grammar overview pdf 2011

7/31/2019 Grammar Overview PDF 2011

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Online TESOL Teaching Certificate Course Unit #: ____

Learning Objectives

This unit presents a general overview of concepts and terminology

that comprise English grammar at the word, sentence, and speech

level. By the end of this unit, the candidate will be able to:

Describe the three levels of grammar

List and identify the verb tenses and their elements of form,meaning and useList and identify conditional forms

List and identify modal forms

List and identify the parts of sentence

Describe voice, mood, and theme/rhemeIdentify elements of cohesion, register and genre

1: Levels of Grammar

Grammar operates at three levels:

The subsentential, or the word level (morphology)

The sentential, or sentence level (syntax)

The suprasential, or speech level (discourse)


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In this unit, we will look at the elements associated with each ofthese levels, in particular grammar at the subsentential andsentential levels, since these grammatical elements can be

approached more in terms of form. Conversely, a discussion of

grammar at the suprasentential level falls more into the realm of

meaning. By the end of this unit, however, you will have anunderstanding of how all three levels operate, both independently

and in unison.

Before we begin, log in to the course to take a short grammardiagnostic. Some of the questions are related to parts of speech,which we reviewed in the previous unit. Other questions refer to

the grammar we will review this unit. You wont receive a grade,

but your answers will be saved so that you can compare yourresponses in this initial diagnostic to the answers you give at the

end of the unit in the Test Your Knowledge mini-quiz.

2: Parts of Speech Review

If you remember from the Language Analysis unit, English has

nine parts of speech.

Parts of speech can be grouped into two categories: the major and

minor word classes.


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The major word classes nouns, verbs, adjectives, and

adverbs are termed "major" because they carry most of the

content or meaning of a sentence.

The minor categories would include: determiners (e.g. articles);

prepositions; pronouns; conjunctions; and interjections (or

exclamations!).

Here is a summary of the parts of speech previously covered in the

course:

Nouns function as a subject (The baby is crying); object

(Tim threw the ball); or complement of a verb (Steve is a

fireman); nouns also come after prepositions in a prepositionalphrase (on the table).

Nouns can further be categorized as common (city; man)and proper (Los Angeles; Abraham Lincoln); proper nounsname a specific person, place, event, or thing.

Nouns can also be classified as count (cat; city); countnouns take a plural form (cats; cities). Non-count nouns,

which are abstract or collective, do not take a plural form

(happiness; information; vocabulary; furniture).

Verbs are categorized as action verbs (e.g., read; study)or being (or linking) verbs, which also encompass feeling(e.g., be; feel). Verbs are conjugated (e.g., I eat; He

eats); they can be transitive that is, taking a direct object

(He throws the ball); or they can be intransitive, where thereis never an object (I live in New York). Depending on the

context, some verbs can be both.

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns (I own a red car);

adjectives can also be compliments (coming after a being verb,

as in He is tall). When two nouns are placed together, the

first one functions as an adjective, as in haircare products or

learner groups. In such cases, the noun that functions as the


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adjective can never be rendered in plural form (e.g., as in

learners groups.)

Adverbs indicate manner, time and place. Adverbs modify

verbs (He speaks slowly); adjectives (You are terribly

wrong); and other adverbs (She speaks quiteslowly).Adverbs can also function as transition phrases(Consequently, Tim had to sell his house). We all learned

that adverbs end in ly, but also remember those other non

adverb-like endings such as -wise, as in clockwise. Also, all

words that end in -ly are not adverbs. Take the words lovelyand weekly: these are adjectives since the root word form,

love and week, are nouns; adding -lymakes them

adjectives.

Pronouns replace nouns or noun phrases and, just as nouns,

function as subject, object, object of a preposition, orcompliment. Pronouns have different categories:

a) subject pronouns (I, he, we)

b) object pronouns (me, him, us)

c) demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those)

d) possessive pronouns (his, hers, ours, theirs)

e) reflexive pronouns: (myself, yourself, himself,ourselves).

There is also a group ofrelative pronouns, which are used to

modify nouns in an adjective clause construction: (I know aman who won the lottery.)

