Tema 12 Elementos esenciales de morfosintaxis de la lengua inglesa.

Estructuras
comunicativas elementales. Uso progresivo de las categoras gramaticales en las producciones
orales y escritas para mejorar la comunicacin.

1. INTRODUCTION.

Classical language learning was based on strenuous (heavy) study of vocabulary and grammar,
learning the various rules governing the correct use of language as a system. Of course, memorizing
long lists of words and morpho-syntactical features did not enable the learner to actually USE a
language for practical communication. Grammar competence IS one of Canale and Swains
communicative sub competences, but other skills are needed. Both receptive and productive skills
and the development of other communicative sub-competences MUST be acquired to be able to use
the language in real world or daily life situations.

Our syllabus is based on the communicative approach to language learning and it is centred on the
study of language as communication, BUT we mustnt forget that communicative language learning
ALSO entails learning vocabulary and the rules that govern the system: morphology and syntax. The
ESSENTIAL difference lies in the fact this is done IMPLICITLY, following the contents described in
Block 3 of RD1513/2006 under the heading Knowledge of the Language. The sub-heading
Reflection on Language describes some cognitivist activities to gain awareness of the proper
structures and forms of the English language.

The present essay will firstly develop English morphology and syntax. Secondly, it will be analysed
the basic communicative structures and thirdly the students progressive use of grammar in their
productions with the aim of improving the communicative skills. This essay will be finished with a
conclusion and some bibliography references used for its development.

2. ESSENTIAL MORPHOSYNTACTICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Morphology and syntax are key elements in English since they are the two basic branches of
grammar. Morphology deals with the study of the forms of words, while syntax is concerned with
the way words combine to form sentences. In other words, morphology is grammar at the word level
and syntax at the sentence level.

i) Morphology

The basic morphological unit is the morpheme, which is defined as the smallest meaningful unit.
Many basic words such as boy, sad, go, to are morphemes in themselves. Other others such as boys,
sadness , going can be broken up into different constituent parts or morphemes. The former are
called free morphemes and the latter, the (e)s, -ing, and ness suffixes are called bound
morphemes because they are necessarily bound or joined to a word.

Bound morphemes can be inflectional and derivational.

Inflectional morphemes express grammatical rather than lexical contrast. English inflectional
morphology affects nouns, adjectives, verbs and pronouns

As regards nouns, the (e)s morpheme serves to distinguish singular / plural, although there are
irregular nouns such as mice, or teeth. Some adjectives have inflectional morphemes er / est which
are used to express comparative and superlative degree, as in the brighter / brightest. Regular verbs
have three morphemes: -s, -ed and ing as in decides, decideD, decidING. The morpheme s used in
verbs signals the third person singular of the present tense. The ed morpheme signals past tense
and past participle and has three variants in the spoken language. We can hear these variants in the
words seemed /d/ , stopped /t/, and decided /id/. These variant forms of a morpheme are known as
allomorphs. Compared with Spanish, there are far fewer verb inflections or verb morphemes in
English. Addition of inflectional morphemes may cause changes in the spelling of a word: For
example, the change of y into i in the words happy lady / happier ladies. But there is usually no
change of meaning, as is the case with derivational morphology. A regards pronouns, we can
distinguish subject forms (we, she, he, they) and object form (us, her, him, them).
Derivational morphemes are used in the construction of new words. There are three chief processes
in English by which new words are created: Affixation, conversion and compounding.

Compounding allows us to form words by joining two or more existing words. E.g. ice cream,
blackboard, mother-in-law, jack-in-the-box. Compounds can be written separately (ice cream),
joined together (blackboard), or with hyphens (mother-in-law). Compounding is a characteristic
process of word formation in Germanic languages, and it accounts for very long words that we find
in languages such as German. Compounding is extensively used in English.

Conversion implies changing the grammatical category of a word without any changes in the form
of the word. For example, words like water, rain, head, love, walk, work, etc, can be used either as
nouns or as verbs.

