especially in present era where more at

Originally Posted by Unregistered

how much is traditional grammar effective especially in present era where more attenion is focused on funtional grammar?

It would take ages to answer this, because of the many interlinked questions implicit in it.

o What do you mean by 'traditional grammar'?o What do you mean by effective'?o How long is 'the present era'? Do you mean 'Nowadays'?o Whose attention is focused, by whom, and in what way?o What do you mean by 'functional grammar'? Are you talking about

Halliday, or do you just mean 'getting things done'?

This makes your question good for opening up debate. To that extent, it's also good for persuading me to concentrate on the cricket.

Definition:

The collection of prescriptive rules an+

+d concepts about the structure of u8 that is commonly taught in schools.

Traditional English

(also known as school grammar) is largely based on the principles of Latin grammar, not on current linguistic research in English.

Observations:

"We say that traditional grammar is prescriptive because it focuses on the distinction between what some people do with language and what they ought to do with it, according to a pre-established standard. . . . The chief goal of traditional grammar, therefore, is perpetuating a historical model of what supposedly constitutes proper language."(James D. Williams, The Teacher's Grammar Book. Routledge, 2005)

"[G]rammarians of the 2000s are the inheritors of the distortions and limitations imposed on English by two centuries of a Latinate perspective."(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003)

George Hillocks on the Negative Effects of Teaching Traditional Grammar"The study of traditional school grammar (i.e., the definition of parts of speech, the parsing of sentences, etc.) has no effect on raising the quality of student writing. Every other focus of instruction examined in this review is stronger. Taught in certain ways, grammar and mechanics instruction has a deleterious effect on student writing. In some studies a heavy emphasis on mechanics and usage (e.g., marking every error) resulted in significant losses in overall quality. School boards, administrators, and teachers who impose the systematic study of traditional school grammar on their students over lengthy periods of time in the name of teaching writing do them a gross disservice that should not be tolerated by anyone concerned with the effective teaching of good writing. We need to learn how to teach standard usage and mechanics after careful analysis and with minimal grammar."(George Hillocks, Research on Written Composition: New Directions for Teaching. National Council of Teachers, 1986)

"Why do the media cling to traditional grammar and its sometimes outdated rules? Mainly because they like the prescriptive approach of traditional grammar rather than the descriptive approach of structural and transformational grammar. . . .

"Why? Inconsistencies in the style of a newspaper, online news site, magazine or book draw attention to themselves when readers should instead be concentrating on the content. . . .

"Besides, consistencies save time and money. . . . If we agree on conventions, we can avoid wasting each other's time . . ..

"But the prescriptive rules have to be amended occasionally to reflect not only changes in the language but also research that proves traditional advice may have been inaccurate. The work of linguists is essential for making such calls on the best evidence available."(Brian Brooks, James Pinson, and Jean Gaddy Wilson, Working with Words. Macmillan, 2005)

TESL!

Differences between traditional and functional grammar

• Generally the largest level of analysis in traditional grammar is the sentence. Generally the largest level of analysis in functional grammar is the text.

• Tradition grammar generally operates at word level (noun, adjective etc). Functional grammar can operate at a word level but generally is interested in larger chunks

(eg noun group – adjectives and nouns together)

• Traditional grammar is generally only interested in written language, but functional grammar is interested in spoken, written and multimodal texts

• Traditional grammar is not very interested in the context of the text, but functional grammar is interested in how the context has impacted on and is revealed in the language choices

• Grammar exercises in traditional grammar can be discrete, unrelated exercises (eg how to construct the passive voice) but grammar exercises in functional grammar are within the context of the genre and related to how the meaning has been constructed (eg why was the passive voice chosen).

