Differences Between Descriptive And Prescriptive Grammar

Syntax The way in which linguistic elements (words and phrases) are arranged to form grammatical structure.

Author Bryan A. Garner, in his article “Making Peace in the Language Wars” (published in Garner’s Modern American Usage 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2009), seeks to negotiate a cease-fire between two fighting countries, the prescriptivists and the descriptivists, by dispelling myths about each of their camps. First and foremost, Garner outlines the war is happening between the lines of our favorite novels and poetry, and he describes what each camp stands for. Prescriptivists desire to instruct the world around them on how to use the language by enforcing, or at the very least informing the general public about the rules of grammar. They are sometimes described as conservative and are very concerned

Every language has a grammar: a set of patterns and rules that we learn to use when we're reading.

A piece of writing is much more than just words on a page. Just as a potter carefully molds and carves every detail and shape into a piece of art, so does a writer. Each comma, dash, antecedent, and fragment is picked cautiously. Each grammatical choice brings to pass a different rhetorical effect creating an irreplaceable and unique piece of art filled with fine detail. Rhetorical grammar is the clay of a potter. One must have it to begin and it has a variety of options to choose from. A person’s ability to understand and use grammar is as the technique owned by the craftsmen. Just as clay can be brittle and weak, so can grammar if used incorrectly or not to its best ability. The most amazing work is not made simply by chance but because of

“Authority and American Usage” written by David Foster Wallace, poses an argument about the English language, and the different beliefs of its usage. This essay was written in defense of Bryan A. Garner’s, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. His argument in “Authority and American Usage” is the difference the between prescriptivism perception and the descriptivism perception (Linguistic terms that could easily be made into smaller, more understandable words for people like me). Since the beginning of time, language has evolved. From biblical times, to Shakespearean times, to present day; the English language has been continuously changing since it’s birth and has no intentions on stopping.

I will start with a journey through a hellacious class focused around grammar. Coming into the WCSCC as a 12th grader, I was astonished at how little skill I had when it came to grammar. It still boggles my mind that it took twelve years of school before I met a teacher who really, really cared about how I composed my sentences. She wanted us to know what adjectives, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, and run on sentences were. However, she knew we didn’t. On the first day of class, she made the

While reading chapter six from Beyond Grammar Language, Power, and the Classroom, written by Mary R. Harmon and Marilyn J. Wilson, I began to realize how much we become caught up in the rules of the so-called Standard American English. It is sad because people are being judged on their dialect, which is a representation of who people are and where they are from. I have found myself correcting people that have a different dialect, or correcting people that say words that I have been told were not proper language, such as the word ain’t. Standard American English is something that is embedded in our brains at a young age and as we go through school; language is something teachers are constantly correcting children on. Reading about dialect has

In order for a person to successfully teach something he/she must fully understand two things: the subject that is being taught and the intended audience. Therefore, in order for a language instructor to teach a language the instructor must understand that language’s syntax, or sentence structure, which dictates how sentences and phrases are formed out of words. In English, the basic parts of speech are called nouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions. They can be further broken down into categories such as “number,” “person,” tense,” “voice,” and “gender” which need to be in agreement. Agreement refers to a grammatical connection between two parts of a sentence, such as the subject and the verb. While this is a lot for an ESL student to grasp, it facilitates the understanding of generative grammar. Generative grammar is the set of rules that dictate sentence possibilities in a language. A sentence has two structures. The first is referred to as the surface structure, and it is simply the form of the structure that is seen and heard. The second type of structure is referred to as deep structure, and it refers to an abstract level of the sentence. Deep structure represents a sentence’s most basic units of meaning, and it is created by a set of phrase structure rules. Phrase structure rules are “rewrite” rules that allow for the creation on many surface structures from one deep structure. There are also movement rules that allow for

Teachers creatively “dress up” as a component of grammar and “act out” its function. The website https://www.weareteachers.com/grammar-fun/ provides the following examples of costumes with actions that demonstrate grammatical

In the first part of this essay, David Wallace, the author, explains the theories of both a Descriptivist and Prescriptivist. Wallace discusses Garner’s book, “A Dictionary of Modern American Usage”, and the issues on language usage. He also gives us some of the advantages and disadvantages on both the Descriptivist and Prescriptivist. He uses footnotes to expand on his ideas. I believe, he uses footnotes to help the reader understand his perspective. His footnotes are not the usual footnotes we see in an original text but, then again, this is Wallace we are talking about. They often include personal anecdotes like how he became a "SNOOT” or how he ends up teaching on every term a “Three week Emergency Remedial Usage and Grammar Unit” because

Dr. Lamp is a scholar of rhetorical theory, practice, and education and joined the English department in fall semester 2010. Her published scholarship since arriving at ASU includes one book, The Rhetoric of Augustan Rome (2013, University of South Carolina Press), two refereed articles in major peer reviewed journals, and two book reviews. She also has one 3,000 word contribution in a refereed conference proceeding, which has been submitted for publication

After discussing grammar in class, I learned that it is not just a simple definition. By looking at different examples, I was able to learn how grammar is present in many different aspects of my life. A good example of this would be dance. I started taking dance classes when I was young and I continued throughout high school. There are many different styles of dance, and things would be done differently in each style of dance. For example, with modern, students are usually able to dance barefoot, while with jazz students usually where a specific type of jazz shoe, and with ballet there are pointe shoes. At my studio, there was a specific type of pointe shoe that was worn by some dancers who were more experienced, so when I was little I would

George Orwell states that, “our civilization is decadent and our language…must inevitably share in the general collapse” (Orwell 2000, 1), when he argues for prescriptivism (though toned down from what was taught and accepted in his day). While Garner posits that, “describers, meanwhile, remind us that linguistic change is a fact of life – and conclude that it’s therefore not worth opposing” (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 272). When David Foster Wallace discusses descriptivism, he makes a historical reference to, “Philip Gove’s now classic introduction to Webster’s Third [which] outlines this type of Descriptivism’s five basic edicts: ‘1 – Language changes constantly; 2 – change is normal; 3 – spoken language is the language; 4 – correctness rests upon usage; 5 – All usage is relative.’” (Wallace 2005, 83). Wallace himself argues against most of these edicts, proving himself to uphold his snootitude. Bryan A. Garner creates a list similar to that of Gove’s, while addressing the argument that “learning grammar may seem like an exercise in pedantry,” which is a point argued by many descriptivists:

Specialists in descriptive grammar (linguists) examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In contrast, prescriptive

It is not uncommon to say that grammar instruction plays an important role in language teaching. Regarding the status and importance of grammar teaching, a variety of opinions have been made. Batstone (1994) states that “language without grammar would be chaotic: countless words without the indispensable guidelines for how they can be ordered and modified” (p. 4). More vividly, Wang (2010) makes two similes. She compares grammar to the frame of a house, which is a decisive factor to ensure the solidness of it. Additionally, she regards grammar as a walking stick, whose function is to help and support students to learn English. Thus, the nature of grammar instruction manifests its own significance as it helps students