Prepositions are typically paired with nouns to form

prepositional phrases. For example: The book is on the table.Prepositions give students lots of problems, particularly when

they are linked to more than one preposition, as in out of andin spite of.

Determiners are words that determine the nouns that follow

them. For example, articles are determiners (The cat is

drinking the milk). In this case, the as a determiner tells us


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that the cat is specific, defined. Possessive adjectives (not to be

confused with possessive pronouns), such as my, your, his arealso determiners. Essentially, anything that serves to quantify anoun is a determiner.

Interjections typically consist of one or two words that canseemingly stand as their own as a unit of meaning. Interjections

are not commands; nor are they verbs. For this reason, theyhave been classified as a part of speech. Interjections are

typically shouted: Wow!Hey!Ouch!Holy cow!

Conjunctions: Conjunctions (but, and, yet, or, so) join words,

phrases, and clauses. Such conjunctions are referred to ascoordinating conjunctions, and are frequently used to join twoindependent clauses. For example: I studied hard for the test,

but still failed. Another category is the subordinatingconjunction; subordinating conjunctions are used to connect

dependent clauses to independent clauses (or other dependentclauses). For example: I passed the test even though I didnt

study.

Before we continue to the next section, log in to the course tocomplete a quick parts of speech reinforcement activity.

3: The Verb Tense System

How would you answer the following question?

Three?


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Five?

Nine?

Twelve?

Fifteen?

If you put this question to 100 native speakers, 98 would probably

give you the wrong answer.

If you havent already guessed, the answer is twelve. The easiest

way to remember (and to recall) is to think 3X4=12.

Before we identify the twelve verb tenses, lets see just how much

you know about verbs and concepts related to verbs. Log back in

to the course to take a quick verb knowledge quizzlet.


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When used in the context of verbs, a tense consists oftime andaspect. Many languages use the general expression verb times

to refer to what were discussing here. However, the English verb

system necessitates splitting up the idea of tense into these two

concepts of time and aspect. Aspect is really a fancy name for

the kind of action or mode. For example, for the present perfect

tense, the time would be present and the aspect would be

perfect. The tense, then, indicates an action that started in the

past and still continues or ended, but when the action ended is

unknown or unimportant.

The three times are: 1) Present; 2) Past; 3) Future

The four aspects are: 1) Simple; 2) Perfect; 3) Progressive; 4)

Perfect Progressive.

The twelve tenses are:

Time | AspectSimple Perfect Progressive

Perfect-

Progressive

PresentI live in Texas I have lived in

TexasI am living in

TexasI have been

living in Texas

PastI lived in Texas I had lived in

TexasI was living in

TexasI had been

living in Texas

FutureI will live in

TexasI will have

lived in TexasI will be living

in Texas

I will havebeen living in

Texas

In the next section, well isolate each of the forms and look at just

how these tenses, in all of their time and aspects, work. You

will also be able to see visually how these tenses fit in the overall

verb tense continuum.


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Log back in to the course to review the twelve tenses, which weve

illustrated with timelines.

One way to understand the basic concepts of the different verb

tenses and forms is to contrast them.


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In the activity youll find in the course, youll read a grammatical

explanation, one you might give to your students to explain why a

certain tense is or is not used. You must then choose the sentence

that uses the verb tense or form that best illustrates thisexplanation.

4: Conditions

When something is conditional, that means it is dependent on

something else that is only imagined in order to occur. For


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instance, Mike would like to own a very large boat and go sailing

around the world. But that can only happen on one condition: that

Mike somehow inherits a large amount of money. So, the proper

way to say this would be:

If Mike had a lot of money, he would buy a boat and go sailingaround the world.

In a conditional, one part of the sentence, usually starting with

"if..." or "when...", contains a condition. The other part indicates

what happened or will happen after fulfillment of the condition.

For example:

Condition Result

If Brenda is late for work again she is going to be fired.

If you go to New Yorkyou should definitely see a Broadway

musical.

There are two kinds of conditionals: real and unreal. A real

conditional is used to discuss things that could happen or did

happen in real, everyday situations. An unreal conditional is usedto discuss what mighthappen or might have happenedin

imaginary, or hypothetical, situations.

