Study questions 2.1.

Identify all the parts of speech used in the following sentence

(e.g. woman = noun): “The woman kept a large snake in a cage, but it escaped

recently”.

The (= article), woman (= noun), kept (= verb), a (= article), large (= adjective),

snake (= noun), in = preposition), a (= article), cage (= noun), but (= conjunction),

it (= pronoun), escaped (= verb), recently (= adverb)

According to the author, what is an important wrong linguistic view at establishing a

proper English grammar model in eighteenth-century (this conceptual error is even

today present when considering “a good English use”).

2.2. What prescriptive rules for the “proper” use of English are not

obeyed in the following sentences and how would they be “corrected”?

(i) The old theory consistently failed to fully explain all the data.

The rule was used: You should not divide an infinitive and the correct form

would be: The old theory could not fully explain all the data.

(ii) I can’t remember the name of the person I gave the book to

The rule was used: you should not end a sentence with a preposition and the

correct way to write it is:

I can't remember the name of the person to whom I gave the book.

2.3.1. Another term used in the description of the parts of speech is “determiner.”

What are determiners? How many examples were included in this chapter?
 A determiner is a word that introduces a noun. It always comes before a noun,

not after, and it also comes before any other adjectives used to describe the

noun. Determiners are required before a singular noun but are optional when it

comes to introducing plural nouns. For example,

Determinants count if you are referring to something specific:

Can you lend me your dress?

(Can I borrow your dress?)

Or if you are referring to something more general:

Do you have any dress that you lend me?

(Do you have any dresses you can lend me?)

2.3.2 In this chapter, we discussed “correction” in grammar. What is

hypercorrection?

Hypercorrection is the use of an inappropriate form or pronunciation by someone

who is trying to show that they know what is the “best” or “proper” way to use the

language. Common examples are They invited my friend and I and It’s between

you and I.

Some people seem to avoid me in phrases like my friend and me, possibly

because they have been corrected in the past in sentences such as My friend and
 I went to the party. In this case, I is appropriate because it is before the verb as

subject (i.e. I went to the party and not *Me went to the party). However, we use

me (not I) as object after the verb (They invited me) or after a preposition (Come

with me). So, in the sentence They invited my friend and me, the form me is

appropriate, whereas

*They invited my friend and I is actually an ungrammatical form and we wouldn’t

say *They invited I. Similarly, after the preposition with, we say with me and

not

*with I. The word between is a preposition, so it is appropriate to say between you

and me, with both you and me as objects of the preposition. Following this

reasoning, we also say between him and me (not *between he and me or

*between he and I).

Hypercorrection usually occurs when people try to correct some part of their

speech, thinking that a certain word or phrase is inherently better, even when no

correction is needed.

2.3.3. The structural analysis of a basic English sentence (NP + V + NP) is often

described as “Subject Verb Object” or SVO. The basic sentence order in a Gaelic

sentence (V + NP + NP) is described as “Verb Subject Object” or VSO. After

looking at the examples below (based on Inoue, 1979), would you describe the

basic sentence order in these Japanese sentences as SVO or VSO or something

else?

(1) Jakku-ga gakkoo-e ikimasu

 Jack

school to

go ‘Jack

goes to

school’

(2) Kazuko-ga gakkoo-de eigo-o naratte imasu

Kazuko school at

English learn be

‘Kazuko is learning

English at school’

2.3.3.3 Divergence in the syntactic patterns of languages is responsible for the

patterns of errors made by English-language learners. Given that English-language

learners from Korea produce sentences such as *I ice-cream like and *I book read,

what can you say about word order in Korean? (Taken from Gordon T. 2012)

One of the first challenges I encounter as a native English speaker learning Korean

is that the word order is different.

In English, we say Subject Verb Object. John kissed Mary. In Korean, the verb

comes at the end of the sentence. Subject Object Verb. John Mary kissed.

BASED ON THE SECOND TEXT PLEASE ANSWER: IN THE TEXT WE CAN

SEE THAT IN THE HISTORY OF LINGUISTICS WE HAVE TWO FORMS TO

UNDERSTAND GRAMMAR: A PRESCRIPTIVE FORM AND A DESCRIPTIVE

ONE; WHY THE SECOND COMPREHENSION IT IS CONSIDERED A

BREAKTHROUGH IN LINGUISTICS?
Descriptive grammar focuses on describing language as it is used, not saying how

it should be used. For example, think of a prescriptive rule as Do not divide

infinitives. A descriptive grammarian would see a sentence such as "Boldly go

where no man has gone before" and try to describe how mental grammar can

cause that word order, instead of saying that the superficial form is defective due to

prescriptive rules.