A Grammar of the English Tongue

Samuel Johnson was a well-known literary figure in England. Johnson was an author, lexicographer, biographer and critic. Johnson has been quoted more than any other English author with the exception of Shakespeare. Much of Johnson's fame is attributed to the biography done by Boswell. The biography centers on the latter part of Johnson's life, thus Johnson has been seen more as a gruff society figure than as the struggling and poverty-stricken writer that he was for much of his life. Johnson states that grammar is the art of using language correctly. Grammar can be divided into 4 parts: orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody. "Orthography is the art of combining letters into syllables, and syllables into words. Etymology teaches the deduction of one word from another, and the various modifications by which the sense of the same word is diversified. Prosody comprises orthoepy, or the rules of pronunciation; and orthometry, or the laws of versification."