В.: You can learn it at any age. The best time to start learning is now, no matter how old you are.
A.: Is there any magic formula to follow?
В.: Actually there is not any magic formula to follow. But the golden rule No. 1 is to have patience: if
you work every day, if you practice the language, you will learn it well
Rules of Grammar
Student: There is one thing that puzzles me. Who makes the "rules" of grammar? Who decides
whether the sentence is right or wrong?
Teacher: No one.
St.: But isn't there an Academy that does it?
Т.: No, as far as I know.
St.: Hasn't Oxford University or Cambridge anything to do with it?
Т.: No. You see, the grammar of a language is not a list of rules forced on people who speak it; it
is
just a record made by careful observation of how people speak the language.
St.: But there are "rules" and laws of grammar to say "this is right and this is wrong". Surely,
language must obey these rules.
Т.: We have "rules and laws of Nature", but these are not rules for Nature that Nature has to obey;
they are just few things that wise men have observed as to the way Nature acts. If we find that
Nature is not acting according to these rules we don't try to force Nature to obey them; we
change rules and make new ones.
St.: And is it the same with grammar?
Т.: Exactly. Language is a living thing, always changing; old words die, new words come in; some
constructions gradually fallout of use, others make their way in. English of today is not quite the
same as English of the seventeenth century. What is good grammar for Shakespeare could
be bad grammar for Shaw.
St.: What is grammatically "right" and what is grammatically "wrong"? How do you decide?
Т.: Whatever form is used by the majority of educated speakers or writers is correct; or, as Henry
Sweet put it, "Whatever is in general use in language is, for that reason, grammatically со
rect." That is all.
2. Discuss the problems raised in the dialogues given above Questions to be answered during the dis-
cussion:
1. What subject is discussed in the dialogues? 2. Who makes the rules of grammar? 3. Is language
changing? 4. Do old words die? 5. Do new words come in? 6. Is English of today quite the same as
English of the 17th century? 7. What are the rules of grammar compared to? 8. What do you think will
happen if people stop observing grammar rules? 9. What do you think is the best way to learn English
grammar? 10. Does grammar help to speak and read?
3. Lеаrп by heart the poem given below:
The English Grammar in Rhyme
Three little words you often see, Are Articles A, An and The.
A noun is the name of anything, As School, or Garden, Hoop, or Swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of Noun,
As Great, Small, Pretty, White, or Brown
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