A description, study, or analysis of such rules may also be known as a grammar, or as a grammar book. A reference book describing the grammar of a language is called a "reference grammar" or simply "a grammar" (see History of English grammars). A fully revealed grammar, which describes the grammatical constructions of a particular speech type in great detail is called descriptive grammar. This kind of linguistic description contrasts with linguistic prescription, a plan to actively ban, or lessen the use of, some constructions while popularising and starting others, either absolutely or about a standard variety. For example, some pedants insist that sentences in English should not end with prepositions, a ban that has been traced to John Dryden (1631–1700). His unjustified rejection of the practice may have led other English speakers to avoid it and discourage its use. [4] [5] Yet ending sentences with a preposition has a long history in Germanic languages like English, where it is so widespread as to be the norm. [ citation needed] Modern Standard Arabic is directly based on Classical Arabic, the language of the Qur'an. The Hindustani language has two standards, Hindi and Urdu. There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, [27] including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place, of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are -ward[s] (as in homeward[s]) and -wise (as in lengthwise). Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify; for exceptions see postpositive adjective), as in the big house, or predicatively, as in the house is big. Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, drunken is attributive ( a drunken sailor), while drunk is usually predicative ( the sailor was drunk). Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. [25] These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with pregnant, dead, unique. Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly, although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely. Another type of adjective sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as delicious and terrified.

Outside linguistics, the word grammar often has a different meaning. It may be used more widely to include rules of spelling and punctuation, which linguists would not typically consider as part of grammar but rather of orthography, the conventions used for writing a language. It may also be used more narrowly to refer to a set of prescriptive norms only, excluding the aspects of a language's grammar which do not change or are clearly acceptable (or not) without the need for discussions. Jeremy Butterfield claimed that, for non-linguists, "Grammar is often a generic way of referring to any aspect of English that people object to". [6] Etymology [ edit ] The preeminence of Parisian French has reigned largely unchallenged throughout the history of modern French literature. Standard Italian is based on the speech of Florence rather than the capital because of its influence on early literature. Likewise, standard Spanish is not based on the speech of Madrid but on that of educated speakers from more northern areas such as Castile and León (see Gramática de la lengua castellana). In Argentina and Uruguay the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of Buenos Aires and Montevideo ( Rioplatense Spanish). Portuguese has, for now, two official standards, respectively Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Rarely, nouns illustrating things with no gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to convey familiarity. It is also standard to use the gender-neutral pronoun ( it). [13] Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on Ellipsis. A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase. [32] Examples are in England, under the table, after six pleasant weeks, between the land and the sea. A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in the man in the car, the start of the fight; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in deal with the problem, proud of oneself; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above).

Many nouns that mention people's roles and jobs can refer to either a masculine or a feminine subject, for instance "cousin", "teenager", "teacher", "doctor", "student", "friend", and "colleague". [13] Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like me too, nor me, me neither. The latter forms are used after negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: I do too or so do I; I don't either or neither do I.) There are also correlative conjunctions, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before the first of the items being linked. [33] The common correlatives in English are:

For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles. Hogg, Richard, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English language: Volume I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.144. Greenbaum, Sidney (1996). The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University Press. pp.109–110. ISBN 0-19-861250-8. In speech the genitive is signalled in singular nouns by an inflection that has the same pronunciation variants as for plural nouns in the common caseThe word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a complement after the verb. Adverbs perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). [27] However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases ( only the boss; quite a lovely place), pronouns and determiners ( almost all), prepositional phrases ( halfway through the movie), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude ( Frankly, I don't believe you). [28] They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences ( He died, and consequently I inherited the estate). [28] Butler, Christopher S. (2003). Structure and Function: A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories, part 1 (PDF). John Benjamins. pp.121–124. ISBN 978-1-58811-358-0. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2020 . Retrieved 19 January 2020. Harper, Douglas. "Grammar". Online Etymological Dictionary. Archived from the original on 9 March 2013 . Retrieved 8 April 2010.

Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in a two-bedroom house, a no-jeans policy. The word there in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a dummy predicate, rather than as a pronoun. [17] However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above.Fowler, H.W. (2015), Butterfield, Jeremy (ed.), Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, p.813, ISBN 978-0-19-966135-0