Limitations Of Traditional Grammar — Document Transcript

1. DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS Assignment On “Limitations of Traditional Grammar” Presented to: Muhammad Irfan Lodhi (Visiting Faculty) Submitted by: Muhammad Asif Saleem. Class: M. Phil. (Linguistics) Roll No. 20 Session: 2008-10. Department of Linguistics The Islamia University of Bahawalpur

2. Limitations of Traditional Grammar What is traditional Grammar? Traditional Grammar is the speculative work of the medieval and the prescriptive approach of the 18th Century grammarians basically it refer back to the Aristotelian orientations towards the nature of language as it is shown in the work of the ancient Greeks and Romans. There are ideas about sentence structure deriving form Aristotle and Plato ideas about the parts of speech deriving from the socio-grammarians. Limitations of traditional Grammar. 1. In one respect traditional grammar is a set of rules on which the English language is based on the other hand it is a pile of an inappropriate rules and short coming because if this type of grammar was perfect and appropriate then there would be no need for so many models of modern grammar. 2. Traditional Grammar is basically structured on indo-European classical languages. So, it is a poor model for the grammars of languages that differ from Greek, Latin and Sanskrit. 3. It does not discern between all linguistic level such as phonetic, morphology, syntactic and semantic. 4. In its essence it is normative and prescriptive rather than explicit and descriptive. As Frank Palmer says

Differences between traditional and functional grammar

“most of the rules of grammar have no real justification and there is no serious reason condemning the errors they prescribe. What is correct and what is not correct is ultimately only a matter of

3. what is accepted by society, for language is a matter of conventions with in society. If every one says, “It is me” then surely “it is me” is correct English its rules are not rational, it is inconsistent and in adequate as description of actual language in use. 5. It rejects not only the contemporary usage but also the functional and social varieties of Language. 6. In its approach it is diachronic (Historical) rather than synchronic. It tries to incorporate a living language like a dead one. Fries in his book, “the structure of English” challenges traditional grammar by the calling them not insightful, pre-scientific, prescriptive and having a literary bias. 7. There may be about two hundred definitions of the sentence, yet they are not able to differentiate between. The girl is weeping. The weeping girl. According to rules of the traditional grammar “noun” is the name of a person, place or thing yet it can not include pink, blue and purple in the list of nouns although there are the names of color. 8. It is also noticed that traditional grammar gives importance to the written form of language and it rejects the facts that spoken form is prior to the written form. On the other hand it does not cover even the whole range of the written language but it is bound to specific kinds of writing, the more formal styles, in particular it gives a general conception of the nature of language in essentially aesthetic terms.

4. 9. Traditional Grammar uses meaning as the primary tool of linguistic analysis. Total meaning of a language utterance can not be analyzed in the present stage of our knowledge. Meaning is a complex entity to understand of which a forma description of language should form the base. Similarly it is going to treat because there is a various categories of meaning there are two major types of meaning (1) Social Meaning (2) Linguistic Meaning and Linguistic meaning is divided into tow sub-categories (1) Lexical meaning (2) Structural meaning similarly lexical meaning is divided into three sub-divisions(1) notional meaning (2) referent ional meaning (3) contextual meaning. How did language arise in the first place? There are many questions such like but TG has not an adequate notion of a linguistic rule. It appeals only to intuition. The rules are not adequate and whole some the learner has to use his own common sense or judgment in matters of unstated rules. This grammar concentrates on giving rules and defining terms but its rules and definitions are even not satisfactory and they are not scientifically sound. John Lyons says, “The Traditional Grammarian tended to assume, not only that the written language was more fundamental that the spoken, but also that a particular form of the written language, namely the literary language was inherently purer and more correct that all other forms of the language written and spoken, and that it was his task, as a grammarian, to preserve this form of the language from corruption”. ( An introduction to theoretical linguistics). In its approach traditional grammar shows itself as God given, neat, Holy and does not allow the consideration for language change and ignores the fact that grammar of language show also change as the language changes.

