In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses and words in a natural language. The term refers to the study of such rules and this field includes phonology and syntax complemented by phonetics and pragmatics. Fluent speakers of a language variety or lect have a set of internalized rules which constitutes its grammar; the vast majority of the information in the grammar is – at least in the case of one's native language – acquired not by conscious study or instruction but by hearing other speakers. Much of this work is done during early childhood. Thus, grammar is the cognitive information underlying language use; the term "grammar" can describe the rules which govern the linguistic behavior of a group of speakers. For example, the term "English grammar" may refer to the whole of English grammar. Alternatively, it may refer only to what is common to the grammars of most English speakers, it may refer to the rules of one well-defined form of English. A description, study, or analysis of such rules may be referred to as a grammar.

A reference book describing the grammar of a language is called a "reference grammar" or "a grammar". A explicit grammar which exhaustively describes the grammatical constructions of a particular speech variety is called a descriptive grammar; this kind of linguistic description contrasts with linguistic prescription, an attempt to discourage or suppress some grammatical constructions, while codifying and promoting others, either in an absolute sense or in reference to a standard variety. For example, some prescriptivists maintain that sentences in English should not end with prepositions, a prohibition, traced to John Dryden whose unexplained objection to the practice led other English speakers to avoid the construction and discourage its use, yet preposition stranding has a long history in Germanic languages like English, where it is so widespread as to be a standard usage. Outside linguistics, the term grammar is used in a rather different sense, it may be used more broadly to include conventions of spelling and punctuation, which linguists would not consider as part of grammar but rather as part of orthography, the conventions used for writing a language.

It may be used more narrowly to refer to a set of prescriptive norms only, excluding those aspects of a language's grammar which are not subject to variation or debate on their normative acceptability. Jeremy Butterfield claimed that, for non-linguists, "Grammar is a generic way of referring to any aspect of English that people object to." The word grammar is derived from Greek γραμματικὴ τέχνη, which means "art of letters", from γράμμα, "letter", itself from γράφειν, "to draw, to write". The same Greek root appears in graphics and photograph; the first systematic grammar, of Sanskrit, originated in Iron Age India, with Yaska, Pāṇini and his commentators Pingala and Patanjali. Tolkāppiyam, the earliest Tamil grammar, is dated to before the 5th century AD; the Babylonians made some early attempts at language description. In the West, grammar emerged as a discipline in Hellenism from the 3rd century BC forward with authors such as Rhyanus and Aristarchus of Samothrace; the oldest known grammar handbook is the Art of Grammar, a succinct guide to speaking and writing and written by the ancient Greek scholar Dionysius Thrax, a student of Aristarchus of Samothrace who founded a school on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Dionysius Thrax's grammar book remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD. The Romans based their grammatical writings on it and its basic format remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages today. Latin grammar developed by following Greek models from the 1st century BC, due to the work of authors such as Orbilius Pupillus, Remmius Palaemon, Marcus Valerius Probus, Verrius Flaccus, Aemilius Asper. A grammar of Irish originated in the 7th century with the Auraicept na n-Éces. Arabic grammar emerged with Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali in the 7th century; the first treatises on Hebrew grammar appeared in the context of Mishnah. The Karaite tradition originated in Abbasid Baghdad; the Diqduq is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. Ibn Barun in the 12th century compares the Hebrew language with Arabic in the Islamic grammatical tradition. Belonging to the trivium of the seven liberal arts, grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the Middle Ages, following the influence of authors from Late Antiquity, such as Priscian.

Treatment of vernaculars began during the High Middle Ages, with isolated works such as the First Grammatical Treatise, but became influential only in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In 1486, Antonio de Nebrija published Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin, the first Spanish grammar, Gramática de la lengua castellana, in 1492. During the 16th-century Italian Renaissance, the Questione della lingua was the discussion on the status and ideal form of the Italian language, initiated by Dante'

The Rochester Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U. S. state of New York. The line runs from Solvay, New York, west to Churchville, New York, along the former New York Central Railroad water level route. At its east end, west of downtown Syracuse, New York, the line continues west from the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision at Control Point -296, it intersects the West Shore Subdivision, which provides a southern bypass of Rochester, at Fairport and Churchville. At its west end in Churchville the line becomes the Buffalo Terminal Subdivision. Amtrak's Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf operate over the entire Rochester Subdivision; the oldest part of the Rochester Subdivision is from Rochester southwest to Batavia, opened in 1837 by the Tonawanda Railroad. The portion of the line from Rochester east to Brighton was opened in 1841 by the Auburn and Rochester Railroad; the two lines were connected in Rochester in 1844. The Buffalo and Rochester Railroad built from Depew east to Batavia in 1852, replacing the old longer route via Attica.

