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Traditional Grammar

This document discusses traditional grammar, which is based on Latin grammar rules rather than modern linguistic research. It focuses on defining correct and incorrect usage rather than accounting for culture or modernization. While traditional grammar is still taught in many schools, it is criticized by experts as being outdated and too rigid. The document outlines the development from traditional grammar to sentence grammar in the 1850s, which focused more on word order and function. It also notes that studies have found traditional grammar instruction can have negative effects on student writing and is not an effective way to teach writing skills. However, traditional grammar persists due to preferences for its prescriptive approach over descriptive linguistics and for consistency in language conventions.

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Carmen Hdz
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364 views3 pages

Traditional Grammar

This document discusses traditional grammar, which is based on Latin grammar rules rather than modern linguistic research. It focuses on defining correct and incorrect usage rather than accounting for culture or modernization. While traditional grammar is still taught in many schools, it is criticized by experts as being outdated and too rigid. The document outlines the development from traditional grammar to sentence grammar in the 1850s, which focused more on word order and function. It also notes that studies have found traditional grammar instruction can have negative effects on student writing and is not an effective way to teach writing skills. However, traditional grammar persists due to preferences for its prescriptive approach over descriptive linguistics and for consistency in language conventions.

Uploaded by

Carmen Hdz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Traditional Grammar: Definition and Examples

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

By Richard Nordquist

Updated January 09, 2020

The term traditional grammar refers to the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts about the
structure of language that is commonly taught in schools. Traditional English grammar, also
referred to as school grammar, is largely based on the principles of Latin grammar, not on modern
linguistic research in English.

Traditional grammar defines what is and is not correct in the English language, not accounting for
culture or modernizing in favor of maintaining tradition. Because it is fairly rigid and rooted in the
ways of the past, traditional grammar is often considered outdated and regularly criticized by
experts. Even so, many children learn this proper, historical form of grammar today.

A Prescriptive Approach

Prescriptive forms of grammar like traditional grammar are governed by strict rules. In the case of
traditional grammar, most of these were determined a long time ago. While some professionals
uphold prescriptivism and the goals of traditional grammar, others deride them.

Author of The Teacher's Grammar Book James D. Williams summarizes the creeds of traditional
grammar: "We say that traditional grammar is prescriptive because it focuses on the distinction
between what some people do with language and what they ought to do with it, according to a
pre-established standard. ... The chief goal of traditional grammar, therefore, is perpetuating a
historical model of what supposedly constitutes proper language," (Williams 2005).

Others, like David Crystal, are passionately opposed to school grammar and find it too restrictive.
"[G]rammarians of the 2000s are the inheritors of the distortions and limitations imposed on
English by two centuries of a Latinate perspective,"(Crystal 2003).

From Traditional Grammar to Sentence Grammar

David Crystal wasn't the first person to call attention to the age of traditional grammar
foundations, using this fact to argue against its implementation. Linguist John Algeo coined the
second major development in grammar teaching, brought on by growing opposition to traditional
grammar, sentence grammar. "The first English grammars were translations of Latin grammars
that had been translations of Greek grammars in a tradition that was already some two-thousand
years old.
Furthermore, from the seventeenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century, there
were no substantial changes made in the form of English grammar books or in the way English
grammar was taught. When people talk about 'traditional' grammar,' this is the tradition they
mean, or ought to mean. ... Traditional grammar began to be challenged around the middle of the
[nineteenth] century, when the second major development in grammar teaching appeared.

There is no very good name for this second development but we might call it 'sentence grammar.'
Whereas traditional grammar focused primarily on the word (hence its preoccupation with parts
of speech), the 'new' grammar of the 1850s focused on the sentence. ... It began to emphasize the
grammatical importance of word order and function words ... in addition to the few inflexional
endings in English," (Algeo 1969).

The Negative Effects of Teaching Traditional Grammar

It is clear that traditional grammar is a polarizing subject for experts, but how does it really affect
students? George Hillocks explains some of the drawbacks of school grammar in practice: "The
study of traditional school grammar (i.e., the definition of parts of speech, the parsing of
sentences, etc.) has no effect on raising the quality of student writing. Every other focus of
instruction examined in this review is stronger. Taught in certain ways, grammar and mechanics
instruction has a deleterious effect on student writing. In some studies a heavy emphasis on
mechanics and usage (e.g., marking every error) resulted in significant losses in overall quality.

School boards, administrators, and teachers who impose the systematic study of traditional school
grammar on their students over lengthy periods of time in the name of teaching writing do them a
gross disservice that should not be tolerated by anyone concerned with the effective teaching of
good writing. We need to learn how to teach standard usage and mechanics after careful analysis
and with minimal grammar," (Hillocks 1986).

The Persistence of Traditional Grammar

Of course, traditional grammar persists despite many opponents and questionable benefits. Why?
This excerpt from Working With Words explains why traditional grammar is perpetuated. "Why do
the media cling to traditional grammar and its sometimes outdated rules? Mainly because they
like the prescriptive approach of traditional grammar rather than the descriptive approach of
structural and transformational grammar ... Why? Inconsistencies in the style of a newspaper,
online news site, magazine or book draw attention to themselves when readers should instead be
concentrating on the content. ...
Besides, consistencies save time and money. ... If we agree on conventions, we can avoid wasting
each other's time ... But the prescriptive rules have to be amended occasionally to reflect not only
changes in the language but also research that proves traditional advice may have been
inaccurate. The work of linguists is essential for making such calls on the best evidence available,"

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