2. What is Grammar?
The best explanation of grammar is to define it
as a set of rules of how we ought to speak and
how we ought not to speak. This often makes
overt value judgments by referring to the
standards correct, or ‘good English’ and the
non-standard as incorrect or ‘bad English’.
3. Which rules to describe
A moment’s reflection tells us that some rules
apply more consistently than others, the
subject verb agreement rule admits
exceptions.
4. Form and Function
Formal grammar es concerned with the forms
themselves and with how they operate within
the overall system of grammar.
Generative theory is based on a rationalist
approach, the central assumption being that
language is represented as a speaker’s mental
grammar, a set of abstract rules for generating
grammatical sentences.
5. In 1972, Hymes developed a functional model
that focuses more on appropriate use of
language on how language functions in
discourse.
For Hymes, communicative competence is
defined as ‘the capabilities of a person’, a
competence which is dependent upon both
knowledge and use’
In applied linguistics, the influence of these
theoretical models is evident in various areas.
6. Type versus Token
Descriptions of language will also have different
outcomes depending on whether they
account for types of linguistic element in the
abstract, or for tokens of linguistic element as
they actually occur in contexts of use.
7. Discourse Grammar
Corpus studies have also led to an increased
interest in analyses of ‘discourse grammar’,
analyses of the functional roles of
grammatical structures in discourse.
Hughes and McCarthy note that the italicized
past perfects seem to give a reason or
justification for the main events.
8. Learning Grammar
Some learners are very interested in finding out
or learning grammar rules and doing lots of
grammar exercises. We can also
o Be aware of gramar.
o Read English books
o Concentrate on the aspects of grammar
o Learn common words
