How important is correct grammar to you?

[calebmelvern]

As a writer, correct grammar is of utmost importance to me. Back when I was still studying, I didn't really care about proper grammar. Well, actually I did but it was limited to my own. I didn't care if others made mistakes. I would correct them if I see the need to. I also live in a country where English isn't the primary language.

[Bonyi]

Correct grammar is very important to me. This is the reason I always have dictionary with me to check out meanings from time to time. I also check out sentences, clauses and phrases. The way you speak determines how people see you. I want to always speak correct grammar and I'm willing to learn.

[beneditco]

Depending on the situation, but in general I like to see well-written words if they can be avoided. I think that native speakers have to avoid them and they could try to correct if they see a mistake somewhere.

I think English is an easy language and it's difficult to make mistakes if you're native, but other languages like Spanish that have accents and so on it's harder to write perfectly.

[writeletters]

I'm currently learning my fourth language, and my teacher doesn't put a lot of emphasis on grammar, but when he teaches, he teaches with the correct grammar. Also, if you make a mistake he will correct you, but he won't do it in a way which makes you think you did it very badly.

[JulesX]

After having taught foreign languages for years, I am sad to say that I no longer hold the value to grammar as I once did.

When teaching I must emphasize correct grammar, since it is necessary for the students to receive a passing grade. However, when in comes to actual communication it can be a bit of a mental barrier. I have noticed that in most oral situations, correct grammar is seldom used.

Language is more about communication than it is about rules. It is true that the rules can allow you to communicate, but it can also be costly. Grammar has its place and it is important that it is learned, but I believe that we should place more emphasis on communication than rules.

[Ricardo187]

Grammar is important, in my opinion, because it makes your text look alot better. If you write a full text with plenty of grammar mistakes, it'll look terrible and sometimes people will underestimate you for that. It's important for me to write correctly, or at least the best I can in every situations no matter what.

[ChrisUren]

Massively important.

Always it really annoys me when people spell grammar like "grammer" 

[erronousRogue]

Not particularly in school, but it's pretty important for me when talking to someone or writing a post online. Mostly spelling/typing errors, grammatical mistakes not much.

I feel immeasurable levels of hatred whenever I see someone mix up their/there/they're and your/you're though. It's one of my pet peeves.

[justusforus]

I think proper grammar is essential too.  There is the old saying about first impressions.  I believe it is important in both a social as well as a business setting since people do make evaluations based not only on the way your present yourself, but how you communicate.

Whether you native language or a language you are trying to master, why not learn to speak and write properly?  I like to present myself in the best light possible and would not want a "free pass" just because I am learning.  I hope people do point out my errors so I can learn.

[Shannonbutler18]

Grammar is extremely important to me. I am a writer and therefore always need to have perfect grammar. Also, it annoys me when people don't use correct grammar. I find myself correcting my friends constantly. They get mad at me, but hey, a couple of my friends want to be writers too, so they should be thanking me for my corrections. ^^

[sidney]

Well if I'm already fluent in a certain language, then correct grammar is indeed very important, like in the English language. But if I'm still learning a foreign language, then it would be more important for me to learn the basic words to get my point across, grammar is really not important at the moment. I'll just concentrate on it if I'm already fluent in the language.

[pipps]

When I first started learning a foreign language at school , there was a lot of emphasis put on getting the right grammar, and it would take up so long that after a couple of lessons you could say one sentence, and you could say it properly in all tenses and so on, but at the end of the day you only knew one sentence. I think that conversational skills are much more important than getting the grammar right the first time. I think that you should learn to talk the language , and then all the pieces will fall in place. I think that this is something of a controversial opinion so I was wondering, what do you guys think about this?

I agree with what you are saying because all throughout school you are taught to write and speak with proper grammar but I think just learning how to have a conversation is more important and then you can focus on that. I didn't really think about it until you said it and it takes the pressure off having to learn everything perfectly.