5. Conclusion. Despite the fact that traditional grammar is informal, unscientific full of contradictions and inconsistencies, inexplicit, inadequate, and prescriptive uneconomical and unwholesome and it ignores spoken language, language change, contemporary usage and all the varieties of language. T is still crucial unit of English language. It is not in so much what traditional grammar actually tells us about language that is the real worrying

factor as what it does not tell us. Thus there is no need for whole scale change, it surely needs to be mended rather than ended. This is what palmer has to say in his book “Grammar”. “Provided we are aware of the problem, we can use the traditional parts of speech and their terminology as the basis for word classification.” References 1. Frank Palmer (Grammar) 2. John Lyons (introduction to the theoretical linguistics). 3. Fries ( the Structure of English)

Limitations of Traditional Grammar

What is traditional Grammar?

Traditional Grammar is the speculative work of the medieval and the prescriptive

approach of the 18th Century grammarians basically it refer back to the Aristotelian orientations towards

the nature of language as it is shown in the work of the ancient Greeks and Romans. There are ideas

about sentence structure deriving form Aristotle and Plato ideas about the parts of speech deriving from

the socio-grammarians.

Limitations of traditional Grammar.

1. In one respect traditional grammar is a set of rules on which the English language is based

on the other hand it is a pile of an inappropriate rules and short coming because if this type

of grammar was perfect and appropriate then there would be no need for so many models

of modern grammar.

2. Traditional Grammar is basically structured on indo-European classical languages. So, it is a

poor model for the grammars of languages that differ from Greek, Latin and Sanskrit.

3. It does not discern between all linguistic level such as phonetic, morphology, syntactic and

semantic.

4. In its essence it is normative and prescriptive rather than explicit and descriptive. As Frank

Palmer says “most of the rules of grammar have no real justification and there is no serious

reason condemning the errors they prescribe. What is correct and what is not correct is

ultimately only a matter of what is accepted by society, for language is a matter of

conventions with in society. If every one says, “It is me” then surely “it is me” is correct

English its rules are not rational, it is inconsistent and in adequate as description of actual

language in use.

5. It rejects not only the contemporary usage but also the functional and social varieties of

Language.

6. In its approach it is diachronic (Historical) rather than synchronic. It tries to incorporate a

living language like a dead one. Fries in his book, “the structure of English” challenges

traditional grammar by the calling them not insightful, pre-scientific, prescriptive and having

a literary bias.

7. There may be about two hundred definitions of the sentence, yet they are not able to

differentiate between.

The girl is weeping.

The weeping girl.

According to rules of the traditional grammar “noun” is the name of a person, place or thing

yet it can not include pink, blue and purple in the list of nouns although there are the names

of color.

8. It is also noticed that traditional grammar gives importance to the written form of language

and it rejects the facts that spoken form is prior to the written form. On the other hand it

does not cover even the whole range of the written language but it is bound to specific kinds

of writing, the more formal styles, in particular it gives a general conception of the nature of

language in essentially aesthetic terms.

9. Traditional Grammar uses meaning as the primary tool of linguistic analysis. Total meaning

of a language utterance can not be analyzed in the present stage of our knowledge.

Meaning is a complex entity to understand of which a forma description of language should

form the base. Similarly it is going to treat because there is a various categories of meaning

there are two major types of meaning (1) Social Meaning (2) Linguistic Meaning and

Linguistic meaning is divided into tow sub-categories (1) Lexical meaning (2) Structural

meaning similarly lexical meaning is divided into three sub-divisions(1) notional meaning (2)

referent ional meaning (3) contextual meaning.

How did language arise in the first place?

There are many questions such like but TG has not an adequate notion of a linguistic

rule. It appeals only to intuition. The rules are not adequate and whole some the learner has to use

his own common sense or judgment in matters of unstated rules. This grammar concentrates on

giving rules and defining terms but its rules and definitions are even not satisfactory and they are

not scientifically sound. John Lyons says, “The Traditional Grammarian tended to assume, not only

that the written language was more fundamental that the spoken, but also that a particular form of

the written language, namely the literary language was inherently purer and more correct that all

other forms of the language written and spoken, and that it was his task, as a grammarian, to

preserve this form of the language from corruption”. ( An introduction to theoretical linguistics).

