English Grammar is for advanced undergraduates, graduates, and others who have a professional interest in language and English grammar. The intended audience consists of students who will make their living by analyzing and evaluating other people's language, including those preparing for professions in fields such as English, linguistics, education, communication, speech-language pathology, and ESL.

The subtitle reflects the fact that there are four distinct approaches to English grammar, each covered in a separate section of the book. Prescriptive grammar emphasizes questions of usage. Descriptive grammar categorizes the parts of speech and sentence types in English. Generative grammar attempts to discover more abstract underlying regularities in syntax. And performance grammar explores the way that sentences and larger texts are actually processed by readers and listeners. English Grammar is designed to explain the history, goals, strengths, and weaknesses of each of these approaches, as well as to introduce readers to the major claims and findings of each one.