* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Basics of English grammar
Zulu grammar wikipedia , lookup
Lithuanian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Untranslatability wikipedia , lookup
American Sign Language grammar wikipedia , lookup
Japanese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Macedonian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Polish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Greek grammar wikipedia , lookup
Yiddish grammar wikipedia , lookup
French grammar wikipedia , lookup
Malay grammar wikipedia , lookup
Lexical semantics wikipedia , lookup
Navajo grammar wikipedia , lookup
Serbo-Croatian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Russian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Modern Hebrew grammar wikipedia , lookup
Spanish pronouns wikipedia , lookup
Icelandic grammar wikipedia , lookup
English clause syntax wikipedia , lookup
Portuguese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Georgian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Chinese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Kannada grammar wikipedia , lookup
English grammar wikipedia , lookup
Latin syntax wikipedia , lookup
Basics of the English grammar All you need to know about your own language before you start learn another language PART 1: SENTENCE STRUCTURES What is grammar? • The structure of a specific language • Each language has different grammatical rules: some languages have tenses, others not. Some languages have masculine and feminine nouns, others not. • Because differences in grammar, literal translations usually don’t work. A language is more than a random combination of words. Two main levels • SENTENCE ANALYSIS • WORD ANALYSIS Here we split the sentence up into different parts and we analyse which function each part has within a sentence. Here we look at the name and function of each word as such. On top of the ‘lexical’ meaning of the word, there are also grammatical characteristics for each word type. Eg. ‘John is kind.’ ‘I give John a kiss.’ Twice the same word (John), but a different function within each sentence (subject vs indirect object) Eg: play as a verb play as a noun 1. Sentence structures a) What is a sentence? b) Which main parts do we have in a sentence? c) How do we know which part is which? a) What is a sentence? A sentence is a combination of different sentence parts. A sentence starts with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop, question mark or explanation mark. A the very least, a sentence will contain a conjugated verb a verb that goes together with a subject, or an ‘imperative’ (which has an implied subject) Some sentences can be very simple. I play. Sit down! Others can contain ‘mini sentences’ within sentences (we call these ‘clauses’) and they can become very long and complicated: ‘The man I met yesterday at the train station, which is recently renovated, is supposed to be the father of John’s second wife. Sentences can be a combination of two clauses who are equal in weight (importance). Eg. ‘I like to play music and I enjoy swimming.’ Equally important Or they can contain a subclause in a main clause (a clause is something which contains a verb or ‘doing word’) Eg. ‘I met the man you had talked about.’ This subclause describes ‘the man’ Unconjugated verbs, loose words etc are not sentences. We must have at least one conjugated verb to have a proper sentence. Check: Is it a proper sentence? • YES! • NO! I have played football. Beautiful children. We are happy. To play tennis. He has completed his homework. When I came home. Yesterday, I watched a good film. When I grow up, I would like to become a filmstar. Played. Watching tennis. b) Which main parts do we have in a sentence? SUBJECT VERB DIRECT OBJECT INDIRECT OBJECT ADVERBIAL (of place, time etc) c) How do we know which part is which? The subject SUBJECT Conjugated VERB To check whether something is a subject, change the ‘I’ to ‘he’ and see if the verb form changes Who? What? is connected with the main verb? I am He am He is Conjugated verb SUBJECT The direct object SUBJECT VERB DIRECT OBJECT To find out which part the direct object is, ask Who/What SUBJECT VERB? WHO or WHAT? I buy flowers. WHAT DO I BUY? flowers Direct object The indirect object SUBJECT VERB INDIRECT OBJECT DIRECT OBJECT To find out which part the indirect object is, as TO WHOM, SUBJECT (INDIRECT OBJECT) VERB TO WHOM? I buy my mother flowers To/for whom do I buy fowers? My mother Indirect object The adverbial SUBJECT ADVERBIAL Of place, time etc VERB INDIRECT OBJECT The adverbial gives additional information about where, when etc the action took place. Sometimes it can be as a mini sentence (clause) within a sentence. DIRECT OBJECT Where? When? How? I buy my mother flowers at the market near my house Where do I buy the flowers? At the market near my house Adverbial •I love you. •I met him yesterday. •We played football in the park. •I want to buy a new jacket. •In the future, I will become a teacher. •They are building a new house. •He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. •My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. We played football in the park. I want to buy a new jacket. In the future, I will become a teacher. They are building a new house. He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. I want to buy a new jacket. In the future, I will become a teacher. They are building a new house. He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. In the future, I will become a teacher. They are building a new house. He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. direct object In the future, I will become a teacher. They are building a new house. He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. direct object In the future, I will become a teacher. subject They are building a new house. He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. direct object In the future, I will become a teacher. subject They are building a new house. subject He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. direct object In the future, I will become a teacher. subject They are building a new house. subject He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. direct object My mother has recently been promoted at work. I love you. subject I met him yesterday. direct object We played football in the park. adverbial I want to buy a new jacket. direct object In the future, I will become a teacher. subject They are building a new house. subject He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam. direct object My mother has recently been promoted at work. adverbial RECAP How will your understanding of sentence structures help you when learning a foreign language (tongue)? • Do you know what makes up a real sentence? • Which main parts can we find in a basic sentence? • How do we find the subject within a sentence? • Which question do we ask to find the direct object? • Which question do we ask to find the indirect object? • Which question do we ask to find the adverbial(s)?