Grammar is a Dog

What a 'politically-incorrect' title! At the risk of landing myself in hot soup, allow me to explain myself.

Had quite a bit of fun during today's class when our professor instructed us to think about a metaphor that we would like to use to describe what grammar is all about to our students. Though we initially wanted to talk about grammar as being somewhat similar to a music score, we eventually settled for this: Grammar is a Dog. As my group drew the little doggie, my professor took a peek at it, cringed and said:" Oh dear!" We burst into laughter.

We were the third group to present. The two other teams before us talked about grammar as a tree and a castle respectively. As the spokesperson for my group, I stepped forward, pasted the vanguard sheet on the board (with the picture of the dog) and proceeded to explain:

1. Meeting a dog can be a very frightening experience. It may bark at you. It may even bite. Similarly, grammar may seem very intimidating to many.

2. When you manage to tame a dog, it's no longer scary. In fact, it can become your best friend. In the same way, when you've gained mastery over grammar, it's no longer controlling you. You can use it at your service.

3. How a dog is trained depends on the learning abilities of the dog as well as how its owner trains it. Likewise, how grammar is learnt is dependent on the student as well as the teacher.

" True! Very good!" This was followed by a thuderous applause. My professor was obviously pleasantly surprised. So was the rest of the class.