Dear World,
[I found this written on paper in my room. I wrote it months ago, with the intention of posting. I don't think I ever did, and a quick search through my 'grammar' and 'linguistics' tags didn't come up with anything, so...I'm gonna assume I never posted it. And if I did, you can just ignore. Or re-read. <3
Without further ado...]
Dear World,
Grammar is important.
Love,
Suzanne
Dear World,
Let me expound further upon the topic mentioned in our last correspondence.
Grammar is important for a variety of reasons. Let me tell you the most important one.
In the beginning, there may have been more simplistic language spoken, but that probably changed very quickly as humans discovered the need to communicate in more complex manners. This is where grammar started to lend a hand. Instead of just throwing a bunch of nouns and verbs out into the mystical abyss, such as:
Ooga wife Ooga mastodon cook Ooga good Ooga wife furs wear no die Ooga dead wife bad cook cold.
(meet our faithful caveman friend, Ooga, who will be joining us on our adventures)
...instead our noble hero could properly say,
My wife, you will cook me some mastodon, and if you do well, I will give you furs to wear, so you don't die off like my last wife, who is dead because she was a bad cook, and therefore froze to death.
See how much clearer the situation is? Maybe grammar hadn't been invented yet when Ooga warned his first wife - and because of this lack of comprehension due to the absence of grammar, Ooga's first wife, who didn't know burning the mastodon steak meant no furs for her come wintertime, died.
Grammar might save lives. Clear communication most certainly does - or at least, clear communication makes one look as though one were less of an idiot. It's a simple way to gain esteem in the eyes of others: just care even a little bit about grammar. Just a smidge. It goes a long way.
Reason the second: Almost no one likes to be thought of as a fool. As stupid. As deficient. Careless. Distasteful. Unworthy of one's attention. Dismissable. No one likes to be judged before their true selves are actually shown. And yet, that is exactly what happens when one uses poor grammar. And I'm not talking about a mistake here or there, a quick missive in which some grammatical rules have been broken for the sake of expediency. Most everyone is forgiving to a certain extent about these things, especially with all the cutting corners going on within Internetland. There's a leeway which should exist and be accounted for, grammatically speaking.
But then there are the...special cases. The ones who make you doubt you actually are reading this from a mature speaker, though you know them to have spoken the same language as you for all their lives. Those are the ones I want to shake, and say, "DO YOU KNOW how you're perceived when you put that out into the universe? Think about all the pain you're causing. Think about karma." (Course, I don't say this to them. I think about karma too.)
If you do not use proper grammar for 90% or more of your missive, and English is your first language, and you are an adult, and you do not have dyslexia or something similar, and you're not talking in catmacrospeak on purpose for the sake of amusement, I am going to believe you are a fool. Stupid. Deficient. Careless. Distasteful. Unworthy of my attention. Dismissable. I will judge you before I know you, and I will not feel sorry about it one bit.
I might not be terribly accepting, but you're still not apparently able to tell the different between Ooga wife and Ooga's wife, and you're acting as though the word 'is' doesn't even exist. I'd take my side any day. I'll take the 'unaccepting grammar nazi' appellation, as long as I can be the smart one.
Thirdly, grammar is important because the more intimately you know it, the more likely you will phrase words to your advantage. Most anyone would enjoy the ability to speak with persuasive authority upon something-or-other. Good communication = a common understanding, which is useful when trying to get one's way, let alone sounding at all competent.
So then! Let's go over the three reasons to use good grammar, in a nutshell:
1) Avoid confusion
2) Avoid looking like an idiot
3) Create understanding, which breeds various levels of influence and success
Thought you'd like to know.
Love,
Suzanne