Here is a chart summarizing the different conditional forms:

Present Real Conditional Present Unreal Conditional

If I have time, I write poetry.

Meaning: (Sometimes I have time.)

If I had time, I would write poetry.

Meaning:(I do not have time right now.)

Past Real Conditional Past Unreal Conditional


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If I had time, I wrote poetry.

Meaning: (Sometimes I had time in the past.)

If I had had time, I would have written poetry.

Meaning: (I never had any time in the past.)

Future Real Conditional Future Unreal Conditional

If I have time, I will write poetry.

Meaning: (I do not know if I will have time.)

If I had time, I would write poetry.

Meaning: (I will not have any time in the future.)

In the next section, well look more in depth at the different types

of conditionals, how they are used, formed, and examples to

illustrate their use.

Present Real Conditional

Use: The present real conditional is used to talk about things

that normally happen in real, everyday situations:

Both "if and "when" can be used in the present real

conditional. Using "if indicates that something does not happen

on a regular basis. Using "when" indicates that something

happens on a regular basis.

How to Form: [If/When + simple present... simple present]

Examples:

a)When I have a day off from work, I usually go to thebeach. (I regularly have days off from work.)

b)If I have a day off from work, I usually go to thebeach. (I rarely have days off from work.)


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Present Unreal Conditional

Use: The present unreal conditional is used to talk about what you

would do in imaginary situations. It is used when we think about

things that would happen in the present (or future) if the situation

were different.

It is important to note that only the word if can be used in the

present unreal conditional because it refers to unreal situations that

will probably not happen. When cannot be used; it would suggest

that the situations are going to happen.

How to Form: [If + simple past... would + verb]

Examples:

a)If I had a car, I would drive to work. (But I do not have a car.)b)I would bake a cake if we had the ingredients. (But we do not

have the ingredients.)

Important Note: It is important to note that only the word if can

be used in the present unreal conditional because it refers to unreal

situations that will probably not happen. When cannot be used; it

would suggest that the situations are going to happen.

Exceptions: In the present unreal conditional, the verb be

becomes were for all persons. For example:

a)I am becomes if I were.b)You are becomes if you were.c)He is becomes if he were.d If I weren't so bus with a erwork, I would o out for lunch.


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Past Real Conditional

Use: The past real conditional describes what you used todo in real, everyday situations. It also suggests that you do

not do these things anymore, or at least not as frequently.

How to Form: [If/When + simple past... simple past]

Examples:

a)When I was young, we often jumped through watersprinklers on hot days. (Now I'm too old to do that.)

b)If I went to that art gallery, I always visited the giftshop. (Now I never go there.)


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Past Unreal Conditional

Use: The past unreal conditional is used to talk about imaginary

situations in the past. It is used to talk about what could have

happened in the past if things were different. Only the word if

can be used in the past unreal conditional because it refers to

unreal situations that did not happen. When cannot be used

because it would suggest that the situations are going to happen.

How to Form: [If/ + past perfect... would + have +

participle]

Examples:

a)If I had had the time as a child, I would have learned toplay the piano. But I was too busy playing sports.

b)Sally would have gone out with you if you had invited her.


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Future Real Conditional

Use: The future real conditional is used when you imagine what

you will do at a particular moment in the future.

How to Form: [If/When + simple present... simple future]

Examples:

a)If we see a restaurant ahead on the highway, we aregoing to stop for supper.

b)When I turn 19, I will gain access to my trust fund.Additional Use: Though both if and when are used in the futurereal conditional, they have very different meanings. Take the

following two sentences for example:

Examples:

a)If I see my husband tonight, I am going to give him a bighug.

b)When I see my husband tonight, I am going to give him abig hug.

If suggests that you do not know if something will happen or

not. In the first sentence, the person is not sure if she'll see her

husband, but if she does he's going to get a big hug.

When is used when you know something is going to happen for

certain. In the second sentence, the woman knows she will see

her husband tonight and isjust waiting to give him a big hug.


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Think back to the unit we did on language functions. Conditionalsare often embedded in exponents of a range of communicative

functions. Log back into the course to complete a quick activity to

see if you can identify the conditionals as used in a functional

context.

