Freeman and Freeman, (2004) - English

Syntax

Chapter 9 - SUMMARY (Outline style - Marzano (2003).

====================================

Main Entry:
Part of
Speech:
Definition:
Synonyms:
Notes:

syntax [sin-taks] Show IPA

noun

arrangement
order, pattern, structure, system
grammar consists of a description of all the
elements in a language; syntax focuses on
the relationships between words that
determine their order in sentences grammar is the entire study and syntax is
one part only

Source: http://thesaurus.com, downloaded 11/26/2012

====================================
A.

FOUR VIEWS OF GRAMMAR Weaver (1996) as cited in Freeman, et. al. (pg. 216).
i. Grammar describes syntactic structures.
Chomsky postulates humans are born with language acquisition
device and develop internal knowledge of language structures
including syntax, phonology, morphology, semantics, and
pragmatics.
Grammar and syntax are synonymous.

ii. Grammar prescribes the correct use of words.

Research studies show that traditional prescriptive grammar

instruction has negligible effects on improving actual writing skills.

iii. Grammar as effective use of syntactic structures for rhetorical purposes.

(eloquent discourse).

There is no need to label the parts of speech, only the need to

practice meaningful writing putting in conventional forms to
enhance the rhetorical effects through careful organization and
word choice to express ideas in eloquent ways.

WOU - ED 684

Prepared by Liliana Heller-Mafrica, Ed.D.

Nov. 2012


iv. Grammar as the functional command of syntax.
Chomsky argues that humans have an innate capacity for
language and develop a full command of the syntactic structures
of their community of speakers that allows them to function
effectively.

B.

CURRENT APPROACH TO TEACH GRAMAR:

DESCRIPTIVE not PRESCRIPTIVE

A Descriptive approach uses the intuition of native speakers: doesnt sound

like English to determine grammatical acceptability.
Prescriptive approaches laid down grammatical rules in traditional ways.
In attempting to describe syntactic structure, linguists are attempting to describe
how the language works, not to prescribe correct usage (pg. 229-230)

C . THEORY OF SYNTAX
Building a theory of syntax to make explicit the subconscious rules speakers of a
language normally use every day, involves considering:
1. The order or words
2. category of words
3. the way words are grouped
4. the functions different words have
5. the dependencies among words
Content words: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Main verbs are listed as content words
Function words: Pronouns and determiners
Auxiliary verbs are listed as function words.

Chomskys theory of GENERATIVE GRAMMAR:

WOU - ED 684

Prepared by Liliana Heller-Mafrica, Ed.D.

Nov. 2012

All sentences have both a surface structure and a deep structure.

The teacher read the book and The book was ready by the teacher
have a different surface structure (word order) but have the same deep
level structure or meaning.
Conversely, some sentences are the same at the surface level but have a
different meaning at the deep level.

WOU - ED 684

Prepared by Liliana Heller-Mafrica, Ed.D.

Nov. 2012