To him, I am a tedious oddity: a father he is obliged to listen to and a man absorbed in the rules of grammar, which my son seems allergic to. 2. Blame for the scandal of this language deficit should be thrust upon our schools, which should be setting high standards of English language proficiency. 3. Perhaps, language should be looked upon as a road map and a valuable possession: often study the road map (check grammar) and tune up the car engine (adjust vocabulary).