Future Unreal Conditional

Use: The future unreal conditional is used to talk about situations

in the future that cannot happen for some reason. You're

imagining what would happen if things were different.

How to Form: [If + simple past... would + verb]

Examples:

a)If I weren't busy next week, I would go camping. (I have towork all week.)

b)Jake would go to the movies tonight if he didn't have towork. (He cannot go because hes working all night.)

Additional Use: As with the past and present unreal conditional,

only the word if can be used in the future unreal conditional

because they talk about unreal situations that will probably not

happen. When cannot be used; it would suggest that the

situations are going to happen.


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5: Modals

Modals are quite challenging for instructors to present to students,

both conceptually and formally. Modals are not verbs, yet they can

indicate action; they are not tenses, yet they determine tenses.

You probably remember your elementary school teacher talking

about helping verbs. Modals do help the verb by adding a kind of

subjectivity. One way to think of a modal is mode + mood. For

example:

(a) Steve is a lawyer. (b) Steve might be a lawyer

In sentence (a), the speaker is stating a fact. In sentence (b), the

modal might quickly casts doubt on the speakers certainty and

reveals a probability (very low) that Steve is a lawyer.


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Other uses of modals are to express ones attitude, ones ability,

politeness, or advice; modals are also used for making requests or

giving permission. Modals are even used to indicate a time that is

not readily expressed using one of Englishs verb tenses. Forexample:

When I was a kid, I would go swimming every day.

In this example, the modal would is added to the verb go to

indicate a past habitual, or imperfect action. The only other way to

express this in English would be to use the structured I used to:

I used to go swimming every day.

As with verb tenses, the actual meaning of sentences when certainmodals are used can be difficult for students to grasp, not to

mention difficult for teachers to explain. Again, the use of

illustrations can be very helpful. The following context shows the

least probability:

Mary: Somebody sent me flowers.

Jill: It could be Steve.

Now, look at the range of probability expressed through the use of

different modals:


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Here are the past tense forms of these modals:

Here is another set of modals that express degrees of prediction:


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Finally, heres a visual representation of a spectrum of modals that

indicate the giving of advice; general suggestion escalates into

urgency:

As with the verb timelines, you will find that using this kind of

illustration can greatly help in your explaining the meanings ofsentences using modals.

Lets see if you can form examples of modals based on rules, or,

conversely, extrapolate rules based on examples. In the classroom,

you will need to be able to do both, with modals in particular. As

weve seen, there can be a degree of subjectivity with regards to

the meaning (or emphasis) of modals in the context in which they

are used. Likewise, there is a strict form that can vary from modal

to modal.


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Log in to the course to complete a short reinforcement activity.

6: Sentential Terminology

Remember that grammar can be defined as the arrangement ofdifferent units of language into meaningful sentences. What exactly

are these units of language? Think back to the unit on Language

Analysis. Can you remember the order in which these units oflanguage were organized, from largest to smallest? Here they areagain:

Lets look at each of these units in more detail:

The sentence is a set of words standing on their own as a

sense unit, its conclusion marked by a full stop or equivalent(question mark; exclamation mark). In English, of course,

sentences begin with a capital letter and include a verb. There is


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no minimum number of words a sentence must contain in order

to be a sentence. Again, the only pre-requisite is a mainsubject and a main verb. For example, I exist is as much of asentence is The early bird gets the worm. Later in this unit, we

will look at different kinds of sentences.

The clause is kind of a mini-sentence: a set of words which

makes a sense unit, but may not be concluded by a full stop. A

sentence may consist of two or more clauses (e.g. She left1because it was late2 and she was tired3); this sentence contains

three clauses.

The phrase is a shorter unit within the clause, of one or morewords, but fulfills the same sort of function as a single word. Averb phrase, for example, functions the same way as a single-

word verb (e.g. was going); a noun phrase like a one-wordnoun or pronoun (e.g. a long table).

The word is the minimum normally separable form: in writing, itappears as a stretch of letters with a space on either side.

The morpheme is a part of a word which can be perceived as a

distinct component. Within the word passed, for example, are

the two morphemespass, and ed. A word may consist of a

single morpheme (e.g., book).

