The history of English grammars begins late in the sixteenth century with the ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' by

William Bullokar William Bullokar was a 16th-century printer who devised a 40-letter phonetic alphabet for the English language. Its characters were in the black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by ...

. In the early works, the structure and rules of

English grammar English grammar is the set of structural rules of the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, Sentence (linguistics), sentences, and whole texts. This article describes a generalized, present-day Standard English ...

were based on those of Latin. A more modern approach, incorporating

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

, was introduced in the nineteenth century.

Sixteenth to eighteenth centuries

The first English grammar, ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' by

, written with the seeming goal of demonstrating that English was quite as rule-bound as

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, was published in 1586. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily's Latin grammar, ''Rudimenta Grammatices'' (1534). Lily's grammar was being used in schools in England at the time, having been "prescribed" for them in 1542 by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. Although Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a " reformed spelling system" of his own invention, many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, were to be written in Latin; this was especially the case for books whose authors were aiming to be scholarly. Christopher Cooper's ''Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ'' (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin. Latin grammar traditions bore down oppressively on early English grammar writing. Any attempt by one author to assert an independent grammatical rule for English was quickly followed by declarations by others of the truth of the corresponding Latin-based equivalent. As late as the early nineteenth century, Lindley Murray, the author of a widely used grammar, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from the ones in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

or Latin. The focus on tradition belied the role that other social forces had begun to play in the early seventeenth century. Increasing commerce, and the social changes in its wake, created a new impetus for grammar writing. The greater British role in international trade in the second half of the century, created a demand for English grammars among speakers of other languages. Quite a few English grammars were published in European languages. Grammars were also being written for "non-learned, native-speaker audiences" in Britain, such as women, merchants, tradesmen, and children. As education and literacy had become more widespread by the early eighteenth century, many grammars, such as John Brightland's ''A Grammar of the English tongue'' (1759) and James Greenwood's ''Essay towards a practical English grammar'', were intended for those without a Latin background, including the "fair sex" and children. If by the end of the seventeenth century, English grammar writing had made a modest start, totaling 16 grammars from the time of Bullokar's ''Pamphlet'', by the end of the eighteenth century, a brisk pace had been set with some 270 titles added, a large proportion published late in the century. Both publishing and demand were to continue to mushroom. The first half of the nineteenth century would see the appearance of almost 900 new English grammar books. Showing little originality, most took the tack of claiming—as justification for their appearance—that the needs of their particular target audience were still unmet or that a particular "grammatical point" had not been adequately treated in the preexisting texts, or oftentimes both. Texts that aimed to be utilitarian and egalitarian were proliferating. Edward Shelley's ''The people's grammar; or English grammar without difficulties for 'the million (1848), for example, was written for "the mechanic and hard-working youth, in their solitary struggles for the acquirement of knowledge."

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...

's popular mid-century book was titled, ''A Grammar of the English Language, In a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of Young Persons in General, but more especially for the use of Soldiers, Sailors, Apprentices, and Plough-Boys''. Ann Fisher published her influential English grammar in 1745 and some 30 editions thereafter, making it one of the most popular early English grammars and the first written by a woman.

Eighteenth-century prescriptive grammars

Robert Lowth Robert Lowth ( ; 27 November 1710 – 3 November 1787) was a Bishop of the Church of England, Oxford Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of English grammar. Life Lowth was born in Hampshire, England, G ...

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his elect ...

and thereafter of London, scholar of Hebrew poetry, and for a short time

Oxford Professor of Poetry The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time po ...

, was one of the best known of the widely emulated grammarians of the 18th century. A self-effacing clergyman, he published ''A Short Introduction to English Grammar, with critical notes'' (1762), his only work on the subject, without the author's name on the title page. His influence extended, through the works of his students Lindley Murray and

, well into the late 19th century. He would also become, among prescriptive grammarians, the target of choice for criticism by later descriptivist linguists. In America in 1765, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, founder and first president of King's College in New York City (now

