Lesson 1.2: Prescriptive vs.

Descriptive Grammar
Lesson Summary

One common way of dividing the various English grammar types is to mark them as descriptive
or prescriptive. Grammar is prescriptive when it tells how English should be spoken or written.
Grammar is descriptive when it describes how English is used by the people who speak it.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

1.      Discuss the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar.

2.      Provide examples for each.

Motivation Question

How did you learn your mother tongue?

Discussion

People acquire their mother tongue by being exposed to it, and they are also able to produce
meaningful correct sentences without learning grammar. If they have to analyze the language,
however, they must learn the grammar. Learning grammar has become an important part of
language learning in recent years. While people were able to read, write and speak English
without specific grammar knowledge until the end of the seventeenth century, when the first
grammar appeared (Greenbaum and Nelson, 2002), they were aware of the importance of
grammar knowledge. The English language contains various types of grammar. Among the
grammars, prescriptive and descriptive ones are more distinguished, so we will analyze their
context and methods, criticize and assess their usefulness and consider their contribution to
English language learners and students.

The development of printed grammar began in 1619, and has continued until recently. In the
second half of the eighteenth century, prescriptive grammar started to exist. In the nineteenth
century prescriptivism was at its peak and this period was defined as the prescriptive stage
(Gruyter, 2008). Grammarians obtained prescriptive grammar from English and Latin and stated
that the English language was rich in syntax but weak in morphology while the Latin language
was exactly the opposite; thus, the functions of both languages were crucial in the inventory of
this type of grammar (Michael, 1970 cited in Gruyter, 2008). In reality, the Latin language
influenced prescriptive grammar (Gruyter, 2008). To achieve an effective standardization of the
grammar, they insisted on the correctness and purism of use, and it has persisted to this day
(Mittins, et al 1970; Ilson, 1985 cited in Gruyter 2008).

Gradually, prescriptive grammar became worldwide; in addition, the eighteenth century was an
incredibly significant time in the history of English grammar books and publications. As time
went on, people were inspired to get higher education because they wanted to learn academic
writing and converse perfectly in English. They found their communication difficulties at that
time, so the need for language codification was felt, and linguistic guidance was required
(Gruyter, 2008).In fact, there has been a dichotomy and conflict between grammarians or
prescriptivists and linguists or descriptivists since the eighteenth century. Furthermore, they
criticize each other’s hypotheses.  Grammarians state that they are experts on language usage,
while linguists claim that they are experts on language use. However, they should understand
experts share their knowledge to achieve their ultimate goals (Haskell, 1984; MacDonald, 1995
cited in Gruyter, 2008).

English grammar has two methods which are substantially different. One of them treats
language as a set of laws that must be studied and applied in order to properly use the
language. No mistake is appropriate in this school, and it has serious language looks
(DeCapua, 2008). Language is what you can use according to this method, and defined
constructs are only appropriate. It also offers advice on what's right, and what's wrong in
particular situations (Sanders, 2012). Take note of the use of pronouns "I" and "me": in
sentence 1 and 2:

1.     Joy and me had a talk.

In the above sentence, the use of "me" by the speaker is wrong because it is an object pronoun
and the subject pronoun must be used instead, so that sentence 2 is correct.

2.     Joy and I had a talk.

This is a prescriptive school of grammar which looks to socially acceptable language.

Prescriptivists often advise people what they should say, rather than what they actually say
(Sanders, 2012). Often they recommend what not to use. Examples of prescriptive laws are
these:

You must not mention yourself first (Fitikides, 1977).

For instance:

1.      Do not say:  I and Jane are friends.

2.         Say: Jane and I are friends.

You must not end a sentence with a preposition.

For example:

3.      Who did you talk with?

Sentence 3 is incorrect according to prescriptive grammar because it ends with a preposition, so

it should be (Yule, 2010):

   4.   With whom did you talk?

Descriptive grammar, on the other hand, looks at language as a set of patterns. This is basically
a sort of language people use in real life; besides, it explains how a language is actually spoken
and written rather than how it should be.