In 1853, the New York Central Railroad built a more direct route from Syracuse to Rochester, meeting the old route east of Rochester at Brighton. Most of the line once had four tracks, while much of the railbed is still wide enough to support such infrastructure, only two tracks are in service; the entire line became part of the New York Central Railroad and Conrail through leases and takeovers, was assigned to CSX Transportation in the 1999 breakup of Conrail. In the 1850s, New York Central Railroad took over the line in an effort to build new direct routes; the railroad built signal bridges along the line to increase capacity. All New York Central Railroad signals along the subdivision have been replaced by CSX Transportation with the newer Safetran signals. List of CSX Transportation lines

Henrietta Foster Crosman was an American stage and film actress. Crosman was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, to George Crosman Jr. a Civil War Major, Mary B. Wick, a niece of composer Stephen Foster, her grandfather was George H. Crosman. Crosman was born the year the Civil War started and moved all over the US from post to post with her army father, so was educated in many places. On leaving school she decided to become an actress; when she was 16, Crosman spent a year in Paris studying music with thoughts of singing grand opera. After her voice broke during a vocal lesson, she left France and thereafter turned her thoughts toward a career in theater. Crosman got her start in 1883 at the old Windsor Theatre, New York with the assistance of the long-time theatre manager John A. Ellsler, her debut role was as Lilly in Bartley Campbell's The White Slave. She toured the country with Robert L. Downing in classic parts. In 1889 she appeared in her first Shakespeare play, at Augustin Daly's theater. During the course of the early 1890s she was managed by Daniel Frohman and appeared in his stock company.

From 1892 to 1894 her career was managed by Charles Frohman. For a short period during 1891, in between Frohman brothers, she was under the aegis of A. M. Palmer. By 1900 Crosman was a star and appeared for the first time as such in Mistress Nell keeping in line with the sort of costume adventures that were becoming her forte. In 1902, she appeared in the productions of "Joan of the Shoals", "As You Like It" and "The Sword of the King". In 1903, she premiered another exceptional play, "Sweet Kitty Bellairs". Several of these plays would be made as films in the silent era played by younger actresses. In 1911, she and her company staged 60 performances of Catherine Chisholm Cushing's comedy The Real Thing at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York, before taking the show on the road. In early July 1912, Crosman and company were in Regina, Saskatchewan following the Regina Cyclone, staged a benefit performance of The Real Thing for the victims. Now in her forties, Crosman was starting to move away from the strenuous sword-carrying, heavy costume adventures that she was popular in.

Much of the remainder of her theatrical career would consist of drawing room comedies and farces, a type of playing, less hectic for an ageing actress. However, she would return to revivals of Shakespeare, i.e. The Merry Wives of Windsor, in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals. Crosman, like many a heralded stage star, held off from motion pictures, but by 1914 and out of curiosity she'signed up', as the popular motto went at the time, for a one-picture deal with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players. It was a film version of The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch, which as a play had been a winning success for Mrs Fiske in 1901 on Broadway; the Supreme Test followed in 1915 for Universal Studios but afterwards her silent film appearances were sporadic. Her husband Maurice Campbell joined his wife in the movie industry becoming a noted director. By 1930 silent films had given way to talking pictures and as in 1914 the motion picture business courted stage trained actors. Crosman a veteran and now approaching seventy had a career resurgence endearing herself to a new younger generation who never had the chance to see her in her youth on stage.

She gave a heartbreaking performance in a rare lead film role in Pilgrimage as the embittered mother of a soldier killed in World War I who travels to the Argonne and undergoes a spiritual renewal. An earlier talkie in which she appeared was The Royal Family of Broadway, a Paramount version of the play by Edna Ferber, loosely based on the Barrymore family. In 1886, Crosman married Sedley Browne. A year they had a son, Sedley Browne Jr; the Brownes divorced in 1896. In 1896, she married newspaperman Maurice Campbell, who became a stage producer and a director of silent films, they had a son, Maurice Campbell Jr. Maurice Campbell became a Broadway producer, he and Crosman joined the nascent silent film industry. The marriage to Campbell, eight years her junior, was a happy one and ended with his death in 1942. Henrietta Crosman survived her husband by two years, dying in 1944, aged 83. Biographical information for Crosman is archived in the University of Pittsburgh. Works by or about Henrietta Crosman at Internet Archive Henrietta Crosman on IMDb Henrietta Crosman at the Internet Broadway Database Henrietta Crosman gravesite Findagrave.com Henrietta Crosman gallery at the NY Public Library Henrietta Crosman 1892 portrait Univ of Louisville Macauley Theater Collection Henrietta Crosman picture gallery Univ of Washington Sayre collection article and portrait on Maurice Campbell