Rhetoric and Composition/Grammar

What is Grammar?

Grammar is the study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences. Grammar is the scientific study of language that includes morphology (also "accidence" or the forms that words take) and syntax (the relation of the words to other words). Grammar also involves the study of the different parts or elements of speech (for example nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), the relations between those elements. A knowledge of grammar provides a vocabulary to discuss how the language works.

Need some help?

• St. Cloud State University has a great website that is very useful for writers called LEO: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu.

It is especially great because it is written based on college writing. It is quite in depth and is broken down into many categories so a writer can find what they need. Access is available for anyone, not limited to students of St. Cloud State University.

• A writer can use many different reference tools through St. Cloud State University's website. Among these references includes free access to the Oxford English Dictionary. Go to http://lrts.stcloudstate.edu.

Click the "Library" link then the "Online References Resources" drop down menu. Here, there will be a list of many useful resources. Some of these resources are limited to student only use.