Advanced Level Grammar for all Grades

 Introduction

English Grammar

Grammar may be defined as the description of how words or bits of words are manipulated and combined to make larger units such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. At the risk of oversimplification, grammar is the set of rules that describes how words and groups of words can be arranged to form sentences in a particular language. This is the definition of grammar that is, perhaps most useful for teachers, and it is the definition that will be used in this blog. The grammar of English consists of all the rules that govern the formation of English sentences, and this is precisely what learners of English want to know. Grammar can operate on three different levels:

1. The sub-sentential level or morphological level

2. The sentential or syntactic level

3. The supra-sentential or discourse level.

The subsentential level sheds light on the structure of words along with their different affixes. The sentential level gives the picture of the structure of sentences, word order, and transformation. These two levels were the subject matter of the study of traditional grammar. But modern grammar focuses on the discourse too. Cohesion, coherence, tense-aspect, and modality in discourse level, etc. are the subject matter of the supra-sentential level of grammar.

GRAMMAR RULES IN ENGLISH

Many of the grammar rules in this blog move words or groups of words around to create different sentence patterns. They also delete certain words. One example of a grammar rule is dative movement. Which changes the position of the indirect object, the dative, in a sentence. When applied this rule creates the new sentence pattern shown, in which the positions of the DO and the IO are reversed. For example,

DO

(a) Alan sent [a long e-mail message] to [Susan]. 

(b) Alan sent [Susan] [a long e-mail message] .

The dative movement rule does two things it the indirect object to a position before the direct object, and it simultaneously deletes the preposition to.

(c)

Alan sent Susan a long e-mail message.

The dative movement rule is simply a way of stating a relationship between two linear orders or patterns of words that can occur in English. This rule applies only to sentences with verbs such as to send, throw, give, and lend, and not to sentences with verbs such as correct, mention, and report.

FACTORS AFFECTING GRAMMATICAL CHOICES

Speakers who have successfully internalized the rules of a language and their constraints are said to have grammatical competence. This means that they can use the rules of the language automatically to produce grammatical sentences. It also means that they can make accurate judgments regarding the grammaticality of the sentences they hear and read.

Gaining this kind of competence may well be the most important goal in learning a second language. Nevertheless. the achievement of grammatical competence does not guarantee that a language learner will be able to communicate effectively and appropriately in every context. This is because several other factors, besides grammaticality, influence the choices that speakers and writers need to make about which grammatical form or structure to use in a given situation. Teachers of English need to understand these factors so that they can help their students know when and where it is most appropriate to use the grammatical forms and structures they are learning.

Sociolinguistic Factors

Sociolinguistic factors refer to things like the setting in which a language. The location, the relationship between the participants, and the medium of communication (For example, spoken or written language) can affect the choice of grammatical forms and lexical items (vocab, lary). Different registers (i.e., styles of English) are used depending on the setting in which the speaker or writer is attempting to communicate.

Language Change and Usage

The grammar of a language changes over time. The changes, which often stretch over hundreds of years, are rarely noticed by anyone except linguists; however, some changes can be more generally noticed, and therefore can have consequences for teachers. 

Information-Structuring Principles

There are certain principles that native speakers follow to allow them to interpret and produce sentences that are appropriate within the context of a larger discourse. An example of one of these information-structuring principles is the given-new contract; which states that in each new sentence that a native speaker of English says or writes, given new information. This principle can affect a native speaker's choice of grammatical patterns.