Descriptive English Grammar

Descriptivism

How language is actually used. Describing what’s going on in Standard English. “Is this something I would hear someone say?” Could be informal, formal, regional dialect

Prescriptivism

How language should be used. “Is it right or wrong?”

What do we use in class?

Descriptivism.

English Language & Dialects

Dialects are considered non standard, depends on location. Feature: accents, unique words, variations. ex: southern dialect.

Standard Language

relatively stable in grammar, pretty consistent. associated with literacy and education. mostly independent of region.

Non-Standard

Even non standard dialects are ruled governed. They’re marked in some way, usually have specific social association. 

Pedagogic Grammar

Primarily for instruction. Simplified rules that might not be as accurate. No attempt at capturing the larger system. Associated with prescriptive.

Scientific Grammar

For linguists. Aims to be complete and systematic. Wants to piece the larger system together. Associated with descriptive.

Semantic/Notational 

Don’t accurately capture our knowledge or parts of speech. describes the meaning of a word or concept

Formal/Structural 

A word is what it does. what endings a word can take. the set of rules associated with grammar. How sentences are related and structured. 

Open Class Categories 

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. usually provide semantic content, easier for newer stuff to be added. ex: slang, names

Closed Class Categories

Determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions. does the grammatical work of creating phrases or attaching them. lacks semantic content. usually does not take new members.

Noun Formal Features

Nouns: takes -s ending for plural + possessive(genitive) case marking.

Noun Phrase: Nouns act as the head of a Noun Phrase and can be preceded by determiners

Singular/Plural Nouns

some nouns only have a plural form(ex:pants). some nouns can’t take a plural ending(ex:sheep). some nouns have irregular plurals.

Plural Nouns

Plural Only: ends in -s but can’t remove -s. ex: jeans

Takes plural verbs, but don’t take the determiner “a”

sounds better with measure expressions

Deceptive Nouns

Some nouns end in -s but aren’t plural(ex: news, measles, mathematics). these are followed by a singular verb(ex:the news is depressing).

other nouns that look singular but are plural(ex:police).

collective nouns can take singular or plural verbs(ex: congress)

Irregular Plurals

English: Child/children, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, sheep/sheep

Latin/Greek: criterion/criteria, curriculum/curricula

Genitive

Shows relationship but not ownership. Ex: His sister—he doesn’t own his sister

Count Nouns

can be pluralized. can put a number before it. can be preceded by ”a/an”

Non-Counts

cannot be pluralized. treated as a single unit. 

Noun Phrases & Components

NP can be just a singular noun, it just needs a head noun. includes optional determiners, premodifiers, NOUN, postmodifier.

Premodifiers

can be adverbs, adjectives, or nouns. adds detail to the head noun before it appears. ex: the hungry caterpillar, the very hungry caterpillar

Postmodifiers

can be prepositional phrases, adjective phrases, relative clauses(wh-words), non-finite clauses(, adverbs. adds detail to the head noun after it appears. ex: the man in the long black coat, a man capable of anything

Pronouns

closed class category. usually get their referent from something else in the context. they don’t always replace anything. ex: It’s hot outside.

Pronouns replace Noun Phrases, not just nouns. ex: I saw the woman with the long brown hair. I saw the her with the long brown hair.

Pronouns: categories, how they functions, classifications

Categories: personal(I), possessive(mine), reflexive(yourself), demonstrative(this), relative(who)

How they function: stands in for nouns, avoids repetition 

Genitive

Shows relationship but not ownership. ex: his sister (he doesn’t own his sister) 

Possessive

Shows ownership. ex: his phone (he owns his phone)

Determiners: category, what they can encode, placement in NP

category: articles(a/an/the), demonstratives(this/that), possessives(my/your), wh-words(who/what), quantifiers(all/some), pronouns

encode: clarifiers it’s identity

placement in NP: at the very beginning of the noun phrase

Overt Articles

Pick out a member of the set or focus on a group of members of a larger category

Indefinite: a/an. ex: I saw a man (generalized man)

Definite: the. ex: I saw the man (a specific man)

Zero Article

not all NPs start with article/determiners. ex: Dogs are a man’s best friend. the determiner just doesn’t surface

Articles: How they denote specific/generic, definite/indefinite, and classification

Specific: a member of the set denoted by the noun

Generic: the set in general.

Classification: zero article is typically generic. other articles are typically specific. a/an is indefinite and generalized. the is definite and specific. 

Anaphora

referring back to something earlier in the text. ex: I ate sushi and wasabi; I didn’t like the wasabi. 

Cataphora

referring forward to something. ex: the tourists arguing over there are Kira’s parents. we know the tourists before learning they are Kira’s parents

Anaphora and Cataphora

shows how two elements in a text relate to one another. They can be distinguished by observing pronoun and determiner placement.