In its approach traditional grammar shows itself as God given, neat, Holy and does not

allow the consideration for language change and ignores the fact that grammar of language show

also change as the language changes.

Conclusion.

Despite the fact that traditional grammar is informal, unscientific full of contradictions

and inconsistencies, inexplicit, inadequate, and prescriptive uneconomical and unwholesome and it

ignores spoken language, language change, contemporary usage and all the varieties of language. T

is still crucial unit of English language. It is not in so much what traditional grammar actually tells us

about language that is the real worrying factor as what it does not tell us. Thus there is no need for

whole scale change, it surely needs to be mended rather than ended. This is what palmer has to say

in his book “Grammar”. “Provided we are aware of the problem, we can use the traditional parts of

speech and their terminology as the basis for word classification.”

References

1. Frank Palmer (Grammar)

2. John Lyons (introduction to the theoretical linguistics).

3. Fries ( the Structure of English)

ntroduction

This guide is designed mainly for students who haven't been taught formal grammar at school, and find that the study of  medieval literature at University level requires basic language skills that they don't have. It is deliberately conservative, keeping as far as possible to the terminology of 'traditional grammar', which is found in most of the dictionaries, glossaries and grammars you are likely to use. Since this terminology is mainly derived from Latin and Greek grammar, it isn't an ideal way of describing English, which in some respects has a very different structure. If your main interest is in

modern English language rather than medieval literature, you should consult  a reference work using a more recent analytical model; two approachable examples are the Collins Pocket English Grammar (London: HarperCollins, 1992), and David Crystal's Rediscover Grammar (London: Longman, rev. ed. 1996). You should also note that the guide is descriptive rather than prescriptive; it introduces you to basic grammatical terms and concepts rather than telling you what you should or shouldn't do in your written English. 

It is also available as a printed booklet from English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, at £1.50 including p&p (UK only); email or phone the English Discipline Administrator for details (see  http://www.soton.ac.uk/english/contact.page?). Alternatively, you can download it as a PDF file. 

2. The basics

2.1 Accidence and syntaxGrammar deals with two aspects of language, accidence and syntax.i) Accidence is mainly concerned with how individual words vary in form according to their grammatical function: e.g. book, books; write, wrote. This variation in form is known as inflexion.ii) Syntax is concerned with how individual words are put together to make sentences.

2.2 THE PARTS OF SPEECHWords can be classified into 9 categories: noun, adjective, adverb, verb, article, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

2.3 Noun the name of a person, place, or thing: Clarissa, Middlemarch, book. Nouns can be inflected to indicate the plural (book, books; man, men) and, in some instances, the possessive (or genitive) case (see 3.4, 3.7): Shakespeare's Sonnets, the wife's admirers, the men's room, a week's holiday. 

2.4 Adjective a word describing (or 'qualifying') a noun: purple patches, a handsome husband, the posture is ridiculous, the three Musketeers, the fifth column, my country, that woman. Some adjectives are inflected to indicate the comparative (happier) and superlative (happiest); others use more and most instead: e.g. Mama says that she was then the prettiest, silliest, most affected husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers.Most adjectives can be used either attributively (the green hat) or predicatively (the hat is green); e.g.:Johnson:  I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor. Boswell: That, sir, was great fortitude of mind. Johnson:  No, sir, stark insensibility.

2.5 Adverb a word qualifying an adjective (very fat, so sweet, seriously displeased), a verb (he almost ran, I read slowly), another adverb (I read incredibly slowly, I am most seriously displeased), or the sentence as a whole (Then my trousers fell down. Fortunately nobody noticed). Most adverbs form their comparative and superlative with more and most, but a few are inflected (faster, fastest). The characteristic adverb-ending is -ly.

