Pointer to array of character arrays

If you're insisting on using C-compatible character pointers, I think you'll have the best luck using a char ** as the type for input. This is more of the usual way to do this (in C at least), and it has the added benefit of not forcing you to define a maximum string size.

As others have pointed out, you can take advantage of std::string instead, which may be a better choice overall.

I'm guessing it's that you're not passing a pointer to char[][], you're passing a char[][].

Also, you should be using std::string instead of char arrays.

std::string will be the most appropriate here! It handles strings and character arrays well enough!

There are few errors in the code. I suppose you are trying to refer to the charArray in the main function from inside the Alphabetizer object. If that is the case the declaration

char * input[MAX_LINES][MAX_STRING];

is wrong because the above declaration makes input an array of MAX_LINE of ( array of MAX_STRING of (char*)). In summary input is an array not a pointer to array of whatever. If you had intended it to be a pointer - which is what rest of your code hints to me - then you have to do the following,

const int MAX_LINES = 10, MAX_STRING = 80;

class Alphabetizer{
    public:
        Alphabetizer(char ((*ar)[MAX_LINES])[MAX_STRING]) : m_ar(ar){};

    private:
        char ((*m_ar)[10])[80];
};

int main(){
    char charArray[MAX_LINES][MAX_STRING];
    char ((*ar)[MAX_LINES])[MAX_STRING] = &charArray;
    Alphabetizer theAlaphBet(&charArray);
    return 0;
}

Moreover doing,

input(inArray)

is wrong, as it is equivalent to doing the following,

char a[1] = {'a'};
char b[1] = {'p'};
a = b;

assigning an array to another does not copy one over another. You have to do explicit memcpy. (This semantics is not meaningful in c or c++)

It's difficult to tell without seeing the compile errors, but I think the problem might be this line:

Alphabetizer theAlaphBet(charArray);

You are passing the array directly rather than it's address. It should read:

Alphabetizer theAlaphBet( &charArray );

However I think you may be overcomplicating things. You might be better off using a reference rather than a pointer:

const int MAX_LINES = 10, MAX_STRING = 80;

class Alphabetizer{
    public:
        Alphabetizer(char & inArray[][MAX_STRING]) : input(inArray){};

    private:
        char & input[MAX_LINES][MAX_STRING];
};

int main(){
    char charArray[MAX_LINES][MAX_STRING];
    Alphabetizer theAlaphBet(charArray);
    return 0;

}

You might also want to look into using std::string instead as this may help to simplify your code.