In the next section, well review the largest unit: the sentence.

7: Sentences

Weve already talked about sentences as being the largest unit of

meaning. But what exactly is a sentence?

Sentences can be simple, compound, complex, and compound-

complex.


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A simple sentence contains at least one subject and one verb and

can stand alone as an independent clause. Notice that in the

previous example, "they are still friends," could stand alone as a

complete sentence, whereas the first clause, "although they live far

apart," would be a sentence fragment.

There are five basic simple sentence patterns in English:

Pattern Example

subject + verb The building collapsed.

subject + verb + object They bought a new car.


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subject + verb + indirect object + direct object She wrote him a letter.

subject + verb + subject predicate Janet's my friend.

subject + verb + object + object predicate She makes me happy.

A simple sentence must have one subject and one verb; in most

cases, a simple sentence will contain an object after the verb.

Ex: a) The siren wailed. (S+V)

b) I spoke with my brother yesterday. (S+V+O)

c) Mr. Johnson is my boss. (S+V+SP)

d) Watching baseball makes me happy. (S+V+O+OP)

A simple sentence, when used with another clause, can alsofunction as an independent clause, such as in a compound

sentence. Well look at compound sentences in the next section.

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent

clauses; a clause, unlike a phrase, must have a verb. In this

case, the two independent clauses are connected by a

coordinating conjunction.


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In contrast to a simple sentence, a compound sentence consists of

two or more clauses of equal grammatical importance. As we saw

earlier, a coordinating conjunction connects the two clauses:

He went to the party, but I stayed home.

Think of an independent clause as a simple sentence, were it not

connected to another independent clause.

Ex: Jim studied hard, but he failed the test.

In this example, either clause could be its own stand-alone simple

sentence (e.g. Jim studied hard; He failed the test). In this

case, the coordinating conjunction but connects the twoindependent clauses and ideas to create a compound sentence.

Here is another example of a compound sentence using a different

coordinating conjunction:

Ex. I didnt sleep very well, so I didnt go to class.

Again, I didnt sleep very well and I didnt go to class are, bythemselves, simple sentences. When connected by a coordinating

conjunction, they form a compound sentence.

A complex sentence contains a main independent clause and one

or more subordinate, or dependent clauses. These dependent

clauses are connected to the independent clause by a kind of

connector that will signal whether the dependent clause is a noun

clause, adjective clause, or an adverb clause.


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Look at the following example:

Ex. Peggy frequently calls because she wants to stay in touch.

In this sentence the main clause, "Peggy frequently calls," is

followed by a subordinate clause, "because she wants to stay intouch. "As you can see in this example, subordinate clauses are

often, although not always, introduced by an adverbial

subordinator.

In the second type of complex sentence, a dependent clause is

embedded, or included, in an independent clause. Embedded

clauses can take the place of a subject:

Ex. That he didn't want to go to the ballet was obvious. (It was

obvious.)

Or an object:

Ex. I argued that it would be a mistake. (I argued my position.)

Or even of an adjective:

Ex. The person who was responsible for the accident fled. (The

person responsible fled.)

Well look at dependent clauses in more detail in the next section.

First, however, lets do a quick activity to see if you can identify the

different kinds of sentences. Weve thrown in a couple of non-

sentences as well for good measure. Log back in to the course to

complete the activity.


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8: Dependent Clauses

As we referenced before, a sentence can consist of clauses. A

complex sentence consists of a dependent clause. In effect, this

dependent clause depends on the main clause. For example:

I know a man who is tall.

In this case, who is tall is a dependent clause that depends on

(and defines) I know a man.

There are three types of dependent clauses:

1) Noun clause

2) Adjective clause

3) Adverb clause

Noun Clause: I want to know what he is talking about.

A noun clause is a subordinate clause that takes the place

of a noun. Like a noun, a noun clause acts as the subject or

object of a verb or the object of a preposition:

Ex. I think that the dress looks lovely.

Noun clauses are easy to spot because they begin withnoun clause signals: words that always come right before

noun clauses. There are three different types of noun clausesignals:

The word that


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Ex. I was told that the post office is closed.

