[InJen]

There are two questions, but they can be closely related, so I put them in one thread.

1. In China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, in the public examinations and school internal examinations, in the writing paper of the Chinese language, a student can choose vernacular Chinese or classical Chinese (ie the lauguage understood and used by Confucius two thousand years ago) to write his essay. Nowadays, there can be a great difference between the ancient language of Chinese and the modern, and the ancient language is well known for its succinctness. I would like to know whether there is such a permission in the examinations of the English.(eg Can the language of Geoffrey Chaucer be used?)

2. My perception is that, many foreigners, whose mother tongue is English, are unable to tell me English grammar, and they are mostly teenagers (eg they don't know what is preterite). An interesting thing is that, English teachers of English nationality are more than proficient in English (and they are more competent as teachers than Chinese teachers of Chinese nationality). I would like to know whether there is grammar teaching in English schools. Your personal experience can be most helpful. (eg In my senior secondary school, no one teaches grammar, and if one wants to learn it , one has to rely on oneself, including going to some ESL forums)

[InJen]

addition to the first question:

apart from English, how about the examinations in other countries? (like Italy, Japan, Spain, France and Germany)