high. Yes we do have to know English grammar, but the level
of the grammar is too high. I will not use that level of grammar ever, and
neither will most English students. I don't need to know if an adverb is an
disjunct, a conjunct or an adjunct nor will I ever have to tell in which of
the 9 different adjunct groups badly belongs. I will never need to explain
if a genitive is specifying or classifying, nor if it is a double, local or
elliptic.
I have gained a greater knowledge of the written and spoken language and
some of it I will use. But I do think that for students who don't plan on
doing a major in English grammar, the level is too high. The odd thing is
that we all know how to use the different categories, you just do it, but
when you have to explain why and make a case of it, plus know all the rules
and the one million exceptions and list them, then it gets triggy.
Another thing is that when we start at the university we struggle a lot
as we lack a lot of knowledge. The level at the university is a total
different ball game, It feels like the middle section is missing. On the
first day of grammar class at the university you go ..... Argh, what is the
teacher talking about! I haven't got a clue of what is going on. You find
that you have a lot of reading up to do as you just can't follow the
classes.
And no I don't understand Danish grammar as well as the English one :)
But then as said before the level at the universities is over the top.
With this grammar exam I can go and teach English at highschool level,
the funny thing is that the level of grammar I have is too high for that, I
won't use one 3'rd of my gained knowledge.
With the BA degree I have had: British and American history, American
politics and society(had to choose between that one and British politics and
society), phonetics, British literature, American literature, commonwealth
lit, translation, grammar, text analysis and understanding, and by choice:
sociology, national politics, international politics and migration and
integration of cultures + how to understand and deal with the latest issues
of fugitives and floating boarders.
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