Traditional approach

to the study of English

grammar
made and presenred by
Maria Zubanova and Alisa Shevtsova
Traditional grammar is a group of prescriptive rules and ideas about
language structure that are frequently taught in schools. Traditional
English grammar, sometimes known as "school grammar," is mostly
focused on Latin grammar rules rather than on current linguistic
study in English. Traditional grammar explains what is and is not
acceptable usage of the English language, overlooking cultural
differences or modernization in favor of upholding tradition.
Traditional grammar is frequently viewed as archaic and
regularly criticized by specialists due to its rigidity and
roots in outdated practices. Nevertheless, a lot of kids
today are taught this formal, traditional grammar.

Traditional grammar and other prescriptive forms are

regulated by strict norms. The majority of these
originated long ago in traditional grammar. While some
experts in the field support restrictiveness and the
objectives of conventional grammar, others criticize
them.
 The Positive Effects of Studying
Traditional Grammar

Although traditional approach is highly critised

nowadays by many, the following statements are
among the strong points of traditional grammar:

◊ Since it dominated the educational system for a long

time, it improved student writing by making it more
organized and proficient. To some extent, the
prescriptive rules contributed to regularizing language
usage.
 ◊ The development of modern grammar was greatly
influenced by traditional grammar. It has made significant
contributions to modern grammar in the areas of
terminology and ideas. Functional categories like subject
and object; syntactic categories like words, phrases, clauses,
and sentences and their various types and relations such as
subject-verb agreement and active-passive alternations; and
parts of speech and their associated grammatical features,
such as number, tense, and degree.
The Negative Effects of
Studying Traditional
Grammar
 As it is, traditional grammar cannot stand on its own. Other academic
fields, particularly philosophy, have an impact on it. That explains why
functional terms like subject and object as well as the definitions of
parts of speech are grounded in logic (meaning).
Remember that the name of a person, thing, or location is considered to
be a noun. For instance, it is challenging to define what is meant by a
"thing" when concepts like "books," "wind," "movement," "beauty,"
and "idea" are all thought of as things but we are unable to immediately
identify their points of similarity.
The definitions have received harsh criticism for
their use of logic or meaning. This is due to the
fact that we cannot identify whether a word is a
naming word (noun), a doing word (verb), or
even a joining word (conjunction) by looking at
it. There is neither a doer nor a topic in a
sentence, which is the definition of a subject.
For example: There is no need to panic.
Then, are we to assume that the sentence lacks a
subject? Absolutely not.
The prescriptive principles mentioned above
also demonstrate the improper use of logic. For
instance, a conjunction shouldn't come at the
start of a phrase because it is described as a
joining word (suggesting that it appears
between the two units it joins). However, we
are aware that there are some situations where
we may need to include a conjunction at the
beginning for emphasis, like in the sentence
"The boxer promised he would knock out his
opponent. And he did."
Rather of emphasizing how to create
good sentences, prescriptive rules
concentrate on the opposite, that is,
how to fix incorrect sentences.
Unfortunately, these regulations don't
reflect how language is actually used
every day. Despite the fact that we are
aware that spoken language
predominates, they are at best spotted
in formal written contexts.
 Considering the fact how many types of traditional
grammar there are, it is fairly difficult to use them
to describe other languages. Therefore, even when
two languages have different structural foundations,
there has been a tendency to impose the traits of
one language upon the other.
 Difference Between
Traditional Grammar and
Modern Linguistics
 Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its
structure, including the study of grammar, syntax, and
phonetics. In contrast, traditional grammar is to the type
of language study that existed before the beginnings of
modern linguistics. It was a collection of prescriptive
rules and concepts about the structure of language.
Most importantly, traditional grammar is prescriptive
whereas modern linguistics is descriptive. This is the
main difference between traditional grammar and
modern linguistics.
 Furthermore, most traditional grammarians
considered written form as the most important
aspect of language; however, modern linguists
consider speech as the most important aspect of
language. Moreover, traditional grammar
attempted to force language into a Latin-based
framework, but modern linguists do not judge one
language by the standards of another.
Thank you for your attention!