Affixation: includes prefixation or addition of prefixes, and suffixation or addition of suffixes. In

prefixation there is usually no change of word-class. For example happy and unhappy are both
adjectives; plant and replant are both verbs. The meaning changes, but the word remains in the same
grammatical category. Suffixes, on the other hand, typically change the grammatical category of the
root word. Some examples: happy (adj) happily (adv) happiness (noun) // fortune (noun) fortunate
(adj) fortunately (adv). Pre-fixes and suffixes are both bound morphemes, since they cannot be used
on their own.

Apart from these three major processes, there are other ways of forming new words:

Reduplication: with repetition of the base word, e.g. knock-knock.

Clipping: informal shortenings e.g. flu for influenza, ad for advertisemen).
Blendings: two words merge into one, e.g. smog = smoke + fog. Brunch (breakfast + lunch)
Acronyms: are formed from initial letters of words. E.g., USA, UFO.

Parts of the speech

Once the morpheme has been considered, we will focus on the word. Words are usually the easiest
units to identify in the written language, as they commonly have spaces on either side. It is more
difficult to decide what words are in the stream of speech as pauses do not occur between each word
in natural speech.
Since the early days of grammatical study, words have been grouped into word classes, traditionally
labelled the parts of speech. Quirk(1985) distinguished the following:

a) Closed classes: prepositions (of, at, in, without, in spite of); pronouns (she, they,
anybody, one, which); determiners (the, a , that); conjunctions (and, that, when,
although); modal verbs( can, must, will could); and primary verbs( be, have, do).

b) Open classes: nouns (John, room, answer, play); adjectives( happy, new); full verbs
( grow, play); and adverbs( completely, really)

ii) Syntax

Syntax is concerned with the way words combine to form sentences, so we are now concerned with
the sentence level of grammar.

The two basic parts of a sentence are the subject and the predicate:

Subject Predicate
Mary sings

The predicate can be very short : Mary sings , or it can be long: Mary sings me a song every
morning. We can distinguish five elements in the sentence from a syntactical point of view. They
are:
Subject - Verb - Complement - Object Adverbial
The subject is always present in English except with an imperative verb. In the present tense, third
person singular the subject shows number agreement with its verb. For example She likes ice cream.
Sometimes the impersonal subject it is used as in it is 2 oclock or it is raining

The verb can be transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs can have two types of objects, direct
and indirect. English has strict rules regarding the order in which the two objects are placed. E.g. He
gave the girl the apple, but not * He gave the apple the girl. We say Give me it, but not * Give it me,
although it is possible to say Give it TO me.
The complement may be subject complement: She looked happy; or object complement : I find
him funny
The adverbial can be an adverb, e.g.: He left today, or a prepositional phrase: He left in the
morning,

Not all sentences contain the five sentence elements mentioned. But a sentence contains at least two
constituents: a subject and a verb.

Before we talk about COMPLEX SENTENCES, it can be distinguished between phrase,

clause and sentence because these terms are often confused.
A phrase does not have a verb, e.g., Happy Xmas, although a verb may be implicit in the phrase (I
wish you) A happy Xmas.

A clause (proposicin in Spanish) has a subject and a predicate, but it may or may NOT have
complete meaning in itself. Subordinate clauses need their main clause for full comprehensible
meaning. For example, we cannot understand the subordinate clause of reason because she needs
money unless we are also given the main clause. For example, She works because she needs money.

Sentences can be simple or complex. She works is an example of a simple sentence and She works
because she needs money is a complex sentence, consisting of main clause + subordinate clause.
The subordinate clause can in turn be the main clause of a third subordinate clause.
There are many different types of subordination
Nominal or noun-clauses perform the same role as nouns, that is they can be subject or object
of the verb in the main clause. E.g., I know - what youre thinking. Or What you say is
important to me.
Relative clauses can be defining (especificativas) or non-difining (explicativas) E.g., The
boy, who was honest, gave the money back is non-defining and implies that we are talking
about only one boy. The boy who was hones returned the money, on the other hand, implies
that there were other boys who were not honest and who did not return the money. Relative
clause are introduced by the relative pronoun who, which, that, whom and whose.

