 In this e-lecture, we will discuss the term grammar. Most people associate with this term a book written about a language. In fact, there are several variants of such book grammars and we will discuss them all. Prescriptive grammars, descriptive grammars and reference grammars. In theoretical linguistics, grammars are theory-based systems of rules and principles which model a speaker's knowledge of a language. In other words, we have a grammar in our minds. This formal grammar, as it is referred to then, is used in a wider sense, including to some degree phonology and semantics, with the term syntax used for the central portion. We will discuss these manifestations of the term grammar in the following. Let's start with prescriptive grammar. A prescriptive or normative grammar is an account of a language that seeks to establish norms of correct grammatical usage. Grammars of this kind do not merely describe and analyze forms of a language that are in common use among the members of a language community, but they lay down rules as to how language users ought to speak and write. They were very popular in the past. Over here you see Robert Loth, the author of a prescriptive grammar of English written in the 17th century. Well, in some respect, prescriptive grammars are similar to books on etiquette, which recommend certain types of conduct. Examples of prescriptive rules in English that still exist are the following. Here you have one which is very popular, which simply says, do not split infinitives. Well, instead of having the adverb quickly between the two elements of an infinitive, the rule says you should put it towards the end and leave the infinitive intact. Here is another one. Avoid preposition stranding. So do not put prepositions at the end of certain constructions. This is the man we are looking for should be avoided. Rather, we should use the construction. This is the man for whom and since we are prescriptive users, since we adhere to the prescriptive rules of English, we would even use whom instead of the much more popular who. Let's now look at the next type of grammar, the descriptive grammar. In contrast to the prescriptivism of the 19th century and earlier, linguistics, like other modern sciences, is essentially descriptive in character. This was first emphasized by Ferdinand de Saussure, who you see over here de Saussure, a Swiss linguist of the late 19th and early 20th century, who is often considered to be the founder of modern linguistics. He established the structural study of language emphasizing the arbitrary relationships between the linguistic signs and that what they signify. A descriptive grammar then is not primarily interested in good or bad or incorrect use of a language, rather it wants to provide a precise description of the facts. Reference to normative principles or analogies with classical languages, such as Latin, are of no use. A descriptive grammar then describes the actual grammatical state of a language. Let us illustrate the difference between prescriptivism and descriptivism. What do you say when you're asked who is it? Would you say it is me or should you say it is I? Well, the rule that we should say it is I is a typical example of a Latin rule taken over for English. The argument runs as follows. In Latin, subjects occur in the nominative case. Moreover, in intensive constructions of the type X, B, Y, we require case identity between the two noun phrases that is between the subject and the complement. Well, let's illustrate this. Here we have a sentence like, Caesar is my friend. Subject verb complement. Now, if we use pronouns, then we can see the case relationships. He, which is the nominative case, is my friend. Now, since these constructions require case identity between subject and complement, my friend must receive the same case features. Now, when the case is the nominative case, let's now use our sentence. It is, well, what is it? Me or I? Well, theoretically it should be I, because we need case identity. However, what we really use in the English language is we use it is me. So, in a descriptive grammar of present day English, we will find that neither the nominative case exists nor does the form it is I. It is me is used instead. So, this is a typical example of descriptivism. Now, what is a reference grammar? Well, a reference grammar is a special type of descriptive grammar aiming at a complete description of all grammatical aspects of a language. Hence, a reference grammar is somehow similar to an encyclopedia, the reference book of all words. Well, the best known reference grammar of the English language is the one written under the supervision of Randolph Quirk, meanwhile, Sir Randolph Quirk, who was born in 1920. It is called the comprehensive grammar of the English language. It has almost 1,800 pages and includes, apart from a complete syntactic description of English, some aspects of morphology, as well as phonology and even orthography. In 2002, so this was 1985, by the way, in 2002, another English reference grammar was published. It systematically draws on the linguistic research carried out on English since the 1950s, especially research within the context of theoretical grammar. Now, in theoretical linguistics, the term grammar is synonymous with the theory of language, incorporating insights from all branches of linguistics, from phonology to semantics with syntax in the center. There are various types of formal grammar, among them are dependency grammars, a grammar that derives dependency structures within sentences. The assumption is that in a syntactic relationship between two elements, one is the governing, the other is the dependent element. This principle has also been used within generative grammar. The functional grammar is a theory whose basic assumption is that linguistic phenomena cannot be explained without examining their functions, like syntactic functions over here, or functions such as topic, theme, semantic roles, thus offering an alternative to strict structural approaches. The most prominent formal grammar, however, is referred to as generative grammar. This theory of language is closely associated with the American linguist Noam Chomsky, who you find over here, and it has influenced linguistic thought to a high degree. We will look at this model in a special e-lecture referred to as generative grammar.