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LIN204H5 English Grammar

Thursday, September 12, 2013 Introduction

The amount of grammar and usage errors today is astounding. Not to mention spelling. If I was a teacher, Id feel badly that less and less students seem to understand the basic principals of good writing. Neither the oldest high school students nor the youngest kindergartner know proper usage. A student often thinks they can depend on word processing programs to correct theyre errors. Know way! Watching TV all the time, its easy to see why their having trouble. TV interferes with them studying and its strong affect on children has alot to due with their grades. Theres other factors, too, including the indifference of parents like you and I. A Mom or Dad often doesnt know grammar themselves. We should tell are children to study hard like we did at theyre age and to watch less TV then their classmates.
Rob Kyff (wordguy@aol.com) from his column in theSan Jose Mercury News, found at http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/writsamp0.htm

The essential tools

What kinds of tools do you need in order to identify and explain usage and grammatical errors and to avoid such errors?

Knowledge of how words are formed Knowledge about the basic mechanics of an English sentence Ability to identify the grammatical category (part of speech) of a word Knowledge of how categories are used in English Understanding of the tense/mood/aspect system in English

Morphology as a window into grammatical categories

In this course, you will build your understanding about how many English words are built from smaller parts, called morphemes. Some morphemes clearly indicate a words category

slowly teacher chaired

slow g ly teach g er chair g ed

Phrases and sentences are built of grammatical categories

S

NP

VP

Det that

N student AUX TENSE (pst)

MVP

NP

MV write

Det an

AP

impressive paper

Specialized focal knowledge

Knowledge of grammatical categories and English sentence structure is the only way we can gain an focal knowledge of the language and build an awareness of usage errors and differences in register. Through this course, you will gain a specialized knowledge that involves a special vocabulary and a systematic way of reasoning. If you speak English fluently (as a native or non-native speaker), you may not have any focal knowledge of English you only have tacit understanding of it.

Focal knowledge is essential to explanations

I bought new car yesterday. Jun has begun his undergrad three years ago. He always wears jeans, however he wore a suit on his wedding day. Either her brothers or her father have the money. She is running for mayor. Running is a healthy way to stay in shape.

Words and their categories

1. The

word down corresponds to what grammatical category? is the category of rocky in a rocky path? is the category of rock in a rock wall ?

2. What 3. What

down
1a. Jake

downed the drink. (V)

1b. Jake

walked down the road. (P)

1c. I

feel down. (Adj)

1d. The

Argonauts are in the fourth down. (N)

rocky

2. the rocky path rocky functions like an adjective in that it describes a quality of the path (what is the quality?). It also shares properties that other adjectives have

it can be intensified: the very rocky path it can express the comparative and superlative: the rockier/ rockiest path it ends in y (like sunny, snowy, sticky, etc.) rocky has both the function and the form of an adjective. It is a prototypical adjective.

rock

3. the rock wall

rock functions like an adjective in that it describes a quality of the path (but a different quality from what rocky conveys). However, rock does not share the typical properties that other adjectives have It cant be intensified: *the very rock wall

It cant express the comparative and superlative: *the rocker/ rockest path It doesnt show typical adjectival morphology (it looks like a noun) In this context, rock functions like an adjective, but it doesnt have the form of a prototypical adjective.

Two big ideas: the standard and prescriptive vs. descriptive

THE STANDARD A language consists of many different varieties (sometimes called dialects). One variety is often regarded as the standard.

Taught at school Used in most professional interactions Used in official correspondence Used in national media Used in most literature Often considered the proper variety

Non standard varieties

Often spoken in less urban areas Often spoken at home Often are not written Rarely heard in official or professional situations Often regarded as substandard and incorrect What city/region is associated with the standard dialect in Mandarin? Italian? French? Polish? Romanian? Japanese? Do you speak a non standard variety of a language?

