THISISITcompe in grammar1

8/7/2019 THISISITcompe in grammar1

1/55

1

Philippine Normal UniversityThe National Center for Teacher Education

Taft Avenue , ManilaCollege of Languages, Linguistics and Literature

Department of English

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements inTeaching Grammar

Compendium in Teaching Grammar

6 CALINGGANGAN, Charissa Eniva2008120252

III-14 BSE English

Mrs. Sonia R. Manzano

February 2011


2/55

2

I. HISTORY OF GRAMMAR

You may wonder why grammar has been out of fashion for some time, and whyit has come back. The following very brief history may help you to put therecent grammar history into context. Click here for more details aboutdevelopments in the twentieth century.

The ancient world took grammar teaching very seriously as a foundation forinstruction in writing skills - hence the link between the word grammar and theGreek gramma, 'written character'. Another perceived benefit was for thinkingskills, where grammar was paired with logic and rhetoric.

The 18th century developed prescriptive grammar teaching, and tried toanalyze English grammar as though it was the same as Latin grammar.Grammar teaching in school was mainly about (a) Latin and (b) avoiding'errors' in English.

The 19th century developed historical linguistics as an important universityresearch subject, with heavy emphasis on how languages are related but littleimpact on school grammar teaching. Meanwhile, English literature, in thestruggle to establish itself as a university subject, saw language as itscompetitor for the title 'English'.

The early 20th century saw a steady decline in the quality of grammar teachingin English schools, and increasing calls for its abandonment. One reason for thisdecline was the complete lack of university-level research on English grammar,which led a government report in 1921 to conclude that it is impossible at the

present juncture to teach English grammar in the schools for the simple reasonthat no one knows exactly what it is. Another reason was an energeticcampaign on behalf of literature, presented as a liberal and liberatingalternative to the so-called 'grammar-grind'.

The later 20th century (from about 1960) saw two competing trends. Mostschools stopped teaching grammar in English (and somewhat later in MFL);meanwhile, Latin teaching had largely died out too, so pupils no longer had anysystematic instruction in grammar. This is the educational background of mostyoung English teachers.English grammar became an important research subject, partly driven by theoverseas publishing market in English as a Foreign Language and partly by the

intellectual impetus of theoretical linguistics. Most universities now have adepartment of Linguistics or of English Language where undergraduates studyEnglish grammar. This is the research background of the 'modern grammar'espoused by the KS3 Strategy.


3/55

3

The end of the 20th century (from about 1990) reversed the anti-grammartrends in school through a series of major reports on the perceivedshortcomings of English teaching (which was clearly failing in its major task ofteaching literacy). These reports all followed the first one (the Bullock Report of

1975) in replacing traditional grammar with a much more defensible kind ofgrammar which should be:a form of grammar which can describe language in use; relevant to all levelsfrom the syntax of sentences through to the organization of substantial texts;able to describe the considerable differences between spoken and writtenEnglish; part of a wider "syllabus of language study". Central governmentdecided to promote the teaching of grammar (though different ministers clearlyhad very different ideas of what this meant) as part of a drive to improveliteracy standards. This decision is: controversial, because grammar teachinghas had such a bad press for such a long time; challenging, because it reallyinvolves the introduction of a new subject rather than a simple re-instatementof an existing one, with all that this means for syllabus design and for teacher

support.

PRECONDITIONS FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING

Although children will begin to vocalize and then verbalize at different ages andat different rates, children most children will learn their first language, ahighly complex and abstract symbol system, without conscious instruction onthe part of their parents or caretakers and without obvious signs of evenmaking the effort, let alone experiencing any difficulty in doing so. However,before learning can begin, children must be ready to learn; that is, they must

be biologically, socially, and psychologically mature enough to undertake thetask.

y Biological Preconditions

Linguists do not agree on exactly how biological factors affect languagelearning, but most do agree with Lenneberg (1964) that human beings possessa capacity to learn language that is specific to this species and no other.Lenneberg also suggested that language might be expected from theevolutionary process humans have undergone and that the basis for languagemight be transmitted genetically.

As part of genetically endowed language abilities, Lenneberg (1967)hypothesized a "critical period" during which language learning proceeds withunmatched ease. A child's early years are especially crucial for languagedevelopment, Lenneberg argued, because that is the period before the twohemispheres of the human brain lateralizes and specializes in function. As


4/55

4

partial proof, Lenneberg discussed cases where children in bilingualcommunities were able to learn two languages, fluently and without obvioussigns of effort before the age of (about) twelve, but to learn a second languageafter the age of twelve becomes enormously difficult for most people.

Exactly which language capacities are genetically given is an open, and hotlydebated, question. Some linguists are so impressed by the speed anduniformity with which children all over the world learn the complex and abstractsystem of language that they are convinced that the parameters of what can bea human language are biologically determined (see for example Lightfoot1982). McNeill (1970: 2-3) has even argued that the notion of 'sentence' isinherited: The facts of language acquisition could not be as they are unless theconcept of a sentence is available to children at the start of their learning. Theconcept of a sentence is the main guiding principle in a child's attempts toorganize and interpret the linguistic evidence that fluent speakers makeavailable to him. These ideas are one part of the 'nativist' position discussed

later in this chapter. There are not sufficient data to state conclusively thecontribution of biology to human language, but all linguists acknowledge thatbiology does play some role. As Patterson and Holts write in their chapter aboutlanguage development in the gorilla Koko, neurologists know that the infantbrain is only forty percent developed at birth. The brain will not achieve its finalshape for two years, and many interconnections within the brain will not becomplete until the child reaches seven years of age. Some neurologists insist,therefore, that the infant who struggles to gurgle and babble is not attemptingto articulate speech sounds because the child has not attained enoughneuromuscular, biological, maturity to control the vocal organs before the ageof six months.

Similarly, many neurolinguists would argue that children's brains arebiologically too immature to comprehend several grammatical conceptscommonly used in languages around the world. Concepts like plurals, auxiliaryverbs, inflectional endings, and temporal words will develop in all languages instages, stages that reflect the biological maturation of the child's brain. The factthat those stages of language development are identicaland predictable in alllanguages further suggests that there are strong biological preconditions forlearning language.

y SocialPreconditions

All humans (children too) use language as a tool of social interaction. Therefore,children must have the opportunity to interact socially for language to developadequately. Moskowitz (1978: 122) reported the following story highlighting theimportance of social interaction to the development of human speech: A boywith normal hearing but with deaf parents who communicated by the American


5/55

5

Sign Language was exposed to television every day so that he would learnEnglish. Because the child was asthmatic and was confined to his home heinteracted only with people at home where his family and all their visitorscommunicated in sign language. By the age of three he was fluent in sign

language but neither understood nor spoke English. Despite the fact that theboy was in environment rich with well-formed spoken English, he could notlearn English without the chance to interact with real people in that language.Although the television set could offer sufficient examples of English, could tellhim stories, or ask him questions, it could not socialize with the boy, could notreact to his vocalizations, could not respond to his questions. It seems that inorder to learn their first language children must be in an environment thatallows them to communicate socially in that language.

Two early studies by McCarthy (1943) and Davis (1937) demonstrated theimportance of early and frequent social contact in language learning. In fact,more recent investigations by Cazden (1972) indicated that a very specific type

of verbal and social interaction may be necessary for language development.

McCarthy and Davis, in two separate studies conducted in the 1930s, studieddifferences in language development among twins, children with brothers andsisters who were not twins, and "only" children. They reported that "only"children are more verbal (they spoke more and were more linguisticallysophisticated) than both of the other groups, and that children with siblingswho are not twins are more verbal than twins, although all groups understoodlanguage equally well. The studies seem to suggest that social and linguisticdevelopment go hand in hand: children who associate more with people whoare least like themselves (adults and non-twin siblings) creating greater

social distance will need more elaborately developed ("adult-like") languageto communicate.

Cazden's experimental studies provide further evidence of the importance ofsocial interaction of a particular type. Children in Cazden's study were dividedinto three groups. The first group received forty minutes a day of extensive anddeliberate expansions of their telegraphic two and three word sentences. Forthis group, the adults repeated the child's "simplified" sentence in full sentenceform. For example, when the child would utter "All gone milk," the adult mightexpand the sentence as "Yes, your milk is all gone" or "Adam's milk is all gone."The second group of children received an equal amount of time focusing on thechildren's language, but instead of expanding the children's sentences into full"adult" sentence patterns, the adults were asked to expand on the children'sideas by continuing the conversation with a related sentence, but not arepetition of the children's sentences. So for the second group, "All gone milk"might be expanded as "Do you want some more?" or "Let's put the milk awaythen." The third group of children received no special treatment at all.


