Introduction
1.1
What is grammar?
Grammar
is the system of a language, by which words are formed and put together to make
sentences. To put it more academically, grammar is the study of the internal
structure of words (morphology形態學)
and the use of words in the construction of phrases and sentences (syntax句法).
It is
not the “rules” of a language because we don’t start with grammar first, and
then the language. We start with the language first, and then we figure out the
grammar (the system) of that language. Languages were started by people making sounds which evolved into words,
phrases and sentences. And all languages change over time. So grammar as a
reflection of a language at a particular time, also changes over time.
(Morphology is a big word, like syntax, that tends to scare off students. What it
is, the internal structure and changes of words, is of things you all are quite
familiar with already. Eg.
use -
useless, useful, (affixes –prefix, suffix)
like -
dislike, likeable,
depend – in-depend-ent, dependent-ly
dog –
dogs
(inflection) number (singular vs. plural)
fish – fishes
fish – fishes
time – timetable (word formation by
compounding)
dish –
dishwasher
go went gone (tenses)
do did done
cut cut cut
Chinese (capital letter for proper nouns)
chinese (porcelain-small letter)
I, we, you, you, he/she/it, they -- the
categories of person (1st., 2nd., 3rd.)
he, she, it -- gender (masculine, feminine,
neuter)
he’s, its, Peter’s – possessive
he-him, we-us, you-you, I-me, she-her – (subjective,
objective)
1.2
Do we need to study grammar to learn a
language?
Well,
if you are a native speaker of a language, you probably don’t need to study
grammar of that language. Children start to speak grammatically before they
even know the word “grammar.” However, if you want to learn a foreign language
well, it is easier to do so to learn some grammar of that language.
1.3 Why do we study English grammar?
To me,
I study grammar because I want to speak and write English correctly and
intelligently. If that’s your reason as well, let’s begin our journey together,
beginning at the basics.
1.4
Sentence.
1.4.1 A sentence is the basic unit of communication
that expresses a complete thought.
1.4.2.1 Every sentence must always include a subject主詞 and a predicate 述語 (except for imperatives命令語句). Or, put it in another
way:
14.2.2 Every sentence must always include a subject主詞 and a verb動詞 (except for imperatives命令語句). What happens after the
verb depends on the type of verb—transitive or intransitive.
1.4.3 A
written sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.),
question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!).
1.4.4 The shortest sentence consists of just one
word, which must be a verb. This is the imperative form, eg: “Stop!”
1.4.5 The common word order of a sentence is
“subject-verb-object (SVO),” where the subject is followed by the verb and then
the object.*
eg:
"Henry ate an apple."
1.4.6 The subject is one of the two main
parts (subject and predicate) of a sentence; the subject is the part that is
not the predicate; typically, the subject is the first noun or noun phrase in a
sentence and is what the rest of the sentence "is about."
eg:
"The drinking water was dirty", "Julie is
beautiful", "Who saw you?"
1.4.7 The predicate is the other one of the
two main parts of a sentence; the predicate is the part that is not the
subject, and this part usually consists of a verb with or without objects,
complements, or adverbial modifiers.
eg:
"She is a dentist," "Who did you call?",
"The girl wearing a yellow dress helped me."
* There are in
total 10 such sentence patterns in English grammar. See Lesson 14 for details.
1.5 The 8
Parts of Speech
Sentences are composed of
words, and there are thousands of them. All words serve some kind of purpose,
and have different functions. For example, some words express “action,” which
are called “verbs;” others name “things,” and are called “nouns.” Still other
words are used to join one word to another word, and they are called “conjunctions.”
These are the “building blocks” of the language. When we want to build a
sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type has its own function.
In English, there are 8 basic
types of words. So all English words*
are classified into these 8 types, which we call them the 8 parts of
speech. They are:
|
part of speech
|
function or
“job”
|
example words
|
example
sentences
|
|
action or state
|
(to) be, have, do,
like, work, sing, can, must
|
Chu Hai College is
an education institute. I like to watch movies.
|
|
|
thing, place,
person or idea
|
book, dog, work,
music, town, Hong Kong, teacher, John
|
This is my dog.
He lives in my house. We live in Hong Kong.
|
|
|
describes a noun
|
a/an, the, 69,
some, good, big, red, well, interesting
|
My dog is big.
I like big dogs.
|
|
|
describes a verb,
adjective or adverb
|
quickly, silently,
well, badly, very, really
|
My dog eats quickly.
When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.
|
|
|
replaces a noun
|
I, you, he, she,
some
|
Tara is Indian. She
is beautiful.
|
|
|
links nouns to other
words, and describes a relationship between the words
|
to, at, after, on,
but
|
We went to
school on Monday.
|
|
|
joins words or
clauses or sentences
|
and, but, when
|
I like dogs and
I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like
cats.
|
|
|
short exclamation,
sometimes inserted into a sentence
|
oh!, ouch!, hi!,
well
|
Ouch! That
hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.
|
1.6. Examples of the Parts of Speech
Here
are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:#
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
pronoun
|
verb
|
preposition
|
adjective
|
noun
|
adverb
|
|
She
|
ran
|
to
|
the
|
station
|
quickly.
|
|
pron.
|
verb
|
adj.
|
noun
|
conjunction
|
pron.
|
verb
|
pron.
|
|
She
|
likes
|
big
|
snakes
|
but
|
I
|
hate
|
them.
|
Here
is a sentence that contains every part of speech:
|
interjection
|
pron.
|
conj.
|
adj.
|
noun
|
verb
|
prep.
|
noun
|
adverb
|
|
Well,
|
she
|
and
|
young
|
John
|
walk
|
to
|
school
|
slowly.
|
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