A historical perspective of French grammar is developed in this chronologically arranged reader. Part One includes material on French grammar from the 16th to the 19th century: (1) the "Premiere Epoque": 1530-1660, (2) the general grammar of Port-Royal, and (3) the "philosophical grammars" treating syntax, sentence structure, and discourse analysis. Part Two focuses on grammar from Saussure to Togeby with separate sections on the writings of Saussure, Brunot, Damourette and Pichon, Guillaume, Gougenheim, Tesniere, and Togeby. An essay on the classification of contemporary grammars introduces the third section, which contains selected writings from Brondal, Greimas, Moignet, Harris, Dubois, E. Bach (the transformationalist view of distribution), R. W. Langacker (description of a minimal, simple sentence), Gross ("Une Transformation d'effacement"), and Benveniste. A bibliography and indexes of names and works, and words and basic concepts are included. For companion documents in this series see ED 041 504, ED 041 505, and ED 041 506. (RL)