Someone suggested me to throw away grammar books and study English without paying attention to grammar rules. Do you agree with that ?
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
(1) I believe that you should study all the grammar books possible and
always try to speak and write standard English.
(2) When you speak or write badly, people lose respect for you and for
what you are saying. For example, I read that President Wilson (our 28th
president) used to say things like "He
don't like me," but he was
always sure to say "He
doesn't like me" when in public!!! He did not want
people to lose respect for him or to set a bad example for children. (P. S.
I understand that "He don't like me" was considered "good" English during
the earlier part of the 19th century. Teachers were finally able to stop
this practice.)
(3) Of course, sometimes it is not "socially acceptable" to
speak "correct" English.
(a) For example, here in the United States, few men would ever say
"It is I." That might sound like a "sissy." So everyone says:
"It is me."
But you should know why "It is I" is correct. And the only way to know the
reason is to study the rules. (By the way, it
is "good" English to
occasionally start a sentence with "but" or "and.")