Grammar Introduction
What is grammar?
1
What is grammar?
• Prescriptive grammar deals with what is
correct or incorrect
“…[English]…is taught so bloody badly”
Prince Charles, 1989
• Descriptive grammar deals with the
effect different linguistic choices can have
on communication in different contexts
2
Example of a prescriptive grammar rule – a
sentence should not end in a preposition
1. This is the house (which) he lives in.
2. This is the house in which he lives.
3
There are rules of grammar and
rules of style
Did you see the man near the table with the hairy legs?
This sentence does not break any grammatical
rule but it is not effective communication
4
Why learn grammar?
” An increased knowledge of the
grammatical resources of the language will
provide the language user with conscious
mastery over a range of possibilities for
constructing sentences effectively”
Collins and Hollo (pp18-19)
5
What are these possibilities?
• Choice of vocabulary
• Grammatical choices
• Choice of style
All of these will influence how the
reader/listener interprets your message.
6
Choice of vocabulary
A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a
grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters
continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive
damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
7
Choice of vocabulary
Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda
from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area
in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)
8
Grammatical choices
Active
The police killed the demonstrators
S
V
O
Passive
The demonstrators were killed (by the police)
S
V
9
Choice of style
Open the window!
Open the window please
Could you open the window please?
Would you mind opening the window please?
It certainly is hot in here.
10
Language structure
This course deals with how sentences are
put together and how different
combinations and choices are used, what
affects these choices and what effect the
choices have on interpretation and
understanding. To do this we analyse
sentences and look at common language
errors for non-native speakers of English.
11
Different levels of analysis
•
•
•
•
•
•
Discourse
(Sentence)
Clause (S, P/V, O, C, A)
Phrase (NP, VP, PP)
Word (Word class)
Morpheme (-s, -able, un- etc)
12
Word Class
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Prepositions
Pronouns
Conjunctions
Determiners
13
Nouns
They typically denote people, places & objects
Fredrik, France, table
But can be more abstract things
Unemployment, calmness, stupidity
We can test if they are nouns
The stupidity (of my friends)
Such stupidity
His stupidity
14
Verbs
They typically express actions, activities
as well as states and relationships
There are six inflectional forms:
Present
talk
break
3rd person
talks
breaks
Past
talked
broke
Infinitive
to talk
to break
Present participle talking
breaking
Past participle
talked
broken
15
Adjectives
They denote a characteristic or quality
They can be predicative (post-modifying)
My cat is fat
or attributive (pre-modifying)
That is a fat cat
16
Adjectives
They are gradable
My cat is fat
My cat is fatter than yours
Her cat is the the fattest
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
more beautiful, the most beautiful
17
Adverbs
They typically have the meaning of
manner, time, place etc. and they typically
modify verbs
look carefully
but can also modify adjectives
absolutely lovely
other adverbs
very carefully
and whole clauses
Unfortunately, we have to leave early.
18
The other word classes
• Prepositions of, in, at, under, to after, by
• Pronouns you, it, mine
• Conjunctions and, or
• Determiners the, a/an, these, some
19
Show what word class these words
belong to
Noun
Verb
love
verify
escape
unemployment
run
mother
cousin
worry
20
Phrase structure
• Noun phrase NP – the noun is the head
My four friends in the car want to come too.
• Verb phrase VP – the verb is the head
I have been thinking about leaving.
• Preposition phrase PP
My four friends in the car want to come too.
21
Clause structure
•
•
•
•
•
When we analyse sentences, we talk about
clause elements. The names for these differ in
different grammar books but for this course we
have used the following terms
Subject
S
subjekt
Predicator
P/V predikat
Object
O
objekt
Complement
C
predikatsfyllnad
Adjunct/Adverbial
A
adjunkt
22
Subject & Object
The subject and object usually consist of a
nominal phrase (a phrase in which the
head word is a noun)
My four friends
or a nominal clause (a clause with a
nominal function)
taking the opportunity
to climb the Eiffel Tower
what we need
23
How do we identify the subject?
• Tag question
Jean is your sister, isn’t she?
• Substitute with a nominative pronoun
• Inversion
Is she your sister?
• Subject-verb agreement
Are they your sisters?
24
Predicator – (also V verb element)
The predicator contains the verb element
and can either be a main verb only or
contain auxiliary verbs (hjälpverb) as well.
play
have played
would have played
25
Complement - sometimes called
predicative
Complements can consist of nominal
phrases
My friend was a maths teacher
nominal clauses
That is what I mean
or adjectives
This is beautiful
26
Complement
Subject complements, which tell us about
the subject of the sentence, occur after a
copular verb (bindeverb) eg. be, feel,
remain, become, get
Object complements come after complex
transitive verbs eg appoint, call, consider,
make and tell us something about the
object
27
Adjuncts - sometimes called adverbials
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
They can move position more readily than other
elements. They can have a number of different
meanings. They can express:
Time
Manner
Reason
Space
Opinion
Degree
Frequency
28
Adjuncts
These have a number of different
characteristics. They can be adverbs or
preposition phrases.
Unfortunately
within the next two years
on the floor
29
Adjuncts
Quite often it is possible that there can be more
than one position for an adjunct in a sentence
Last week we moved to a new flat
We moved to a new flat last week
Adjuncts are usually not obligatory elements,
which means they can be left out and we will still
have an acceptable sentence
We moved to a new flat
30
Match the following pairs
Column 1
Column 2
C
Clause structure
A. noun phrase
B
Word class
B. Conjunction
A
Phrase structure
C. complement
Correct - Click anywhere to
continue
Your answer:
Incorrect - Click anywhere to
continue
You did not answer this question
You answered this correctly!
TheYou
correct
completely
answer
must
answeris:
the question
before continuing
Submit
Clear
31
Match the following pairs
Column 1
Column 2
C
Clause structure
A. Preposition phrase
A
Phrase structure
B. adverb
B
Word class
C. subject
Correct - Click anywhere to
continue
Your answer:
Incorrect - Click anywhere to
continue
You did not answer this question
You answered this correctly!
TheYou
correct
completely
answer
must
answeris:
the question
before continuing
Submit
Clear
32
This is an example of a preposition
phrase: in the middle of next week
A) True
B) False
Correct - Click anywhere to
continue
Your answer:
Incorrect - Click anywhere to
continue
You did not answer this question
You answered this correctly!
TheYou
correct
completely
answer
must
answeris:
the question
before continuing
Submit
Clear
33
This is an example of a noun phrase:
My cousin who is a actress
A) True
B) False
Correct - Click anywhere to
continue
Your answer:
Incorrect - Click anywhere to
continue
You did not answer this question
You answered this correctly!
TheYou
correct
completely
answer
must
answeris:
the question
before continuing
Submit
Clear
34
Name 3 word classes
A) noun
B) subject
C) preposition
D) predicator
E) complement
F) adjective
Correct - Click anywhere to
continue
Your answer:
Incorrect - Click anywhere to
continue
You did not answer this question
You answered this correctly!
TheYou
correct
completely
answer
must
answeris:
the question
before continuing
Submit
Clear
35
Grammar introduction
Your Score {score}
Max Score {max-score}
Number of Quiz {total-attempts}
Attempts
Question Feedback/Review Information Will
Appear Here
Continue
Review Quiz
36