The words ifor whetherwhen they ask a question or makea statement that has a yes-or-no answer

Ex. Im not sure if the post office is closed.

Question words: who, whose, whom, what, which, when,

where, why, how

Ex. Could you please tell me where the post office is?

Adjective Clause: He speaks Portuguese, which I find to be

a beautiful language.

An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or

pronoun. It answers information questions like who, what, and

where.

Adjective clauses are a great way of joining two or more sentences

together:

Ex. My mom baked a pie. The pie is cooling on the table. The pie

that my mom baked is cooling on the table.

In the second sentence, that my mom baked is the adjective

clause; the whole clause modifies the noun pie and gives

information about who baked the pie my mom.

As a rule, an adjective clause always comes right after a relative

pronoun (that, which, who, etc.) These words are called relative

pronouns because they relate the clause to something in thesentence. Often but not all the time these words will signal an

adjective clause.


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The chart below lists the different relative pronouns that we can

use to connect adjective clauses to an independent clause and to

what these relative pronouns can refer: people; things or both.

Adj. Clause Signals Refers To: Examples

whopeople

(subject)

The actor who was in the movie we saw last

night is on television again.

whom people (object)The person to whom I addressed that check

did not cash it for a year.

whosepeople

(possessive)

The lady whose socks never match is coming

over.

which things(subject/object)

The high-powered camera, which I boughtyesterday, was stolen.

thatpeople/things

(subject/object)The book that I wanted is in the library.

where placeThe restaurant where we usually go for lunch

is closing.

when timeNext week, when you have some time, you

should come over for tea.

Adverb Clause: I like to see movies on the weekend because

it helps me to relax.

An adverb clause is used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another

adverb. They provide information about when, where, how, or why

things happen:

Ex. The runners rested on the grass after they had completed

the race.

There are certain words that always come before adverb clauses.

They are called subordinating conjunctions, and include words

like, as, because, though, etc. It's not important to remember the

technical name "subordinating conjunctions" (you can just call


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them connectors), but you should remember that these words

always introduce the dependent adverb clauses.

Additionally, adverb clauses are really adverb relationships. That

is, they express four possible relationships: 1) Time; 2) Cause and

Result; 3) Contrast; 4) Condition

The chart below shows some of the more common connectors

that signal adverb clauses, as well as indicate the relationship of

meaning between the clauses:

Adverb Clause Signals Relationship: Examples

after TimeWe're going to the movies after mom puts on her

makeup.

asTime

Cause & Result

a) The moon was still out as the sun was coming up.b) I can't talk for long as I have to be at work in half an

hour.

because Cause & ResultBecause the store wasn't open, I went home without

buying the tools.

before TimeWe should stop at the gas station before we start

driving to camp.

Despite (the fact that)Contrast

reason

Despite the fact that his wrist was broken, John still

managed to play in the big game.

if ConditionIf my parents had not met, I would not have been

born.

once Time The court hearing will begin once the judge arrives.

since Time Disco music has been out of style since the 1970s ended.

though/although ContrastCause & Result

Though Steve had tendonitis, he still went to work.

until Time There are only five days left until our baby is due.

unless ConditionI am not going to get a job unless I really need

money.


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when TimeDid you leave your purse at the store when you went

shopping?

while TimeWhile you were at church, I was at home watching

the football game.

In all three of these examples of dependent clauses, the

independent clauses of the sentences could stand by themselves as

simple sentences: e.g., I want to know; He speaks Portuguese;

and I like to see movies on the weekend. In all three of these

examples, the dependent clauses, which dependon the

independent clause for meaning, are introduced by a connector, or

to use a more technical term, a relative pronoun.

There is one more type of sentence to look at: the compound-

complex sentence.

As you may have guessed, a compound-complex sentence

combines both compound and complex sentences.

In this case, who called (2) is a dependent clause (adjectiveclause connected to I spoke (1); the independent clause I

refused to buy what he was selling (4) is connected to I spoke

by the coordinating conjunction but (3).

Thus, when we move beyond the simple or one-clause sentence,three processes are at work: coordination, or the joining of two


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clauses of equal grammatical stature; subordination of one clause

to another; and embedding, when a dependent clause is includedwithin a main or independent clause.

