MAURICE GREVISSE

'Maurice Grevisse' (October 7 1895—July 4 1980) is a Belgian grammarian. His name is pronounced , as if there were an acute accent on the first ''e''.

Contents

Biography

Bibliography

External links

Biography

Born in Rulles, a small village in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium, Grevisse at a young age broke with a family tradition of working as blacksmiths by deciding to become a schoolteacher. He attended the Normal School of Carlsbourg, where he received his teacher's diploma in 1915. He then entered the Normal School of Malonne and became a form-master of literature. He received a position as a teacher of French at l'École des Pupilles of the army of Marneffe. During this period, he taught himself Latin and Greek. While continuing to proceed in his career, he read classical philology at the University of Liège. In 1925, he received the title of "doctor of classical philology". In 1927, he became a professor at l'École royale des cadets in Namur.
As a schoolteacher turned professor, Grevisse realized that the existing grammars of French did not answer the needs of his teaching. He gathered together his notes to produce a manuscript he called ''le bon usage''.
Many renowned publishers refused his manuscript; eventually a modest publisher from Gembloux, Belgium published it in 1936. The publishing house ''Duculot'' was launched, and the success of the work never flagged, even during the war. André Gide cited ''Le Bon Usage'' as the best French-language grammar in existence.
Grevisse was named an officer of the Legion of Honor in 1971. From 1967 to his death, he held a seat at the International Board of the French language. Today his son-in-law André Goosse, born in 1926 and also a grammarian, continues to revise ''Le Bon Usage'' which is currently at its 13th edition.
Grevisse died in La Louvière, Hainaut, Belgium.

Bibliography

★ ''Le Bon Usage'' : the first edition dates to 1936. Eleven editions were published during the life of Grevisse and with his signature. The 11th edition dates to 1980. Ever since, the revision of ''Le Bon Usage'' has been continued by André Goosse from the 12th edition (1991) onwards. The 13th edition (1993) is the current edition, and the 14th edition is in preparation.
Besides ''Le Bon Usage'', Grevisse published several school and reference books dealing with difficulties in French:

★ ''Précis de grammaire française'' (1939)

★ ''Cours de dictées''

★ ''Le Français correct'' (1973)

★ ''Savoir accorder le participe passé'' (1975)

★ ''Quelle préposition ?'' (1977)

External links

★ Le français correct

★ Biographie (biography on the federal web site of Belgium)

★ Bibliographic information on the 13th edition of ''Le Bon Usage''