2.6 Verb a word expressing a state or action: be, have, do, run, write, love give, can, must.

2.6 i) Main verbs and auxiliary verbsVerbs are divided into two classes, main verbs and auxiliary verbs.The great majority of verbs function as main verbs, which can be used on their own in a sentence:Run! I send no compliments to your mother. I saw something nasty in the woodshed. A small number of very common verbs (e.g. can, may, will, must, dare) function as auxiliary verbs. As the term suggests, auxiliary verbs act as a support system to the main verbs, and will only occur together with a main verb, expressed or understood: e.g. I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram. I may, I must, I can, I will, I do / Leave following that, which it is gain to miss. He would say that, wouldn't he?The verbs do, have, and be can be used either as main verbs (I have an overdraft at the bank. I do as little work as I can. Why am I a fool?) or as auxiliaries (We have seen the lions at Longleat. You don't mind if I smoke, do you? Yes, I do! Why are we waiting?).Auxiliary verbs can be used to form questions (Why does he conduct the music with a poker?) and negative statements (A lady does not move),and to express tense, mood, voice, and aspect (see next four sections).

2.6 ii) Tense indicates the time at which, or during which, the action described by the verb takes place. Only two tenses are marked by inflexion in English, the present (I/you/we run, he/she/it runs) and the past (I ran, etc.; I walked, etc.). Other tenses are formed periphrastically (that is, by the use of auxiliary verbs): e.g. the perfect (You have wasted two whole terms) and the pluperfect (Mr McKnag had been so shocked by Flora's letter that his old trouble had returned) are formed by adding have to the main verb, and the future usually by adding will or shall (In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance. Not only marble, but the plastic toys / In cornflake packets will outlive this rhyme).

2.6 iii) Mood The verb has three moods:

a) Indicative, used for statements and questions (No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?). By far the most common mood; often not specifically indicated in glossaries.

b) Imperative, used for commands (Publish and be damned! Unhand it, sir! Do not lean out of the window. Keep Britain tidy).

c) Subjunctive, used to express wishes, demands, and hypothetical or unreal conditions (I wish I were dead! I insist that he leave [or: should leave] at once. If you were to read Richardson for the story, your patience would be so fretted that you would hang yourself. Had we but world enough and time, / This coyness, lady, were no crime.

Be that as it may...).Apart from the dropped -s ending in the present tense of verbs (as in that he leave), which tends in any case to be an American rather than an English idiom, the only distinctive subjunctive forms in modern English are found in the verb to be (present tense be, past tense singular were); the subjunctive mood is now mainly indicated by past tense forms (If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?) or by the use of auxiliary verbs (If I were as rich as Mr Darcy, I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine every day).

2.6 iv) VoiceThe verb has two voices, active (e.g. I write my essays at the last minute. The dog bit the man) and passive (e.g. My essays are written at the last minute. The man was bitten by the dog). The passive is formed by the verb be and the past participle of the verb (see 2.6 vi)).

2.6 v) Aspect indicates the way in which the action or state described by the verb is regarded (e.g. as completed or in progress); compare the simple past tense form I wrote with the forms I was writing (progressive aspect) and I have written (perfective aspect).

2.6 vi) Finite and non-finite formsA finite form of the verb is one that expresses tense and mood. The non-finite forms of the verb are called the infinitive, the present participle, and the past participle (the last two terms are rather misleading, however, as neither expresses tense: e.g. in I was singing, singing is a present participle, and in he will be beaten, beaten is a past participle).

a) the infinitive This usually has to in front of it, except after auxiliary verbs:We laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided who, being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, or clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation.

b) the present participleMarked by its ending in  -ing:We were working in the Library. The English winter, ending in July / To recommence in August . . .

c) the past participleUsually (though not always) ends in -ed (I love, I have loved, I was loved) or -en (I write, I have written, it was written). E.g.: The English language, while it was employed in the cultivation of every species of literature, has itself been hitherto neglected; suffered to spread into wild exuberance, resigned to the tyranny of time and fashion, and exposed to the corruptions of ignorance, and caprices of innovation.Note: often the past tense form of the verb is the same as that of the past participle, and the grammatical context must be used to distinguish them. Compare I walked home, she won the match (past tense, finite form) with I have walked home, the match was won (past participle, non-finite form following auxiliary verb).

