Introduction to Grammar

hi everyone my name is david and i'm here to introduce you to grammar on khan academy welcome i'm so glad you could join me so let's start by asking the question what is grammar what is this thing why is it worthwhile to study it why would you want to put up with listening to me well first of all grammar is a set of conventions and rules that govern language so what's the difference between a convention and a rule well a rule is kind of the bare minimum of what it takes to make your language understandable by other people right so in order to make a car work for example in order to make it move forward as intended the wheels have to go on the bottom instead of on the roof that's a rule the idea that all cars should be painted teal for example is a convention now is that true that all cars should be teal no not necessarily but that leads me to my second point that grammar is context dependent the kind of grammar that you use throughout your day changes it depends on who you're talking to what you're trying to say and how you're trying to say it and so we use multiple kinds of grammar throughout our days and throughout our lives another thing you need to know is that you already know so much grammar just from living and existing in the world and talking to other people you know how to put a sentence together you if you can understand me then you know so much about grammar you know more than i can teach you what these videos are for is to give names to the things you already know to give you a greater command of them and i want to say too that this these videos are only about a very specific kind of grammar it's called standard american english but i want you to know that there are many englishes and you know what they are all great they are all wonderful and vibrant and important and special and what i do not want for you to take away from these videos is that i'm trying to teach you what is right and what is wrong if the kind of english you speak doesn't sound like the kind of english i speak that is okay you know you are great what i want to do is give you the tools to harness language to harness english and use it any way you want i mean i'm saying i don't care what color your car is it could be pink it could be green it could be purple it could be paisley you know i'm just trying to make sure your wheels are on straight you are a grammarian you have made a study of grammar throughout your entire speaking and reading life and i firmly believe that you can learn anything welcome to grammar on khan academy david out