Why Grammar?

Video Transcription

Hi, everyone. I'm Mackenzie. And today we're learning about why grammar matters. Have you ever been frustrated with writing because you're not sure how to use a semicolon properly, or you're not sure how to make your writing sound more professional? Grammar can help you with these problems. And in this tutorial, we'll learn the definition of grammar. We'll talk about why it's important to study grammar and look at an example of poor grammar and better grammar.

Let's begin by discussing the definition of grammar. When I say grammar, what I really mean is the rules that govern the ways that we use language. Language has to have rules so that we can all make sense out of the words that we're using, so that we can understand each other correctly. Grammar helps us to do that. Grammar might be punctuation. It might be spelling. It might be the way that a sentence is structured. It might be the way that you put words together so that they make sense to other people. It's important for us to recognize what grammar is so that we can use it effectively.

We just learned that grammar is the rules that govern the way that we use language. But why is grammar so important anyway? The first reason is because language is very fluid, and what that means is that language changes over time. We know that words and the meanings of words change, and having a common set of rules that we follow when we're using words helps us to adapt to those changes. It also helps us to communicate more effectively. If we all have the same rules that we're following when we're using words to communicate, it ensures that we understand other people better and that other people understand us better.

Grammar also helps us to become better writers. When you have a mastery over grammar, it makes it easier for you to write because you spend less time focusing on the grammar itself and more time focusing on the message that you're trying to write. The fourth reason why it's so important to become better at using grammar is because it helps people to perceive you as more intelligent. If you use poor grammar, others may perceive you to be less intelligent, and this could cause problems for you professionally and personally. You want people to perceive you as competent and professional, especially in the workplace. If you use poor grammar in a work setting, others may perceive you to be less capable of doing your job, and that could have some major consequences for you. These are reasons why it's so important for us to study grammar.

Now that we know why it's so important for us to study grammar, let's take a look at an example of what poor grammar looks like. The following passage reads, "Cuz I wanted to go to the concert, I gone there, and I seen the band play. They was good and I wish you could have gone two with me. They played to many songs tho & even though I like that band alot, I didn't like that it was late @ nite when they got all done with the playing. Overall they was good but coulda been better if u woulda been there."

This is an example of poor grammar because we see sentence structure problems, we see spelling problems, we see word choice problems. All of these problems take away from the meaning of the writing itself. The reader has a hard time understanding what the message is supposed to be, because this grammar is not following the commonly accepted rules of grammar.

Take a look at this next example. It's the same passage, but the grammar has been changed so that it fits the rules of acceptable grammar usage. "Because I like the band, I went to their concert to watch them play. The band was good, but I wish you could have gone with me. The band played too many songs, though, and even though I liked the band a lot, I didn't like that it was so late at night when they finished playing. Overall, the concert was good, but it could have been better if you would have been there."

When we look at this second passage, we see that the meaning of the second passage is almost identical to the meaning of the first passage. Although the second passage is much easier to understand because it follows the rules of grammar, and that's why grammar is important so that we don't confuse or mislead the reader, so that the reader can easily understand what we're trying to communicate through our writing.

In this tutorial, we learned about the definition of grammar. We learned why grammar is so important to study. And we looked at an example of poor and better grammar. Grammar makes us better writers and better communicators. I'm Mackenzie. Thanks for listening.