ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what grammar is as well as dispels some myths about it. The chapter also illustrates the role that grammar and the lexicon (words) play in the construal, representation, and – crucially – the communication of everyday experience. The chapter distinguishes ‘grammar’ as a prescriptive notion and looks at it as the fundamental engine of language that enables speakers to give shape to thought and to model experience, and their role in it. The function of intonation and word choice in discourse are also addressed.