6/55

6

Cazden discovered that (contrary to most people's expectations) the secondgroup who had received responses to their sentences expanding the ideasand introducing new grammatical elements, extending meanings, andelaborating on relationships between ideas performed better on all measures

of language development than the first group who received fully grammaticalexpansions of their two or three word sentences. Cazden reasoned that"semantic expansion proved to be slightly more helpful than grammaticalexpansion" (p. 123) for several reasons. In the second group there was arichness of meaning, focusing on the child's ideas rather than on the form ofthe child's sentences. McNeill (1970) also suggested that the adult attempts toexpand the child's telegraphic sentences may have been inaccurate at least partof the time, thereby misleading or interfering with the child's languagedevelopment. Cazden's research and the other studies mentioned abovesuggest that there is a social precondition for language learning: children needa social environment in which they have the opportunity to interactmeaningfully with their caretakers, who attend more to the children's ideas and

less to the children's grammatical structures.

y PsychologicalPreconditions

Many psychologists view language as an intellectual response, and from thepoint of view of one very influential psychologist (Jean Piaget), intellectualresponses are not inherited. Instead, children inherit a tendency to organizetheir intellectual processes and to adapt to their environment (Ginsburg andOpper 1969: 17). The theoretical framework hypothesized by Piaget suggeststhat there are two basic inherited psychological tendencies: organization andadaptation. Organization is "the tendency common to all forms of life to

integrate structures, which may be physical or psychological, into higher-ordersystems or structures" (Ginsburg and Opper 1969: 18). The process oforganization from the Piagetian point of view explains several facts aboutlanguage development in children; for example it is common for children tolearn a new word ending and then to use that ending too generally, creatingwords that follow the overall organizational principle the child is using but donot occur in the language the children are learning. Thus, the child learns that -ed added to the end of a verb means 'past time' and over generalizes thepattern to create words like putted, catched, or runned. Similarly, the childlearns that the /z/ sound occurs frequently on pronouns of possession like his,hers, or ours and over generalizes the use of that sound to create a word likemines.

Adaptation to the environment takes place through the two complementaryprocesses of assimilation and accommodation. "Broadly speaking, assimilationdescribes the capacity of the organism to handle new situations and newproblems with its present stock of mechanisms; accommodation describes the


7/55

7

process of changing through which the organism becomes able to managesituations that are at first too difficult for it" (Baldwin 1967: 176). Throughaccommodation the child is able to assimilate increasingly complex and novelsituations until an increasingly mature system evolves. Adaptation through

those two processes as described by Piaget might explain how new linguisticstructures are incorporated into the child's existing organizational pattern forlanguage and how the child revises linguistic systems to fit the new linguisticevidence the child gets by using their language in social interaction. Thus, manypsychologists reason that two psychological tendencies in all humans arenecessary preconditions for the development of language in children:organization and adaptation.

Even though nowadays it is common to read about the intense debate betweenthose linguists who believe that language is inherited and those psychologistswho believe that language is learned, notice here that the differentpreconditions can be complementary: the biological factors that seems to

suggest that humans inherit some specific language learning capacity worknicely alongside the psychological tendencies children bring to learninglanguage in a social environment.

Learning the grammatical structures of language is no less a remarkable

achievement than learning the vocabulary is. By about eighteen to twenty

months, the average child is creating his/her first two word utterances, and by

twenty-five months, two word utterances make up the majority of the child's

speech. When the child is three years old, on average, he/she is able to create

three and four word utterances, and as the child grows, the grammar grows

too, ever increasing in the depth of its complexity and the breadth of its variety.Indeed, like vocabulary, the development of grammar need never end since

people can continue to learn new grammatical patterns as they learn new styles

of speech and writing, new ways to express themselves with flair and emphasis.

Many grammatical structures, particularly those involving coordination and

subordination, are not fully mastered until adulthood (Kies 1985 and 1990).

Yet, as mentioned above, age is a very unreliable measure of language

development. Different children, months apart in age, could both be using two

word utterances. Therefore, Brown (1973) devised a measure of grammatical

development in children independent of chronological or mental age, the notionof Mean Length of Utterance (MLU).

MLU approximates of the average length of the child's utterance measured in

morphemes (the smallest meaningful components of words). For example,


8/55

8

unhelpfulconsists of three morphemes, un + help + ful, a base morpheme help

and two lexical morphemes un and ful. Each morpheme contributes a

meaningful component to the whole word. Dogs consist of two morphemes, the

base morpheme dog and the grammatical morpheme -s, meaning 'more than

one'. Brown carefully devised a series of rules for collecting utterances toensure that only meaningful morphemes are collected; for instance, if a child

says doggies for every canine he/she sees, singularly or in groups, there is no

evidence to say that there are two morphemes in the child's word, and that

word is counted as one morpheme.

Brown defined Stage I of grammar development as the period from the

appearance of the child's first utterances to an MLU of 2.0. Brown simply

defined the successive Stages II, III, IV, and V as .5 increments of the child's

MLU from 2.0 on.

Stage I: The Holophrastic Stage

At the beginning of Stage I (about ten to twelve months of age), the childspeaks one word at a time, but by the end (about eighteen to twenty-fourmonths), uses predominantly two word utterances. The one word utterancesfrom the child early in this Stage are often called holophrases since the childexpresses meaning of an entire phrase, clause, or sentence in the one wordhe/she utters. As mentioned above, the early holophrase consists primarily ofnouns and verbs (words denoting more concrete physical and motor operationsperhaps), while adjectives (words denoting more abstract attributes) are

learned later.

From the perspective of the adult, there is enormous ambiguity in the child'sholophrases. The child who says milk, for instance, may be requesting ('I wantsome milk'), announcing ('I see some milk'), or reporting that he/she has justspilled the milk. This ambiguity is lessened by the social and situational context,and adults use the context of speech situation to interpret the utterance. Thus,the child who toddles into the kitchen after playing outside saying milkprobablyis requesting ('I want some milk') and the adult will respond accordingly. Thisenormous ambiguity is true of Stage II as well as Stage I.

When a child can only say one word at a time to express what he/she wishes,which word will be chosen? There seem to be three answers, each valid from adifferent perspective. From a static perspective, simply listing all theoverextended words in the child's Stage I speech, it seems that children speakabout items of their environment that are perceptually salient (appealing totheir senses). Clark (1973) could group overextended single word utterances by


9/55

9

categories like movement, shape, size, sound, taste, and texture. From thedynamic perspective of dialog, a different picture of one word utterancesappears. For most children, the crucial criterion for choosing a word in dialog isinformativeness (Greenfield and Smith 1976). The child will utter the one word

that introduces the greatest degree of new information into the speechsituation, information that is not known through either earlier dialog or thecontext of speaking. Consider this dialog between Nigel (age eighteen tonineteen months) and his parents:

Father: you went on a train yesterdayNigel: too-too, bah-bah (= 'when I got off, the train went awayand I waved to it')Father: and you said bye-bye to the trainNigel: ahn (= 'another')Father: and you saw another train?Nigel: (long list of things seen then:) wla ('flag')

Mother: oh, you saw some flags?Nigel: (holding out palm) gra ('gravel')Mother: and you had some gravelNigel: (touching palm, lips rounded, very quiet) oohFather: and you hurt your hand with the gravel?Mother: no, that was with the stick, the one with prickles onNigel: blah ('blood')Mother: and there was blood on it, yes(adapted from Halliday 1975: 90)

Notice how Nigel drives the conversation forward by choosing words conveying

a relatively high degree of new information.

Another factor influencing word choice at this stage is the child's attempt toexpress multiword utterances by selecting one word at a time and utteringthem sequentially throughout a dialog (Bloom 1973), as in this exchangebetween Liz at nineteen months and her mother:

Mother: (phone rings) I have to put you down to answer the phoneLiz: noMother: (answers phone)Liz: (tugging on hand) dow ('down')Mother: (continues phone conversation; holds child's hand; looksat child) shh!Liz: up, up, up

It is not difficult, Bloom suggests, to suppose that the child is uttering themultiword message no down; up 'Don't put me down; I want up!' one word at a


10/55

10

time, spreading the message through the interaction. This same strategy will beused at the two word stage to express concepts that otherwise might need acomplex clause:

Liz (at twenty-two months): bring homeFather: what should I bring home?Liz: read it ('Bring home the book I want so I can read it')

Stage II: The Joining Stage

At Stage II, children are producing two and three word utterances and arebetween eighteen and twenty-four months old, although there is greatindividual variation. Stage II often starts with two holophrases uttered in rapidsuccession, babyand after a short pause car, pointing to a toy. Soon, however,the child is uttering the two words as a single intonation unit.

