Applied Grammars The other category of grammar, which I have labeled as Applied Grammar, actually can be divided into

two sub-categoriesDescriptive and Prescriptive. Descriptive Grammars attempt to precisely describe the linguistic processes a particular user employs. It does not tell the user how to speak or understand. In Descriptive Grammars there are no right or wrong ways to speak or write except as the language itself allows (Zeigler 1996). Prescriptive Grammars, on the other hand, can be thought of as the opposite of Descriptive Grammars in that they describe rules that govern the use of language. Prescriptive Grammars establish a proper way in which to speak or write. These are the grammars that are explicitly taught in schools. Sometimes referred to as pedagogical grammars, these grammars frequently blur into each other. Traditional Grammars and School Grammars, for example, are often considered the same category and will be discussed together. Prescriptive Grammars fall into Hartwells categories of Grammars 3 and 4. He points out that these grammars developed unscientifically and were largely based on an appeal to logical principles and Latin grammar in the guise of English. Rhetorical Grammar is an interesting development in Prescriptive Grammars and, depending on how it is interpreted, could also be considered a Descriptive Grammar. According to Martha Kolln (1996), Rhetorical Grammar is based on the noun phrase, what Kolln identifies as the most common structure in the English language. Kollns method asks students to manipulate noun phrases and modifiers and to think critically about the syntactic structure of the noun phrase and the effect of different referents on meaning.