I am not a native speaker of English, but have been practising written and oral English for few decades. I am happy to say that English has gone to second position in my languages' league. Anyhow, I remember reading an article by an American teacher at the following website "Learn English Speaking ", suggesting foreign learners should, for the sake of fluency, avoid learning English grammar. This teacher explained “Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules." To me, this is what I call utter "tosh". I, certainly, do not agree with him and, as a foreign speaker of English, believe grammar is the key to good syntax and brevity. If an Arabic teacher suggested "discarding" grammar, he would be vilified and, perhaps, sectioned indefinitely. When I write in Arabic or English, I strive to convey good grammar, syntax and brevity. When one does that, the message is always loud and clear. I read few quotes about grammar and nothing stuck in my mind like these following gems: 1-"I am of the firm belief that everybody could write books and I never understand why they don't. After all, everybody speaks. Once the grammar has been learnt it is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not to say. — Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge 2-"I will not go down to posterity talking bad grammar." 3-" I never made a mistake in grammar but once in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it." — Carl Sandburg