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16. Grammar

Correct use of grammar, or the ordering of words, will help ensure that the reader will correctly interpret who is doing what to whom, and what conditons apply to that.

Grammar is largely learnt, and so is modified by each person's interactions with others. While we are hopefully taught the majority of the correct use of a language's grammar at school, those we associate with will hugely determine how much we continue to use those, or how we modify them.

When talking to some people whose native tongue is not ours, we may notice that their words, while being correct translations into our language, will not hang together in a way that makes their meaning clear to us. The main reason why this confusion occurs is because different languages place the subject, objective and verb in different order. There are six ways of ordering these, with most European and some Asian languages using subject-verb-object, while many Asian languages use subject-object-verb. Other differences are in verb-adverb and noun-adjective order.

Upon hearing a person using their native tongue's order when they translate the words, we tend to take a moment to translate the order, which can then momentarily distract us from concentrating on the point they are trying to make. If we don't quickly adapt to the mechanics of this, such a conversation can quickly frustrate all participants.

Grammar is literally the rhythm of a language, and correct usage for the language with which we are communicating will fit in with the rhythm and flow that our readers will be expecting.

  • Writing an article
  • The following is obvious!
  • Punctuation
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