Grammar 1 lecture 1 Introduction to gram

Grammar 1

1. GRAMMAR
1 Lecture 1
INTRODUCTION TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Prepared by Nguyễn Hoàng Hạnh

2. COURSE ROADMAP
Introduction
Week 1
Grammatical
units
Week 3
Grammar
development
Week 2
Progress Test
Week 5
Verbs (cont.)
Week 7
Verbs
Week 6
Syntactic
functions
Week 4
Review
Week 8

3. COURSE BOOK

4. REQUIREMENTS
Attendance
Quizzes
Weekly
assignments
Participation
10%
In-class written
test
Progress Test
30%
Standardised
test
Final Test
60%

5. OUTLINE OF LECTURE 1
INTRODUCTION
Definition
Prescriptive

Descriptive
Other senses
01
02
03
04

6. QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHTS
1.What do you think grammar is
about?
2.Why do we study grammar?

7. WHAT IS GRAMMAR?
Grammar is a systematic analysis of
the structures of a language.
→ Rules/principles that native speakers use in
producing and understanding their language.

8. WHAT IS GRAMMAR?
Grammar
is a
system
of
-different language forms/structures
-different ways and means of
word-building
-different syntactic structural rules
-ways words are formed and combined

9. WHAT IS GRAMMAR?
Grammar
“Grammatike”
The art of writing
A system of rules
Produce language →
serve
communication

10. WHY GRAMMAR?
Are these sentences grammatically correct?
1.I don’t understand nothing.
2.He drives me crazy.
3.He drives me crazily.

11. WHY GRAMMAR?
I don’t understand nothing.
➔I do not understand nothing.
➔Double negatives
- are spoken in some regional dialects of English.
- are not acceptable in formal situations or in writing.
➔Correct: I don’t understand anything.
I understand nothing.

12. WHY GRAMMAR?
He drives me crazy. He drives me crazily.
➔Adjective
➔Functions as a
complement
modifying the
object “me”
➔Adverb of manner
➔Modifies the verb
“drives”

13. WHY GRAMMAR?
→ This course provides you with insights into grammar
and guiding principles that lie under the surface.
→ By mastering these principles, you can:
●use English appropriately and flexibly;
●explain different grammatical phenomena.

14. WHY GRAMMAR?
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
❏understand what grammar is about;
❏know about different perspectives on and approaches to
grammar;
❏understand various grammatical phenomena;
❏analyze and evaluate the phenomena from theoretical angle;
❏explain them to someone else;
❏use them flexibly and appropriately in various communicative
situations.

15. SENSES FOR GRAMMAR
GLOBAL SENSE NARROW SENSE
Grammar includes
everything a native
speaker knows about
his or her language
which enables him or
her to speak and
understand it.
Grammar refers to only
the structure of words
and of sentences.

16. SENSES FOR GRAMMAR
GLOBAL SENSE NARROW SENSE
-Phonology
-Phonetics
-Lexicology
-Semantics
-Syntax
-Morphology
-Pragmatics
-Morphology
-Syntax

17. TYPES OF GRAMMAR
1.Prescriptive grammar
2.Descriptive grammar
3.Traditional grammar
4.Immediate constituent grammar (I.C.G)
5.Transformational grammar
6.Functional grammar

18. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
Who are you waiting
for?
1.Accepted (in social life)
2.Unaccepted (in P.G.)
→ no preposition in
end-position

19. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
I do not know nobody
here.
1.Accepted (in social life)
2.Unaccepted (in P.G.)
→ no double negatives in
one sentence

20. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
Prescriptive
(adj.)
Prescribe
(v.)
Set up
rules
Give out
rules
Apply
rules

21. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
- DEFINITION -
A prescriptive grammar is the one that gives hard
and fast rules about what is right (grammatical)
and what is wrong (ungrammatical), often with
advice about what not to say but with little
explanation.

