Introduction - 1 | Learn English Grammar

INTRODUCTION

So many slighting remarks have been made of late on the use of

teaching grammar as compared with teaching science, that it is plain

the fact has been lost sight of that grammar is itself a science. The

object we have, or should have, in teaching science, is not to fill a

child's mind with a vast number of facts that may or may not prove

useful to him hereafter, but to draw out and exercise his powers of

observation, and to show him how to make use of what he observes....

And here the teacher of grammar has a great advantage over the teacher

of other sciences, in that the facts he has to call attention to lie

ready at hand for every pupil to observe without the use of apparatus

of any kind while the use of them also lies within the personal

experience of every one.--DR RICHARD MORRIS.

The proper study of a language is an intellectual discipline of the

highest order. If I except discussions on the comparative merits of

Popery and Protestantism, English grammar was the most important

discipline of my boyhood.--JOHN TYNDALL.

INTRODUCTION.

What various opinions writers on English grammar have given in answer

to the question, What is grammar? may be shown by the following--

[Sidenote: Definitions of grammar]

English grammar is a description of the usages of the English

language by good speakers and writers of the present

day.--WHITNEY

A description of account of the nature, build, constitution, or

make of a language is called its grammar--MEIKLEJOHN

Grammar teaches the laws of language, and the right method of

using it in speaking and writing.--PATTERSON

Grammar is the science of _letter_; hence the science of using

words correctly.--ABBOTT

The English word grammar relates only to the laws which govern

the significant forms of words, and the construction of the

sentence.--RICHARD GRANT WHITE

These are sufficient to suggest several distinct notions about English

grammar--

[Sidenote: Synopsis of the above]

(1) It makes rules to tell us how to use words.

(2) It is a record of usage which we ought to follow.

(3) It is concerned with the forms of the language.

(4) English has no grammar in the sense of forms, or inflections,

but takes account merely of the nature and the uses of words in

sentences.

[Sidenote: The older idea and its origin]

Fierce discussions have raged over these opinions, and numerous works

have been written to uphold the theories. The first of them remained

popular for a very long time. It originated from the etymology of the

word grammar (Greek gramma, writing, a letter), and from an effort

to build up a treatise on English grammar by using classical grammar

as a model.

Perhaps a combination of (1) and (3) has been still more popular,

though there has been vastly more classification than there are forms.

[Sidenote: The opposite view]

During recent years, (2) and (4) have been gaining ground, but they

have had hard work to displace the older and more popular theories. It

is insisted by many that the student's time should be used in studying

general literature, and thus learning the fluent and correct use of

his mother tongue. It is also insisted that the study and discussion

of forms and inflections is an inexcusable imitation of classical

treatises.

[Sidenote: The difficulty]

Which view shall the student of English accept? Before this is

answered, we should decide whether some one of the above theories must

be taken as the right one, and the rest disregarded.

The real reason for the diversity of views is a confusion of two

distinct things, what the definition of grammar should be, and what
the purpose of grammar should be.


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Introduction - 2