| Dionysius Thrax |
|
(170 BCE — 90 BCE) A Greek grammarian who lived and worked in Alexandria and, purportedly, wrote the first proper Greek grammar — the Art of Grammar (Tékhnē grammatiké). In his book, which only dealt with morphology (the study of syntax had to wait 300 years for Apollonius Dyscolus' work), he concocted the idea that there are eight parts of speech. Though Thrax's concept pertained to Greek, the idea that there are just eight parts of speech greatly influenced subsequent Latin and English grammarians. Note: He was called Thrax because his father was a Thracian. |
| Quotation:
"[His book] served as a model for both Latin and English grammars down to almost the time of Shakespeare. As a matter of fact, many of its principles are still used in English grammar, as, for instance, a pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person and number but its case depends upon the structure of the clause in which it stands."
(Source: Harper's English Grammar) |