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

) published ''An English Grammar; the First Easy Rudiments of Grammar Applied to the English Tongue''. It "appears to have been the first English grammar prepared by an American and published in America." In 1767, Johnson combined his grammar with a Hebrew grammar, and published it as ''An English and Hebrew grammar, being the first short rudiments of those two languages'', suggesting the languages be taught together to children. Johnson developed his grammars independently of Lowth, but later corresponded and exchanged grammars with him. English grammar increasingly held great significance for people in the United States with little to no income, and educational backgrounds. Learning the basic principles of grammar helped a cross-section ranging from former slaves to rail splitters and weavers to speak and write with fluency and rise in their careers. In Britain, the women

Ellin Devis Ellin Devis (December 1746 - February 1820), also known as Eilen Devis or Ellin Davis, was a schoolmistress and author of ''The Accidence'' (1775), a popular eighteenth-century grammar. Biography Ellin Devis was the daughter of Arthur Devis (1 ...

Dorothea Du Bois Lady Dorothea Du Bois (1728–1774) was an Irish poet, autobiographer and musical dramatist, whose claims on her father's estate were never met. Life Du Bois was the eldest daughter of Richard Annesley, afterwards sixth earl of Anglesey, and An ...

, Mrs. M. C. Edwards, Mrs. Eves,

Ellenor Fenn Ellenor Fenn ( Frere; 1743–1813; pseudonyms, Mrs. Teachwell, Mrs. Lovechild) was a prolific 18th-century British writer of children's books. Early life Ellenor Frere was born on 12 March 1743/44 in Westhorpe, Suffolk to Sheppard and Susanna ...

(aka Mrs. Teachwell and Mrs. Lovechild), Ann Fisher,

Jane Gardiner Jane Arden Gardiner (1758–1840) was a British schoolmistress and grammarian, and one of the earliest friends of Mary Wollstonecraft. Early life Gardiner was the daughter of John Arden, a scholar and lecturer, who is best known as one of Mary ...

née Arden, Blanche Mercy, and Mrs. Taylor, published some twelve grammars in the late 18th-century, their books running into many editions over several decades. English grammar was being seen to be important not only for better English writing but also for learning other languages thereafter.

Nineteenth century to present

Modern-language studies became systematized during the nineteenth century. In the case of English, this happened first in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, where it was studied by historical and comparative linguists. In 1832, Danish philologist

Rasmus Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively to ...

published an English grammar, ''Engelsk Formlære'', part of his extensive comparative studies in the grammars of

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

. German philologist

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...

, the elder of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

, included English grammar in his monumental grammar of

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...

, ''Deutsche Grammatik'' (1822–1837). German historical linguist Eduard Adolf Maetzner published his 1,700 page ''Englische Grammatik'' between 1860 and 1865; an English translation, ''An English grammar: methodical, analytical and historical'' appeared in 1874. Contributing little new to the intrinsic scientific study of English grammar, these works nonetheless showed that English was being studied seriously by the first professional linguists. As

became a full-fledged field, ''spoken English'' began to be studied scientifically as well, generating by the end of the nineteenth century an international enterprise investigating the structure of the language. This enterprise comprised scholars at various universities, their students who were training to be teachers of English, and journals publishing new research. All the pieces were in place for new "large-scale English grammars" which combined the disparate approaches of the previous decades. The first work to lay claim to the new scholarship was British linguist

Henry Sweet Henry Sweet (15 September 1845 – 30 April 1912) was an English philologist, phonetician and grammarian.''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', as hosted oencyclopedia.com/ref> As a philologist, he specialized in the Germanic lang ...

's ''A new English grammar: logical and historical'', published in two parts, Phonology and

Accidence In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...

(1892) and

Syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

(1896), its title suggesting not only continuity and contrast with Maetzner's earlier work, but also kinship with the contemporary ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles'' (begun 1884), later the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' (1895). Two other contemporary English grammars were also influential. ''English Grammar: Past and Present'', by

John Collinson Nesfield John Collinson Nesfield (14 August 1836 – 28 June 1919) served in various roles as an educator in British India and was for some time curate of St Michael's Church, Highgate, London. He wrote numerous books, of which his works on grammar ...

, was originally written for the market in

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...

