Grammar is a linguistic field that includes syntax, phonetics, morphology, and semantics. There are two approaches to grammar: descriptive and prescriptive. Descriptive grammar looks at the rules of a language group, while prescriptive grammar creates strict rules for all speech. Linguists tend towards a descriptive approach, while teachers may use a prescriptive approach when teaching a language to non-native speakers.
Grammar is a field of linguistics that involves all the various things that make up the rules of language. Subfields of linguistics considered part of this field include syntax, phonetics, morphology, and semantics. Grammar is also used as a term to refer to the prescriptive rules of a given language, which may change over time or be open to debate.
This argument is often divided into two broad common categories: descriptive and prescriptive. Both viewpoints are widely used, although in general, linguists tend towards a descriptive approach to grammar, while people who teach a specific language, such as English, may tend towards a more prescriptive approach. Usually, there is a bit of give and take in every approach, with a prescriptivist being at least somewhat descriptive and a descriptivist having some prescriptive leanings.
A descriptive approach seeks to look at the grammar of any spoken language or dialect as it really is, judging whether or not a sentence is grammatical based on the rules of the language group in which it is spoken, rather than some other arbitrary set of rules. For example, in many speech communities, a sentence like “He was thrown off his horse” would be entirely grammatical, and a whole set of linguistic rules can be deduced as to why that formation is grammatical. In another speech community, however, this sentence might be considered ungrammatical, while a version like “He is thrown from his horse” would be the grammatical version. In another speech community, both would be considered ungrammatical, with only a version such as “he was knocked off his horse” considered acceptable.
A prescriptive grammar looks at the norms of speech given by authoritative sources, such as an upper-class or academic subculture, and creates strict rules that all speech within that language must abide by in order to be considered grammatical. Few linguists take a prescriptive approach in the modern age, preferring to describe language as it exists in a given speech community. Many teachers, grammar experts and pedagogues in general still take a prescriptive approach, however, sticking to standardized rules as the only correct way to speak.
In some cases, a prescriptive approach is also used in teaching a language to non-native speakers. When teaching English, for example, it can be helpful to use a “standard” form of English as a basis from which to teach, to reduce confusion among students. Once the language has been acquired, of course, a less prescriptive approach will take over, as the non-native speaker learns regional rules and new dialects that may not conform to the version he or she originally learned.
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