All other forms of the verb are finite. Test your recognition of finite and non-finite forms on this example:The Devil, having nothing else to do,Went off to tempt my lady Poltagrue.My Lady, tempted by a private whim,To his extreme annoyance, tempted him.

2.7 ArticleThis minute category contains only the definite article  (the) and the indefinite article (a, an).

2.8 PronounA word used as a substitute for a noun: he, himself, that, what, who, each, either, some, one.There are several different kinds of pronoun, including

personal (I, you, he, etc.) possessive (my, mine, etc.) reflexive (myself, etc.) relative (who, which, that; e.g. the woman who rode away, the book that I

bought) interrogative (who, what, which; e.g. What was that? I asked her who was

there) demonstrative (this, that; e.g. Drink this.)

2.8 i) CaseSix pronouns, I, we, he, she, they, and who, have three different case-forms (a relic of the Old English case-system; see 3.4): the subjective (or nominative) (I go to work. Who is it?);  the possessive (or genitive) (That's my book. Whose is it?); and the objective (She hit me. By whom?).

2.8 ii) PersonPersonal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns distinguish person in both singular and plural:

  Singular Plural

1st person I, my, myself we, our, ourselves

2nd person you, your, yourself you, your, yourselves

3d person he, she, it (etc.) they, their, themselves

2.8 iii) GenderPersonal, possessive and reflexive pronouns also distinguish gender in the third person singular. In Modern English this means that the form varies according to the sex (or lack of it) of what is being talked about: masculine (he, etc.) for male persons and (sometimes) animals, feminine (she, etc.) for female, and neuter (it, etc.) for other things.

2.9 PrepositionPrepositions are used to relate nouns or pronouns grammatically to the rest of the sentence. They can be either simple (at, on, by, through, with) or compound (away

from, because of, by means of).

2.10 ConjunctionConjunctions are used to link words or groups of words. Conjunctions can be co-ordinating (and, but, or) or subordinating (if, although, because, that, when, so that); see 2.17. Like prepositions, they can be either simple (and, but, if) or compound (so that, provided that, as long as).

2.11 Interjectionan exclamation, grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence: Alas! Oh dear! Damn! D'oh!

2.12 Words with more than one functionNote that many words can be classified in more than one way, and their function in the sentence should always be taken into account. For instance, that in that man functions as an adjective; in I like that as a demonstrative pronoun; in I wouldn't go that far as an adverb; in the book that I bought as a relative pronoun; and in he said that he would come as a subordinating conjunction. When in doubt, look carefully at the grammatical context.

2.13 PARTS OF THE SENTENCE The sentence is a self-contained syntactical unit. It is traditionally divided into two parts, subject and predicate.

2.14 The subject of a sentence represents the person or thing about which a statement is being made:The cat sat on the mat. All Ireland is washed by the Gulf Stream.When the verb is active (e.g. sat), the subject carries out the action; when it is passive (e.g. is washed), the subject is affected by the action. The usual position for the subject is at the beginning of the sentence, but this is not invariable:What am I to do?Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?Last night we stayed up late.Or even: Him the almighty power / Hurled headlong.In imperative sentences the subject is usually not expressed:Run! Make my day! Don't even think about parking here!

2.15 The predicate contains all parts of the sentence other than the subject. It can contain several elements, but the only essential one is a finite verb (Run! Birds fly). Other possible elements are:

2.15 i) an objectSome verbs take a direct object (I need a drink. She hit him), others both a direct and an indirect object (Give me the daggers. Don't bring Mr Elton any more wine). The indirect object normally comes before the direct object; it can be replaced by a phrase with to or for (Give the daggers to me. Don't bring any more wine for Mr Elton). Verbs which take an object are known as transitive, those which don't (e.g. He laughed. It's raining) as intransitive.

