What is grammar and how does it differ from orthography - study techniques

What is orthography?

The orthography of a language, in simple terms, consists of a set of rules. These rules govern aspects of the "correct" structure of language. Orthography, in a nutshell, is the normative part of language.

The word "normative", at least when used in the context of linguistics, is viewed with some disdain by many, but spelling has a raison d'être. This "regulation" makes it possible to unify the language and facilitate communication among its speakers. If there were no parameters regarding, for example, how to write a word and we all wrote as we wished, it would be quite difficult to understand each other.

What is grammar?

Grammar, on the other hand, concerns the relationships between words.

The Royal Academy, in its New basic grammar of the Spanish language says:

• "Grammar studies the structure of words the ways in which these are linked and the meanings to which such combinations give rise".

In turn, the study of grammar can be divided into different branches. Morphology, for example, concentrates on the structure of words, studying, for example, the elements such as roots and affixes that make them up. On the other hand, lexicology studies the meaning of words and pragmatics refers more to the meaning of words in context.

As an example, then, if you want to know if a word has a tilde, your question is orthographic, but if you want to know which is the conjugation for a particular verb, your question is grammatical.