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4.1 What is grammar?

Instruction: Click on the card and slide it to the left to read the information.

There are several ways to look at grammar, but some of them are actually common misconceptions. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to determine what is a misconception and what is an accurate perception of grammar. There will usually be room for discussion regarding this matter.

Let’s take the statements in the Getting started activity as an example. When analyzing the statement ‘A grammar of a language is a book written about it’, we find that although “a book about grammar” can be called “a grammar”, it cannot be said that grammar reduces to being ‘a book’. However, the assertion ‘the rules or patterns presented in good, modern grammar books constitute to a great extent the grammar of a language’ is actually an acknowledged way to look at grammar. In fact, it is one way which turns out to be very useful for teachers, because they can base their explanations of the language on the rules that these books present. This ‘kind of grammar’ is known as prescriptive, because it establishes what can be said or written.

Thus, the statement ‘Grammar is something that can be good or bad, correct or incorrect’ does not sound out of the question. If there are certain rules that dictate what can be said or not, there are certain language uses that are correct and some that are incorrect. However, it is actually society and the specific context in which language is used that establish what to accept and what not to. Therefore, the same language instance could be correct or not depending on the circumstances. In the end, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ are very subjective labels.

In this way, in terms of real language usage, another way to look at grammar is from a descriptivist perspective. The statement that exemplifies this perspective is ‘The language rules or patterns underlying the discourse of a speech community can be considered as the grammar of their language.’ This is a descriptive perspective because it relies on observing how the language is actually being used to establish generalizations about the language structure and its patterns.

If the use that native speakers, usually the educated ones, give to their language is where the grammar of the language comes from, therefore the statement ‘The grammar of the language is found only in the written language’ is false. Native speakers, belonging to a speech community, do not limit themselves to speak. They obviously also use the written means to communicate to each other. Actually, there are very specific conventions both regarding spoken and written texts in the different speech communities part of a society of native speakers of a language.

It is true, though, that written texts tend to be more formal and strict with respect to the use of the language. This is one of the characteristics that differentiate written from spoken language. But this topic will be seen in more detailed in the following section.

There is still another perspective from which to look at grammar. This is expressed through the statements ‘Grammar is the intuitive language rules or patterns in fluent users’, ‘heads’ and ‘Grammar is the set of rules and principles native speakers use in producing and understanding their language.’ This is a more abstract perspective of grammar known as mental grammar. This kind of grammar is mostly acquired by native speakers when they are children, and it becomes something intuitive for them to use the language.

Therefore, the statement ‘Some people know the grammar of their language, others do not’ is not true. What is true is that some people may not use the conventions established by the members of their speech communities in certain contexts, or that some people do not use the language established in the good, modern grammar books of their language. These people may be judged as ‘ignorant’, but only of some the rules, patterns or conventions of the language.

So far, grammar has been conceived as a set of rules and patterns regarding the use of the language, whether in people’s heads or in books. But what does grammar entail? The answer to this question is in the statement ‘Grammar involves the study of the syntax and morphology of sentences.’ In the previous unit we looked at syntax as the part of grammar that establishes the order of words in a sentence. But words themselves have an internal grammar and can take different forms, as we saw in Unit 2 when discussing word formation. This aspect of grammar is precisely morphology, which refers to the structure of words.

Even if words are arranged correctly to form a sentence, if they do not present the corresponding form, the sentence is not considered correct. Therefore, the grammar of a language, broadly speaking, comprises the grammar of sentences, that is, syntax, and the grammar of words, that is, morphology. For this reason, the statement ‘Some languages have grammar, others do not’ cannot be considered true. Some languages may lack of morphology, or the morphology they imply is very little, but they still follow certain rules to put words together in order to communicate, so they do have grammar.

There are several ways to look at grammar, but some of them are actually common misconceptions. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to determine what is a misconception and what is an accurate perception of grammar. There will usually be room for discussion regarding this matter.

Let’s take the statements in the Getting started activity as an example. When analyzing the statement ‘A grammar of a language is a book written about it’, we find that although “a book about grammar” can be called “a grammar”, it cannot be said that grammar reduces to being ‘a book’. However, the assertion ‘the rules or patterns presented in good, modern grammar books constitute to a great extent the grammar of a language’ is actually an acknowledged way to look at grammar. In fact, it is one way which turns out to be very useful for teachers, because they can base their explanations of the language on the rules that these books present. This ‘kind of grammar’ is known as prescriptive, because it establishes what can be said or written.

Thus, the statement ‘Grammar is something that can be good or bad, correct or incorrect’ does not sound out of the question. If there are certain rules that dictate what can be said or not, there are certain language uses that are correct and some that are incorrect. However, it is actually society and the specific context in which language is used that establish what to accept and what not to. Therefore, the same language instance could be correct or not depending on the circumstances. In the end, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ are very subjective labels.

In this way, in terms of real language usage, another way to look at grammar is from a descriptivist perspective. The statement that exemplifies this perspective is ‘The language rules or patterns underlying the discourse of a speech community can be considered as the grammar of their language.’ This is a descriptive perspective because it relies on observing how the language is actually being used to establish generalizations about the language structure and its patterns.

If the use that native speakers, usually the educated ones, give to their language is where the grammar of the language comes from, therefore the statement ‘The grammar of the language is found only in the written language’ is false. Native speakers, belonging to a speech community, do not limit themselves to speak. They obviously also use the written means to communicate to each other. Actually, there are very specific conventions both regarding spoken and written texts in the different speech communities part of a society of native speakers of a language.

