In the international context of concerns about standards in writing, this article addresses the role of grammar in the teaching of writing.  It considers both current and historical perspectives on the teaching of grammar and offers a critique of research which attempts to determine the impact of grammar teaching on writing, but which does not investigate how the grammar teaching was pedagogically linked to teaching writing. The article argues that there has never been a critical theorisation of how grammar might support the development of writing, and thus there has been very limited research which has explored this relationship.  Drawing on the findings of a current research enquiry, the article offers a possible theorisation for a pedagogically robust role for grammar in the teaching of writing.