Language Is Ruled by Grammar

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In Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Color Purple (1982), Celie, who is black, struggles with learning to read from a primer written for white children. She grows frustrated being corrected repeatedly. She says, “Look like to me only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind” (p. 184). Is it necessary for Celie to master standard grammatical English in order to communicate well? That is, does good grammar equal good communication?

The answer to these questions is yes, to some extent. Grammar—the system of rules for creating words, phrases, and sentences in a particular language—is important. Using correct grammar helps you communicate clearly. For example, if you pronounce the word tomato “tommy-toe,” other people probably won’t understand that you are referring to the red fruit that tastes really good on a hamburger. That’s because grammar has phonological rules governing how words should be pronounced.

Similarly, grammar has syntactic rules guiding the placement of words in a sentence. For instance, suppose you shuffle the words in “I ran to the store to buy some milk” to “Store I to milk to ran the buy some.” The meaning becomes unclear. Understanding a language’s grammar can also help us learn other languages. Native speakers of English, for example, must remember that the grammar of Romance languages (such as French and Spanish) requires a different syntax. For example, in English, adjectives typically precede a noun (“I have an intelligent dog”), whereas in Spanish, adjectives usually follow the noun (“Tengo un perro inteligente,” literally translated as “I have a dog intelligent”). To communicate clearly in Spanish, an English speaker must adjust.

Nonetheless, excellent grammar will not automatically make you an outstanding communicator. Telling your professor in perfect English that her style of dress is a sorry flashback to the 1980s is still offensive and inappropriate. That’s because competent communicators also consider the situational, relational, and cultural context whenever they use language.