In fact, prosody is a clear signal that the child has entered Stage II.Holophrases are articulated with an equal degree of stress on each word, as inDADDY, GO; by contrast, multiword (Stage II) utterances are articulated withmain stress falling only the word that conveys the highest degree of newinformation, as in daddy GO. Thus by Stage II, children have learned one partof prosody found in the adult language: stress can make a meaningfuldifference in speech and usually falls on that element of the message thatcarries the greatest degree of new information. BABY car, with stress on thefirst word, expresses 'possessor + possession', while baby CAR expresses an'agent + object' relationship. (An agent is the conscious initiator of action, theactor.) Indeed, one could rank the elements of Stage II speech according to

their relative degree of information value and their relative degree of stress tosee the correlation between the two:

higherinformationvalue

new orcontrastiveinformation

MAMA go [not Dad] higher degreeof stress

location baby go HOMEpossession BABY carnoun object push CAR

lower

informationvalue

action baby GO

lower degreeof stress

pronoun object KISS 'em

agent daddy KISS

At the top of the list are utterances like MAMA go as an answer to a question"Who went to the store?" MAMA represent the highest degree of new


11/55

11

information in the utterance since the verb go was already available from thecontext, and MAMA is in contrast with others in the child environment who mayhave gone to the store. At the bottom of the list, the pronoun object 'emconveys a low degree of new information. As in the adult language, pronouns in

general refer to items already known to the conversationalists, either throughprevious dialog ("See puppies. Kiss 'em") or through the context of speaking(child walks into the room with a puppy and states "Kiss 'em"). In such anutterance, the main stress falls on the verb. Similarly, agents are usually knownfrom the context of speaking. Thus, daddy in "daddy kiss" will convey a lowdegree of new information, since daddy is known contextually, and the mainstress will fall on the verb kiss.

One rarely finds grammatical function words in Stage II speech (words likeprepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, and articles), except for the first personsingular pronoun in the objective case, me. If pronouns do appear in Stage IIspeech, they are more frequently objectives (me, him, her, them) than

subjectives (I, he, she, they). Also grammatical word endings do not occur atStage II (word endings like the -ing, -ed, -s endings on verbs or the -s , -'sendings on nouns). If those endings do occur at this stage, there is no evidencethat the child knows their functions; instead, the child seems to treat them aspart of the word itself.

There are two major approaches to the study of a child's grammaticaldevelopment starting in Stage II structural and functional. Early structuralstudies revealed that some words always appeared in a fixed position. Themajority of fixed words occur in the first position of a two word utterance, theremainder always in the second position. Examples of those fixed words are

that, there, allgone, my, dirty, and more. Those fixed words were labelledpivotwords (Braine 1963) because they serve as a fulcrum, a point of departure, forthe child's utterances. Dozens of open class words, frequently nouns at thisstage, follow to form the two word utterance. The words of the open class (butnever the pivot class) may occur together or alone as holophrases. A schematicrule illustrating the pivot-open grammar of a child's two word utterances lookslike

where P1 represents pivot words that occur in first position only, P2 representspivot words occurring in second position only, and O represents the open class


12/55

12

words. The rule states that the child's sentence has one of only four possiblestructures.

Structural studies of children's early grammar created considerable excitement

in the 1960s since those analyses suggested that children's early utterances arenot random groupings of words. They also suggested that children are notimitating the adult speech they hear around them. Finally, they also seemed tosuggest that language learning follows a universal design: just as all children gothrough a babbling stage and a holophrastic stage, so too do they go through astage where their speech is constrained by the pivot-open grammar.

Continuing research quickly demonstrated, however, that structural descriptions(and the pivot grammar above) were of limited value. First, Bowerman (1973)discovered that children do use pivot words alone as holophrases, that theyshift pivot words from first to second position (as vice versa), and that theyproduce P + P utterances. In essence, adding those structures to the possible

structure already outlined above, pivot grammars simply say

Sentence Word + (Word)

where the parentheses indicate that the second word is optional. Such astructural description is worthless; it says nothing new.

Secondly, structural descriptions can not capture the meaning of theexpression, only its grammatical shape. Therefore, several people began toexplore the child's language from a functional perspective. Studying thefunctions and uses served by the child's utterances could be the key to

understanding how the child is developing grammar (form) to express meaning(content).

Bloom (1970), for example, notice that one child said mommysockin two verydifferent contexts, with two very different meanings ('possessor + possession'as in 'mommy's sock' and 'agent + object' as in 'mommy wears a sock'). Apivot grammar assigns the same structural description to both uses ofmommysock, missing the meaningful, functional differences between them. Likewise,expressions such as mommy chair and big bird have the same structuraldescription of mommy sock, but the pivot grammar description misses the'agent + location' meaning of 'mommy is sitting in the chair' and the 'attribute

+ object' meaning of 'a bird that is big'.

Following along functional lines, Brown (1973) found that seventy percent ofthe utterances in late Stage I and Stage II could be described by a small set offunctional relationships between words:


13/55

13

1. 'agent + action' baby kiss2. 'action + object'pull car3. 'agent + object' daddy ball4. 'action + location' sit chair

5.

'object + location' cup table6. 'possessor + possession' mommysock7. 'object + attribute' car red8. 'demonstrative + object' there car

In a cross-linguistic study of functional relationships, Slobin (1971) found thatchildren of approximately the same age from six different languages (English,German, Russian, Finnish, Luo, and Samoan) expressed similar kinds ofmeanings at Stage II: utterances were used

1. to locate or name objects and people there book;2. to request, demand, or indicate a desire for people, objects, or events

more milk;3. to negate or indicate refusal or rejection no wash;4. to express situations or events kitty go;5. to indicate possession mama dress;6. to describe doggy big;7. to question with both wh-questions and yes/no questions where ball?,

daddy go?

In the first three functions Brown's list and in the fourth function in Slobin's list,one can see the child's earliest attempts to code the functional categories'agent', 'action', and 'object' into grammatical categories of subject, verb, and

object.

Halliday (1975) provided the most detailed study of language developmentfrom a functional point of view. His son Nigel's earliest language expressedseven functions:

1. the instrumental 'I want' (the child seeks satisfaction of material needs);2. the regulatory 'do as I tell you' (the child regulates the behavior of

others);3. the interactional 'me and you' (the child interacts with others);4. the personal 'here I come' (the child expresses personal feelings,

interests, pleasure, disgust);5. the heuristic 'tell me why' (the child seeks to name things);6. the imaginative 'let's pretend' (the child creates a personal environment);

and7. the informative 'I've got something to tell you' (the child communicates

information).


14/55

14

Those functions themselves have a developmental course. Between nine andsixteen months, children employ the instrumental, regulatory, interactional, andpersonal functions. The heuristic and imaginative functions appear betweensixteen and eighteen months, and the informative is added around twenty-two

months. Initially, children's utterances express one function, one meaning at atime, but as they develop grammar (including vocabulary) and engage indialog, they learn to use language to convey several functions, severalmeanings simultaneously.

Stage III: The Combining Stage

The age at which children make the shift from Stage II to III varies greatly. Bytwo years of age, some children are well into Stage III, but others will use twoword utterances exclusively to age three (and sometimes beyond).

At Stage III the structure of questions and negations evolves. Stage II

questions are articulated by rising intonation or by beginning a sentence with awh word, mommy pinch finger? or where me sleep?Stage III witnesses theemergence of grammatical morphemes like auxiliary verbs do and should(seethe discussion below). The results can be seen in late Stage III questions, didmommy pinch finger?and where Ishouldsleep?Likewise, Stage II negationssimply add the negative words no, not, neverto the beginning of the utterance,no sit there or no dog bite. By Stage III, the negatives too have evolved, thereno squirrels or dog no bite.

As one can see, children begin to master word order at Stage III, although theystill have much to learn. For example, children commonly interpret the first

noun phrase in an utterance as the 'agent' and the second noun phrase as'object' (receiver of the action). If any sentence were to disrupt the order 'agent+ object', one would expect that children at this stage would misinterpret it.Not surprisingly, that is exactly what happens: 'passive' sentences in Englishexpress the 'object' before the 'agent' as in Liz was followed by the dog, wheredog is 'agent' (the actor, the initiator of action) and Liz is the 'object'. Suchpassive sentences are routinely misinterpreted as 'Liz followed the dog' bychildren at this stage, even if they understood some passive sentences correctlyat an earlier stage.

