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Grammar is a subject on which there is much debate, some believe that grammar is but a collection of complicated rules that cause more confusion than necessary while others believe that grammar is the base on which the English language is built. I think that there are situations in which grammar is useful and other situations where grammar may not be the most important thing to be taught. When teaching an ESL classroom grammar is very important because most students will already have formed their own misconceptions about the sentence structures and these must be ironed out to create a proper foundation for the student. For example; some languages like Tagalog will have verbs before nouns but in English, most nouns come before verbs. If a student was never taught proper sentence structure/ grammar instead of saying “I threw the ball at Paul.” they might think the sentence “Threw I the ball at Paul.” is correct. This is of course a small change but it has a significant impact when you consider that this is the base on which more complex sentences will be created. On the other hand, grammar is seen in a negative light by some because it is something that is almost universally understood by all English speakers. I believe that this is where there is a disconnect. The majority of people who believe grammar is not essential course material most likely don’t have an application for it because it does not apply to the parts of the world that are primarily EFL. In addition to his some feel that concentrating on grammar can interfere with putting your essence down on paper, it can cause more a distraction and create an end result that is close but not truly what the writer intended. In a country like the Philippines grammar is something that is often overlooked and as a result, the English spoken is usually grammatically incorrect. Grammar is important because it helps lay the ground work for effective communication. Without this kind of efficiency, messages given will often be imprecise and misunderstood, resulting in complication in everyday scenarios such as giving directions or answering vital questions. More importantly, one of the reasons why the grammar is often incorrect because of an infused language called Taglish. Taglish is great because there are certain feelings you would like to express that can be better conveyed through English and vice versa. Because English is often the background language the grammar rules of Tagalog are applied to spoken English. Overall, grammar is something that is important and should not be disregarded or though of as unimportant. English is one of the most popular languages and even thought of as the universal business language across the world. As English speakers it is important to strive for correct grammar so that wherever you may be there is a median in which to covey messages effectively, in other words laying the correct foundation on which the principals and guidelines of the language are built. These can be summed up in one word, grammar.
