It is not surprising that we call each other names: those of us who question the value of grammar are in fact shaking the whole elaborate edifice of traditional composition instruction.

A student sentence is an economy in miniature. It has an actor, an action, an object of that action. It is a transaction, a completed act. It is self-interested in that it seeks a good grade, seeks to demonstrate mastery of the assignment. But it also seeks to express something; it is a learner's exercise in how to trade in the market of ideas. When it is good, the writing rejoices in that exchange. There is, in any utterance, however self-interested, a residual urge to share a view of life. To see the world a certain way and to want other people to enjoy seeing it that way too. This two-way communication, self-seeking and other-seeking, is after all what makes markets fun to go to and full of life.