At the beginning of Stage II, children express 'agent + action', 'action + object',

and 'action + location'. At the three word stage, children can express 'agent +action + object' and 'agent + action + location'. At the four word stage, childrencan express 'agent + action + object + location'. It is as if some developmentallimitation, on short term memory perhaps, has been lifted so that the full form,implicit in the early joining stage becomes explicit at the combining stage.


15/55

15

Bloom (1970) and Brown (1973) hypothesized that children's grammardevelops either by combining the joining stage functional relations, as in:

(agent + action) + (action + object) 'agent + action + object'

(baby throw) + (throw ball) baby throw ball

or by expanding one functional relation into a new functional relation, as in thefollowing where a single functional relation, 'object', expands to express a newfunctional relationship, a new meaning, of 'possessor + possession':

Yet despite these significant grammatical developments, the child's language atStages II and III is often described as "telegraphic speech" since so many ofthe words commonly omitted in telegrams are not expressed regularly, forinstance put dolly table or there mommyshoe. In fact, grammatical functionwords (auxiliaries, articles, prepositions, etc) and word endings (plurals,possessives, progressives, etc) are just beginning to appear systematically.

Brown (1973) studied the order in which children learn fourteen grammaticalmarkers that first appear systematically in Stage III speech: endings of theverb and noun, articles, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs. The patterns ofdevelopment are remarkably consistent from child to child and even showconsistency across languages. The list below ranks the grammatical morphemesin the average order in which they are learned (there is some small variation inthis order from one child to the next, though the individual differences areslight):

Morpheme1. present progressive -ing

2-3. in, on4. plural -s5. past irregular6. possessive -'s7. uncontractible copula is

Example1. (as in mama talking)

2-3. (on table)4. (shoes)5. (went, broke)6. (dad's hair)7. (this is late)


16/55

16

8. articles9. past regular -ed10. third-person singular -s11. third-person irregular -s

12. uncontractible auxiliary is13. contractible copula -'s14. contractible auxiliary -'s

8. (a, an, the)9. (played)10. (baby plays)11. (does, has)

12. (Sis is working)13. (dad's funny)14. (dad's going)

A common learning phenomenon appearing at this stage is over regularization.It seems, for example, that once a child learns a pattern, say that -edmarksthe past tense on 'regular' verbs like walked and helped, he/she applies thatending to all verbs, 'over regularizing' the entire verb system by making allverbs regular verbs, as in comed, doed, goed,putted, breaked. The process ofover regularization occurs in a sequence of steps actually: first, the child usesthe irregular forms correctly (dada went). That is not surprising as irregularverbs are among the most common words in speech. In parental speech,

irregular forms of past tense are four times more common than regular forms(Slobin 1971). Second, the child learns the regular ending, -edin this example,after a few weeks or months (as in dada helped). Third, the child overuses theregular ending (over regularization) and either abandons the irregular form orthe irregular forms coexist with the over regular forms (dada goed). Fourth, thechild eventually "discovers" the error, slowly "relearning" the irregular endingsthat seem to have been "forgotten" in the third step. This process of overregularization has been observed in many children speaking many differentlanguages, and it occurs with many different word endings. The major pointhere is that children do not learn language simply by rote. Children attend toregularity; they are pattern learners and apply the patterns "creatively."

Stage IV: The Recursive Stage

At MLUs of 3.5 to 4.0 (which may occur anywhere between two and three-and-one-half years), children develop their first complex sentences, sentences withmore than one clause (hence more than one set of grammatical subject andverb). The first complex sentences expand the grammatical object, as in [Isee[you sit down]] (Limber 1973). (Square brackets, [], are used here to mark theboundaries of each clause in these examples.) There is not one example ofexpansion in the grammatical subject (as in [[To play a clarinet] is hard]) untilage three. The significance of the complex sentence is its flexibility to packageone clause (you sit down) within another clause (I see something). Thatpackaging of one clause within another is a property of grammar calledrecursion the basis of subordination.

The second type of complex sentence to appear expands the grammaticalobject with a wh-clause, as in [I know[where he is]] or [Isaw[what you did]].


17/55

17

Relative clauses are third and far less frequent. Early relative clauses alwaysmodify nouns functioning as grammatical objects, as in [see the ball [that Igot]] or [Iknow the boy[who broke it]].

Expansion of the grammatical subject occurs after expansion of thegrammatical object is learned. Soon children are also saying

[[scraping my knee] hurts] -ing clause expanding subject[[what you did] is bad] wh-clause expanding subject[my toy [that broke]stopped]

relative clause expanding subject nounphrase.

Many psycholinguists speculate that early complex sentences do not involvegrammatical subjects of the main clause because doing so breaks the continuityof the main clause and increases the burden on short term memory.Alternatively, many grammatical subjects in children's utterances are pronouns

or proper nouns, which cannot be modified by relative clauses. Grammaticalobjects on the other hand are more frequently common nouns, which can bemodified. So in the case of relative clauses at least, the difference indevelopment may simply reflect differences in grammar.

Coordination (two or more elements joined by a conjunction like and, but, or)appears more frequently at this stage. The earliest coordinated structures implycoordination, as in this list tik-tik, lau-lau, too-too, ka-ka, ba-ba, bow-wow('sticks, holes, trains, cars, buses, and dogs') and implied coordination is first toappear at the sentence level as well, you lookit book; I lookit pictures. By StageIII, the child is rapidly learning grammatical morphemes, including

conjunctions, so it is not long into Stage IV that the child is coordinating words,phrases, and clauses explicitly, gimme cookies andmilk, andIgive you a kiss.

Stage V: Toward the Adult Language

Once the child learns subordination and coordination, MLU grows so rapidly thatit loses its value as a measure of language development. Stage V (three-and-one-half years and beyond) sees continued growth at all levels: vocabularyexpands enormously; grammatical morphemes are still being learned steadily;language functions change and expand, developing new sentence structuresand stylistic patterns appropriate to new speech situations.


18/55

18

Teaching Grammar

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of

the more difficult aspects of language to teach well.

Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think

of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate "good" grammar

with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in

formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used

in everyday conversation or used by speakers of nonprestige forms.

Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of

forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and

then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who

can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errorswhen they try to use the language in context.

Other language teachers, influenced by recent theoretical work on the

difference between language learning and language acquisition, tend not to

teach grammar at all. Believing that children acquire their first language

without overt grammar instruction, they expect students to learn their second

language the same way. They assume that students will absorb grammar rules

as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This

approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as

learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in thelanguage they already know.

The communicative competence model balances these extremes. The model

recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language

more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the

larger context of teaching students to use the language. Instructors using this

model teach students the grammar they need to know to accomplish defined

communication tasks.


19/55

19

Goals of Teaching Grammar

y To enable learners to achieve linguistic competencey To be able to use grammar as a tool or resource in the comprehension

and creation of oral and written discourse efficiently, effectively, andappropriately according to the situation. (Lewis1986)

y Grammar should never be taught as an end in itself, but always withreference to meaning, social function, or discourse or a combination ofthese.(Celce-Murcia and Hilles 1998, Larsen-Freeman 1991).

In the past, grammar teaching was often seen as establishing the

correct way of speaking and writing. It intends to focus only on the

structures. Grammar instruction is sentence-based. They rarely move beyond

the sentence level. Now, grammar is an essential element of language teaching.

It pays attention to the spoken language and discourse structure. Grammarinstruction should be content-based, meaningful, contextualized and discourse-

based.

Past Grammar instruction is sentence-based.

Present Grammar is now a part of language teaching.

Grammar instruction should be content-based,

meaningful, contextualized and discourse-based.

Prescriptivism/

Traditional/ Past

Grammar teaching was often seen as establishing the

correct way of speaking and writing

Aimed to focus only on the structures

Rarely moved beyond the sentence level

Present Pays attention to the spoken language and discourse

structure

Teach grammar within context, using meaningful andpurposeful communicative approaches

Grammar is an essential element of language teaching


20/55

20

y One component of communicative competence(Canale and Swain CC model)

y An important part of the study of language, ofideas, and of writing (Hannan, 1989)

y

Reflects the power and order of the human mindy Also helps in understanding the diversity of

human culturey A means to analyze and describe language

(Garner 1989)y Research in SLA indicates that post pubescent,

adolescent, and adults need to pay attention toform the target language. If they do not, theyultimately develop an incomplete and imperfectinter-language (Celce-Murcia, 1991)

PRESCRIPTIVE

VIEW

DESCRIPTIVE

VIEW

COMMUNICATIVE

VIEW

View of

Grammar

A means to

maintain linguistic

excellence

(Garner, 1989)

A systematic way of

approaching the

study of linguistic

facts (Garner,

1989)

Language is viewed as

an instrument of

communication.

