Grammar for Teachers Unlock Your Knowledge of English

O V € r V i € M J 6 ^ ^ € V € lA f o c i''s * k > u t € l€ ^ ^ lA f s AH +W )^0SSi|?l€ S€lAf€lAC€S flA ElA^llS^l *r€ M t -(VoiM Ol/llt/j SeVeiA ^!-f-f€r€l/\t jfcrftemAS of cU\JS€. OlAC€ VJOVJ £lA0M /W to US€ +k)S€ S€V€lA j^i+€/VlS VJOUC*lA 1/M& Irfewll^ VhilliOlAS of s(i-ff€r€lAt S€lAt€lAC€S. Levels Grammar works at several different levels: texts: Then an elephant trumpeted, and they all took it up for five or ten terrible seconds. The dew from the trees above spattered down like rain on the unseen backs, and a dull booming noise began, not very loud at first, and Little Toomai could not tell what it was. Then an elephant trumpeted, and they all took it up for five or ten terrible seconds. The dew from the trees above spattered down like rain on the unseen backs, and a dull booming noise began, not very loud at first, and Little Toomai could not tell what it was. a dull booming noise began, not very loud at first Little Toomai could not tell what it was c la u ses: The dew from the trees above spattered down like rain on the unseen backs ph r a ses: The dew from the trees above spattered down like rain w o rd s: The dew from the y sen ten ces: f Chapter 2: Seven amazing facts about elephants 7 In English curriculum documents the main emphasis is on words and sentences, but, as you can see from the example opposite, it is tricky to jump straight from word to sentence without the intervening steps of clauses and phrases. How the four levels work together should become clearer as you work through Part A, and it is spelt out in more detail in Part B. Sentences Grammar is about how sentences are constructed. Sentences, however, are not easy to define. One traditional definition is that a sentence is ''the expression of a complete thought or idea''. However, it is not difficult to think of sentences that are grammatically correct, but which do not fit this definition. For example, it would be difficult to explain the complete thought or idea in: Is that it? Equally, there are plenty of non-sentences that do seem to ex­ press a complete thought or idea. For example: DANGER LIVE CURRENT or God And then again, you have to remember that it is perfectly pos­ sible to construct sentences that are grammatically acceptable, but which don''t make a lot of sense. Chomsky''s famous example of this was Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. So it is better to define a sentence in formal terms as a gram­ matical unit that consists of one or more finite clauses. Sentence types There are four types of sentence: □ DECLARATIVE These are sentences normally used to make statements such as Elephants are dangerous. □ INTERROGATIVE These are normally used to ask questions like Are elephants dangerous? or What are those elephants doing? Sentences are covered in detail in Chapter 10. Overview 8 □ IMPERATIVE These are normally used to make commands, orders, and requests, like Look at that elephant! □ EXCLAMATIVE These are used to make exclamations of various kinds such as How charming that little baby elephant is! Each of these sentence types has a distinctive word order. In this chapter, which is all about word order, we shall stick to declara­ tive sentences (the type used to make statements) since they are by far the most common. Five basic clause patterns Sentences are covered in detail in Chapter 10. Throughout this chapter we''ll look at sentences that consist of just one clause (see simple sentence) and in the process find out more about what a clause actually is. We''ll do this by looking at sentences no more than four words long. As the chapter title suggests, all the sample sentences are about elephants. If you want to try out the ideas and sentence pat­ terns in the chapter, think of a topic of your own as the basis for parallel sentences. Choose a p lu ra l c o n c re te n o u n (one that refers to a person, place, or thing) - like books, trains, or teachers. Then use it to construct sentences with the same patterns as the elephant ones used as examples. Subject + verb The shortest sentence you can make starting with the word elephants consists of two words. For example: Elephants exist. This sentence consists of one clause. The clause has two parts, a subject and a verb: SUBJECT VERB Elephants exist. Chapter 2: Seven amazing facts about elephants 9 The subject The subject of a simple sentence: □ comes at or near the beginning of the sentence ''Noun-like things'' □ comes before the verb □ are explored in is a noun or''a noun-like thing'' □ often gives a good idea of what the sentence is going to be about. The verb The verb of a simple sentence: □ normally comes immediately or shortly after the subject □ agrees with the subject: • in NUMBER One elephant walks; two elephants walk. • in PERSON I am; she is; they are □ provides information about an action {talks) or a state (be­ lieves) or links the subject to another part of the sentence in some other way (as am does in the sentence I am happy.) The simple pattern of subject + verb can be used to generate thousands of sentences. They may have just two words like the sample sentence, or they may have many more: SUBJECT VERB Elephants exist. The older bull elephants are beginning to stampede. A few more trainees will have departed. Although the last two sentences have many more words than the first, they still have the same two clause elements: subject and verb. In the next chapter we''ll look at how a single noun like Elephants can build into a group of words like The older bull elephants. Chapter 4 looks at verbs in a similar way. Chapter 3. Overview Subject + verb + object You can''t, of course, make sentences of the subject + verb type with just any old verb. This is not a complete sentence: Elephants like X The immediate response to that is: ''like what?'' The sentence is missing a key part: the object. So our second pattern covers sentences like this: SUBJECT VERB OBJECT Elephants like grass. The object The object of a clause or sentence: □ normally comes after the verb □ is a noun or''noun-like thing'' □ usually refers to a different person, thing or idea from the subject. (The exception to this is objects that include the part-word -self, as in I cut myself, where subject and object refer to the same person.) □ very often tells us about a person or thing that is • affected by the action of the verb, or • ''acted upon'' in some way. In the example, the grass is clearly affected by the action of eating. The subject + verb + object pattern can be lengthened in a simi­ lar way to the subject + verb one: SUBJECT VERB OBJECT Elephants like grass. An adult bull elephant can be expected to eat tons of grass. Someone might have warned the poor girl.