2.15 ii) a complementThis can be either a subject complement (She is fat. He became a midwife. You seem

surprised) or an object complement (Drinking makes me fat. They appointed him chairman. He proved them wrong). Subject complements refer back to the subject of the verb, object complements to its object.

2.15 iii) an adverbial elementThis may qualify the verb (That will do nicely. March indefatigably on) or the sentence as a whole (Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn).

2.16 The phrase is a small group of words which functions in the same way as a single part of speech; unlike the sentence, it doesn't have both a subject and a predicate. Traditional grammar concentrates on a few specific types of phrase:

2.16 i) the prepositional phrase, which is introduced by a preposition (under the greenwood tree; by the rules of grammar; with his muddy boots on).

2.16 ii) the participial phrase, which includes a present or past participle (pouring himself a drink; all things considered).

2.16 iii) the infinitive phrase, which includes an infinitive (to learn my ABC; to be a pilgrim).

Individual nouns (or pronouns), adjectives, and adverbs can be replaced by phrases of this kind:The end of writing is to instruct (cf. The end of writing is instruction: noun)I saw a woman wearing Manolo Blahniks (cf. I saw a fashionable woman: adjective)All things considered, it's not worth it (cf. Ultimately it's not worth it: adverb).

2.17 The clause is a group of words containing its own subject and predicate. Clauses can be either main clauses or subordinate ('dependent) clauses.A simple sentence, with a single subject and predicate (e.g. The cat sat on the mat), consists of a single main clause.A compound sentence contains more than one main clause (She gave me a ring but I diced it away. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh.) The main clauses are linked by co-ordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or). Where the subject of the two clauses is the same, it need not be expressed in both: They cut me up with a knife and fork / And tied me to a cabbage stalk.A complex sentence is one which contains not only a main clause (or clauses) but at least one subordinate clause (There'd be no kissing if he had his wish. When I'm a veteran with only one eye, / I shall do nothing but look at the sky. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done).Subordinate clauses can be introduced by:

subordinating conjunctions: if, because, although, since, etc. relative pronouns: e.g. We have done those things which we ought not to have

done. I met a man who wasn't there. interrogative pronouns: e.g. I've no idea who she was. relative adverbs: e.g. Where there is leisure for fiction, there is little grief. interrogative adverbs: e.g. I don't know how you could do such a thing. or sometimes inverted word-order: Had we but world enough and time...

Relative pronouns are sometimes omitted: e.g. Well, Lulu, here is another book and we have not read half the ones we have got yet.

Subordinate clauses, like phrases, can replace nouns (or pronouns), adjectives, or adverbs:

noun clause: What's to come is still unsure. I know that he's here. (Cf. The future is still unsure. I know that.)

adjectival clause: I met a man who was over eighty. (Cf. I met an old man). adverbial clause: He went home when it was dark. I left the party because they

threw me out bodily. (Cf. He went home late. I left the party reluctantly).

Is the following sentence simple, compound, complex, or compound and complex?

Full of quiet dignity, and so obviously an English gentleman of perfect breeding and impeccable taste, even in the khaki shorts, sun-helmet and old school tie appropriate to the burning tropical sun, his bronzed clean-cut countenance radiant with the unselfconscious superiority so much admired---yet so vainly imitated---by less fortunate nations untouched as yet by the public school tradition, the Civil Engineer, watching the gradual but irresistible collapse of his new bridge into the brown, swirling waters of the flooded river hundreds of feet below, and ignoring, with the ease of long practice, the coarse but good-natured badinage of his workmen and the less friendly, indeed actively hostile, criticism of the representatives of the local authorities, consoled himself by imagining, with a thrill of anticipatory aesthetic pleasure, the excellence of the English prose, beautifully phrased and brilliantly punctuated, soon to be enshrined in his report justifying and explaining this unfortunate contretemps---an exquisite prose developed through his regular attendance at the admirable lectures on the Use of English provided, regardless of trouble and expense, though without extra emolument accruing to the lecturer dedicated to the task, by the benevolent authorities of his old University.

