He became a teacher in Lyon, and married a surgeon's daughter and released the first edition of his Grammaire françoise simplifiée (Simplified French grammar) in 1778.
After that book didn't sell well, he went to Paris and established a society of amateur French linguists.
He had his Grammaire simplifiée book re-edited, collaborated in the Journal général du soir, de politique et de littérature and rereleased his Journal de la Langue Françoise book.
He became grammar professor at the École centrale des Quatre-Nations, and later chaired the humanities department at the Lycée Charlemagne in Paris.
He was elected to Seat 1 of the Académie française in 1803, and helped commission the Academy's dictionary.