LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  In my time it was necessary to own a good set of reference books to aid our researches. Not so now when we only have to possess a good computer and internet connection. Today I was perusing one such book in my library; Frank R. Palmer ´s Grammar, 1978 edition, Pelican Books. Professor Palmer (1922-2019) lived to be 97 probably because of his life-long interest in language.  I am in the habit of underlying or highlighting passages I find of interest, the quiddity of my reading. Let me share what I underlined years ago, please. --"Few areas of our experience are closer to us or more continuously with us than our language. We spend a large part of our waking life speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The central part of a language... is its grammar, and this should be of vital interest to any intelligent educated person." --"We have very little idea of the steps by which men came to speak and, indeed, no accurate assessment of the time at which speech began." -...

Rereading Frank Palmer's Grammar , I was reminded of some important tips he points out: 1. Speech is ephemeral while writing is permanent . You can only hear speech, and cannot touch or visualize it. 2. There are no spaces between words in speech. We separate words in writing butinspeechwecannotdoitandthat'swhypeoplespeakfast. So the task is to separate words when listening. A difficult task in a foreign language. 3. The letters of the alphabet are insufficient to represent the sounds of English. This I explain in my Phonética inglesa para torpes . 4. Grammar is the study of language , not a set of normative rules. If we study grammar we can better understand how a language works. It makes it easier to master it.

Rereading Frank Palmer's Grammar , I was reminded of some phrases he writes in his book: 1. Speech is ephemeral while writing is permanent . You can only hear speech, and cannot touch or visualize it. 2. There are no spaces between words in speech. We separate words in writing butinspeechwecannotdoitandthat'swhypeoplespeakfast. So the task is to separate words when listening. A difficult task in a foreign language. 3. The letters of the alphabet are insufficient to represent the sounds of English. This I explain in my Phonética inglesa para torpes . 4. Grammar is the study of language , not a set of normative rules. If we study grammar we can better understand how a language works.