Well do one last sentence structure review to make sure you know

the differences between the different kinds of sentences and

clauses. Log in to the course to complete a short reinforcement

activity.

9: Voice

When we talk about sentences, we also talk about voice; like an

actual voice, we can look at the way a sentence talks to us.

Look at the following sentences:

a)The Home Owners Association held the meeting lastTuesday in the recreation room.

b)The meeting was held last Tuesday in the recreation room.

Is there any difference between the way these sentences sound?

How about structural differences? How about in meaning?


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Structurally, sentence (a) is in the active voice; sentence (b) is in

the passive voice. The term voice refers to the linguistic device

that allows different parts of the sentence to function as theme. For

example, in sentence (a), The Homeowners Association is the

subject and the theme of the sentence; as such, it is also the agent

doing the action directly to someone or something else. In this

case the Association heldthe meeting.

Alternately, in the passive voice the thing being acted upon by the

agent, in this case the meeting, is now the theme in sentence (b).

That is, the true subject of the sentence now disappears in the

passive voice construction, with the object taking over the main

theme of the sentence.

As you may have perceived, there is not necessarily a difference inmeaning between the two sentences as much as there is a different

emphasis. We usually use the passive voice when we dont know

who the subject is, or when it is not important. In the above

example, its not important that the Home Owners Association held

the meeting since maybe we already know that as they always hold

the meeting.

Here are some other examples of the passive constructions:

1)The robber was caught last night.2)The key was taken off the desk.3)The chair was moved to the other side of the room.

10: Theme/Rheme

English has a fairly fixed word order compared with many other

languages; still, some variation is possible. For example:

a)The Cub Scouts held the carwash despite the rain.b)The carwash was held by the Cub Scouts despite the rain.c)Despite the rain, the Cub Scouts held the carwash.

The question that should come to mind is the following: What is the

difference among these three word orders?


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Well, the sentences appear to have the same core meaning, so

what purpose does word order variation serve?

A helpful concept to draw on in answering this question is the

distinction between theme and rheme (and no, these two are not

related to thyme and rhyme).

The theme provides the "point of departure of the message", that

is, the part of the sentence where the emphasis of the message is

placed. For example, in (a), the emphasis is on the Cub Scouts; in

(b), the carwash; and in (c), the rain. In other words, the theme

provides the framework for interpreting what follows. What follows,

then is the rheme, the remainder of the message in the clause.

English, then, typically uses word order to assign the roles of

theme and rheme. Since English is a grammatical subject-

predicate languagethat is, every English sentence is composed

of two major constituents, a subject and a predicateit is

commonly the case that the subject in English will be the theme

and the predicate the rheme, as in (a) and (b).

Look at the following sentence:

The Cub Scouts -|- held the carwash despite the rain.

The car wash was held by the Cub Scouts despite the rain.

subject

(the theme)

predicate

(the rheme)

Other languages use different means for making the theme-rheme

distinction. For example, Japanese and Tagalog mark the theme

with special particles. In Chinese, referred to as topic-comment

language, the topic establishes that with which the clause is


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concerned, but does not necessarily correspond to a grammatical

subject. To wit:

My back, it hurts.

topic comment

Since English does not strictly forbid such word orders, in speech at

any rate, and since English even has other topic-like ways of

establishing the theme (e.g.,As for fundraising, I prefer bake sales

to carwashes), Chinese and Japanese speakers will need a great

deal of practice with subject-predicate sequences in order to avoid

overusing such structures in English.

As with knowing which pronunciation issues a certain group oflearners may have in English, knowing how other languages create

core meaning through word order is yet another learning strategy

you can give your students to work on developing these areas of

opportunity.

11: Suprasentential Elements: Cohesion

So far we have been discussing concepts that are useful fordescribing sub-sentence and sentence-level phenomena. In the

next few sections, well look at some concepts that apply to the

suprasentential, or discourse, level of language.

One quality of English grammar at the suprasentential level that we

might illustrate is the fact that texts, units of spoken or written

language at the suprasentential level, have an organizational

structure of their own. Look at the following narrative:


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Yesterday I went to the market. It has lots of fruits that I like. I

bought several different kinds of apples. I also found that plums

were in season, so I bought two pounds of them.