One might say, "I seen 'im' rather than "I saw him," and that is still understandable (Richards,
J.C., and Schmidt, R., 2010). Changes are fairly common in most languages, so English
changes both lexically and grammatically. When about 50% of speakers use the language in a
special way, the event can be described through descriptive grammar, and new rule will be
created. Since descriptive grammar does not want to mention gender,  they/them/ their means
he/she, him/her, and his/her (Chambers, 2010). For example:

Everyone can change their degree program anytime they want to.

Some modern scholars had criticized English prescriptive grammar in the eighteenth century,
since it expressed a mixture of English from the seventeenth century and the writer’s personal
understanding of the language.

“Prescriptive linguistics claim to find faults in language and tries to fix them, whereas
DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS, as its name suggests, tries to ‘describe’ language as it really is.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with trying to fix problems, and descriptive linguists have
always been driven in part by a desire to solve practical problems.” (Hudson, R., 2010:103 )

As English evolves, prescriptive grammar switches to descriptive grammar. Prescriptivism

claims 'never split an infinitive,' since the infinitive is a single word in the Latin language and the
infinitive equivalent in English is 'to + verb,' so they must both remain together. This is a simple
case for prescriptive grammarists who use Latin grammar to enforce rules of Latin on English
which native speakers do not recognize. Nonetheless, it is broken by native speakers not only in
speech but also in language.

   ‘To boldly go where no man has gone before.’ (Star Trek, 1966)

‘It proves the ignorance of prescriptive grammar in public (Sanders, 2012). Feel free to boldly
split infinitives that no man has split before.’

In reality prescriptive and descriptive grammars complement each other. Both have their own
special domain in the study of language. In addition, descriptive grammar serves as the basis
for prescriptive grammar. The latter is essential to the ultimate success in teaching and learning
languages (Robins, 1971). It is necessary to learn both prescriptive and descriptive grammar,
though it depends on the learner’s purpose. If you want to learn the language for academic
purposes, prescriptive grammar is sufficient. However, descriptive grammar is perfectly
acceptable if it's for an informal situation. In reality, they both are two sides of a lane. Frankly
speaking, considering language teaching and learning, when learners are interested in learning
a language according to prescriptive grammar, they can stop or face learning difficulties. A
language may be taught in an enjoyably at an early age through a descriptive approach that is
more versatile and embraces language shifts and paradigms.

1.       

Learning Task
1.   Discuss the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar thoroughly.
Provide examples for each.
 
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Assessment
The students’ essays will be assessed according to the rubric below.

 
Informal Essay Rubric
 

Criteria 4 3 2 1

Quality of Very Somewhat Gives some Gives no new

Writing informative and informative and new information information and poorly
well organized organized. but poorly organized. Does not
Provides some organized. provide examples.
Provides more examples
examples. Provides few
examples.

Grammar, No spelling, Few spelling and A number of So many spelling,

Usage and punctuation or punctuation spelling, punctuation  and
Mechanics grammatical errors, minor punctuation and grammatical errors that
errors grammatical grammatical interfere  with the
errors errors. meaning.

References and Additional Resources

DeCapua, A. (2008). Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-
Native Speakers. New York: Springer.

Fitikides, T.J. (1977). Common Mistakes in English. Essex: Longman.

Greenbaum, S., and Nelson, G. (2002). An Introduction to English Grammar. Great Britain:
Library of Congress.

Gruyter, M. (2008). Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century

England. Berlin: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Hudson, R. (2010). An Introduction to Word Grammar. United Kingdom: Cambridge University
Press.

Richard, J.C., and Schmidt, R. (2010). Longman Dictionary of

Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Great Britain: Pearson.

Robins, R.H. (1971). Ancient and Mediaeval Grammatical Theory in Europe with Particular
Reference to Modern Linguistic Doctrine. United Kingdom: Bell.

Sanders, J. (2012). Lecture on Syntax. University of Bath (Moodle).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFlBwBwL_iU

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/prescriptive-grammar

http://www.english-for-students.com/

http://www.englishspark.com

http://www.startrek.com