Does Grammar Matter?

• Engels
• Middelbare school

Does Grammar Matter?

English V5

EXERCISE A

Watch the short clip: "Bad Grammar Break Up". 

Count the mistakes that you hear.

0

How many mistakes have you heard?

Did the message come across?

😒🙁😐🙂😃

So...

...does grammar matter?

So...

...does grammar even matter???

EXERCISE B

A lot of musicians break grammar rules in their hit songs.

Find the mistakes in the lyrics and correct them!

Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop (1:00)
And we can’t stop / And we won’t stop / We run things / Things don’t run we
Don’t take nothing from nobody!

Justin Timberlake – What Goes Around… (4:28)
You cheated, girl / My heart bleeded, girl / So it goes without saying that you left me feeling hurt...

Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (1:26)
I want your love / And I want your revenge / You and me could write a bad romance..

Kanye West – Jesus Walks (0:28)
We at war with terrorism, racism and most of all, we at war with ourselves / God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down

Timbaland – The Way I Are (1:05)
Can you handle me the way I are / I don’t need the G’s or the car keys / Boy I like you just the way you are

Why do you think musicians have broken grammar rules in these songs?

Are you bothered in general when people make grammatical mistakes? Explain.

EXERCISE C

WHILE WATCHING...

Watch the Ted Ed. video “Does grammar matter?” (4:38), and fill in the gaps below according to what you hear in the video. 

00:42

1. "Grammar is _____ for how words are put together to form phrases or clauses, whether spoken or in writing."

01:33

2. “Prescriptivists think a given language should follow _____ while descriptivists see _____ as a natural and necessary part of language.”

01:51

3. “Written language was standardized to allow _____.”

02:17

4. “Rules for written grammar were applied to _____ as well.”

03:17

5. “The linguistic approach that tries to understand and map such differences without _____ is known as descriptivism.”

03:41

6. “Prescriptivism is useful for informing people about _____ at a given point in time.”

EXERCISE D

AFTER WATCHING... 

Now, give a definition of the following words. You can look back at exercise C, but formulate your answer in your own words. 

1. Linguistics is...

2. Descriptivism is...

3. Prescriptivism is...

EXERCISE E

Write down for each sentence whether these sentences are ungrammatical for either prescriptivists (P), descriptivists (D) or BOTH (B).

1a. I found a bottle unopened of wine.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

1b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.

I found a bottle unopened of wine.

2a. It ain’t what you do, it’s the way you do it.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

2b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way you do it.

3a. Kim and me saw the accident.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

3b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
Kim and me saw the accident.

4a. You should have saw that movie.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

4b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
You should have saw that movie.

5a. There is too many people in the elevator.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

5b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
There is too many people in the elevator.

6a. We cleaned up it.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

6b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
We cleaned up it.

7a. She didn’t know nobody.

1. prescriptivists
2. descriptivists
3. both

7b. Write down a ‘correct’ alternative to the sentence below.
She didn’t know nobody.

Does grammar matter?

Yes

No