Grammar is important

I don't know how you can learn English without knowing grammar.

The above is the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia who is also the Education Minister and highlighted on the front page of the Star (The people's paper) of 9th June, 2009.

I recall having written a short article and published by the same paper in their column, MIND OUR ENGLISH. In fact, I have posted such article in this blog earlier, but I consider it relevant to repeat hereunder (an abridged version of) such article which is in line with the above statement:-

Monday, February 4, 2008
Grammar is most important/Basics must be learned first


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Basics must be learned first
I REFER to the article ‘Expand Lit component’ by The Owl (July 6).
Just concentrating on Literature and writing will, without any doubt, improve one’s grasp of the language, resulting in ease of expression (whether in proper English or not).
But a lack of a strong grammatical background will lead one nowhere as one may not understand the literary texts fully and also be unable to write proper sentences since one is not aware of what constitutes a correct sentence.
Grammatical rules are very important and schoolchildren should be taught and given exercises on it so that they know the rules to understanding and writing good English.
If a person does not know that a complete sentence must consist of a subject and a predicate which must have a verb, how can such a person be expected to write good English?
By keying in the word “dictionary” in any of the Internet search engines, one will be led to many free sites where grammatical rules are explained in detail, exercises are provided, and a channel is even available for discussion.
Should one be doubtful about the explanations, one can always discuss them with friends or seek clarification from one’s teacher (if one is still in school) or even write to Mind Our English for help (as so many have done).
Those who aim for quicker progress can seek assistance from professional bodies or tutors. – Kengt, Penang
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