Adverbial clauses can express different types of relationship:

Time : The roof leaks when it rains
Reason : I stayed home because it was raining
Purpose : She wore a mask so that nobody would recognise her
Condition : Ill buy you an ice cream if you behave well.

3. ELEMENTARY COMMUNICATIVE STRUCTURES

After having examined the essential elements of morphosyntax, we will consider the elementary
communicative structures.

The main purpose when learning a second language is to develop the communicative competence, which
was firsly established by Chomsky and later revised and extended by Canale and Swaim in 1980: Grammar
or Linguistic subcompetence, Discourse subcompetence, Sociolinguistic subcompetence, Strategic
subcompetence, Sociocultural subcompetence. Chomskys competence was referred to linguistic
subcompetence which is the competence necessary to correctly use grammatical rules. It is not possible to
communicate if it is not known how to form and understand sentences as they are the most elementary
communicative structures.
a) According to the form, sentences may be classified into four major syntactic types:
statements, commands, questions, and exclamations.
 statements are also called declarative sentences or declaratives. They usually convey
information. E.g. Mary and Mike are getting married next November
commands : are imperative sentences or imperatives. The subject of a command is
usually left out, but it is understood as the second person pronoun "you". Shut the gate. Be
quiet! are examples of commands. A gentler or more polite form of the command begins
with "let's": Let's have a party. Commands are also common in instructions.
questions or interrogative sentences or interrogatives are subdivided into two types:

1. Yes / no questions . These sentences expect "yes" or "no" for an answer.

Is your brother still at school? Does it ever snow in Christchurch?

Would you like some tea?

Tag questions may be seen as another type of yes/no questions . E.g. : You like it, dont
you? Or You dontt like it, do you?

2. Wh... questions . These sentences begin with a Wh word: what, which, when, who,
why, where, how. They cannot be answered with yes or no.

Why is your shirt dirty? What do you think about casinos?

exclamations are also referred to as exclamative sentences or exclamatives Theu are

normally are used to express strong feelings. They can begin with "what" or "how":

What a silly boy ! How silly you are !

b)Semantic classification of sentences: Associated with the previous sentence types:

Statements: They are primarily used to convey information.

Questions: They are primirly used to seek information on a specific point.
Directives: They are primarily used to instruct somebody to do something.
Exclamations: They are primarily used to express the extent to which the speaker is
impressed by something.

Direct association between syntactic and semantic class is the norm, but the two classes do not
always match. For example the sentence: Isnt it nice! Is formally an interrogative statement but its
function is an exclamation.

4. PROGRESSIVE USE OF GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES IN ORAL AND WRITTEN

PRODUCTIONS

First of all we should clearly state that our aim as teachers of a FL, English in our case, is not to
teach English grammar or structures, but to teach students to communicate in English.
In order to communicate efficiently it is necessary to use structures and use them correctly, but
structures are not the goal or the aim, they are only the MEANS (el medio) for effective
communication. Therefore, it is necessary not only the command of grammar or linguistic
subcompetence but the five subcompetences mentioned in the former epigraph of this essay.
There are different ways to introduce structures in English class:

The most basic way is probably through the use of ROUTINES. In this way students learn
elementary structures used to greet others and inquiring (asking) about others health, asking about
and describing the weather, etc. The fact that routines are repeated facilitates learning.