Tries to preserve

what is assumed

to be the standard

language by

telling people

what rules they

should know and

how they should

speak and write

(Fromkin et al.

1990)

Describes the

already existing

rules which

represent the

unconscious

linguistic knowledge

or capacity of its

speakers (Fromkin,

et al. 1990)

Grammar is a tool or

resource to be used in

conveying meaning

and comprehending

other peoples

messages.


21/55

21

Prescriptive View

Grammar is a means to maintain linguistic excellence (Garner, 1989). It

tries to preserve what is assumed to be the standard language by telling people

what rules they should know and how they should speak and write (Fromkin, etal. 1990)

Example:

Do not use different to and never use different than. Always use different

from.

Descriptive View

Grammar is a systematic way of approaching the study of linguistic facts

(Garner 1989). It describes the already existing rules which represent the

unconscious linguistic knowledge or capacity of its speakers (Fromkin, et al.

1990).

Example:

We use used to with the infinitive (used to do, used to smoke, etc.) to

say something regularly happened in the past but no longer happens.

Communicative View

Language is viewed as an instrument of communication. Grammar is a

tool or resource to be used in conveying meaning and comprehending otherpeoples messages.


22/55

22


23/55

23

- Answer the question who? or what?

Formation:

Most nouns consist of a single meaningful unit. Sometimes we can form nounsby adding other meaningful units such as suffix or another word.

Suffixes:verb + -ment = agreementverb + -er or or = player, actorverb + -ion = contraction

adjective + -ness = loneliness

Other suffixes:-ity -some -ent -ist-hood -logy -ee -ship-dom -ism -age

Singular/ Plural Form

A plural noun refers to multiple people, places, or things (for example, bats orships).

The majority of English count nouns are regular and predictable in the spellingof the plural form. However, other nouns have irregular plural spellings. Both ofthese kinds of nouns will be covered here.

Rule #1: Add -sMost nouns can be pluralized simply by adding an -s at the end of the word. Forexample:

y edge/edgesy girl/girlsy song/songsy bag/bags

y cat/catsy boy/boysy day/days

Rule #2: Add -es to nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh, and xNouns which end in the letters s,z, ch, sh, andx-es at the end. For example:

y glass/glassesy horse/horses

y buzz/buzzesy dish/dishes

NOUN GROUP

A. NOUNS


24/55

24

y box/boxesy bush/bushes

y witch/witchesy switch/switches

Rule #3: Nouns ending in o

For words ending in the letter o, sometimes they are pluralized by adding s,while other words must be pluralized by adding es. These words must bememorized, because there is no simple rule to explain the differences.

Examples (es):y echo/echoesy embargo/embargoesy hero/heroesy potato/potatoesy veto/vetoes

y tomato/tomatoesy torpedo/torpedoesy hero/heroesy veto/vetoes

Examples (s):

Most nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel are pluralized by simply adding s.Some other o nouns do this, too:

y auto/autosy folio/foliosy cameo/cameosy portfolio/portfoliosy kilo/kilosy photo/photosy zoo/zoosy memo/memosy solo/solos

y soprano/sopranosy studio/studiosy pimento/pimentosy tattoo/tattoosy video/videosy piano/pianosy pro/prosy kangaroo/kangaroos

Rule #4: Nouns Ending in a consonant YFor nouns ending in the letter y, replace the ending y with ies. For example:

y baby/babiesy story/storiesy poppy/poppiesy baby/babies

y daisy/daisiesy spy/spiesy lady/ladies

Note that for words ending in ypreceded by a vowel (a complex vowel sound),an s is simply added, as usual. For example:

y day/daysy toy/toysy essay/essaysy turkey/turkeysy chimney/chimneys

y play/playsy joy/joysy valley/valleysy alley/alleysy volley/volleys

(Irregular) Some nouns Ending in -F or -FE


25/55

25

For some nouns ending in f or fe, replace the ending f or fe with ves:y calf/calvesy elf/elvesy half/halvesy

hoof/hoovesy leaf/leavesy life/livesy loaf/loavesy scarf/scarves

y self/selvesy sheaf/sheavesy wolf/wolvesy

shelf/shelvesy thief/thievesy knife/knivesy wife/wives

(Irregular) Some nouns change the vowel sound in becoming plural:y foot/feety goose/geesey louse/licey man/men

y mouse/micey tooth/teethy woman/women

(Irregular) Some Old English plurals are still in use:y child/childreny ox/oxen

Nouns adopted from other languages

Singular ends in -ISFor nouns in which the singular form ends in is, the plural form will end in es.For example:

y hypothesis/hypothesesy diagnosis/diagnosesy

ellipsis/ellipsesy analysis/analysesy basis/basesy crisis/crisesy thesis/theses

y oasis/oasesy synthesis/synthesesy

synopsis/synopsesy emphasis/emphasesy neurosis/neurosesy paralysis/paralysesy parenthesis/parentheses

Singular ends in -UMPlural ends in a:

y bacterium/bacteriay datum/datay curriculum/curriculay medium/mediay memorandum/memoranda

y ovum/ovay symposium/symposiay erratum/erratay addendum/addenday stratum/strata

Singular ends in -ONPlural ends in -a

y criterion/criteria


26/55

26

y phenomenon/phenomenay automaton/automata

Singular ends in -A

Plural ends in -aey alga/algaey amoeba/amoebaey larva/larvaey formula/formulae

y antenna/antannaey nebula/nebulaey vertebra/vertebraey vita/vitae

Singular ends in -ex or -ixPlural ends in -ices:

y appendix/appendicesy index/indecesy matrix/matricesy vertex/vertices

y vortex/vorticesy apex/apicesy cervix/cervicesy axis/axes

Singular ends in -usPlural ends in -i:

y alumnus/alumniy bacillus/bacilliy cactus/cactiy focus/fociy stimulus/stimuli

y focus/fociy octopus/octopiy radius/radiiy stimulus/stimuliy terminus/termini

Singular ends in -us:Plural ends in -a:

y

corpus/corporay genus/genera

Singular ends in -eauPlural ends in -eaux:

y bureau/bureauxy beau/beauxy portmanteau/portmanteauxy tableau/tableaux

Other irregular plurals, retained from different languages:

Italiany libretto/librettiy tempo/tempi

y virtuoso/virtuosi

Hebrewy cherub/cherubim y seraph/seraphim


27/55

27

Greeky schema/schemata

Other Irregular Pluralsy

man/meny woman/womeny fungus/fungiy species/speciesy medium/mediay person/peopley foot/feet

y

tooth/teethy goose/geesey mouse/micey louse/licey child/childreny penny/pencey ox/oxen

Possessive Plurals

For plural nouns ending in the letter s, add only the apostrophe. For example:y The Johnsons' farmy Singers' voicesy The thieves' guild

For plural nouns not ending in the letter s, add an apostrophe and s. Forexample:

y Women's soccery Children's books

Words Which are Always Plural or Always SingularSome nouns are always plural or always singular. Some other nouns have thesame form for singular and plural.

Some nouns are always plural (things that come in pairs):y pantsy clothesy binocularsy jeansy forcepsy trousersy tongsy shorts

y tweezersy peopley pajamasy policey shortsy glassesy scissorsy mathematics

Aggregate Nouns

Some nouns end in -s but have no singular (these are called aggregate nouns).These are traditionally plural, but are also used for singular forms:

y accommodationsy bread

yamendsy tea

y archivesy cheese


28/55

28

y bowelsy jamy communicationsy soupy

congratulationsy soapy contentsy snowy stairs

y cottony woody thanksy watery

goodsy informationy advicey knowledgey furniture

y newsy meansy seriesy speciesy

barracksy crossroadsy gallowsy headquarters

Nouns with the same form

Some nouns have the same form for singular and plural, such as fish andanimals. (Note that not all fish have the irregular plural form, though--Ex:, oneshark becomes two sharks)

y salmony trouty deer

y sheepy swiney offspring

Collective Nouns- Refer to a group of people or things.

Examples: family, choir, crew, bundle, council, enemy, herd, flock agaggle of geese, a pride of lions

Note: Sometimes writers will create whimsical collective nouns.