. It was later expanded to appeal to students in Britain as well, from young men preparing for various professional examinations to students in "Ladies' Colleges." Other books by Nesfield include ''A Junior Course In English Composition, A Senior Course In English Composition'', but it was his ''A Manual Of English Grammar and Composition'' that proved really successful both in Britain and her colonies—so much so that it formed the basis for many other grammar and composition primers including but not limited to ''Warriner's English Grammar and Composition'', and ''High School English Grammar and Composition'', casually called

Wren & Martin ''Wren & Martin'' refers to a single book ''High School English Grammar and Composition'' or collectively, a series of English grammar textbooks written jointly by P. C. Wren and H. Martin. Written primarily for the children of British officers ...

, by

P. C. Wren Percival Christopher Wren (1 November 187522 November 1941) was an English writer, mostly of adventure fiction. He is remembered best for ''Beau Geste'', a much-filmed book of 1924, involving the French Foreign Legion in North Africa. This was ...

and H. Martin. ''Grammar of spoken English'' (1924), by

H. E. Palmer H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. H may also refer to: Musical symbols * H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů * H, B (musical note) * H, B major People * H. (noble) (died after 1279 ...

, written for the teaching and study of

English as a foreign language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

, included a full description of the intonation patterns of English. The next set of wide-ranging English grammars were written by Danish and Dutch linguists. Danish linguist

Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth ce ...

, who had coauthored a few books with Henry Sweet, began work on his seven-volume '' Modern English grammar on historical principles'' in the first decade of the twentieth century. The first volume, ''Sounds and Spellings'', was published in 1909; it then took forty years for the remaining volumes on syntax (volumes 2 through 5), morphology (volume 6), and syntax again (volume 7), to be completed. Jespersen's original contribution was in analyzing the various parts of a sentence in terms of categories that he named, ''rank'', ''junction'', and ''nexus'', forgoing the usual

word class In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are assi ...

es. His ideas would inspire the later work of

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

and

Randolph Quirk Charles Randolph Quirk, Baron Quirk, CBE, FBA (12 July 1920 – 20 December 2017) was a British linguist and life peer. He was the Quain Professor of English language and literature at University College London from 1968 to 1981. He sat as ...

. The Dutch tradition of writing English grammars, which began with Thomas Basson's ''The Conjugations in Englische and Netherdutche'' in the same year—1586—as William Bullokar's first English grammar (written in English), gained renewed strength in the early 20th century in the work of three grammarians: Hendrik Poutsma, Etsko Kruisinga, and

Reinard Zandvoort Reinard may refer to: * Reinard the Fox, a fox in medieval European literature *Ketua kelas People with the surname Reinard

* Julian Reinard (born 1983), German footballer * Reinard Wilson (born 1973), American football linebacker {{disambig ...

. Poutsma's ''Grammar of late modern English'', published between 1904 and 1929 and written for "continental, especially Dutch students," selected all its examples from English literature.

Timeline of English grammars

*1551. John Hart ''The Opening of the Unreasonable Writing of our Inglish Toung'' *1586.

: ''Brief Grammar of English''. *1594. Paul Greaves: ''Grammatica Anglicana''. *1612. Thomas Tomkis ''De Analogia Anglicani Sermoni liber Grammaticus'', Royal Manuscript Collection of the British Library (12.F.xviii). *1617.

Alexander Hume Alexander Hume (1558 – 4 December 1609) was a Scottish poet who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in the early 17th century. Life He was born in 1558 the son of Patrick Hume (d.1599). The brother of Patr ...

: ''Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue''. *1619/1621. Alexander Gill: ''Logonomia Anglica''. *1634. Charles Butler: ''English Grammar''. *1640.

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

: ''The English Grammar''. *1646. Joshua Poole: ''The English Accidence''. *1653.

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...

: ''Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ''. *1654. Jeremiah Wharton: ''The English Grammar''. *1662. James Howell: ''A New English Grammar''. *1669. John Newton: ''School Pastime for Young Children: or the Rudiments of Grammar''. *1671. Thomas Lye: ''The Child's Delight''. *1685. Christopher Cooper: ''Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ''. *1688. Guy Miège: ''The English Grammar''. *1693. Joseph Aickin: ''The English grammar''. *1700. A. Lane: ''A Key to the Art of Letters''. *1745. Ann Fisher ''A New Grammar''. *1761.

