English Grammar,
Adapted to the Different
Classes of Learners
Murray.s grammar is subtitled .adapted to the different classes of leaners., and, as a result of a strict division into main text and additional linguistic information, it is a graded grammar. It would thus appear to be suitable for learners of different ages. This was one of the reasons for the grammar.s phenomenal popularity.

Murray.s grammar is to a large extent based on Lowth.s (Vorlat 1959), but it also differs in a number of respects. Furthermore, the second half of the eighteenth century saw the birth of grammars written specifically for children, for which there proved to be a real market (Navest 2005). In this paper, I will discuss the question of whether - as would appear to be the case - it was Lowth.s grammar which gave the impetus to this development or not, and what it was that made his grammar unsuitable for children. I will do so by focussing on Lowth.s methodology in codifying the English language and contrasting it with that adopted by Murray and others of the period, thereby taking into account a number of specific linguistic strictures discussed in the grammars. As these grammars were primarily aimed at the rising middle classes (Fitzmaurice1998), I will also argue that the presence of some of these linguistic strictures in the grammars can be explained by what was considered to be a real threat at the time: the possibile linguistic contamination by English nannies in the language acquisition process of young children.