Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-06-05
MONDAY EVENING, JUNE S. 1872.
HOW MUCH. GRAMMAR

How much grammar should the school child
study?
1t is generally admitted that the school curric-
1ulum is too crowded, that there is not time enough
Flor the proper study of all the subjects which are
Agencrally considered desirable. Obviously, if one
$subject which now occupies considerable time can
fbe omitted or abbreviated without injury to the
t%student, a gain of some importance will be made:
fCan grammar be omitted or materially s%implihed
land shortened advantageously?
AS to the omission of grammar, the answer will
Sdoubtless be almost unanimously IN the negative.
Eff people are to use language correctly and effec-
ktively they must study language. and, while many
tpersons have become proficient in the use of Ian
flor the ordinary work of the schools, where large
numbers of pupils must be taught and trained to-
{gether, the formulation of certain rules which gov
Tern the use of words seems not only useful, but
E9lmost indispensable. It is to the formulation of
those rules and the principles which govern their
application that we have given the name of gram
mar. Most people will agree that for practical rea-
sons some grammar must be taught. The ques-
ttion is: How much and how far?
Granting that the study of the simple elements
of grammar is valuable, of what value are its elab-
%orations and r%e6nements? Very much of our So
called advanced grammar consists of the analysis Of
obscurities, and the fitting of newly invented terms
to things the use of which is perfectly familiar.
Pages are sometimes devoted to dissertations on
what arbitrary name shall be given to a, form of
words which every person familiar with the rudi-
ments Of language knows how to use, and does use
correctly. Why spend time in inventing names
and finding things to which to applyjthem?
The writers Of the English which has become
classic knew nothing of the refncnn~nts of modern
grammar. yet they wrote as good, English as is
written today. There is no reason to suppose that
sthey8would have written better English if they had
been familiar with, a system whereby each word
and phrase in the language were classified by name
and number and placed in the proper one of a thou
sand pigeonholes. At any rate, the divisions, and
subdivisions and classi6cations to which modern
gramarians have devoted so much labor have not
produced better English than was written, for in
stance, by Franklin, and johnson, and Addison and
others who wrote many generations ago.
One of the first things that the graduate does
with grammar is to forget most of it. With a little
effort he can recall that a noun is a name, and a
verb a word of action, and he may retain some fair
t1v clear ideas about the relation of a subject to
\ predicate. But as to the maze of obscurities in
(which he has wallowed, as in many cases he does.
fhe docs so without the slightest aid from most of
1.-THE grammar which he has studied.
Some gramn1arian decides that a particular use
Ebf a word or phrase shall be known by a particular
name The students learn to identify that thing
land name it Very we'll. Have they made any
kproeress toward the use. of that or any other form
eof words to express their thoughts clearly and ef-
Efec1vely? If not, their time has been wasted.
Fatality to recitc the pedigree of a prize COW does
tnot make a man a better farmer. n