Difference Between Prescriptive And Descriptive Grammar

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Descriptive Grammar Vs. Prescriptive Grammar When grammar is put to use in a society, people will often have different beliefs at what is the "right" or "proper" usage. This had led to the formation of two widely accepted forms of grammar, Prescriptivism and Descriptivism. These forms will often separate those who believe their form of grammar is the only correct way from those who use many forms they find to be acceptable. Descriptive grammar is formed by analyzing how speakers use a language, and deducing the rules they follow. Linguists create descriptive grammars in order to understand language more deeply. They understand that a single language can have multiple dialects, and that each dialect will have its own grammatical rules--internally …show more content…

An example of descriptive grammar can be explained using the following sentence. "We have unfinished business to take care of, He and I. Descriptivist 's will accept this form of the sentence, as well as the form "He and I have unfinished business to take care of" Prescriptive grammar is a set of rules for using language that are taught, or enforced, so that people will use the language in a particular way. Prescriptivists will often include schoolteachers, copyeditors, and others charged with correcting people 's use of the language. Prescriptivists start with the assumption that there is one "correct" way to use the language, and many incorrect ways. The "correct" version is actually the language 's prestige dialect, especially its written version--for example, Standard American English. To oversimplify a bit, the "prestige dialect" of a language is generally the one used by educated people in the big cities. There are different examples of the rules used by Prescriptivists. The most common rules used are to never use a double negative, never end a sentence in a preposition, and never split infinitives. While descriptive and prescriptive grammar may have their differences they share similarities in the fact that they influence how people use their choice of grammar as well as

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