It is true, though, that written texts tend to be more formal and strict with respect to the use of the language. This is one of the characteristics that differentiate written from spoken language. But this topic will be seen in more detailed in the following section.

There is still another perspective from which to look at grammar. This is expressed through the statements ‘Grammar is the intuitive language rules or patterns in fluent users’, ‘heads’ and ‘Grammar is the set of rules and principles native speakers use in producing and understanding their language.’ This is a more abstract perspective of grammar known as mental grammar. This kind of grammar is mostly acquired by native speakers when they are children, and it becomes something intuitive for them to use the language.

Therefore, the statement ‘Some people know the grammar of their language, others do not’ is not true. What is true is that some people may not use the conventions established by the members of their speech communities in certain contexts, or that some people do not use the language established in the good, modern grammar books of their language. These people may be judged as ‘ignorant’, but only of some the rules, patterns or conventions of the language.

So far, grammar has been conceived as a set of rules and patterns regarding the use of the language, whether in people’s heads or in books. But what does grammar entail? The answer to this question is in the statement ‘Grammar involves the study of the syntax and morphology of sentences.’ In the previous unit we looked at syntax as the part of grammar that establishes the order of words in a sentence. But words themselves have an internal grammar and can take different forms, as we saw in Unit 2 when discussing word formation. This aspect of grammar is precisely morphology, which refers to the structure of words.

Even if words are arranged correctly to form a sentence, if they do not present the corresponding form, the sentence is not considered correct. Therefore, the grammar of a language, broadly speaking, comprises the grammar of sentences, that is, syntax, and the grammar of words, that is, morphology. For this reason, the statement ‘Some languages have grammar, others do not’ cannot be considered true. Some languages may lack of morphology, or the morphology they imply is very little, but they still follow certain rules to put words together in order to communicate, so they do have grammar.

LAS Activity 401. Types of grammar

Instructions

1. There are three different perspectives to look at grammar mentioned in this section. Look at the following questions.

  • What kind of grammar do they refer to?
  • What are the statements from the Getting started activity that exemplify these different perspectives or kinds of grammar?
  • Why do the statements exemplify their corresponding kind of grammar?

2. Download the Word file LAS Activity 401. Complete the table there with your answers.

LAS Activity 401 word document

3. Once you finish this activity, save it as PDF, and name it LAS_401_LastName_FirstName; you will need it for LAS Activity 403 FORUM Grammar to participate in the forum.

LAS Activity 402. Parts of grammar

Instructions

1. As previously mentioned, grammar involves the study of syntax and morphology. Say to which part of grammar the following examples belong and explain why.

2. Don’t worry if your explanations are not exactly the same as the ones provided in the key when checking the correct answers for the explanations, just check if they were similar enough, or if you had a completely different idea.

Examples

I feel

Happy Correct

Happily incorrect

Happiness incorrect

Unhappy Correct

Unhappily incorrect

Unhappiness incorrect

Part of grammar

Why?

Part of grammar

Morphology

Why?

Morphology is the part of grammar that studies the structure (form) of the words.

Examples

I feel

I like very much listening to music Correct

I like listening to music very much incorrect

The beautiful girl incorrect

The girl beautiful Correct

Cocktails with nuts for the ladies incorrect

Cocktails for the ladies with nuts incorrect

Part of grammar

Why?

Part of grammar

Syntax

Why?

Syntax is the part of grammar that studies the order of words in sentences.

Examples

I feel

Happy Correct

Happily incorrect

Happiness incorrect

Unhappy Correct

Unhappily incorrect

Unhappiness incorrect

Part of grammar

Why?

Examples

I feel

I like very much listening to music Correct

I like listening to music very much incorrect

The beautiful girl incorrect

The girl beautiful Correct

Cocktails with nuts for the ladies incorrect

Cocktails for the ladies with nuts incorrect

Part of grammar

Why?

Answers PDF File

After all the contents that we have reviewed in this course, you may have already noticed that the systems that conform a language make it possible to communicate ideas by generating a limitless number of sentences. Firstly, it is a matter of choices: we can choose from a wide variety of words and structures, and we can choose to arrange them in different ways, to transmit the same idea. But what gives the language its infinite scope is a matter of structure recursiveness, in other words, the possibility of embedded clauses to be repeated indefinitely within a sentence. Consider the following example from Fromkin et al. (2017, p. 94):

  1. Homer caught a Pokémon.
  2. Marge noticed that Homer caught a Pokémon.
  3. Bart wonders whether Marge noticed that Homer caught a Pokémon.
  4. Lisa knows that Bart wonders whether Marge noticed that Homer caught a Pokémon.

This process could continue indefinitely, which does not mean that we should aim at elongating sentences as much as possible when speaking or writing. It is only a matter of becoming aware of how language works and its infinite scope in terms of sentence construction, as long as we follow these recursive rules. Can you think of a fifth sentence for the previous set of sentences (1 to 4)? Try one using ‘Maggie’, the only member of the Simpson family missing in the picture.

LAS Activity 403. FORUM Grammar

Instructions

1. Go to the forum LAS Activity 403 FORUM Grammar when indicated and comment on your answers for the Getting started activity, LAS 401 and LAS 402, and share your fifth sentence for the Simpson family set of sentences.

2. Remember that for forums you need to post your main participation and reply to two of your classmates.

Your participation in this forum is 0.3 from your total Forum participation points (3.0).