Examples: A cackle of hensA clutch of handbags

Compound Nouns- A compound noun can consist of two nouns (can opener, road works,

law and order). They can also be formed by a noun and another wordsuch as an adjective (natural resources, green house, civil rights, andsocial studies). Sometimes, compound nouns are written as twoseparate words (human race, make up) and sometimes, they are

joined by a hyphen (dry-cleaning, mother-in-law) or even written as asingle word (teabag, butterfly) especially if both the words areshort.

Note: Compound nouns which include a preposition make their plural byinflecting the last noun plural.

Examples: brothers- in-law, birds of prey, partners in crime


29/55

29

Creating New Nouns

1. When we need a new noun in English we often incorporate words or

phrases from other languagesEx: algebra, billabongs2. If it is something technical, scientific or legal we often use words from

Latin or ancient Greek.Ex: telephone, precedent, report, autograph

3. Sometimes we take an old noun and use it with a different meaningEx: computer mouse

4. Alternatively, we simple invent a noun, particularly in narratives andpoetry.

Nominalization- One way of making a text more compact and written is to change

verbs (and other words) into nouns.

Examples: Instead of saying, when you heat a liquid it can change into agas. When the gas cools it returns to a liquid. We could usenominalizations: Vaporization is followed by condensation.

Extended Nouns- Sometimes a noun group can consist of two or more people places or

things.

Examples: Maria and Pedro didnt do their homework; trains, planes and

cars are forms of transport

Meaning:

When we use language to represent our experience of the world, we usenouns or naming words to refer to people, places, things or concepts.Younger children will generally use nouns which are more concrete. As theyget older, however, they will also need to learn how to use nouns which aremore abstract and technical. We tend to organize our world into categories.When we talk about the meanings of nouns, we often refer to how theyrepresent different aspects of our experience.

Living/Non-living Nouns

The world could be represented in terms of living and nonliving things.Certain learning areas tend to explore the world of living things (biology,


30/55

30

history, literature, social studies) while others are more concerned withnonliving things (Physics, mathematics, astronomy, technology, geology).

Human/Non-human nouns

Living things can be human or non-human. We are more likely to find humannouns in text-types such as narrative and recounts which deal with the actions,thoughts, feelings and sayings of people (or animals acting like people) Texttypes such as information reports are more likely to include non-human nouns(bears, plans, marsupials).

Masculine/feminine/neuter

We also use language to divide the world into gender groups. We havemasculine nouns referring to males (boy, father, uncle, Mr. Del Rosario, ram)and feminine nouns referring to females (girl, mother, aunt, Mrs. Del Rosario,

ewe). We even have neuter categories for those things which are of neithergender.

Proper/ Common Nouns

Named people, places or things (Sarah, Mr. Santos, San Jose, Bank of thePhilippine Island) are called proper nouns. These begin with a capital letter.Other nouns are referred to us common nouns (bank, mall, baptism). Wetypically find proper nouns in text types such as narratives, autobiographies,reports about countries, advertisements and recounts.

Particular/General Noun

When we are dealing with familiar, personal experiences, we tend to use nounswhich refer to particular people, places and things (the lady next door, my doll,our house). These are often found in recounts of personal experience, storiesand descriptions.

Everyday/Technical Nouns

When students are learning about concepts which are specific to a certain fieldof study, they need to use technical terminology which is precise andunambiguous (digit, sonnet, vertebrae, carbon dioxide, secondary sources,

action verb). A technical noun is one which has been tightly defined within aparticular discipline so that people working within that discipline can shareknowledge efficiently and precisely. As students become apprenticed into thespecialist disciplines of later primary and secondary education, they must learnthe technical language of those areas. For everyday, (stuff, clothing, furniture).


31/55

31

Objective/ Subjective Nouns

In using nouns, we can be objective and impartial, or we can be more

subjective and judgmental when a text is attempting to persuade them to aparticular point of view. This often happens through the choice of nouns madeby the speaker or the writer (obsession, mongrel, monstrosity, exposition,advertisements, editorials, stories).

Point of View Nouns

In certain contexts, words which sound quite objective can be selected torepresent the world in a certain way and to present a particular point of view(evidence, crime, victim, resort, problem, hero, man-in-the-street).

Terms of Address

W often use terms of address which indicate our relationship to that person orwhich positions them in a particular role. They are generally nouns such astitles, nicknames, terms of endearment (honey). These are sometimes called

vocatives. Terms of address are a significant resource for developingrelationships in terms of power, status, familiarity and feelings.

Concrete/ Abstract Nouns

Another important shift in students learning is from concrete to abstract.Concrete nouns refer to those things which are physical, material, tangible

(table, apple, body, dirt, and building). When we refer to things such as ideasor concepts or feelings which cannot be touched or seen, we use abstract nouns(memory, honesty, multiplication, sadness, hypothesis, democracy)

Countable/ Uncountable Nouns

Certain nouns refer to things which are able to be counted (ten apples, a coupleof books, and several nuns). Since nouns, however, refer to things which areseen as an uncountable mass (air, intelligence, research, information, water,happiness, respect, qualities, substances, and abstract motions).

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable. (ten cakes, some cake;

Australian wines/ a sip of wine).

Metaphorical Nouns


32/55

32

Sometimes we represent one thing by referring to it metaphorically assomething else (referring to a thing as if it had human qualities, as withpersonification). This is one way of extending and enriching meaning and ofcreating unexpected and often incongruent meanings.

Apart from representing our experiences of the world, nouns can be used ininterpersonal ways to express judgments, to assign roles and to createrelationships.

Text Types:- Exposition- Information- Literary text/Narrative

- Recount- Instruction- Explanation

I. Personal Pronouns- Stands in for people, places, things and events.

Formation:

Distinction of person(first person, second person, third person)

Number(singular/plural)

Gender(masculine/feminine)

Subject Object

First Person I we we usSecondPerson

you you you you

Third Person he, she, it they him, her it them

Meaning:

- First and Second Personal Pronouns indicate the roles people playing inan interaction. Used in an interpersonal way to develop relationshipbetween speaker and listener, writer and reader. Third personal pronounform part of the subject matter of the discourse.

B. PRONOUNS


33/55

33

- They can also be used to develop links within a text and make itcohesive.

Text Types:

- Literary- Narrative- Exposition

- Recount- Information

II. Different Subject Pronouns

Object of Verb- Mara told me the whole story.

Object ofPreposition- She sat near me on the jeepney.

Subject of the verb- I heard the news last night.

III. Possessive Pronouns

Formation:

Singular Plural

First Person mine oursSecond Person yours yours

Third Person

(Masculine) histheirs(Feminine) hers

Meaning:

- They take the place of noun groups that show ownership or possession.

Example: That brand new car is Antonettes.

In this example, the possessive pronoun hers takes the place of thenoun group Antonettes (possessive noun group) which shows thatAntonette owns the brand new car.

Example: The car of Jose is old.

In this example, the possessive pronoun his takes the place of the noungroup of Jose (prepositional phrase) which shows that the old carbelongs to Martin.


34/55

34

Text Type:- Recount - Narrative

IV. Types ofPronouns

Relative Pronouns- They link a relative clause to a preceding noun. Its main function is

to join clauses together. In doing so, they connect a relative clause toan antecedent (a noun that precedes the pronoun.) Therefore, relativepronouns act as the subject or object of the relative clause.

Formation:

The main relative pronouns are:1. who2. whom

3.whose

4. which5. that

They are placed immediately after the noun or pronoun to which they refer,except when a preposition such as to is used.

Meaning:

- We use a relative pronoun depending on what it is referring to.

Person : Who, Whom, Whose

The manwho had fixed the leak had left his spanner.=The relative pronoun who refers back to the noun man and is thesubject of the relative clause and the verb had fixed.

This is the ladywhom you met at the fair.=Here whom refers to the lady and is the object of the verb met.

This is the ladywhose tomatoes we used to make sauce.=Whose refers to the woman. Whose is a relative pronoun that showspossession.

Place, thing or idea: That, Which

Many occasionsthat were held in the hotel made it to the news.=That refers to the noun occasions and is the subject of the relativeclause and verb were held.


35/55

35

The committees decision which involves the whole community willsurely be another controversy.=Which refers to the noun decision and is the subject of the relativeclause and verb involves.

Text types:- Recount - Narrative

Questions Pronouns- They are used in clauses to form a question. They are also called

interrogative pronoun.

Formation:

Wh- Questions1. What

2.Who

3. Whom4. Whose

5. Which

6.Whoever

7. Whatever8. Whichever

Meaning:

Person: Who, Whom, Whose, WhoeverWhodid it?Whose pencil is this?Whom did she choose from the contestants?Whoeverin the office spread the news?

