Which 1762 book by Robert Lowth helped standardize English grammar?

Which 1762 book by Robert Lowth helped standardize English grammar? The answer is A Short Introduction to English Grammar.

Robert Lowth published the book in 1762 to provide a clear, teachable account of English grammar. Its full title was A Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes. The work became one of the most influential eighteenth-century English grammar books and helped popularize a prescriptive approach to usage.

Lowth’s grammar often compared English with Latin and treated certain constructions as errors or inferior forms. His discussion of ending a sentence with a preposition helped strengthen a rule that remains familiar in classrooms, even though modern linguists generally regard stranded prepositions as normal English grammar. Lowth himself used such a construction while discussing the issue.

The book did not single-handedly standardize all English, and it was not the first English grammar. Its importance lies in its influence: later school grammars and usage guides drew on its judgments, helping turn particular preferences into widely repeated “rules.”