英语教学术语选摘(120)

【The Meanings of‘Grammar’】‘Grammar’is a protean term,meaning different things to different people,but often also used with varying references by the same speaker.To summarize from Lyons(1968),for the Ancient Greeks it was a branch of philosophy.The earliest debates centred on whether it was a natural phenomenon beyond human control,or whether it was a convention with which humans could meddle.The focus shifted over several centuries to the question as to whether language was principally regular or irregular.