Is Grammar Really Important in Spoken English?

India is probably the only non-English speaking country where English has received a status of an Official Language. We are mostly non-English speaking folks and that is why Indian languages are now being used in order to tap into the largest community of internet users in India who prefer to communicate in local tongues.

We Indians have always given too much importance to this foreign language and even judged others by the correctness of their English. Although India became independent in 1947, it was not out of the influence of the British and it was reflected through how we attached more importance to English language and fair complexion.

Why English Grammar Isn’t That Important?

However, this blog is not about how we failed to respect our own languages. Coming from a Bengali medium background and having some snobbish English medium folks around me, I know what it was like not knowing English in a small part of Bengal. Out of sheer stubbornness, I majored in English.

I have seen that Indians, especially from tier II and tier III cities in India, often hesitate to speak in English because they feel under-confident and fear that they might make grammatical mistakes In our schools, grammar was taught with utmost importance, and from there the fear started. While students from English medium schools spoke English fluently, we, despite being grammar Nazis, were failing to show our skills. But does grammar really matter in spoken English?

No. Not much! Grammar is only judged when you are writing something in English. Being an English Honours student and living in a place where mostly English is my language of communication, I have overcome the fear of making grammatical mistakes. Although, I can easily recognise mistakes if someone makes it while speaking, but as long as the sentence is comprehensible, you really do not need grammar to validate your expression.

For example, when one says “I waked up in the morning”, you will understand that he is trying to say, “I woke up in the morning” and being a non-English speaking person, it doesn’t really make much impact. You might have seen people from other countries like China, Japan, Korea and Africa incessantly speaking wrong English yet being perfectly understood. It is because, in communication, the only thing that matters the most is your clarity of thought and how well you are expressing and communicating that thought to the other person.

Communication is the key…

In fact, people with English as their mother tongue do not always use correct grammar while speaking. If you have personally spoke to one of them or simply watch English movies, you will see the use of grammar is not always possible in sentences like “How you doing”? or “What’s up?” Did you ever have problem in understanding their sentences without grammar? No! Because if the subject of a sentence is clearly communicated, there is no need to be grammatically correct.

Let’s give few examples –

“Church, where?” This sentence doesn’t have a verb, it is not even considered a proper sentence according to English grammar. But do you find it difficult to understand? It is quite clear that a person is asking for the direction to the church.

“He like the house.” — He is singular number and third person. Grammatically, it should be “He likes the house”. But even if your grammar is bad or in fact non-existent, it is quite easily comprehensible.

“Ashton is one of the most eligible bachelor” — I have seen many people making this grammatical mistake even in their writing. It should be ‘bachelors’, not ‘bachelor’. However, it is pretty clear that it means there are more such eligible bachelors like Ashton.

“I ain’t not going there” — use of double negative, another blunder in English grammar. But you know what the sentence means, don’t you?

At the end….

I hope it is clear to you why not to worry about your grammar when speaking. Because even English-speaking folks speak their language without grammar. So, what are we going to prove by speaking impeccable English?

Now if you are in a profession where you need to be grammatically correct (Like mine as an English content writer), then you must learn grammar really well and make as little mistake you can. Otherwise, you can be criticised for your lack of English knowledge and can be rejected in Interviews.

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