Say it with me: the purpose of grammar is clarity. That's reason we add punctuation, have rules regarding pronouns, and insist on sentences having subjects and verbs. I raise this because Thomas Baker writes, "I question the phrase, 'coherent sentences', and wonder aloud if 'cohesive sentences' may have been the appropriate term, or quite likely, '"grammatically correct sentences'." This is in response to an article stating "the problems at one troubled New York high school to a simple fact: the students couldn't write coherent sentences." Reducing grammar to a set of rules that need to be remembered trivializes grammar and (not coincidentally) makes it a lot harder to learn. Understanding that the role and purpose of grammar is to promote clarity of thought and expression turns lessons in correct sentence form into lessons in thinking and reasoning.
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