Is grammar important - and why?

People it want say no whatever otherwise would they make and would sense. We to not be would able communicate…

otherwise people would say whatever they want and it would make no sense. We would not be able to communicate…

Yes. Like alive said, we may not be able to understand each other clearly all the time! Without the same grammar rules, we may as well speak a different language! :D

Where’s AGN when you need her?

@Zen LOL! Yes, AGN! :D She didn’t join up here though…. :(

Absolutely. My reasons as to why have already been stated, and rather compellingly.

I believe grammar is very important. Not only does it make your submissions here (and elsewhere) easier to read and comprehend, it shows that you take pride in your ability to write well and communicate effectively.

It is important – try reading the book “Blindness” and you’ll see why.

Grammar is necessary to separate the idiots from the droids…

Alongside what has been previously mentioned I believe much of humans yearning for correct grammar derives from a natural inclination towards beauty, suppleness; stimuli which impress upon us an irregular feeling of appeasement, and it is only in understanding both the written and spoken word to a reasonable extent that the ability to mold said words into such a gratifying form becomes possible. What becomes of a ‘yobs’ words when compared to those of a poet? Irrelevance no?

Of course it is! Without it you can’t write or speak, it’s like the motor of communication!

I think grammar is very important. How someone speaks and writes can tell you a lot about them if you look for subtle enough traits.
Also, when speaking in the long term, if grammar is not held in a high regard, the evolution of every language would essentially change the butchered language until one could no longer reconize it. which, may be for the better, or for the worse.

It’s not just grammar, folks. It’s usage, idiom and variety.

What is grammar?

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000750.html

Grammar is very important. Without grammar, we couldn’t use language to get our point acrosss. It would just be words with no way to connect meanings.

iCoMbLEATKLYwOuldsayso

Yes, it is important. Without proper grammar, you would likely be banished from this site!

cause sound it make you smart!

It’s important, but overemphasis is annoying to me.. I love to use fanboys incorrectly just to watch english majors squirm.

@VS Actually, it’s funny that you should have written that. This is one of the major differences between this site and wis.dm

Although a big fan of grammar, linguistics and language, I am also a fan of just plain old conversation. Sometimes, you can learn a lot from someone who, say, doesn’t spell very well. I understand a friend of ours from wis.dm was chased away simply because of his grammar skills, or lack of them.

This, I disagree with strongly. I think it is faux-elitism; there should be a place in this ocean for those who make the occasional typos, or even, alas, mis-spell a word. Grammar isn’t everything in life: I’d rather be with him in the trenches or on a deserted Island, than with a bespectacled, whiny skinny little grammar-freak who yells TYPO TYPO as he sinks deeper into the quicksand of life.

But I digress.

@Zen That would be a very rare reason for someone to be banned. I’m a moderator here, and I am unaware of any wis.dm member being banned for such a reason. PM me, if you’d like to talk about this further.

@Zen
bespectacled, whiny skinny little grammar-freak who yells TYPO TYPO
Very Funny
Stereotypes aside, the climate here is most definitely intellectual. And with many difficult and loaded questions it behooves us to move with a deference towards civility because it can easily move in the opposite direction. I had an immediate trial by fire when I came to the site and it did not feel welcoming. Granted, I was just as much of an asshole as anyone else. It was all new to me. And we project, transfer and assign personal qualities to people we don’t know and others we imagine we do. It’s a whole big and strange new world that we move in. How did I start a conversation before with a stranger in Latvia? There are some who come to debate and are attracted to the negative like sharks to blood. And the more I think about it, the Fluther kind of makes sense. It is like an ocean. And you guys are the latest school of fish that swam onto the reef. We just have to swim around and not eat each other. Although that can be fun(figuratively sopeaking)of course:)
I agree that there’s a time and place for everything. And there are many uneducated among us who have much to offer. Someone with broken English may be brilliant but with limited language skills or a non native speaker. For myself personally, I think it’s just common courtesy to use clear and accurate syntax and punctuation. It’s actually nice that there’s no spellcheck for it causes you to read and re-read your words. I would also add to that editing. There’s no prize for getting to a million posts a day regardless of what the little number box tells you. And there is a time for stream of consciousness and witty asides. Hopefully we all can compliment each other and when in doubt err towards kindness, because life’s so much of a bitch already. But sooner or later, I’m going to offend someone but when I do, I’ll be a man and say my bad. And if I say peace and they still hold out a fist? Well then shame on them.

@Zen and @augustlan – we need a little sarcasm button – I really was being smart aleky with my answer. sorry

@VS Ah. A while back someone suggested using the tilde ~ to denote sarcasm. People adopted the idea, and it’s used pretty regularly on Fluther. I also like the wink ;-)

@augustlan I will keep both in mind. I like a sort of combo of both: ~.~

@VS
I kind of identify with the tilde as sarcasm because I use it like the snake smily sometimes
<><><><><><:>~

@augustlan Hello moderator. This is in reply to what you had written to me. I didn’t use the term banned – I said “chased away.”

:-)

@SeventhSense You had me at Very Funny.

If by “grammar” you mean “the set of rules we use to produce and comprehend utterances” then yes, it’s important, and it’s also unavoidable. We use it every time we speak.

If by “grammar” you mean “the set of prescriptions given by usage writers like Strunk and White etc.” then it depends on context. If your audience is the sort of people who don’t like singular “they”, then you might want to consider not using it, even though it is part of English. But I wonder how often breaking these sorts of rules actually causes misunderstanding.

If by “grammar” you mean “standard written English”, then it is arguably useful in that it lets speakers from different regions communicate with a minimum of confusion. On the other hand, how often do regional variants, variant spellings or even misspellings cause misunderstandings?

If by “grammar” you mean “skill in writing well”, then I’d say it’s useful if you want to communicate in writing. After all, writing is not speaking.

@Zen
Picard you run a tight ship.
Can’t I have seconds pleeeease?

@SeventhSense Make it so, then.

@Zen Ah, I’ve got it now. I’m sorry that happened, then.

@augustlan C’est la vie. To each society a set of rules. We (wis.dmers) can’t expect to waltz in here and change everything up. But on the other hand, there are some great people from wis.dm who I hope will give it another chance. It takes getting used to. The platform, the people. Ultimately, it comes down to society, interaction and communication.

:-)

@Zen
A snake emoticon with tilde for sarcasm….
that’s got to be worth a shilling<——————shameless plug :)

I love my Grammar. She was a great lady.