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Definition
 The
term 'grammar' refers to the structure of language.
This can be applied to a whole language or to any smaller unit of that
language.
Grammatical
study is often a systematic account of the rules of sentence structure,
syntax, and semantics.
EXAMPLES
The
study of grammar in any language focuses on:
tense |
concerning time sequence
|
person |
reference to people or things
|
syntax |
how parts relate to each other
|
A
grammatical study of the following brief statement focuses on the
same issues:
The cats drank the milk
The cats |
Subject - third person plural
|
drank |
Verb - past tense
|
the milk |
Object - third person singular
|
Notice
that the statement follows normal English syntax (word-order)
USE
An
awareness of grammar or the structure of language can result in
more efficient writing and speaking.
An
understanding of the mechanics or workings of language is far more
useful and more easily acquired than memorising technical terms.
You
can understand the mechanics of language by studying utterances
and their:
audience – form – function
The
study of grammar in any language focuses on:
tense |
John ran up the stairs
[past tense of the verb]
|
person |
Joanna approached him
[third person singular]
|
syntax |
The dog bit the man
[subject – verb – object]
|
It
is useful to be able to distinguish between the more grammatical
items in a statement and those which have a mainly lexical function.
The
grammatical items are the working parts of the statement, whilst
the lexical items carry content or meaning.
There
is no absolute distinction between grammatical and lexical items.
However, it is possible to think of a continuum, with lexis at
one end and grammar at the other.
For
instance, the items in in the following statement can be seen as
lexical, grammatical, and a combination of both:
Dorothy likes to come to our house every Tuesday and have tea
with us.
lexical |
Dorothy, house, Tuesday, tea
|
grammatical |
to, and, with
|
The
terms 'our', 'every', and 'have' are between these two categories
because they perform both a lexical and a grammatical function.
The
study of English grammar study has developed over hundreds of years.
The objective has generally been to find a set of rules which accurately
and comprehensively define, describe, and explain the workings
of the language.
In
the past, grammar study was very prescriptive. Rules were laid
down as to how English must be used. Many of these prescriptive
rules were based on the rules of the Latin language which historically
had strong religious and cultural ties with English.
Latin
was regarded as the perfect language and as such was used as a
model for English. However, it was a blueprint which didn't fit,
and the struggle to make it fit has left us with such prescriptive
rules as 'Never end a sentence with a preposition'.
In
the past, the study of grammar was thought to be a series of rules
and regulations:
- Rules for writing good English
- Learning to analyse sentences grammatically
The
most significant development this century has been the move towards
a descriptive and functional approach to understanding of the workings
of English. That is to say, the emphasis currently is on observing
how the language is actually operating in practice. Changes are
charted and variations noted, with a neutral attitude.
A
language is best seen as a living organism which is constantly
in the process of evolution. The nature of its changes reflect
and affect its users. As Latin has been a dead language for hundreds
of years, its imposition on English is at best interesting and
at worst ludicrous.
Every
language has a basic structure. This is composed of its essential
grammatical features, which are its working parts. It also has
more superficial features such as its vocabulary, which changes
and develops in accordance with cultural and social phenomena.
A
good example of this can be seen in the recently acquired technological
terms associated with the advent of the computer. The terms 'hard
disk', 'floppy drive', 'Web site', 'Internet', 'mouse', and 'downloading'
simply didn't exist thirty years ago. Indeed, the World Wide Web – for
many people the centre of the Internet – was only invented
as recently as 1993.
Noam
Chomsky perhaps made the most significant impact on the study of
grammar by his Innateness Theory, which is now universally accepted
as basically valid.
The
Innateness theory of grammar is based on the notion that humans
are genetically programmed to acquire language. The Language Acquisition
Device (LAD) is a function which equips us for speech, just as
other genetic features equip us for walking or breathing.
The
prerequisite for language acquisition is what Chomsky calls comprehensible
imput – which is hearing people around us use language.
Thousands
of different languages exist, and the developing child acquires
the language of its own culture. The vocabulary and content has
to be learnt, but the fundamental grammatical workings are innate.
Evidence
of this LAD at work can be observed in the so-called mistakes which
young children make. These are utterances such as 'I comed home'
or 'I wented over there' or 'those two sheeps' and 'those three
mouses'.
What
is happening here should be celebrated as evidence of the child's
capacity for grammatical analysis. That is, the rule has been learnt
but over-applied.
The
expression 'I comed' is evidence that the child has internalised
the rule for forming the past tense, which is - add '–ed'.
'Sheeps'
and 'mouses' show that the rule for forming a plural has been learnt – add
'–s'. |