(Advanced English Grammar: A linguistic approach, 2012)

22. 1.P.G. “prescribes” how speakers should use the language
2.P.G. rules the structure of a language
3.P.G. deals with what the grammarian believes to be
right or wrong, good or bad language use.
4.Not following the rules will generate incorrect language
→ A set of norms or rules = Normative rules
(prohibitions)
PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
- FEATURES -

23. PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
- RULES -
Examples of prescriptive rules “Wrong” sentences according to the
rules
Do not end a sentence with a
preposition.
What did you spend the money on?
Do not split an infinitive. I don’t want to angrily yell at you.
Do not use hopefully as an adverb
sentence.
Hopefully, we will all pass the exam.
Do not use they as a singular
pronoun.
The patient was told that they had to
pay for all the fees.

24. 1.P.G. perspective is utopian and against language change.
→ Language is only a means of reflecting life and reality, which is why
when life and reality change, language has to change accordingly.
2.Prescriptive rules are NOT rules of natural language (which is why we
usually have to consciously learn them, and often forget to use them).
3.Principles & rules of natural language underlie what we actually say,
NOT what we “should” say, and are part of our unconscious
knowledge of the language we acquire. (Denham & Lobeck, 2014, p. 5)
PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (P.G.)
- PROBLEMS -

25. DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (D.G.)
Learning English
adjectives is more
harder than Vietnamese
ones.
1.Unaccepted in P.G.
2.Accepted in D.G.

26. DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (D.G.)
- DEFINITION -
“Descriptive grammar refers to an objective,
non-judgemental description of the grammatical
constructions in a language.”

(Richard Nordquist, 2016)

27. DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (D.G.)
- EXAMPLES -
Examples from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) Descriptive rules
Sir, if I was you, I would watch your mouth. Yeah, or what? (MOV, I See You, 2019)
I'd use a hose pipe, a wire brush and bleach if I was you. (WEB, bbcamerica.com,
2012)
I mean, I wouldn't if I were you. (TV, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, 2018)
I'd offer my services to Obama if I were you. (BLOG, mediaite.com, 2012)
Both was and were can be found in
the subjunctive mood. Were is
considered to be more formal.
President Trump has denied doing that to effectively pressure Ukraine to
investigate the former vice president…(SPOK, NBC News Today, 24/9/2019)
So, we are able to directly take that fiber and extract the drug off of that fiber and
analyze it. (SPOK, CNN: Special/Live event, 29/9/2019)
It is possible for an adverb to stand
between to and a verb.
Hopefully we'll get an opportunity to see a move to full-season ball next year so
we can get a better gauge on his status of a prospect. (BLOG, The Crawfish
Boxes, 2012)
Hopefully, something will change. Hopefully we can resolve this peacefully.
Hopefully we can resolve this diplomatically. (SPOK, Vice President Dan Quayle,
ABC Nightline, 1990)
Hopefully can be used as a
sentence adverb. It is regarded as
wrong usage by some people, but
without grounds.

28. 1.Observe how people speak (socially accepted)
2.Describe the language exactly as it is used, with no value
judgements
3.Allow for variation → Constitutive rules
4.Provide language users with a set of unconscious rules that
allow them to produce and understand a language (based on
the actual description of language, NOT imposed by anyone).
DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR (D.G.)
- FEATURES -

29. P.G. vs D.G.
P.G. D.G.
1.Prescribe rules
governing what
people
should/shouldn’t say
2.Tell what should be
in the language
3.In written language
1.Describe the rules
that govern what
people do or can say
2.Tell what is in the
language
3.In spoken language
or dialects

30. I don’t have none.
P.G. D.G.
1.Ungrammatical
(This sentence is
incorrect in standard
varieties of English)
2.Not allow double
negative in a sentence
1.Grammatical
(This sentence is
correct in
non-standard
varieties of English)
2.Socially accepted
P.G. vs D.G.

31. PRACTICE
1.He tried to quickly run to the finish line.
2.What are you allergic to?
3.If anyone calls me, tell them I will be back at 6.
4.They might should inform me about the test.
5.Smartphones can negatively impact children’s
development.
6.Hopefully, you will like this song.