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What is grammar?

Grammar refers to the way we combine,


organise and change parts of words, words
and groups of words to make meaning.
Teachers use grammar to describe language
by referring to its forms and uses.

What are a grammatical forms?


How words are made up and presented in
speech or writing.
E.g.
Plural form: base word + s
Gerund form: infinitive + -ing

The Sentence

A sentence is a group of words with two main parts:

Complete subject
Complete predicate

It expresses a complete thought.


Everyone in our family

complete subject
The house down the street

complete subject

likes Mexican food.

complete predicate
has been for sale for months.

complete predicate

What is a clause?
A

clause is the smallest grammatical unit that


can express a complete proposition.

It

is a group of words that consists of a


SUBJECT and a VERB.

So,

if a clause has a subject and a verb do


the following words constitute a clause?
She dances cha-cha-cha.
YES!!!

When

a group of words that has a subject and a


verb can stand alone and makes sense by itself,
we call it MAIN or INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

MAIN OR INDEPENDENT CLAUSES


Here

are some examples:

Grammatical complexity thrills me.

The teachers examples are not really inspiring.

Give me your examples.

What

about this set of words with subject and verb?


Which characteristics do you find?

which I like

why I absolutely love you

that sings pretty

When

a group of words that has a subject and a


verb but it cannot stand alone and sounds
incomplete by itself, we call it SUBORDINATE or
DEPENDENT CLAUSE.

PHRASES
Groups

of words
Act as a single part of speech
DO NOT contain both subject and verb
Part of a sentence that does NOT express a
complete thought.

WORDS
Sound

or combination of sounds, or its


representation in writing which symbolizes
and communicates a meaning.
May consist of a single morpheme or a
combination of morphemes.
E.g. a / book / work

MORPHEMES
Unit

of language with meaning.


Some cannot stand alone.
e.g. un - predict able
un fortunate - ly

PARTS OF SPEECH

NOUNS

Name of a person, place, thing or idea.


People: Mrs. Jones, friend, cousin
Place: field, Ohio, post office
Things: deer, holiday, crime
Idea: love, hate, success.
Types:
Compound: sweet potato, son-in-law, tablecloth
Common: river, book, battle, language
Proper: Hudson River, Chris, World War I, The Hobbit
Countable: books, pencils
Uncountable: fruit, rice, water

PRONOUNS (wannabes)
Take

the place of a noun.


To make sense, they need an ANTECEDENT
Elizabeth Macintosh asked her parents if she could go.
Because of his sore knee, the star quarterback couldnt
play.

PRONOUNS (wannabes)
Types:

Personal: I, me, my mine; you, your, yours; he,


him, his; we, us, our, ours; she, her, hers; it, its;
they, them, their, theirs.

Reflexive: points back to a noun or pronoun that


appears earlier. (-self, -selves)
Ted

promised himself to work harder next semester.


The players pepared themselves by staying in shape.

PRONOUNS (wannabes)

Intensive : adds emphasis to a noun or pronoun in


the same sentence. (-self, -selves)
We

cooked the whole meal ourselves.


The pitcher scored the winning run himself.

Demonstrative: directs the attention to a specific


person, place, or thing. (this, that, these, those)
Is

that your final decision


This is the first edition of our school paper.

PRONOUNS (wannabes)

Relative: begins a subordinate clause and connects it


to another idea in the sentence. (who, whom, whose,
which, that)
Tom

is the person that everyone likes.


She is an artist whose work I admire.

Possessive: my, her, his, our, etc.


Interrogative: used to begin a question. (what, which,
who, whom, whose)
What

have you done with your umbrella?


Whom have you asked for information?

PRONOUNS (wannabes)

Indefinite: refer to people, places, things or ideas


without specifying which

Janet

suggested that little could be done to help.


Some of the books have been moved from that shelf to
another.

Verbs

A word that expresses time while showing an


action, a condition, or the fact that something
exists.

