Both this brief and the original article were news to me - sad and enraging news. The idea that grammar is subjective is, quite simply, wrong. In an English sentence, the verb must occupy a particular position, must obey the rules of person, number and tense and if it does not, sense and meaning will fall apart. Sometimes, in the realm of tiny details like prepositions, grammatical choices give ground to stylistic ones, but for the most part, rules and rules and must be followed. Unfortunately, teaching grammar has largely fallen off the agenda in Australian schools and universities (and this study from Canberra implies that it is also an international problem). It is one that needs to be rectified before we slip further. The basics of grammar may be boring, but then, so are the basics in lots of other subjects, and we still find innovative ways to teach them. The main point is that we need to refocus our aims, for without good grammar, students will not be able to communicate, efficiently or intelligibly, even their simplest thoughts.