Author Description

This book will aid those who have a professional interest in language and English grammar. There are four distinct approaches to English grammar, each covered in a different section of the book. Prescriptive grammar emphasizes questions of usage. Descriptive grammar categorizes the parts of speech and sentence types in English. Generative grammar attempts to discover more abstract underlying regularities in syntax. And performance grammar explores the way that sentences and larger texts are actually processed by readers and listeners. This book introduce readers to the major claims and findings of each one. While each of the four major sections of the book can be read as a self-contained unit, each section begins by looking at how and why each approach evolved; that is, by looking at the issues and questions that led grammarians to develop each approach. Those preparing for or immersed in professions in fields such as English, linguistics, education, communication, speech-language pathology, and ESL.