Grammar Punk Blog

“How come” We Teach Grammar?

We told you about Sam’s recent television appearance, what fun that was. We also received several interesting comments from fellow teachers relating mainly to the sad state of communication. And they weren’t talking just about their students!

As has been harped on before and will be again, teaching grammar is about so much more than just the insertion of dry bits of fact and rules concerning punctuation symbols and the 8 parts of speech. The first definition is: the system of rules by which words are formed and put together to make sentences, so okay, we can see where the boring recitation of facts thing comes from. The second definition: the rules for speaking or writing a particular language, or an analysis of the rules of a particular aspect of language, hits closer to home. The third is right on the head: the spoken or written form of language that somebody uses with regard to accepted standards of correctness.

It would be the last one that gets my—and the several teachers who wrote into us after the show—fur up. And yes, I know I just ended that sentence with a preposition, nyah.

One of the more interesting comments/questions we received was about the ubiquitous idiom, How come? One teacher remembered being taught, quite specifically, that “why” is the correct way to state a question, not “how come.” I too recall that particular idiom being frowned on long ago. Not so much anymore. Not at all, anymore. “How come” is indeed an idiom, the way of using a language that comes naturally to its native speakers, or a colloquialism. In other words, it’s a shortcut, an easier way of saying something (which is really odd because it replaces the simple “why.”)  But I digress. Of the many comments we received there seemed to be a distinctive common thread running through them: What happened to good grammar?! What happened to caring about good grammar? To say I was gratified and not feeling so alone in my ranting is an understatement.

Thank you teachers. Thank you for all your diligent and tireless work as you continue to teach grammar in the face of ever widening and growing apathy. We must all stem the tide by continuing to be good examples to students and fellow humans alike. Keep up the good work!