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English Practical Grammar Introduction What does the word “grammar” mean? Is grammar glamorous? 1. Grammar originates from the Latin grammatica, and ultimately from the Greek grammatike tekhne (“the art of letters”), as gramma used to signify “learning” in general: When the word was imported from French in 1176, it was spelt gramarye . Grammar means "letter," from graphein "to draw or write”. 2. In the 17th century grammar acquired the meaning “rules of language”, but the sole languages studied at that time were Greek and Latin. 3. Grammar also specialized to mean “occult knowledge, magic” and it produced a new word in Scottish “glamour”, which meant at first “enchantment, spell“ and which became very popular in the 18th century. Thus, “grammar” and “glamour” are related, but they have gone their separate ways. Or, maybe, not entirely so… This famous 12th century picture of the seven liberal arts testifies to the importance of grammar: “Grammatica” is represented at the top as a woman teacher holding a book in her left hand and birch-rods in her right hand, obviously prepared to deliver an equal share of instruction and punishment to her students. Philosophy is seated in the centre, surrounded by the seven liberal arts: the Trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and logic; and the Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. What is grammar? It is well to remember that grammar is common speech formulated. Somerset Maugham You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country. Robert Frost Grammar refers to the language patterns that indicate relationships among words in sentences. Robert de Beaugrande See Beaugrande’s A Friendly grammar of English at http://www.beaugrande.com/uploadgrammarheader.htm Why is it important to study grammar? Grammar makes it possible for us to put words and sentences together. When we speak a language, we always do grammar. Grammar also makes it possible for us to talk about language, and in doing so we learn a lot about the human mind. Linguistics and grammar Mainstream linguistics studies language as a tripartite structure: • phonology • grammar • lexicology Traditionally, the level of grammar is further divided into two sub-levels: Morphology, which analyzes the structure of the word Syntax, which concerns itself with the structure of the sentence • … Parts of speech With the term “parts of speech” we designate abstract word classes, which serve the purposes of grammatical description. Traditionally, we can distinguish eight parts of speech: NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, PRONOUNS, PREPOSITIONS, CONJUCTIONS, INTERJECTIONS. These eight word classes can be further subdivided into two groups: Major word classes, or content words (NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS); Minor word classes, or function PRONOUNS, PREPOSITIONS, INTERJECTIONS). words (ARTICLES, CONJUNCTIONS, and For more parts of speech/word classes and a more detailed description you can go to Beaugrande’s grammar http://www.beaugrande.com/UPLOADGRAMMARFOUR%20NUMBER%20 TWO.htm Major and minor parts of speech Major/content word classes are full-notional words, i.e. they have specific lexical meaning and are the major building blocks of the sentences. They are generally open classes (they can accept new members) and large (they comprise thousands of words) Minor/functional word classes tend to have an abstract grammatical meaning and function; they are close (they do not accept new members readily) and small (they are few in number). Parts of speech: definitions Noun: A word that names a person, thing, place, idea (John, computer, London, beauty) Verb: A word that expresses action, event, or state (strike, happen, be) Adjective A word that names a quality (blue, important, half-baked). Adverb A word that denotes manner or quantity (slowly, obstinately, much) Pronoun A word that stands for a noun/refers to a person, place, thing, idea, or act that was mentioned previously or that can be inferred from the context of the sentence (he, she, it, who, which) Preposition A word shows the relationship of a noun to another noun (at, by, in, to, from, with) Conjunction A word that connects other words, phrases, or sentences (and, but, or, because ). Interjection A word, phrase, or sound used as an exclamation and capable of standing by itself (oh, Lord, damn, my goodness ). Parts of the sentence Subject: It is that noun, pronoun, or phrase or clause about which the sentence makes a statement Predicate: It can include the main verb, subject complement, direct object, indirect object, or object complement. Main verb: It expresses an action, event, or a state of existence and sets up a relationship between the subject and the rest of the sentence. Object: • Direct object: It takes the action of the main verb. • Indirect object: It receives the action expresses in the sentence. He Subject • gave Verb Complement: a book Direct object to me. Indirect object Subject complement: It comes after a linking verb. He Subject is a student. Linking verb Subject complement Object complement: It adds detail to the direct object. • The company Subject considers Verb the new computer Direct object a major breakthrough. Object complement Grammatical meaning Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe… Although grammatical meaning is quite abstract and sometimes quite vague, it is still recognizable in the different function words (and, in, the) and inflectional markers (-s). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985 [1972]) The most authoritative grammar produced by a quartet of distinguished grammarians Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik (available at NBU Library) . Practical English Usage by Michael Swan. An excellent guide in alphabetical order to the problem points in the English language. Very useful, with real, living English examples taken from the British National Corpus. Grammar in Use Intermediate With answers: Self-study Reference and Practice for Students of English Raymond Murphy. A useful resource with explanations of specific grammar points on the left-hand page and practice exercises on the right.