Place, thing or idea: What, Which, Whatever, WhicheverWhat did he say?Which would you prefer from your president?Whateverdid the officials say?Whichevermade you decide for that?

Others:

- They can also be used to introduce a dependent clause.

I wonder who did it.

I asked him whathe said.I'm trying to find out whose pizza this is.

Text Types:- Narrative - Exposition


36/55

36

Demonstrative Pronouns- They refer to a particular person or thing. Theystand in for a person,

place or thing that must be pointed to.

Formation:

Singular Plural

this thesethat those

Meaning:

- We use demonstrative pronouns when identifying, introducing peoplewho they are.

Whos this?Theseare the seven continents of the world.Was that Roberto on the phone?

They also function as:y Subject

This has been a difficult decade for the Philippine Presidency.Those attempting to purchase New Moon must wait seven days.

y Direct object

Anna donated those to the charity.The demands on the President's time had knocked that off the schedule.

y Object of the prepositionDoes the bag you bought go with this?Valerie can work with those.

Text Types:- Narrative - Information - Recount

Indefinite Pronouns

- Refer to an unknown or undetermined person, place or thing.


37/55

37

Formation:

Care must be taken to identify whether the pronoun is singular or plural toassure the proper conjugation of the verb.

Always singular:Another, Anyone, Anything, Each, EitherNo One, Neither, Nobody, One, Someone, Something

Always plural:Both, Few, Many, Several

Either plural or singular:All, Most, None, Some

Meaning:

- They refer back to people or things without saying exactly who or whatthey are.

Every season anotherof the players attempts to break Yap'srecord.

There is someone hiding in the bushes.

- They refer to people and things in a general way

Do not take anybody for granted.All are concerned about what is happening.

Text Types:- Explanation- Recount- Information

- Narrative- Exposition

Reflexive Pronouns- They "reflect" the person to whom the pronoun refers. Their special

function is to refer back to a noun phrase earlier in the same clause.

Formation:Reflexive pronouns are the "self"ish pronouns. They combine a personal orpossessive pronoun with themorpheme self (or selves):


38/55

38

Meaning:

- Reflexive pronouns always act as objects not subjects, and they requirean interaction between the subject or subject(s) and an object. They aretypically indirect objects, direct objects and appositives.

The children dressed themselves.

= Themselves refer back to the subject the children. Themselves also isthe direct object of the verb dressed.

Because she was not hungry when the ice cream was served,Criselma saved herself a piece.

= Criselma is the subject and Herself is a reflexive pronoun acting as theindirect object.

Text types:- Exposition - Recount

Reciprocal Pronouns

-Reciprocal pronouns show that two people do the same thing. Theyalso refer back to a noun phrase earlier in the same clause, but in amore complex way.

Formation:

There are two forms and each has a possessive case:

each other one anothereach other's one another's

Meaning:

- They are used when the individual members that make up a pluralsubject noun take each other as their objects. They express aninterchangeable or mutual action or relationship.

Person Reflexive Pronoun

First Person Singular myselfSecond Person Singular yourselfThird Person Singular himself, herself, itselfFirst Person Plural ourselvesSecond Person Plural yourselves

Third Person Plural themselves


39/55

39

The artists congratulated one another after successfully recording thesong.

= The members of the subject, artists, take the other members oftheir own group as objects.

Cielo and Jam greeted each other.

= Cielo and Jam did a mutual action and take the other one of them asthe object.

Text types:- Exposition

Distributive pronouns

-Stand for persons or things that are part of the group butconsidered singly.

Formation:

EachEither

NeitherEverybody

Everyone

Meaning:

- Nearly all of the above are only pronouns if standing alone.

Each of the books is worth reading.= The books are part of a group but they are considered as a single

entity.

Each book is worth reading= Each is not a pronoun here but an adjective.

Text types:- Explanation - Narrative - Exposition

- Provides information or builds up information around the noun- Answer the questions:

C. ADJECTIVALS


40/55

40

y Which specific things are being referred to? (articles, pointingwords) a, the, an, that, those, these, this.

y

To whom does it belong? (possessives) my, yours, theirs(anything that shows possession).

y How many people/things are involved? How much? (quantityadjective) five, seven (anything that refers to the amount orquantity).

y What was the writer/speakers opinion? (opinion adjective,factual adjective) beautiful, gigantic (anything that describesappearance) for size and color = What attributes does it have?

y How are those people/things compared with the others? How

does it compared with other things? (comparing adjective) more popular, most requested (anything that showscomparison).

y What class does it belong to? (classifying adjective) dancing,marching (anything that shows classification).

Articles PointingWord

Possessive

QuantityAdjective

OpinionAdjective

FactualAdjective

ComparingAdjective

ClassifyingAdjective

NounProns

shoestheyher exquisite dancing shoes

some Smelly running shoesahundred

black school shoes

two worn-out old walking shoesMartins Favorite leather shoes

this shiny business shoesthose more

expensivegolf shoes

the Mostexpensive

tennis shoes

Which? Which? Whose? Howmany?Howmuch?

Qualities? Qualities? Degree? Whattype?

Who What


41/55

41

I. Determiners

Articles

a. Definite Article - The

The - the only one definite article and the commonest determiner.

Formation:

y Use the in front of any noun, whether it is singular count noun, anuncount noun, or a plural count noun.

She dropped the bottle.I remembered the fun I had with them.

The boys were not at home.

y Use the with a noun and a qualifier, such as prepositional phrase or arelative clause, when you are specifying which person or thing you aretalking about.

The book that I recommend now costs over three.

y Use the with superlatives.

He was the youngest.

Meaning:

- Use the with a noun when you are referring back to someone orsomething that has been mentioned.

I called for a waitress...... The waitress with a pink ribbon came.

- Use the with a noun when you are referring to someone of which here is

only one in the world.

The woman sat under the sun.

*You can also use the when you are referring to something of which there is


42/55

42

only one in a particular place.

She decided to put some decorations on the bulletin board.

-

Use the with a singular count noun when you want to make a generalstatement about all things of that type.

My mother'sfavorite flower is the tulip.

- Use the with a singular count noun when you are referring to a systemor service.

I dont like using the computer.

- Use the with the name of a musical instrument when you are talkingabout someone's ability to play the instrument.

Jimboy plays the flute very well.

- Do not normally use the with proper nouns that are people's names.However, if you are referring about a family, you can say the Brown's.Use the with some titles, such as the Queen of England and with thenames of organizations, buildings, newspapers, and works of art.

... the UNs...... the Taj Mahal...

-Use the with some proper nouns referring to geographical places.

the Bay of Bengal...the Suez Canal...

- Use the with countries whose names include words such as 'kingdom','republic', 'states or union'.

... the United Kingdom...... the Soviet Union

- You can use the with countries that have plural nouns as their names.

... the Philippines

*You do not use the with countries that have singular noun as their names,such as China, Italy, or Turkey.


43/55

43

- You use the with names of mountain ranges and groups of islands.

... the Bahamas...

... the Canaries.

*You do not use the with names of individual mountains such as 'Everest', orEtna or the names of individual islands such as 'Sicily', or Bali.

- You use the with regions of the world or regions of a country thatinclude 'north', 'south', 'east', or 'west'.

... the Middle East...... the Far East.

- You do not use the with northern, southern, eastern, western and a

singular name.

... Western Africa

- You use the with the names of bodies of water such as seas, oceans,rivers, canals, gulfs, and straits.

. the Mediterranean Sea

- Use the with adjectives such as 'rich', 'poor', 'unemployed', to talk abouta general group of people.

Only the rich could afford this firm product.

- Use the with some nationality adjective to talk about the people wholive in a country.

The Spaniards claimed that the money had not been paid.

Text types:-All types of text types.

b. Indefinite Articles - A and An

Formation:


44/55

44

- Use a... A and an with singular count nouns.

She was eating an egg.

*Remember that you use a in front of a word that begins with a consonantsound even if the first letter is a vowela piecea university

- You use an in front of a word that begins with a vowel sound even if thefirst letter is a consonant.

an executivean idea

an honest man

- After the verb be or another linking verb, you can use 'a' or 'an' with an

adjective and a noun to give more information about someone orsomething.

His sister was a sensitive child.

- You can also use 'a' or 'an' with a noun followed by a qualifier, such as aprepositional phrases or a relative clause, when you want to give moreinformation about something.

The information was contained in an article on Biology.

- Use 'a' or 'an' after the be or another linking verb when you are sayingwhat someone is or what something they have.

She became a school teacher.

