Grammar myths

¹A preliminary version of this paper, based on limited data, was presented at the 15th World Congress of AILA, Essen, Germany, August 2008.

Abstract

This paper looks at the continued survival of ‘myths’ about English grammar, for example, the statement that in negative and interrogative sentences any should be used instead of some. It is based on a survey of 195 Hong Kong students majoring in English, in five different cohorts, which found that such myths are quite prevalent; with choices of ‘true’, ‘false’, ‘don't know’ and ‘partly true’, the true option was chosen in over 50% of cases. Differences between subjects are identified and discussed, as well as changes across time from the first to the last cohort. Then the individual myths are discussed and explained one by one. A number of possible sources for the myths are suggested, and the means of combatting them are discussed, along with the reasons for their resilience.

Keywords:

• explicit knowledge
• grammar
• misconceptions
• myths
• rules

Notes

¹ A preliminary version of this paper, based on limited data, was presented at the 15th World Congress of AILA, Essen, Germany, August 2008.

1. However, it should be noted that the pervasiveness of the ‘myths’ discussed in these books has not been established through surveys of their potential ‘believers’ and are therefore open to the accusation of being ‘straw men’, set up by their critics to be knocked over easily.

2. It must be remembered that the Polish and Hungarian students were at a later stage of their studies, and the time gap adds another variable, so any comparison must treated with great caution.

3. When I was Chief Examiner for an exam paper on teachers’ ability to correct and explain mistakes, I encountered numerous cases of this.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Berry

Roger Berry is a professor and head of the Department of English, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, where he teaches courses in grammar and applied linguistics. Recent publications include Terminology in ELT (Peter Lang 2010) and English Grammar: A Resource Book for Students (Routledge 2012).