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

: The Rudiments of English Grammar:Adapted to the Use of Schools. *1762.

: ''A short introduction to English grammar: with critical notes''. *1763. John Ash: ''Grammatical institutes: or, An easy introduction to Dr. Lowth's English grammar''. *1765. William Ward: ''An Essay on English Grammar''. *1766.

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

: ''A dictionary of the English Language...: to which is prefixed, a Grammar of the English Language''. *1772.

: '' The Rudiments of English Grammar: Adapted to the Use of Schools''. *1775.

: ''The Accidence'' *1772.

: ''Short English Grammar'' *1795. Lindley Murray: ''English grammar: adapted to the different classes of learners''. *1799.

: ''Young Ladies’ Grammar'' *1804.

Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

: ''A Grammatical Institute of the English Language''. *1809.

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...

: ''A New and Improved Grammar of the English Tongue'' *1818.

: ''A Grammar of the English Language, In a Series of Letters''. *1850. William Chauncey Fowler: ''English grammar: The English language in its elements and forms''. *1874. Eduard Adolf Maetzner, ''An English grammar: methodical, analytical, and historical. With a treatise on the orthography, prosody, inflections and syntax of the English tongue, and numerous authorities cited in order of historical development''. (English translation of ''Englische Grammatik'' (1860–65)). *1892/98.

: ''A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical'' (Part 1: Introduction, Phonology, and Accidence; Part 2: Syntax). *1898. John Nesfield.
A Manual of English Grammar and Composition
'. *1904–1929. Hendrik Poutsma: ''A Grammar of Modern English'' (5 volumes). *1909–1932. Etsko Kruisinga: ''A Handbook of Present-day English'' *1909–1949.

: ''

A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles ''A modern English grammar on historical principles'' is a seven-volume grammar of English written by Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the E ...

''. *1931/1935. George O. Curme: ''A Grammar of the English Language''. *1945. R. W. Zandvoort: ''A Handbook of English Grammar''. *1952.

Charles C. Fries Charles Carpenter Fries (November 29, 1887 – December 8, 1967) was an American linguist and language teacher. Fries is considered the creator of the Aural-Oral method (also erroneously called the Audio-Lingual method). He believed, along with ...

: ''The Structure of English: An Introduction to the Construction of English Sentences''. *1984. M. A. K. Halliday: ''An Introduction to Functional Grammar''. *1985.

Sidney Greenbaum Sidney Greenbaum (31 December 1929 – 28 May 1996) was a British scholar of the English language and of linguistics. He was Quain Professor of English language and literature at the University College London from 1983 to 1990 and Director ...

, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik: ''

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' is a descriptive grammar of English written by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. It was first published by Longman in 1985. In 1991 it was called "The greate ...

''. *1996 Sidney Greenbaum, ''Oxford English Grammar''. 652 pages. *1999.

Douglas Biber Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech,

Susan Conrad Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

, and Edward Finegan: ''

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English ''Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English'' (''LGSWE'') is a descriptive grammar of English written by Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan, first published by Longman in 1999. It is an authorita ...

''. *2002.

Rodney Huddleston Rodney D. Huddleston (born 4 April 1937) is a British linguist and grammarian specializing in the study and description of English. Huddleston is the primary author of '' The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (), which presents a com ...

and

Geoffrey Pullum Geoffrey Keith Pullum (; born 8 March 1945) is a British and American linguist specialising in the study of English. He is Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. Pullum is a co-author of ''The Cambridge Gram ...

: ''

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language ''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (''CGEL'') is a descriptive grammar of the English language. Its primary authors are Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum. Huddleston was the only author to work on every chapter. It was publ ...

''. 1842 pages. *2006. Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy: ''Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide''. 973 pages. *2011. Bas Aarts: ''Oxford Modern English Grammar''. 410 pages.

Footnotes

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *{{Citation, last=Zandvoort, first=Reinard Willem , title=A handbook of English grammar, year=1945, publisher=Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff. Pp. 349, isbn=9780582553200 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6814AAAAIAAJ *