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Grammar and Syntax

Grammar and Syntax are (just) the basic, formal templates, within which speech, language, relationships, as well as creating, negotiating and playing with meaning, etc. take place. This starts to flesh out what is meant by signs as "tools with ironic potential" (See the last part of the Introduction, here ...) 

It is possible to see grammar as the 'residue' of language - the 'dregs' (my term) that is left over after the dynamic interplay of speech (aka: parole) takes place. This is resonant with, but quite distinct from MAK Halliday's Functional Grammar (or Hallidayian grammar), which lays out the multiple ways in which different forms of grammar (for example present and past tense) can be used in ways which are 'grammatically correct,' but nevertheless mean completely different things - they give quite different 'slants' to what is being described.  

This gives the lie to the notion that grammar is only about correctness - that there is only one way to be grammatically correct. It points out, at great length, that speech (and even writing) can be far more flexible and dynamic, while maintaining 'grammatical correctness'.  And it lays the foundations for 'critical discourse analysis' too.