1、1,A Course of English Grammar for Students of English Cheng Zhenquan School of Foreign Studies, SCNU,2,Contact me: Public mail: password: ilovegrammar,3,Lecture 1 Introduction,4,Preliminaries:,Would you be surprised if someone tells you that English has only two tenses: present & past? that English
2、 sentences do not have attributive? How would you account for the ungrammaticality of the following sentences? *His all books are on the desk. *My that dictionary was bought last year.Would you call “can, may, should, must” modal verbs or modal auxiliaries?,5,The Goals for this Course,To get a compr
3、ehensive view of English grammar system and enhance our grammatical competence so that we may qualify as English majors;To better understand some basic grammatical notions and their applications, especially in the field of language teaching To get some preliminary knowledge about the main streams of
4、 theory in grammar so as to prepare for the future research work.,6,The Requirements for this course,Class attendanceActive participation in the classroom discussionsFulfillment of the assignments:Examination Note: To ease the difficulty in learning, it is strongly recommended that we memorize the g
5、rammatical jargons (terms) in English.,7,Course book,8,Some other reference books,张道真， 2004，实用英语语法， 外语教学和研究出版社。薄冰、何政安，2004，新编英语语法，世界知识出版社。Quirk, R. et al, 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman Group Ltd.,9,According to the curriculum schedule, we are expected to fini
6、sh this course within two weeks. It is apparent that we cannot cover every section of the book in the class hours. In this situation, we particularly encourage self-access learning on the part of students. Specifically, everyone needs to make sure that he/she should read through every single page of
7、 the course book and finish all the assignments.,Attention, please!,10,The evaluation of this course,11,Now, lets concern ourselves with the following issues about grammar studies.The definition of grammar;The way we learn grammar;Descriptive vs prescriptive studies of grammar;Grammatical hierarchy.
8、,12,What does grammar mean?,Grammar is a mechanism which makes people speak and write in a meaningful way. In this sense, grammar is something that associates Form and Meaning.,form,grammar,meaning,13,What does grammar mean?,Grammar is a set of rules that regulate peoples speech and writing, esp. wr
9、iting, to fit into a proper form.Language is a rule-governed system.,14,Language system,Meaning system,Form system,Sound system,Phonetics & phonology,Morphology& syntax,Semantics & pragmatics,grammar,The status of grammar in language system,15,How do we view linguistic facts?,Consider the following
10、sentences:A: Whos knocking at the door?B: Its I/me.Ted sings better than I / me.Who / whom are you waiting for?“To reluctantly leave” or “to leave reluctantly”?“Who did she go with? ” or “With whom did she go?”,16,Descriptive study vs Prescriptive study,Descriptive study to describe/analyze linguist
11、ic facts observed or language people actually use (modern linguistics)Prescriptive study to lay down rules for “correct” linguistic behavior in using language (traditional grammar),17,Note: Taking the formality of language into account, sometimes its difficult to say whether a sentence is grammatica
12、l or not. As language learners, we should bear in mind that less formal or less standard sayings do not necessarily mean inaccuracy. They are also acceptable in some social context. But we should give preference to the formal and standard forms.,18,The way we learn grammar,Do you still remember:How
13、we learned the grammar of Chinese or Cantonese?How we learned the grammar of English?,19,The way we learn grammar,According to Stephen D. Krashens learning and acquisition hypothesis,the learning of our mother-tongue is a natural, implicit, and unconscious process known as acquisition. the learning
14、of English is a planned, explicit, and conscious process known as learning.,20,Grammar is the structural system of a language. The grammar of the English language consists of five layers of structure:,Grammatical Hierarchy,morpheme,word,phrase,clause,sentence,21,Grammatical Hierarchy,Sentence is the
15、 highest rank of grammatical unit while the morpheme is the minimum or lowest rank. A full sentence can generally be segmented rank by rank down to its smallest constituents- the morphemes, e.g.,Sentence Clause NP VP PP Det N Aux Adv MV Prep Det NThese under-graduate-s are rapid-ly improv-ing in the
16、ir writ-ing.,22,morpheme,Morpheme is the minimum or smallest grammatical unit, also the minimal unit of meaning. Morphemes fall into two categories: free morphemes and bound morphemes.,23,Free morpheme vs bound morpheme,A free morphemes has a complete meaning and can stand by itself as a simple word
17、, e.g. boy, girl, act, teach, good, niceBound morphemes are mostly affixes. They are also meaningful, but the meaning is not complete in itself unless it is attached to some other form. Therefore, a bound morpheme cannot stand by itself: it only exists as an inflectional or derivational affix, e.g.
