1. What is grammar?

Grammar is rules of language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and

other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. The word grammar
also denotes the study of these abstract features or a book presenting these rules. In a
restricted sense, the term refers only to the study of sentence and word structure
(syntax and morphology), excluding vocabulary and pronunciation.

2. What are the types of grammar?

In English, there are two kinds of grammar: prescriptive grammar & descriptive
grammar.

Prescriptive Grammar:

It is the traditional approach of grammar that tells people how to use the
English language, what forms they should utilize, and what functions they should
serve. Prescriptive grammar is essential as it helps people use formal English speech
and writing. In addition, "those who follow it (or those who endorse others to follow
it) claim that doing so will help to streamline one's words and make one's prose more
elegant" (Tamasi & Antieau, 2015, p. 24-25). Schools aim to teach prescriptive
grammar to provide people a common standard of usage.

Examples:

 In English, less goes with mass nouns (e.g. “ less money”), and “fewer” goes with
count nouns (e.g., “ fewer items.”)
 In English, speakers should not split infinitives (e.g., “to boldly go;“) instead,
write or say (“to go boldly.”)
 In English, speakers should not use passive voice (e.g., “The meeting was held by
the university;”) instead, write or say (“The university held the meeting.”)
 In English, speakers should avoid phrasal verbs (e.g., “come over to have some
tea;”) instead, write or say (e.g., “visit me to have some tea.”)

Descriptive Grammar:

This is how native English speakers actually talk and write, and it has no
concrete idea of the way it should be structured (Tamasi & Antieau, 2015, p.28). It is
not saying how it should be used; however, it focuses on describing the English
language as it is used. It is also not saying that there is a right or wrong way to use
language.

Examples:

 English Adjective order: (opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, color, origin,
material, type, and purpose (e.g., “This is a  beautiful, small, green, American
island.”)  
 Some native speakers say:
“I am younger than him” instead of “I am younger than he.”
 “He graduated American university” instead of “He graduated from American
university."
“I ain't going nowhere.” instead of “I am not going anywhere.”

3. Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at MIT, has developed the "universal

grammar" theory of language development. Chomsky's theory proposes that the
human brain contains a predefined mechanism (universal grammar) that is the
basis for the acquisition of all language.

4. Innatism

The innatism theory states that learning is natural for human beings. They
believe that babies enter the world with a biological propensity, an inborn device, to
learn language (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). ... Chomsky backed this theory stating that
children use the LAD to generate and invent complex speech.

5. LAD & universal grammar

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a claim from language

acquisition research proposed by Noam Chomsky in the 1960s. The LAD concept is a
purported instinctive mental capacity which enables an infant to acquire and produce
language. It is a component of the nativist theory of language.

Universal Grammar (UG) is a theoretical concept proposed by Noam

Chomsky (not without criticism or controversy from scholars in the scientific
community) that the human brain contains an innate mental grammar that helps
humans acquire language. Children of the same speech community reliably learn the
same grammar.