Another basic way to introduce structures with through classroom language, such as Can I
borrow(something) ?Whats the word for (something).. in English? How do you say
(something).. in English? With this last question, for instance -- How do you say
(something).. in English? students practice the structure for wh-questions without even being
aware that they are practising a structure.
In general, we may say that communicative structures should be learnt and practiced in a
contextualized way, so that using them becomes meaningful
Grammar rules can be acquired (fijaos que aqui es acquired y no learnt) in two ways:

(1) Through induction or self-discovery: We present our pupils with relevant language data
and they, first, abstract a rule based on the presented data, and secondly, develop a basis for
its application.

(2) Through explanation. Learning through explanation requires two essentials:

- basic knowledge of the language of the explanation
- cognitive development in the learner

Learning through induction or self-discovery is the approach to grammar favored (used) by

most experts, but we should not forget that we want our pupils to learn to use grammar categories
in order to improve their communicative competence, and not as an end or a goal in itself.

We can distinguish three stages in students acquisition of a grammar structure, the well-known
PPP sequence.

In the presentation stage the teacher presents the structure in a contextualized way. For example, if
we are teaching the use of the present progressive to describe what someone is wearing, we can
use flashcards with pictures of people wearing different things, or even describe how we are dressed.
One of our aims in this stage is to help students retain the structure in their short-term memory.

In the practice stage students carry out different activities in the form of games, etc, in which they
practice the newly-learnt structure. This stage is normally ORAL. The aim is to help students
internalize the structure and to transfer it from short-term to long-term memory, preparing them to
use it for communication.

And finally, in the production stage students produce the structure for some real-life purpose,
although at this stage production can also take place through games.

The heading of this topic says ( Uso progresivo de las categoras gramaticales en las producciones
orales y escritas para mejorar la comunicacin ) progressive use of grammar categories in students
oral and written production. In this regard, we, as teachers, should follow Stephen Krashens
natural order hyphothesis, which says that the skills in a FL should be learnt in the same way as
the skills in the first language. That is: first listening and speaking, and then reading and writing.
So, once the students are familiar with a structure they have heard, practiced and internalized, and
finally produced in SPEAKING, they can then produce it in WRITING. On the other hand, what
students have learnt ORALLY can be reinforced by WRITING it.

Finally, when teaching structures or presenting structures, we should not forget that we should go
from simple ones to more complex ones in small steps. Krashens natural order means that
language learning proceeds from the simpler to the more complex. It does not only refer to the
order that the different language skills are acquired, but also the degree of complexity of the
language learned.
We should also point out that learning in small progressive steps is also part of the input + 1
hypothesis. Teachers should add new material in such a way that it is supported by already known
material so that learning takes place reinforced by context in a more meaningful way. This idea is
closely related to constructivism.
For example, we teach coordinated sentences with AND and BUT before we introduce subordinated
sentences with IF or BECAUSE. Similarly, we teach the present tense before we teach the be-going-
to construction used to express future time.

5. CONCLUSION
To sum up, although grammar is a means for communication and not an end in itself, grammatical
competence, or accurate use of morphological and syntactic categories, is one of the five
communicative sub-competences defined by Canale and Swain that learners of a foreign language
need to master (dominar) progressively in order to achieve communicative competence.

I would also like to point out the relation between this topic and our official Curriculum. On one
hand, this topic is related to Basic competence number one: Linguistic communication competence,
because in order to communicate effectively a student of a foreign language needs to master the
language as a system, comprising grammar at both levels, the morphological level and the
syntactic level.

Syntax and morphology are included in Block 3 of Contents in our current English area curriculum
that deals with knowledge of the language. However, as teachers, we do not teach morphology
and syntax overtly and explicitly in an abstract or formal way, but rather we teach implicit
grammar in an embedded or contextualized way.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adems de la que hay en la bibliografa que os mand, aadid:

QUIRK, R And Greenbaun, S.: A University Grammar of English.
Longman, Harlow, 1997.

Inflexional morphemes: these are used to indicate aspects of the grammatical function of a word,
e.g. to know if a word is plural or singualar, if it is past tense or not, and if it is a comparative or
possessive form.

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