At last someone is speaking out about the lack of grammar teaching in our schools.
In 1978 I was a postgraduate student in a one-year teacher training course at McGill University. We were supposed to be learning to teach English. We were told that teaching grammar was passe and instead something called English usage was now being taught. In fact, we were not even allowed to use the word "grammar" in class. The theory supporting this new age "usage" was that students would participate in role playing exercises and by some odd form of social osmosis the correct "usage" would sink into their brains.
After more than 30 years of "usage" theory in Education faculties, we now have educated people who believe "seen" is the past tense of the verb "to see" and "went" is the past participle of the verb "to go." Poor old "saw" and "gone" apparently no longer exist.
A wise teacher who knew something about English once said: "In England, social class is defined by accent. In Canada, it is defined by grammar."
So by not teaching grammar we have condemned Canadian children to a social prison -- ignorance.
Sandra G. Barnes, Edmonton
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