Types (1):

Action: tells what action someone or something is


performing:
dig,

measure, yell, play


wonder, believe , hope, think.

Verbs
Linking:

connects a word at the beginning of the


sentence with something near the end.

Both candidates were optimistic thourght the day.


Some people may be anxious about this course.

Verbs
Linking:

That music sounds too loud.

The old barn smelled musty.

Verbs
Helping:

added to another verb to make a


single verb phrase.

Phil should never have repeated that remark.


Did you make your assignment on time?

Verbs
Types

(2)

Transitive: directs action toward someone or


something.
Transitive

active (TA): occurs when the verb is action


and the receiver is in the predicate.

My mother studied Latin in high school.

The chef prepared spectacular desserts.

Verbs

Transitive
Transitive

passive (TP): occurs when a verb is action, and


the sentence is in the passive voice (subject doesnt do the
action, but receives it)

The cake was divided among the children.

The plane was hijacked by the terrorists.

Verbs

Intransitive: it does not direct action toward


someone or something.

Intransitive copulative (ICop): It is the linking verb. It


copulates (unites) to words in the sentence.

He will become a fine man one day.

Intransitive complete (Icom): action verb with no receiver.

The young child played in the garden.

Adjectives
Word

used to describe a noun or pronoun.


They answer the questions What kind?,
Which one?, How many? and How much?

rare coin , lucky one


first try , that dog
seven days , few people
adequate time , no money

Adjectives
Nouns,

and pronouns can become adjectives if


they talk about another noun or pronoun.

junk food
Bostonian dialect
bedtime story
my computer
this pencil
What color do you like?
another person

Adjectives
Articles:

They introduce a noun defining it or not.

A , an : a plaid coat , an ordinary man

The: the amazing story

We

will include them in adjectives since they


answer the question Which one?

Adverbs
Word

that modifies a verb, an adjective or another


adverb.
They answer the questions Where?, When?,
How?, To what extent?

looked around, awoke early, easily won, throughly


understood
too eager , very far
very carefully, almost daily

Prepositions
Word

that relates a noun or pronoun that


appears with it to another word in the
sentence.

It

makes a prepositional phrase. (preposition


+ object of the preposition)

in the hamper
on his horse

Preposition or adverb?
Many

words can be either prepositions or adverbs


depending on their use.

Prepositions

have objects. Adverbs do not.

We sat behind a woman with a big hat on.


prep.
The children enjoyed playing outside.
adv.

Conjunctions
Word used to connect other words or groups of words
Types:

Coordinating: and, for, or, yet, but, nor, so.


Correlative: bothand; eitheror; neithernor; not only
but also; whetheror.
Subordinating: after, although, as, as if, though, because, if,
etc.
Conjunctive adverbs: accordingly, again, finally, however,
therfore, thus.

Interjections (exclamations)
Word

that expresses feeling or emotion and


functions independently of the sentence.

Aha
Golly!
Darn!
Yay !

GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE
Arrangement of words into patterns which have
meaning
Structure

Form

Past continuous / progressive

Subject + past tense of to be + -ing form of the


verb. E.g. She was running.

Passive voice

Subject + to be + past participle + (by + agent)


E.g. The road was built by the company.

Comparative of long adjectives

More + long adjective (+than)


E.g. He was more embarrassed than his friend

Prepositional phrase

Preposition + (article/determiner/etc.) + noun


E.g. for an hour

Contrast clauses

Subordinating conjunction of contrast + finite


clause
E.g. Nobody listened although she spoke very
clearly.

GRAMMATICAL USES
The way grammatical structures are used to
convey (communicate) meaning. E.g. She is
doing her homework.
At

the moment / right now


Plans and intentions
Temporary actions

What are the grammatical uses of


the

Present Simple?

The

Present Perfect?

Grammar and the language teaching


classroom
Grammar

rules describe how the language


works, but language changes.
Language rules usually describe written
language, not spoken language.
Grammar can be unconscious.
Teaching grammar rules and terms or not.
Use of exercises focused on both form and
use.

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