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Lecture Notes - Introduction To English Grammar

This document introduces various topics in English grammar. It discusses how grammar varies between registers and dialects, and how standard English is the most prestigious variety. It also defines prescriptive and descriptive grammar, and explains that prescriptive grammar presents rules about correct usage while descriptive grammar objectively describes patterns of use. Finally, it categorizes words into lexical words, function words, and inserts, describing the characteristics and functions of each type.

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Kamalesh Siva
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111 views8 pages

Lecture Notes - Introduction To English Grammar

This document introduces various topics in English grammar. It discusses how grammar varies between registers and dialects, and how standard English is the most prestigious variety. It also defines prescriptive and descriptive grammar, and explains that prescriptive grammar presents rules about correct usage while descriptive grammar objectively describes patterns of use. Finally, it categorizes words into lexical words, function words, and inserts, describing the characteristics and functions of each type.

Uploaded by

Kamalesh Siva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HEK 215

INTRODUCTION TO
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Though there is an underlying system of grammar, users of English employ the system in
highly different ways to meet their communication needs in different situations.
• Language has many varieties:
• Registers: varieties of language associated with certain characteristics of a communicative
setting.
• Dialects: varieties in accordance with the identity of a speaker or a writer- their, gender,
socioeconomic class, geographic area, etc.
• Variance in dialects is arbitrary while variance in registers is functional, i.e., grammar variance
according to communicative purpose).
• Standard English (codified in dictionaries)
• Non-standard or Vernacular (usually used in conversation)
STANDARD ENGLISH

• Standard English has the greatest social prestige in a speech


community.
• Using standard English involves making choices of grammar,
vocabulary and spelling.
• No variety of English, including standard English, is inherently
better or worse than another.
TYPES OF GRAMMAR

❑ Prescriptive grammar: a grammar that presents rules about correct and


incorrect stylistic choices.
➢ How language ‘should’ be used.
➢ E.g., *Me and John are going to the store or *John and me are going to the store
John and I are going to the store.

❑ Descriptive grammar: a grammar which describes the grammatical


patterns that speakers and writers follow.
➢ How language is used in real life, not stating the right or wrong forms.
➢ E.g., Corpus Linguistics looks at language, using a descriptive approach.
TYPES OF GRAMMAR (CONT.)

❑ Corpus linguistics
➢ the study of authentic language stored in electronic form,
accessed using corpus software.
✓E.g., BNC
https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/
WORDS

• Generally speaking, a word is the basic element of language, a


meaningful unit of writing or speech defined in dictionaries.
• There are three kinds of words:
❑ Lexical words:
➢ Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
➢ They carry information in a text or speech act.
➢ Sometimes called the open class words as new words can be added to
this class, e.g., blog.
WORDS (CONT.)

❑ Function words:
➢ Prepositions, coordinators, auxiliary verbs, and pronouns.
➢ They do not have clear lexical meanings; they indicate meaning
relationships and grammatical relations.
➢ Sometimes called closed class words whose membership is highly
limited and fixed, i.e., no conjunctions or pronouns have recently been
added to the language.
E.g. only four coordinators in English: and, or, but, and (rarely)
nor.
WORDS (CONT.)

❑ Inserts
➢ Generally used in spoken language.
➢ Inserted freely in a sentence or text.
➢ Often characterized by a break in intonation in speech, or separated by a
punctuation mark in writing.
E.g., Well, thank goodness that’s over!
➢ Mainly simple in form and carry emotional and discoursal senses like
wow and Okay.

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