I am writing this post because I got an email from one of my students undertaking 'Elementary English Grammar' course this semester (Summer 2013) last night. He asked me, what would be the voice change of the sentence 'I go to school'. In reply I sent him the following link so that he gets clarification about transitive and intransitive verbs:
http://www.quora.com/How-can-this-sentence-be-changed-into-passive-voice-I-go-to-schoolBut his email made me think deeply about grammar and its position in terms of communication in life. Do we ever use this kind of sentences in practical life - 'Rice was eaten by me'? Or do we use 'I ate rice'? Why do we need to frame English usage within the boundary of grammar? The world is functioning with 'he go' type of sentences. Don't we need to focus more on functional English?
Bangladeshi students and teachers alike have a tendency to over emphasize grammar in terms of learning English. I am a product of grammar-translation method. I believe the later generation who studied in communicative method also focused hard on grammar. Can't we get away from it?