Varieties of English

Every living language is in a constant state of change English is spoken in many geographical locations by many different ethnic groups, by all of the socio-economic groups, and by all age groups. As a result of the fact that language changes and that it changes in different ways depending on each linguistic community that it serves, there are many different varieties of English

Variation

Often the study of English grammar leaves students with the impression that English is or should be uniform, that in an ideal world, everyone would speak and write a uniform, proper English and there would be little variation from the standard of correctness. This is NOT what we wish to convey in this course! Students with a solid understanding of English grammar should understand that uniformity goes against the very nature of language. All languages are flexible and responsive to a variety of conditions related to their users and their purposes.

Dialects and the standard

There are as many varieties of English as there are groups of speakers we call these varieties dialects. We all speak one or more dialects of English and we should recognize many more. The features of pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar that are widely shared by middle-class, urban, educated speakers is called Standard Canadian English.

The standard

Standard Canadian English probably isnt a dialect of any one person. It is taught in schools, encoded in writers handbooks, and is used in public institutions. It is very useful to know, as it is the language of public life.

The ability to handle easily the language of books, newspapers, magazines, and public institutions brings with it access to power through educational and professional advancement. People who have power and authority in business, industry, and the professions often have strong negative reactions to writing that does not conform to the standard of written English.

It is conservative compared to other highly used dialects, but the standard always ends up changing to reflect usage too.

The standard can vary

Standard British English is a non rhotic variety of English; rhotic varieties are non standard. Standard North American English is a rhotic variety; the non rhotic dialects are considered non standard.

The standard can change

A brief history of the word contact Noun: the state of which two things touch one another

Litmus paper turns red on contact with acid.

Noun extended to mean the state of people able to communicate with one another

The pilot made contact with the ship.

Recently extended to be used as a verb meaning to establish communication with someone

I contacted my lawyer.

Editors of dictionaries and usage handbooks consulted a panel of experts (teachers, writers, editors, etc.) about the acceptability of contact as a verb. 1969: 66% of the panel felt that sentences such as Ill contact you next week were not acceptable in writing produced for formal occasions

Note that in other non-formal contexts, this usage is fine Note also that the panel does not fully agree

2000: 35% of the panel felt contact used as a verb would be unacceptable in formal writing.

Standard and non-standard

I say often with a tsound.

YES / NO

I say schism and schedule with a sh sound.

YES / NO

I say white with a breathy w sound, not a strong w sound.

YES / NO

Margarets opinion is different from mine / than mine. Lets keep this secret between you and I / between you and me. Less/fewer students listen to opera than you think. Either you or she are/is going to the film. I saw/seen her yesterday in class.

Prescriptive vs Descriptive

Prescriptive prescribe recommend, advise, authorize the use of something.

Grammarians prescribe what is proper usage.

Descriptive describe give an account of the characteristics of something.

Linguists describe language and language varieties. We do not pass value judgments. No variety is better than another

The prescriptive descriptivist

In this course, we examine English as linguists would. We recognize that there are many varieties of English. We also recognize that there is such a thing as Standard Canadian English and that it is VERY useful to master this particular variety.

Becoming sensitive to these issues will forever distinguish you from someone who has never taken a linguistics course.

Lectures

Todays lecture is based on Chapter 1 & 2 of the text

Analyzing English Grammar, 6th or 7th edition. Pearson Longman Thomas P. Klammer, Muriel R. Schulz, and Angela Della Volpe

Thursdays lecture will be based on Chapter 3.

The Morphology of English (the rules of word formation) Quickly read over the first half of this chapter BEFORE the lecture

To complete this week: 2 quizzes

These arent really quizzes they are surveys. Completion of each survey counts toward your participation mark. 1. Getting to know you complete immediately 2. Grammar Diagnostic 1 complete by Sunday, Sept.15

These are found under Quizzes.

To do for tutorial (Monday/ Tuesday)

Chapter 1 Exercise 1.2 Exercise 1.3

Arrive with these exercises COMPLETED. This is the way that you earn your participation mark.