Tools, Not Rules: Teaching Grammar in the Writing Classroom

TL;DRAbstract

So what’s the hardest thing about writing a book on grammar instruction? Our answer may surprise you: It’s defining grammar. But, you may ask, who doesn’t agree on the definition of grammar? We may not agree on how to teach it, but at least everyone is working from the same definition, right? No. Controversy has always surrounded grammar and how it should be taught. And there’s nothing new in the grammar wars of today. They’ve all been fought before—and they’ve been fought for the past four centuries. In fact, “grammar wars” is actually the title of a book on the continuing controversy—but the full title is Grammar Wars: Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century England (2001). That’s right—England.

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