- Do not use a or an with uncount nouns or plural count nouns, you donot need to use a determiner at all with plural count nouns, but you canuse the determiners 'any', 'a few', 'many', 'several'

-

I love cats.

*If you do not use a determiner with a plural count noun, you are often makinga general statement about people or things of that type.

If you say I love cats, you mean all cats.


45/55

45

*However, if you say 'there are eggs in the kitchen', you mean there are someeggs.

Meaning:

- Use a or an when you are talking about a person or thing in the firsttime.

She picked up a pen.

*Note that the second time you refer to the same person or thing you use 'the'.She picked up a pen... the pen was lying on the desk.

- Use a or an to mean 'one' with some numbers. You can use a or anwith nouns that refer to whole numbers, fractions, money, weights ormeasure.

a hundreda quartera pounda kilo

a thousanda halfa dollara liter

Text types:-All types of text types

II. Pointing Words or Demonstratives

-Used when we refer to people or things in a definite orspecific way.

Formation:

Near Far

Singular this thatPlural these those

Meaning:

- This and These are used to people and things that are close to us inspace and time.

- That and Those are used to people and things that are more distant inspace or time.


46/55

46

Language Functions:

y This and These talk about people/things that are very obvious insituation you are in.

y

This and These distinguish things from others of the same kind.y That and Those refer to things that we already know.y These and These used to refer to someone or something that we

are mentioning for the first time.y That and Those give emphasis (emphatic)y That and Those establish a point of view or opinion.

Text types:- Recount- Exposition

- Narrative- Explanation

III. Possessives- Tells us who owns something.

Formation:

Two types:a. Possessive Determiners = my, your, their, our, his, her, itsb. Possessive Adjectives = Mildreds bag, Ferdinands car

When creating possessive form nouns there are 8 simple rules:

1. If a singular noun does not end in s, add -s

The delivery boy's truck was blocking the driveway.Kirk's concession speech was stoic and dignified.The student's attempts to solve the problem were rewarded.

2. If a singular common noun ends in s, add s - unless the next word beginswith s. If the next word begins with s, add an apostrophe only. (This includeswords with s and sh sounds.)

The boss's temper was legendary among his employees.The boss' sister was even meaner.The witness's version of the story has several inconsistencies.The witness' story did not match the events recorded on tape.


47/55

47

3. If a singular proper noun ends in s, add an apostrophe.

Chris' quiz scores were higher than any other students.

4. If a noun is plural in form and ends in an s, add an apostrophe only, even ifthe intended meaning of the word is singular (such as mathematics andmeasles.)

The professor asked us to analyze seven poems' meanings.The dog catcher had to check all of the dogs' tags.It is hard to endure the Marine Corps' style of discipline.

5. If a plural noun does not end in s, add s.

Many activists in Oregon are concerned with children's rights.Everyone was disappointed with the American media's coverage of the

Olympics in Atlanta.

6. If there is joint possession, use the correct possessive for only thepossessive closest to the noun.

Clinton and Gore's campaign was successful.She was worried about her mother and step father's marriage.Beavis and Butthead's appeal is absolutely lost on me.

7. If there is a separate possession of the same noun, use the correctpossessive form for each word.

The owner's and the boss's excuses were equally false.The dog's and the cats' owners were in school when the fire broke out.

8. In a compound construction, use the correct possessive form for the wordclosest to the noun. Avoid possessives with compound plurals.

My father-in-law's BMW is really fun to drive.The forest ranger's truck is painted an ugly shade of green.Your neighborhood letter carrier's job is more difficult than you imagine.

Meaning:

- They answer the question Who owns it? or Whose in:

PossessionJohns car her book


48/55

48

Agency/SourceShakespeares sonnets his ideas

HumanRelationshipsa. kinship: my mother Bobs cousinb. professional: Joes teacher their doctor

c. other social: Annes neighbor your girlfriend

Traits (Physical or other)Betty Davis eyes her ego

Representation

Christians portrait his statue

EvaluationThe projects importance its value

Namedafter

St. Pauls Cathedral

Measurement

An hours time

Subject + nominalizedverbThe earths rotation (earth rotates) his actions (he acts)

Text types:- Recount - Narrative

c. Adjectives/Describers

Quantity Adjectives- Tells about how many, how much, and in which order.- Also known as quantitative/numerative adjectives or quantifiers.- Refer to amount or quantity of subjects

Formation:

Two Types:a. Cardinal Numbers refers to the quantity (one, two, three, four.)


49/55

49

b. Ordinal Numbers refers to order, sequence, or position (first,second, third..)

Others examples of quantifiers: most, many, few, several, all, some, every,

any, once, much, only, such.

Meaning:- Quantity Adjectives are used to refer exact counts and measures

- They are also used to tell indefinite figures of subjects.

- They also answered the questions how much/how many/in which order.

Text types:- Recount - Explanation - Information

Opinion Adjectives- Give the writers or speakers evaluation of the thing in

question.

Formation:Adding suffixes to nouns and verbs.

Ex: lovely, stylish, wonderful, disgusting, boring, expensive, respected

Meaning:- Have a more interpersonal function, expressing a

particular point of view.- When we give our opinion, we are creating a situation

where our listener/reader will probably react, eitheragreeing or talking issue with it. The opinion adjectivesinvite us not simply to observe but to interact.

- It is important in critical reading activities, where studentsneed to identify how, for example, a newspaper article ormagazine story or television documentary is influencingthem to see things in a particular way.

-In writing, students are to express their evaluation ofthings, people, and situations in less clichd, more subtleand convincing ways.


50/55

50

- We can also include here a group called emphasizingadjectives which are used when we want to emphasizeour opinions about something (a completefool)

Text types:- Recount - Exposition

Factual Adjectives- Describe something in an objective way, giving information

about attributes which can be verified, measured, andagreed upon as true.

Formation:- Factual adjectives are formed in similar ways to opinion

adjectives.

- Subtle differences in meaning can be created by using suffixessuch as ish (yellowish, squarish)

- Again we can have factual adjectives:

Next they met a long-necked, long-legged, sharp clawed emu.

Meaning:- Factual Adjectives provided objective information about

something. They describe the attributes which a thing possesses:

its size, age, shape, color, and other qualities. These adjectivesare found in most text-types but particularly in informationreports, descriptions and procedures.

- While most adjectives provided a description which is everydayand concrete, it is possible to find adjectives which are moretechnical and/or abstract.

nutritiousfoodsa contagious disease

nitrogen-rich soil

a reasonable suggestionthe subtle differences

a critical review


51/55

45

- Most opinion adjectives and factual adjectives can be modified bycertain adverbs which tell us the degree of intensity:

the extremely sad death a very old booka somewhat odd story a slightly different waya rather long movie

- We can also intensify a description by repeating the adjective:

Oh you wicked wicked little thing! Cried AliceHe was an old old dog.

Text types:- Information reports- Descriptions

- Procedures

Comparing Adjectives- Tells us the relative amount of quantity, often referred to ascomparatives and superlatives.- A comparative degree is used to say that something is more thanall the others in a particular group.- A superlative degree is used to say that something is more thanall the others in a particular group.

Formation:- Comparatives and superlatives are formed in various ways:

1. One syllable adjectives, add er or est. If the adjectives ends ine, add r or st. When the adjective ends in a single consonant,double the final consonant and add er or est.

2. Two syllable adjectives: if the adjectives ends in y, change the y to i and er or est. If the adjective does not end in y, formthe comparative and superlative by using more and most.

3. Three or more syllable adjectives use more and most.

4. Irregular comparatives and superlatives use a different word toform it.

5. Adjectives which are formed from a verb ending with ed or ing,always use more and most.


52/55

49

6. Adjectives which start with the negative prefix un- can use erand est even if they have three syllables.

7. Adjectives which start with the negative prefix un- can use er

and est even if they have three syllables.

8. Comparisons using less and least are used in the opposite way,instead of more and most before adjectives of two or moresyllables.

9. With one syllable adjectives use not as for this kind ofcomparison.

10.Opinion and factual adjectives can be used in comparative way.

Meaning:

-Often found in information reports which compare and contrastthings, descriptions, and narratives where people, places, andthings are being compared.

Text types:- Information reports- Descriptions- Narratives

Classifying Adjectives

- Used to place something into a particular group: what type?Formation:

-Classifying adjectives often look like factual adjectives and can beformed in the same way. Many classifiers are actually nouns beingused with the function of classifying:

animaldoctorsciencelessonpassengertrain

- Sometimes a classifier can be a verb.

washingmachineboiledwater

For this reason, it might be better to refer to this group as classifiersrather than clas

Documents

THISISITcompe in grammar1