In the above narrative, it is not possible to put the second sentence

in the position of the first and have it mean anything. For the most

part, we can no more move sentences around in a paragraph

(unless we alter them in some way) than we can move words around

in a sentence without making some other modifications.

There are five linguistic mechanisms that give texts theircohesion, or structure, at the level of discourse; they are:

1)Reference: The boy wanted a sports bike. One dayhe .. . (he refers back to the boy)

2)Ellipsis: A: Who wrote the letter?B: Marty.

(The response Martyelliptically signals that Marty wrote theletter.)

3)Substitution: I plan to enter college next year. If Ido, . . . (dosubstitutes for enter college)

4)Conjunction: Peter needed some money. He, therefore,decided to get a job. (thereforemakes explicit the causal

relationship between the first and second sentences).

5)Lexical cohesion: (here through synonymy): He was gratefulfor the moneyhe had been given. He slipped the coins into

his pocket and hurried down the street. (Coinsrefer back to

money.)


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You may notice that each of the cohesive elements is

accomplished by way of a sentential level form. For example,

the reference is accomplished with a pronoun (he); the

ellipsis can also be accomplished via a modal (did, as in did

write); likewise with the substitution (do, as in If I do

enter); the conjunction is accomplished with, you guessed it,

a conjunction (as in therefore); and lexical cohesion is

accomplished by replacing one part of speech, e.g. a noun

(money), with the same part of speech, albeit with a different

form (coins).

12: Register

Another concept that applies at the suprasentential level is

register. We used the term appropriateness inthis course

earlier to refer to the level of formality of language. While this is

true enough, it is something of a simplification. According to

systemic-functional linguistics, register actually involves three

variables: field, tenor, and mode.

Fieldrefers to the social activity in which the language is beingused and what is being talked about. Field is reflected in choices of

content words. Tenoris concerned with the roles and

relationships of interlocutors. For example, one's choice of

sentence type to express a requestdeclarative, interrogative,

imperativewould be conditioned by the nature of the

relationship between the person making the request and the

person being asked to fulfill it. The moderefers to the channel

of communication, whether the language is written or spoken

and, with regard to the latter, whether it is face to face or more

remote.

Look at the following examples:

a)Would you be so kind as to pass the meat, please?


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b)Pass the meat, will ya?In both examples, the field would be a request being made at

dinner, presumably, at least based on the content words (pass;

meat). However, the tenor varies greatly in the two examples.

In a, the tenor is one of formality, whereas b is one of striking

informality. Finally, both examples share the same mode: spoken

language.

13: Genre

A closely aligned linguistic concept to register is genre. Genre, too,

refers to linguistic variation. Rather than variation due to level of

formality, however, the variation is due to the communicative

purposes to which the language is put.

For example, the language used in a scientific research paper is

different from that in a recipe or a letter of recommendation. They

differ in their patterns of words, structures, and voice. For instance, in

the interest of leaving no room for ambiguity, a legal document is

often characterized by "very long sentences containing numerous

and elaborate qualifications (all those elements beginning withnotwithstanding, in accordance with, without prejudice to, etc.)"

Teachers whose job it is to teach English for special or academic

purposes know full well the challenge of teaching students the

necessary patterned structure of a particular genre. It might be said

that professional training (including becoming ESL/EFL teachers)

involves learning to speak and write in a particular genre so that one

can join a particular discourse community as a full-fledged member.

14: Conclusion

Congratulations on getting through a challenging unit!


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The reluctance teachers may have towards teaching grammar is

understandable. After all, it is not easy to clearly present and

explain a grammatical structure of a language while simultaneously

teaching the grammar point in that same language. Adding to the

challenge is likewise getting our learners to comprehend both the

grammar point and the English its being taught in. That said, once

you become familiar with the main grammatical terms and

concepts that were presented in this unit and focus on how to

present examples and formulate explanations and meaning in a

way that is clear, simple, accurate and helpful to learners, you will

be in the position to create active, engaging lessons.

In the next unit, we will explore how to present grammar

effectively to form the basis of active, engaging lessons.

grammar overview pdf 2011

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