The term prescriptive grammar refers to a set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually used. Contrast with descriptive grammar. Also called normative grammar and prescriptivism.
A person who dictates how people should write or speak is called a prescriptivist or a prescriptive grammarian.
According to linguists Ilse Depraetere and Chad Langford, "A prescriptive grammar is one that gives hard and fast rules about what is right (or grammatical) and what is wrong (or ungrammatical), often with advice about what not to say but with little explanation" (Advanced English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach, 2012).
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