Michael Rosen is so right (Letters, 26 January). It’s a fair bet that no great writer ever knew what a fronted adverbial was. A basic knowledge of how language works is desirable, but the ability to analyse structure in tedious detail doesn’t mean you can construct. Far better to fire the natural creativity of children than subject them to the joyless grammar teaching that the national curriculum has inflicted on them in the name of academic “rigour”.
Elaine Luke
Fairlight, East Sussex
• Grandma (hitting shuttlecock): “Do you know what a fronted adverbial is, Jude?” Jude (age eight, hitting shuttlecock back): “Yeah, ’course. Adverb at the front of a sentence. Fronted – front – obvious.” Tragically, shuttlecock ends up in washing line.
Jennifer Rayner
Folkestone, Kent
