The Grammar Rethink That Could Change How Britain Writes

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-23

David Lott thinks we've been teaching grammar the wrong way for decades. And honestly, once you hear his reasoning, it's hard to argue with him. His new book, *Organic Grammar*, makes a simple but provocative case: the way British schools handle grammar instruction isn't just outdated — it might actually be making literacy worse. That's a bold claim, but Lott isn't tossing it out for shock value. He's building it on years of watching students struggle with rules that never quite clicked. ### What "Organic Grammar" Actually Means The idea is less about throwing out the rulebook and more about changing the order you read it in. Traditional grammar teaching tends to front-load abstract rules — subjects, predicates, clauses — before students have any real feel for how language works in practice. Lott flips that. His approach starts with how people naturally speak and write, then builds the formal structure on top of that instinct. Think of it like learning to ride a bike before memorizing the physics of balance. You don't need the equations to stay upright, but once you're moving, the theory suddenly makes sense. - Grammar rules come after students already understand the pattern - Real examples replace abstract definitions - Writing confidence builds before technical correction ### Why This Matters Beyond the Classroom If Lott is right, the stakes go further than a few exam scores. Poor literacy follows people into adulthood — into job applications, contracts, emails, and everyday communication. A generation that feels shut out of formal writing carries that gap for a long time. There's also a cultural angle here. Britain has a long-running habit of judging people by their grammar, and that judgment often lands hardest on those who had the least support learning it. Lott's method, if it works, could soften some of that. > "You can't fix a writing problem by explaining it more slowly. Sometimes you have to change where you start." That's the spirit of the book in a nutshell. It's not about lowering standards — it's about reaching them by a different road. ### The Skeptic's View Of course, not everyone will be convinced. Traditionalists will argue that structure and discipline are exactly what struggling writers need, and that loosening the sequence risks leaving gaps. It's a fair concern, and Lott doesn't pretend his method is a silver bullet. But the conversation itself is worth having. Grammar teaching has been debated for generations, and any fresh approach that gets teachers and parents talking about literacy again has value. For anyone watching how education policy and language skills evolve, *Organic Grammar* is worth a look — not because it has all the answers, but because it asks better questions.