🎲

Descriptive Grammar test —

grammar & syntax 13.06

DEFINING GRAMMAR PARTS OF SPEECH

prescriptive (how language should 1. NOUNS: kto? co? people,

be) vs descriptive (how language places, things, qualities,
actually is) activities, concepts,
conditions
universal — an analysis of the
structural properties which define types: common, proper,
human language. abstract (love, hate,
freedom), concrete (tangible
competence — an analysis of the
things), general (fruit),
structure of a language, either as
specific (apple), collective
encountered in a corpus of speech or
(the police, herd, flock,
writing (performance grammar) or as
family)
predictive of a speaker’s knowledge
gender: masculine, feminine,
competence vs performance
neuter, common (words
traditional grammar — derives from refering to any gender - clerk)
the study of Latin/Greek; analytical

Descriptive Grammar test — grammar & syntax 13.06 1

 procedures maintained for ‘newer’ number: single, plural —
languages; parts of speech collective nouns, uncountable
nouns

2. PRONOUNS: can substitute

SYNTAX — the study of how languages
nouns/other pronouns
express relationships between words
types: personal/impersonal
consistent word order (subject, verb,
(he, she/it), relative (who,
object in English)
whose, which, that etc),
adding a morpheme demonstrative (this, that,
setting up reference in space (sign these, those), interrogative
language) (questions: what, who etc),
reflexive (myself), reciprocal
(each other), indefinite
SENTENCE (someone, everyone)
subject - who/what the sentence is 3. ADJECTIVES: jak?
about describe/modify/specify the
John lives in the city centre.; meaning of nouns or
We don’t often go out these pronouns
days.; The injured were taken to degrees: positive,
the hospital. comparative, superlative
predicate — provides information gradable vs non-gradable
about the subject, esp. what it does
4. PREPOSITIONS: relate (’link’)
or what it is like
nouns or pronouns to other
We won the match; Our parts
parents must have missed the
always followed by gerund
flight.
form
My younger sister usually visits us for
prepositional phrase:
Christmas.
preposition + its object +
bare subject: sister object modifier (over the
bare predicate: visits rainbow, through the dense
forest) - phrasal verbs
complete subject: my younger sister
5. CONJUNCTIONS: link
complete predicate: usually visits us words/phrases/clauses
for Christmas

compound subjects and predicates:

Descriptive Grammar test — grammar & syntax 13.06 2

 the queen and her servant entered coordinating conjunction —
the room connect constituents of equal
grammatical importance (and)
he staggered and collapsed
subordinate conjunction —
→ when not compound and bare =
connect constituents of
simple
unequal grammatical
importance (although)
TYPES OF COMPLEMENTS 6. VERB: co robi? co się z nim
direct object: she caught the train dzieje? express actions or
(kogo? co?); james sent her a states of being, obligatory in
postcard — nouns/pronouns which sentences
complete the meaning of an action action verbs (walk, run,
verb think), copulative verbs
indirect object: between the verb (linking/state of being verbs;
and the direct object (komu? czemu?) to be, seem, appear, get,
she gave her cousin a lift; they told become), modal
us the truth; you’re giving me a heart verbs/auxiliaries
attack — you can ask a question tenses, voices, aspects,
starting with to, for, of and move it to moods (indicative, imperative,
the end of the sentence
subjective)
transitive verbs: must have an object 7. ADVERBS: jak? gdzie?
and can be changes into subject kiedy? modify verbs,
intransitive verb: does not have an adjectives and other adverbs
object 8. INTERJECTIONS: express
a verb can be both (I or T): i’ve emotions, when strong
finished vs she’s finished her feelings are at stake: gosh!m
homework boo! yes & no

predicate nominative: special

complements after linking verbs (to TYPES OF SENTENCES
be, become, seem, feel etc) —
sentences consists of clauses
contains a noun

My sister became a successful declarative: to make a

teacher statement

predicate adjective: special interrogative: to ask a

complements after linking verbs (to question

Descriptive Grammar test — grammar & syntax 13.06 3

 be, become, seem, feel etc) — imperative: to give an order
contains an adjective
exclamatory: to express
We all felt very happy feelings

adverbs: jak? peacefully, slowly, SIMPLE SENTENCES -

quickly contain just one independent
clause
phrases (including prepositional
phrases): in the morning COMPOUND SENTENCES -
more than one independent
clauses: independent (subject +
clause, compound of two or
predicate; express complete
more sentences, everything is
thoughts - do not depend on a word
of the same importance and
from another clause) / dependent
all sentences can exist on its
(subject + predicate; cannot exist on
own
their own)
COMPLEX SENTENCES -
contain one independent
clause and one, or more,
dependent clauses, one thing
is more important - always
reported speech

syntax: the study of how languages express relationships between words

this happens through: a consistent word order

by adding a morpheme = smallest unit of meaning (e.g. I see them vs. *

Me see they; The employer hired the employee); Where * = ungrammatical
(but not necessarily sensical or approved)

setting up reference in space, which happens in sign language

substitution test: a test in which we try substituting a single word for several
words while preserving its meaning
the combination in a sentence tell us how the verb relates to the subject and
the object: it’s taylor who can see the rabbit; it’s the rabbit that taylor can see
(cleft construction)
the cleft test: to see which word or group of words is grammatical when we put
it in the first slot of a cleft construction, i.e. between ‘it’s’ & ‘that’

Descriptive Grammar test — grammar & syntax 13.06 4

 the conlusion: the verbs and object have closer relationship that the subject
and the verb

constituents: the group of words which flock together in a sentence (each of

them makes a part of a greater whole)

english constituents are typically close to one another

linguists use the word ‘grammar’ to talk about structural patterns, how a
language puts morphemes together into words words into constituents, and
constituents into sentences

competence: the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers

of a language

reflexive pronouns pronouns referring back to the subject forms of personal

pronouns
gradable: adjectives that can express different degrees of qualities, properties,
states

predicate: part of a sentence that contains verb and gives information about
the subject

clause: a group of words which has a subject and a complete finite verb

Descriptive Grammar test — grammar & syntax 13.06 5