This work is an overview of grammatical theory for advanced students and which presents an accessible critique of the theories which dominated linguistics in the 20th century and which found its modern expression in Chomsky's "Universal Grammar". Three alternative approaches - functionalism, pragmatics and sociolinguistics - are presented as offering more natural grammars in a real life context. In the final section the author presents her own view of how grammar should be taught and outlines future directions for grammatical theory and language teaching.