It becomes undeniable that when we discuss the concept of grammar, the notion attributed by a great number of people is that it is a set of rules that lead us to speak and write correctly.
However, it is worth mentioning that this concept is even broader, starting with the meaning prescribed by the dictionary, which portrays:
Study or treatise of the facts of language, spoken and written, and the laws that regulate it.
Such postulates offer us enough subsidies to understand the reason for such amplitude, especially when stressing about the laws that regulate grammar. These, therefore, are imposed on us as a way of showing right and/or wrong. Resembling rules of which we are already aware, such as those related to moral conduct and ethics, such as the civil code and traffic rules, there is nothing to discuss: it is up to us to respect them and ready!
Therefore, we are governed by a conventional system, common to all language users, which, when it comes to written language, reveals its preponderant aspect. Therefore, we can conceive of this aspect as representing normative grammar, as it relates to predetermined norms.
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But even when it comes to the concept portrayed by the dictionary, we have an important aspect, sometimes worthy of note: “facts of language, spoken and written”. In this way, we are referring to the way in which language takes place, regardless of the communication proves to be adequate or not, since in any case the interlocution is manifest. Such an occurrence makes us believe that there is another type of grammar - one that seeks to verify the uniformities or divergences between the different records of the same language, as is the case of dialects.
Finally, we have the internalized grammar, the one represented by the speaker's intrinsic experiences, from an early age. It is a characteristic that the individual already has (regardless of being educated or not) and that he gradually improves, according to his linguistic experiences.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Brazil School Team
Grammar - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "The concept of grammar – expanding notions"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/o-conceito-gramatica-ampliando-nocoes.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.