英文練習的害處

Usually for a grammar book exercise, there is a model answer, but in English, there are always different ways of saying what you want to say.

We have to understand grammatical rules, but sometimes grammatical rules give way to idiomatic uses. And even the rules are not the same in every country, for example, in the USA and the UK.

For myself, I would prefer a simple and clear way of saying things. Communication is the main purpose, so I use simple and easy language to make sure people understand what I am trying to say. As to other ways of saying the same thing, I will accept too, because there is no right or wrong in this case.

I would like to quote an introduction of the great work written by Professor Otto Jespersen, one of the greatest Grammarian of English Language, for those who want to know what grammar is.

"It has been my endeavor in this work to represent English Grammar not as a set of stiff dogmatic percepts, according to which some things are correct and others absolutely wrong, but as something living and developing under continual fluctuations and undulations, something that is found in the past, and prepares the way for the future, something that is not always consistent or perfect but progressing and perfectible --- in one word human."

You can see how the professor look at grammar in such a philosophic way

圖片參考：http://hk.yimg.com/i/icon/16/41.gif

Human makes things perfectible and we should try to make the language perfect and that is why so many people are still doing research on English language after so many years of work!

2008-01-09 12:54:59 補充：

A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principlesby Otto Jespersen (vol. 1 - 7)

2008-01-11 17:53:35 補充：

To: hahatse I agree with you. the publishers should provide all possible answers to a question but there is always a question as to how many possible answers they should include.