Variable and frequently inadequate grammatical competence among language learners is well-documented in school examiners' reports. Aside from curriculum requirements this has a deleterious effect on the acquisition of fluent and generative second (and third) language competence, both productive and receptive, and makes the task for learners much more onerous than it need be. We look to computer assisted learning for help, because of its ability to handle rule-governed domains such as grammar. For once there is a pleasing synergy between what learners need, and what computers can offer. Fluency in foreign languages has improved greatly since the introduction of the ‘communicative method’, so there is less need for computers to address this kind of problem, which is fortunate as they are quite unable to help with feedback on productive performance, or to act as a realistic interlocutor.