What is prescriptive grammar?

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In short, prescriptive or normative grammar is a set of rules that regulates a language. For example, the Royal Spanish Academy is the institution that includes and updates all the prescriptive grammar rules of Spanish in the Manual de la Nueva Gramática de la lengua española .

what is grammar

The term “grammar” comes from the Latin word grammatĭcus , and this, in turn, from the Greek word grammatikós . This word derives from grámma , which means “written” or “letter”, and also comes from gráphein , which means “to write”.

Therefore, grammar is responsible for the study of the structure of words, their combinations, their morphology, syntax and other characteristics.

Likewise, grammar can be defined as the set of norms and rules that are needed to speak and write a language correctly.

types of grammar

Over time, grammar has adopted different approaches that specialize in certain aspects of the language and its rules. Some of the types of grammar are:

Descriptive grammar: studies the use of language and its structures without making normative judgments.
Prescriptive grammar: studies, regulates and corrects the use of language and its structures.
Comparative grammar: focuses on the study of the relationships between two or more languages.
Structural grammar : studies the relationships between the elements of a language.
Functional grammar : focuses on the study of the functions of the elements of a language.
General grammar : it is in charge of determining the principles in common between all languages.
Generative or transformational grammar : focuses on the new constructions that occur in the language.
Historical or diachronic grammar: it is the study of the evolution of a language over time.

prescriptive grammar

Prescriptive grammar, also called prescriptivism or normative grammar, can be defined as a discipline that provides strict and precise rules about what is correct or not, both in writing and in spoken language.

Normative grammar is characterized by regulating the language by means of norms and principles that determine the correct and incorrect forms of language. This type of grammar is the one that is taught in educational institutions and is present in most grammar manuals.

Another of the characteristics of prescriptive grammar is that it promotes a standard use of the language, since its rules do not usually reflect dialects or colloquial language, but the most standardized, pure and ideal version of the language.

Differences Between Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar

To better understand the prescriptive grammar approach, it is important to know its differences from descriptive grammar.

Descriptive grammar is responsible for the study of the most dynamic part of the language, that is, the use of the language itself, both orally and in writing, without determining its correctness. Instead, as its name implies, it is concerned with “describing” the way in which the speakers of a language use their language at a certain historical moment. He does not make judgments or correct, but rather “observes” the characteristics and changes that occur in the use of the language.

On the contrary, normative or prescriptive grammar dictates obligatory rules, recommendations and suggestions for the correct use of a language, lists the exceptions, specifies the wrong uses and, in some way, seeks to standardize the language.

Descriptive grammar focuses on what language is like, analyzes its use and changes, and explains language phenomena; meanwhile, prescriptive grammar studies the rules on which the language is based and also evaluates and corrects its use and the changes that occur in it.