escription of account of the nature, build, constitution, or
make of a language is called its grammar--MEIKLEJOHN

Grammar teaches the laws of language, and the right method of
using it in speaking and writing.--PATTERSON

Grammar is the science of _letter_; hence the science of using
words correctly.--ABBOTT

The English word _grammar_ relates only to the laws which govern
the significant forms of words, and the construction of the
sentence.--RICHARD GRANT WHITE

These are sufficient to suggest several distinct notions about English
grammar--

[Sidenote: _Synopsis of the above._]

(1) It makes rules to tell us how to use words.

(2) It is a record of usage which we ought to follow.

(3) It is concerned with the _forms_ of the language.

(4) English _has_ no grammar in the sense of forms, or inflections,
but takes account merely of the nature and the uses of words in
sentences.

[Sidenote: _The older idea and its origin._]

Fierce discussions have raged over these opinions, and numerous works
have been written to uphold the theories. The first of them remained
popular for a very long time. It originated from the etymology of the
word _grammar_ (Greek _gramma_, writing, a letter), and from an effort
to build up a treatise on English grammar by using classical grammar
as a model.

Perhaps a combination of (1) and (3) has been still more popular,
though there has been vastly more classification than there are forms.

[Sidenote: _The opposite view_.]

During recent years, (2) and (4) have been gaining ground, but they
have had hard work to displace the older and more popular theories. It
is insisted by many that the student's time should be used in studying
general literature, and thus learning the fluent and correct use of
his mother tongue. It is also insisted that the study and discussion
of forms and inflections is an inexcusable imitation of classical
treatises.

[Sidenote: _The difficulty_.]

Which view shall the student of English accept? Before this is
answered, we should decide whether some one of the above theories must
be taken as the right one, and the rest disregarded.

The real reason for the diversity of views is a confusion of two
distinct things,--what the _definition_ of grammar should be, and what
the _purpose_ of grammar should be.

[Sidenote: _The material of grammar_.]

The province of English grammar is, rightly considered, wider than is