Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


prescriptive grammar

an approach to grammar in which a series of rules is used to distinguish proper from improper usage and a standard version of the language is identified and promoted (see standard language). It is often contrasted with descriptive grammar, in which the goal is to provide an accurate account of language use without specification as to correctness. Prescriptive grammarians seek to correct nonstandard forms, such as I can’t get no satisfaction, whereas descriptive grammarians seek to characterize the rule system that produces such utterances.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

November 22nd 2024