【好书推荐】
《新概念英语点津系列辅导丛书》重磅推出！
【小编按】
语法的学习，长时间以来都被语言学习者所诟病，甚至厌恶至极，不少英语老师也对语法教学不甚支持。要说这是为什么，估计大多是因为语法的教与学似乎不像其他语言内容那么具有趣味性，而且语法规则也因为存有不少不确定性而很难讲清楚，甚至还有人认为语法是不用学习的。
不管如何，也许大家都想不到的是，2014年7月17日，就在大英图书馆里，竟然举行了一场“英语语法日”的活动。这个活动的举行，对于英国教育来说，意味着语法学习在学校课程大纲中的回归——英国人自己也开始专门学习英语语法了！
下面我们就来看看英国牛津大学出版社（the Oxford University Press）的编辑Rebecca Lane在她的文章“Why do we need grammar?”中，对于英语语法的回归是如何总结评论的吧。
为了便于大家参考，小编对于文章的内容进行了中文概括。
【Why do we need grammar?】
我们为什么需要语法？
It's not often that the word 'inspiring' is used to describe a day of grammar talks, but I was not the only one to think so at last week's English Grammar Day at the British Library. With a queue out the door and tickets sold out, it's clear that grammar's back. After years of conspicuous absence on the National Curriculum, 2014 is the year when grammar will reaffirm itself on the syllabus. This is a cause for celebration. But why?
2014年7月17日，大英图书馆举行了一场名为“英语语法日”的研讨会。图书馆外排着长队，研讨会的门票也已售罄，这对于一场以语法为主题的活动来说，的确让人深感意外。2014年，对于英国学校来说，意味着语法作为一门课程的回归。这是值得庆幸的事情，但是语法为什么会得以回归呢？
The early days of grammar
Until very recently, education without grammar was unthinkable and, as I discovered in the first seminar of the day, the learning of grammar has an incredibly long and global history. Verb tables inscribed in cuneiform tablets have been discovered that were used in Babylon in 2000 BC. Many other civilizations of the ancient world were intellectually curious about how their language worked and started to develop words to describe how language was used.
语法学习的历史由来已久。早在公元前2000年的巴比伦时期，在石碑的铭文上，就曾刻有有关楔形文字中的动词的分类表格。在许多其他的古文明世界中，还有很多语言里演化出了专门用来描述这些语言使用规律的词汇，其实这些词汇所描述的内容就是语法的雏形。
Fast forward to the 16th century and grammar was such an essential part of education that new schools in England were called grammar schools. King Henry VIII himself even commissioned a grammar book for school children (spelling it grammer in the royal proclamation, which seems embarrassing until you remember that either spelling was acceptable at the time). The vast majority of the great writers up to the 20th century would have been taught grammar; Shakespeare learnt it from the age of seven and his language skills weren't too shabby.
到了十六世纪，语法成了学校课程中的核心内容之一，在英国，一些新开的学校甚至都被叫做语法学校（Grammar School）。而当时的国王亨利八世甚至为学校的孩子们，亲自赞助出版了一本语法书。
到了二十世纪，绝大多数伟大的作家都接受过语法的学习；就连伊丽莎白一世时期的伟大戏剧家和诗人莎士比亚，也从七岁开始就学习语法了。
From grammar schools to grammar fools
So what happened? How did grammar fall out of standard education? Between 1920 and 1960 grammar research dried up in the UK and 1960 saw the end of the optional grammar question in O-level English. From there, many teachers argue that it simply died out from statutory education.
然而，从二十世纪二十年代到六十年代，语法遭遇了被摒弃的厄运，到了1960年，语法几乎从英国的义务教育中彻底消失了。
As someone at school in the 1990s who was never formally taught my adjectives from my adverbs, I felt this lacking in my education when I arrived at university and attempted a module in the English Language. I was not equipped to analyse my own language and I was ashamed at how the non-native speakers of English were far better able to spot the subjunctive! Grammar as part of my education would have given me the terminology to name each part of speech in a writer's most memorable lines, which would have been rather useful when trying to analyse the effect of the language used.
也正因为这样，很多英国人与非英语母语国家的人相比，在对英语这门语言的赏析能力上，反倒相形见绌。
Grammar's back
Anyway, I am delighted that grammar is making a comeback in our schools. A knowledge of grammar has a proven impact on writing, reading, mastering your own language, learning foreign languages, and also general thinking. Professor David Crystal, who wrapped up the day's proceedings to tumultuous applause, explained that "sentences exist to make sense of words; grammar makes sense of sentences".
不管怎么说，语法的学习终于还是回归了。语法的重要性得到了大家的一致认可，正如David Crystal教授所说：“单词在句子中才有意义，而句子因为语法才有意义。”
So grammar is bound up with the meaning and effect of what we write and say; it gives us the words to talk about the choices we make when we communicate. Of course, you can get by without learning grammar, but to borrow an analogy from Professor Crystal, it's like driving without knowing the names for the parts of your car.
语法决定了我们书面和口头表达的含义和效果，也决定了我们在与人交流时的措辞选择。
没有语法，你一样可以学习使用一门语言；但是，有了语法，你将会更加得心应手。
那么，你又是怎么看待语法在英语学习中的重要性的呢？欢迎投下你珍贵的一票，让我们来看看语法在大家的心目中到底处于什么地位！