PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

WHAT IS IT?
 A prescriptive grammar is a
set of rules about language
based on how people think
language should be used.
 In a prescriptive grammar
there is right and wrong
language. It can be compared
with a descriptive grammar,
which is a set of rules based
on how language is actually
used.
 EXAMPLE
 A prescriptive grammar would reject ‘He goes...',
meaning ‘He said', as incorrect language.
 In the classroom
At higher levels it is useful to raise learner awareness of
differences between prescriptive grammars and use of
language. This can be done in an inductive approach,
with learners identifying examples of language that
doesn't follow rules from authentic listening or written
texts. They can then produce their own ‘mini'
descriptive grammars.
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

 By the middle of the 18th century,

when many of the grammatical
phenomena of English had been
described, the early English
grammars gave way (to a new
kind of grammar, a prescriptive
(normative) grammar, which
stated strict rules of grammatical
usage, judging those constructions
and forms which it considered to
be wrong or "improper", and
setting up a certain standard of
correctness to be followed by
learners of English.
1. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL GRAMMAR OF THIS PERIOD WAS ROBERT
LOWTH'S SHORT INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR, FIRST PUBLISHED IN
1762. THE AIM OF THIS GRAMMAR WAS “TO TEACH US TO EXPRESS OURSELVES
WITH PROPRIETY… AND TO ENABLE US TO JUDGE OF EVERY PHRASE AND FORM
OF CONSTRUCTION, WHETHER IT BE RIGHT OR NOT”.

2. THE AIM OF PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMARS WAS TO REDUCE THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TO RULES AND TO SET UP A STANDARD OF CORRECT USAGE.

3. THE AUTHORS OF PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMARS BELIEVED THAT, THEIR TASK

WAS NOT ONLY TO PRESCRIBE, TO PROVIDE RULES FOR DISTINGUISHING WHAT
IS RIGHT FROM WHAT IS WRONG, BUT ALSO TO PROSCRIBE EXPRESSIONS
WHICH THEY CONSIDERED TO BE WRONG.

4. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMARIANS COULD BE CALLED THE FIRST

STANDARDIZERS OF ENGLISH.
 MAIN FEATURES OF PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

 Following Latin in classifying words into word

classes and establish grammatical categories
 Reliance on meaning and function in definitions.
 Approach to correctness: the standards of
correctness are logic, which was identified with
Latin, and the past.
 Emphasis on writing rather than speech.
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRESCRIPTIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR
 Descriptive Grammar:
A descriptive grammar looks at the way
a language is actually used by its
speakers and then attempts to analyse it
and formulate rules about the structure.
Descriptive grammar does not deal
with what is good or bad language use;
forms and structures that might not be
used by speakers of Standard English
would be regarded as valid and
included. It is a grammar based on the
way a language actually is and not how
some think it should be.
Prescriptive Grammar:
A prescriptive grammar lays out rules
about the structure of a language. Unlike
a descriptive grammar it deals with what
the grammarian believes to be right and
wrong, good or bad language use; not
following the rules will generate
incorrect language. Both types of
grammar have their supporters and their
detractors, which in all probability
suggests that both have their strengths
and weaknesses.