18、Inflectional affixes: -ed, -ing, -(e)s, -er, -est, -s Derivational affixes: im-, dis-, re-, -ful, -ly, -ness, -tion,24,Word,A word is composed of one or more morphemes. Words can be classified in two ways.In terms of word-formation, words can be divided into simple words, derivatives and compounds,
19、e.g.Simple words: write, day, hope, happyDerivatives: writer, daily, hopeful, unhappyCompounds: typewriter, birthday, blackboard, greenhouse, blacksheep,25,Word,In terms of grammatical function, words can be divided into closed-class words and open-class words. The former refer to those (like auxili
20、ary, pronoun, preposition, determiner, conjunction, etc.) whose items are “closed” or limited in number while the latter refer to those (like noun, main verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) whose items are indefinitely extendable. New items are constantly created and old items are giving place to the new
21、ones.,26,phrase,A phrase is composed of one or more than one word. Generally a phrase is built around a head word which determines the class of the phrase. Here we introduce five types of phrases:NP: the student, a story about a sentimental girlVP: often dream, be playing the pianoAdjP: very pessimi
22、stic, too difficult for a childAdvP: so slowly, rarely indeedPP: on the shelf, from USA,27,Noun Phrase (NP)-,determiner + premodifier + noun + postmodifiere.g. all the studentshis new book on phonologya story about a sentimental girlthe tall boy sitting in the cornerthe authors new novel that will s
23、oon come out,28,Verb Phrase (VP)-,modifier + main verb or auxiliary + main verb e.g. We utterly detested him. It is getting dark.She ought to have told him about it.The children might have been playing in the garden.He may really have injured innocent people.,29,Adjective Phrase (AdjP)-,modifier + a
24、djective + postmodifier/complementatione.g.Its fine today.The course is pretty difficult.You are not careful enough.Thats too difficult for a child.The chicken is too hot to eat.Ill be glad to help you repair the car.,30,Adverb Phrase (AdvP)-,modifier + adverb + postmodifiere.g.He spoke loudly.Be a
25、man. Dont act so slowly.She spoke very clearly indeed.He lives furthest from the station.,31,Prepositional Phrase (PP)-,modifier + preposition + complementatione.g.Im from China.We are collecting money for the benefit of orphans. The story was based upon an incident in the authors life.Food had been
26、 scarce since before the war.,32,clause,A clause is composed of one or more than one phrase. A full-fledged clause is structurally a sequence of phrases and logically a construction of “subject + predicate”.,Sentence Clause Subject Predicate Subject Verb Object NP VP NP The producers are able to sup
27、ply a small parts of our needs.,33,clause,According to their grammatical functions, Clauses may fall into the following categories:,1. Independent and dependent clause2. Simple and complex clause3. Main and subordinate clause4. Finite and non-finite clause5. Verbless clause,34,Independent and depend
28、ent clause,An independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself and act as a complete utterance, as distinguished from a dependent clause which forms only part of another clause or of a phrase. Judge whether the following clauses are independent or dependent.He is the murderer. I dont think he
29、 is the murderer.That hat doesnt fit; you may try another.If that hat doesnt fit, try another.His new book will soon come out. It is on grammar.His new book that will soon come out is on grammar.,35,Simple and complex clause,When a clause consists of only one construction of “subject + predicate”, i
30、t is a simple clause. When a clause comprises another or other clauses as its element or elements, it is a complex clause. Judge whether the following clauses are simple or complex. It is not true.What you said is not true.He said that it was not true.He complained (that what you said was not true).