© John Swannell

2.18 AppositionWhen a noun (or pronoun) is followed by another noun describing it, the second noun is in apposition to the first: Have you got Mr Bones, the undertaker? I, Tiresias, have foresuffered all.

Applied Grammars

The other category of grammar, which I have labeled as Applied Grammar, actually can be divided into two sub-categories—Descriptive and Prescriptive.  Descriptive Grammars attempt to precisely describe the linguistic processes a particular user employs.  It does not tell the user how to speak or understand.  In Descriptive Grammars there are no right or wrong ways to speak or write except as the language itself allows (Zeigler 1996).

Prescriptive Grammars, on the other hand, can be thought of as the opposite of Descriptive Grammars in that they describe rules that govern the use of language.  Prescriptive Grammars establish a “proper” way in which to speak or write.  These are the grammars that are explicitly taught in schools.  Sometimes referred to as pedagogical grammars, these grammars frequently blur into each other.  Traditional Grammars and School Grammars, for example, are often

considered the same category and will be discussed together.  Prescriptive Grammars fall into Hartwell’s categories of Grammars 3 and 4.  He points out that these grammars developed “unscientifically” and were largely based on an appeal to “logical principles” and Latin grammar in the guise of English.

Rhetorical Grammar is an interesting development in Prescriptive Grammars and, depending on how it is interpreted, could also be considered a Descriptive Grammar.  According to Martha Kolln (1996), Rhetorical Grammar is based on the noun phrase, what Kolln identifies as the most common structure in the English language.  Kolln’s method asks students to manipulate noun phrases and modifiers and to think critically about the syntactic structure of the noun phrase and the effect of different referents on meaning.

In linguistics, prescription or prescriptivism, is the practice of championing one variety or manner of speaking of a language against another. It may imply a view that some forms are incorrect or improper or illogical, or lacking in communicative effect, or of low aesthetic value.[1]

Sometimes it is informed by linguistic purism.[2] Normative practices may prescribe on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. Linguistic prescriptivism includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct. Its aims may be to establish a standard language, to teach what is perceived within a particular society to be correct forms of language, or to advise on effective communication. If usage preferences are conservative, prescription might (appear to) be resistant to language change; if the usage preferences are radical, prescription may produce neologisms.[3][page needed]

Prescriptive approaches to language, concerned with how the prescriptivist recommends language should be used, are often contrasted with the alternative approach of descriptive linguistics, which observes and records how language actually is used.[4] The basis of linguistic research is text (corpus) analysis and field studies, both of which are descriptive activities; but description includes each researcher’s observations of his or her own language usage. Despite apparent opposition, prescription and description can inform each other,[3][page needed] since comprehensive descriptive accounts must take into account speaker attitudes, while some understanding of how language is actually used is necessary for prescription to be effective.

Traditional gramar

n linguistics, a traditional grammar is a framework for the description of the structure of language. Traditional grammars are commonly used in language education.

Concepts treated in traditional grammars include:

subject predicate object predicative (aka complement) adverbial and adjunct sentence clause

phrase

noun adjective determiner verb adverb preposition conjunction pronoun

Functional Grammar (FG) is a general theory of the organization of natural language as developed by Simon C. Dik and others. In the theory functional notions play essential and fundamental roles at different levels of grammatical organization. The theory is based on data and descriptions of many languages, and therefore has a high degree of typological adequacy. FG offers a platform for both theoretical linguists interested in representation and formalism and descriptive linguists interested in data and analysis.

This site offers information about:

 The theory of FGPublicationsColloquiumCoursesConferences and seminarsFG CommunityFG Discussionlist

 

*------- dxx