Download English Practical Grammar

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.