grammar, syntax

Grammar is not a list of rules involving "do's and don'ts." As usually applied in speech and in some writing, the word usage should be substituted for grammar. Grammar itself is the science that deals with words and their relationships to each other. It is concerned with a consideration and account of the features of a language and with speech and writing according to various standards of usage but not according to correctness, as such. When someone is said to use bad grammar, all that can be meant is that he uses language in some way that is not currently and generally accepted or that his usage is not in line with prevailing practice. Syntax is a study of the signs that appear in a system and, as applied to language, deals with the arrangement of words in a sentence to show their relationship. It is a rather vague and general term but one for which our language has no adequate substitute. Although syntax is a branch of grammar, the latter term is more useful in referring to word order, parts of speech, and the like.