31、Note: an independent simple clause is virtually a simple sentence, and an independent complex clause is also a complex sentence.,36,Main and subordinate clause,In a complex clause, the clause that takes another clause as its element is the main clause, while the clause that forms part of the main cl
32、ause is subordinate clause, e.g.,He complained that what you said was not true. Subordinate clause Main clause Subordinate clauseMain clause,Note: While the subordinate clause is embedded in the main clause, the main clause can also be part of another subordinate clause which is embedded in some oth
33、er higher matrix clause.,37,Finite and non-finite clause,A finite clause is one with a finite VP as its predicator while a non-finite clause is the one with a non-finite VP as its predicator. The examples given so far are all finite clauses. Specifically, non-finite clauses are those that take infin
34、itive, -ing and -ed participle as their predicators, e.g.,I signed the paper to get the license.I believe him to be innocent.Do you mind opening the window?The man, wearing such dark glasses, obviously could not see clearly.Moved by the scene, he donated all his savings to the quake-hit area. The di
35、scussion completed, the chairman adjourned the meeting for half an hour. (also known as nominative absolute construction),38,Verbless clause,A verbless clause is a construction of “subject + predicate” without any form of verb element, e.g.,Hungry and exhausted, the climbers returned.Confident of th
36、e justice of their cause, they agreed to put their case before the arbitration panel.One of the most popular tourist sites in Italy, Pompeii was viewed by nearly two million visitors last year.Christmas then only ten days away, the family was pent up with excitement.,39,sentence,A sentence can be de
37、fined as a grammatical unit that can stand by itself and perform a communicative function.Full and minor sentences- a full sentence is a sentence with an expressed subject and predicate, and a minor sentence is only sentence fragment which in specific context can stand by itself and perform a commun
38、icative function, e.g.A: When did the arrive? B: Last night.Who called this morning? B: Mrs Smith.No parking!No admittance except on business!Help!,40,The types of full sentence,Simple sentence a sentence that comprises only one independent clause.Compound sentence (coordinate sentence) two or more
39、coordinated independent clauses make a compound sentence. (usually joined together by using conjunctions such as: and, or, but, then, etc.)Complex sentence an independent clause that comprises one or more dependent clauses as its element(s). Compound-complex sentence two or more coordinated independ
40、ent clauses with at least one complex clause make a compound-complex sentence.,41,Decide the sentence types of the following examples:,In the past two decades, great changes have taken place in that village, but the living standard there has not been substantially improved. The students I teach have
41、 made better grades in the past few weeks. The students have made better grades in the past few weeks.The students would have made better grades if they had studied hard.What he did was utterly wrong.Undoubtedly, the students had the potential to make better grades, but they didnt because they were
42、too lazy.,compound/coordinate sentence,complex sentence,simple sentence,complex sentence,complex sentence,Compound-complex sentence,42,Sentence Structure,43,Sentence structure,Clause elementsBasic clause patterns,44,Clause elements,A full-fledged clause can be generally divided into two parts: the s
43、ubject and the predicate.The subject is the topic or theme of the sentence, which tells of what the sentence is about. It is generally realized by a noun phrase or an equivalent of noun phrase.The predicate says something about the subject and bears the new information which the speaker or writer wa
44、nts to transmit to the listener or reader. It generally consists of a verb phrase with or without complementation.,45,See the following sentences:the subject the predicate Henry is the most studious in the class. Marys dog is chasing Teds cat. The floods made thousands of people homeless.Jennies ski
45、rt is designed in the shape of mushroom. ,46,sentence analysis,English sentences can be analyzed in two ways:One way is to divide the predicate into predicate verb, object, complement and adverbial. These elements together with the subject make the five clause elements. (Note: no attributive)The oth
46、er way is to divide the predicate into two parts: the operator and the predication. Operator is usually the auxiliary or the first auxiliary in a complex VP, while the predication comprises the main verb with its complementation (object, complement or adverbial),47,For instance, sentence “All the men have done their best” can be analyzed as:,Sentence Clause NP VP NP Subject Predicate Verb Object All the men have done their best.,
