This work represents a milestone in the linguistic revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. With his contributions to the lexical structure and his analyses of the historical and current landscape of linguistics, he is a mandatory reference in his field

In the mid-1950s and largely starting from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a new approach to linguistic theory and the study of the structure of particular languages was developed, diverging in many aspects of modern linguistics. Although this approach is in connection with the traditional study of the language, in its general objectives and specific conclusions on the structure of the language it is different enough to deserve a separate name: "generative grammar" or, more specifically, "generative transformational grammar". In the course of the investigations, several deficiencies were identified in the early attempts to formulate generative grammar and in the descriptive analysis of particular languages, but it was also shown that these formulations could be extended and deepened in a fruitful manner.

In this work, Chomsky emphasizes above all syntax, the capital formative component of grammar. The first part of the work offers a new and clearer definition of Chomsky's own theory and carefully points out its connections and divergences from the linguistic investigations of the past. It also underlines the impact of the latest conclusions on crucial issues of philosophy and psychology, criticizing from a rationalist position the various modalities of empiricism and behavioralism.