[Dame6089]

Most of the times, I am just impressed that people can speak another language. As long as they understand what is going on, I am not going to harp on poor grammar.

[Firelily99]

Knowing and practicing good grammar is extremely important to me.  Over the years I felt like my grammatical skills, both orally and written, had gotten rusty and in need of some work.  I have been working to improve it and have started to see some positive results.  What's the point of learning a language, especially a native language, and not use it well.

[bradman1313]

I feel correct grammar is very important when learning a language, but not as important when you're comfortable with said language. If your grammar is too correct, you can sound like a robot, but you also don't want to miss out on important grammatical lessons when learning a language.

[pipps]

Knowing and practicing good grammar is extremely important to me.  Over the years I felt like my grammatical skills, both orally and written, had gotten rusty and in need of some work.  I have been working to improve it and have started to see some positive results.  What's the point of learning a language, especially a native language, and not use it well.

How have you been working to improve your grammar (both orally and written)? I would love to know because I feel like mine have got a bit rusty now too.

[Blue]

Very, very important man. I tend to place a lot of emphasis on using the right word in the right way, so as to avoid miscommunication.. especially seeing as that's something it's almost impossible to avoid completely. And that goes for using language in general, not just foreign ones.

[sophiaseo]

Grammar is important to an extent. It kind of irritates me when someone says something and I do not understand what it means. I do not think that grammar is so important to the point that every mistake should be pointed out; unless I know what the person is saying, I am good. I also have problems with grammar, so we should ignore small mistakes and just endeavor to improve.

[lizbeth19hph]

Correct usage of grammar is important in writing formal essays and other technical papers but as a feature writer myself, we don't actually follow certain grammatical rules in all our writings. At times, when the word seems to sound right and good, then rules are not that important anymore. In writing, it is the essence of the piece not the rules. But when it comes to teaching proper English, correct grammatical usage is by then essential. In conversations, we tend to just ignore if we or the person we are speaking with has committed grammatical errors.

[dickybird]

I think it depends your reason for learning a language. If you are learning a lanuguage fluently then grammar is very important because you don't want to not be able to speak and write in the correct tenses. However if your learning for fun or have learnt by picking up from other people whilst travelling in that counrty, then it isn't as important and will hopefully fall into place later. I am currently learning Turkish and the grammar is really important to me as I want to work in schools, teaching English and want to be able to show my pupils I can speak Turkish, so they have confidence in me, teaching them.

[Amalia]

How have you been working to improve your grammar (both orally and written)? I would love to know because I feel like mine have got a bit rusty now too.

Try to figure out what you forgot Search in your brain for the grammar rules you don't remember very well and then look them up. Start with something simple, they will keep coming. Something like the meaning of a word or the conjugation of a difficult verb.

[Bill_H]

As a university English teacher, I can tell you that what I'm about to say is pretty politically incorrect: Mastering grammar IS important. You might expect an English teacher to say that, but a closer inspection of our training and the academic environment that surrounds us will show that English teachers today come under a lot of pressure to ignore grammar. "The successful conveyance of meaning, that's the important thing!", the teacher hears all around. Well, I beg to differ. I learned German and speak it very comfortably today, and the way I did this was to focus on grammar -- German has three genders and four cases -- and as a result, I developed good habits right from the start. Today, my German is grammatically correct, not because I sit and contemplate the gender of every noun I use; no, it's because speaking properly (grammatically correct) is now habit for me and the only way I know how to speak German!

[zackeymane]

To me, it's quite important. I know a large number of people simply aren't interested in learning grammar, but I believe it's a big part of coming across as intelligent.

[zackeymane]

Grammar is quite important. I find it to be a good determiner of intellect.

[Channa]

For me, correct grammar is very important. I see no point in learning things if I won't be able to speak and write correctly later.

I can understand that some quick courses are more focused on quickly gaining the ability to write and speak, but I think that stressing the importance of correct grammar should be a big part of every other language course.

Grammar is important . It helps us to use words correctly. It also helps you to read well .