Grammar Notes

Grammar Notes

Grammar is a set of structural rules that controls the way language works.

Word classes define the roles that each word can play in a sentence.

Eight main word classes:

Word class	What it does/is?	Examples
Nouns	A noun names a person, place, thing or idea.	Table, book, Paris
Adjectives	Adjectives are words that describe nouns and sometimes pronouns.	Big, extreme, wide, sunny
Verbs	Verbs are doing words and they can express a physical action, a mental action, or a state of being.	Walk, read, think, appear
Adverbs	Adverbs describe verbs and sometimes adverbs and adjectives aswell. They tell us when, where, how, in what manner or to what extent an action is performed.	Slowly, quietly, incredibly, extremely
Pronouns	Pronouns replace nouns. They are usually short words.	You, they, him, me, it, she
Conjunctions	Conjunctions join words or groups of words together.	and, but, or, because
Prepositions	A preposition sits before a noun or pronoun to show the noun's relationship to another word in the sentence.	before, underneath, for, above
Determiners	These give specific kinds of information about a noun.	a, the, his, those, two, few

Word classes can be in different positions in a sentence but there are grammatical rules about how they work with each other.

She (pronoun) saw (verb) the (determiner) new (adjective) manager (noun) and (conjunction) his (determiner) assistant (noun) at (preposition) the (determiner) store (noun) yesterday (adverb).

Some sentences mean the same thing wherever a word is placed, particularly with adverbs. Sometimes the meaning of a sentence changes depending on the position of a word:

He quickly told me leave or he told me to leave quickly.

Grammar affects morphology because extra bits have to be added to words to change things such as tense or number. These are called inflections.

The letter s is added to the word cup in order to change a singular noun into a plural (cups)

The letters ed are added to the word remember in order to change the present tense verb into the past tense (remembered)

By changing the grammar of a word/sentence you can influence your audience.

Tense

Events that have happened in the past are described as the past tense. In both written and spoken discourse, past events are described using present tense forms.

-So she went up to the customer and gave him a good telling offàPast tense

(Some time has passed since the event happened.)

-So she goes up to the customer and gives him a good telling offà Present tense

(The present tense creates a more immediate and dramatic impact.)

Plurals

Plurals increase the scale of a scene.

-There was a mass of fans outside the hotelàsingular

(The singular form mass creates the impression of a specific body of people.

-There were masses of fans outside the hotelàplural

(The –es inflection to dorm the plural masses creates the image of a big crowd of people across a wider area.)

Adjectives

Adjectives influence your audience.

-If you’re looking for the holiday of a lifetime, simply treat yourself to a great resort in Sri Lanka. Relax in fine accommodationàsimple adjectives

-Looking for the holiday of a lifetime? Simply treat yourself to a greatest resort in Sri Lanka. Relax in finest accommodationà superlative adjectives

(This example is more persuasive than the first)

Other grammatical features used:

-First example uses the indefinite article a before the great but the second uses the definite article the before great.

-Second example begins with a question. It makes the reader immediately feel involved.