# Flawed PSAT grammar question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawed-psat-grammar-question/175540>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 15, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawed-psat-grammar-question/175540 "2003-05-15T21:22:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawed-psat-grammar-question/175540/41 "2003-05-28T15:49:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RiverRunner \*
> 
> If the one point could make the difference between a student receiving several thousand dollars worth of scholarships (National Merit, for instance), then I’m glad the teacher made the effort.

I must admit that in that situation, if I had taught students from textbooks that ruled the construction unacceptable, I would probably have argued the point myself.

> [@](#):
>
> Amen to that, but I think that – particularly for students up through high school underclassmen – it is desirable to make sure they know the rules and break them on purpose rather than never teaching the rules in the first place.

I tend to agree with you on this, but I believe that the emphasis should always be on clarity through rules, rather than on the rules themselves. However, I understand that such a distinction can be difficult to make clear to a bunch of unruly youngsters.  
**j.c.** …\<blush\> 🙂

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