Writers across the United States will celebrate the sixth annual National Grammar Day on March 4 by dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s. National Grammar Day, founded in 2008 by Martha Brockenbrough of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, brings awareness to the important building blocks of the English language.
Despite grammar’s importance, the USF St. Petersburg English department cut the linguistics courses, Traditional English Grammar and Structure of American English, from this year’s curriculum.
“English never had a grammar requirement,” said Julie Armstrong, a literature professor. “Technically, our two programs are literature and writing, and grammar falls under linguistics or teaching the English language. As we were doing our research for curriculum revision, we did not see many peer universities with grammar as a required course.”
USFSP also currently lacks an instructor to teach this type of class.
“We do not have any full-time, tenure track faculty who specialize in those areas to teach the courses,” Armstrong said. “Most students come into college with a basic command of language; some better, some worse. What skills they do need would not improve by taking a class called ‘Grammar.’”
Though grammar classes are currently unnecessary for completion of the English major, Armstrong says good grammar is still important.
“Language is not just about communicating,” she said. “It’s about power. If you don’t know the rules, then you don’t play the game as well as others. Then you might lose.”
And losing the game sometimes means making very obvious spelling errors.
“I read an essay where a student was writing about an escaped goat,” Armstrong said. “It took me several pages to realize he meant scapegoat.”
To enhance grammar and communication skills, Armstrong believes it is essential to use them often.
“If students are to improve their language use, they need to read copiously and write consistently,” she said. “I think that communicating in multiple formats on a regular basis — including writing essays, texting, sending emails, delivering presentations — makes us more sophisticated users of language because it teaches us how to respond to different rhetorical situations.”
Erin Murphy is a contributing writer at the Crow’s Nest. She can be reached at erinmurphy@mail.usf.edu.
