Analysing English Grammar

Welcome to ENGL A200 Analysing English Grammar, which is a two-semester, ten-credit, middle-level course. The course makes an important contribution towards the award of the BALT and BAHLT degree s with Hong Kong Metropolitan University. ENGL A200 aims to develop your ability to analyse English grammar mainly, but not exclusively, in terms of traditional descriptive categories and labels. The instructional materials for ENGL A200 have been designed to be self-contained enough for you to use effectively working alone, and to offer built-in interactive activities that you can report on in face-to-face tutorials. You are strongly advised to attend the tutorials regularly. The tutorials give you the chance to interact with classmates and provide input on major areas of study. The tutorials also give you general feedback on issues arising from the grading of your assignments.

The course comprises ten study units, which are sequenced in terms of increasing complexity. For example, the unit on analysing simple sentences precedes that which deals with the analysis of complex sentences. Units focusing on matters of usage and variation are interspersed among those dealing purely with grammatical analysis. This linking of analysis to use should make the course stimulating for you.

The course is designed for students who have little experience in analysing the grammar of English, or who need a revision course. No previous background in linguistic description is required. This means that the course is designed to be relevant and interesting to all students who have an interest in the English Language, including those whose main interest may be in English as a Second Language, English Education, or English Literature.

The course may also be of interest to students of other languages who wish to learn the methods of Traditional Grammar as a means of common uniform description of more than one language. This knowledge is fundamental in foreign language teaching. For many students, the course is an opportunity to get to know what they have always wanted to know — what grammatical terms refer to and what is considered 'correct' and why.

The course, then, provides a sound foundation of knowledge for students who may wish to go on to investigate aspects of grammar and discourse at a higher level by enrolling in other HKMU courses such as:

• ENGL A202 The Structure of Modern English
• LANG A330 Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics
• LANG A331 Language and Society in Hong Kong
• LANG A332 Stylistics and Discourse Analysis.

Aims

ENGL A200 aims to:

1. Raise your awareness of a range of approaches to analysing English grammar, e.g. descriptive, prescriptive, and pedagogical.
2. Help you to understand the interrelatedness of the English language system in terms of grammar, lexis and discourse.
3. Raise your awareness of key contrasts between the grammars of spoken and written English.
4. Introduce you to the existence of typological variation in word order among languages generally, and between the English and Chinese languages in particular.
5. Enhance your understanding of the levels of description in analysing English grammar: morpheme, word, phrase, clause and sentence.
6. Develop your abilities to distinguish between representations of both open and closed word classes, e.g. nouns, modifiers, determiners and quantifiers.
7. Extend your understanding of verb types, their functions and the roles played by voice, tense and aspect in the verb phrase.
8. Develop your awareness of how notions of possibility and obligation are expressed in English grammar through different types of modal verb.
9. Raise your awareness of a range of problems in English usage including agreement, variation (in terms of gender, socio-economic grouping and occupation) and grammatical sexism.
10. Develop your abilities to analyse simple sentences in terms of both their illocutionary force and functional constituents.
11. Raise your awareness of the notion of 'standard English' and native-speaker and non-native speaker variations from the notional standard.
12. Develop your abilities to analyse complex sentences in terms of noun phrase and clause types.
13. Extend your understanding of the roles of cohesive devices in English grammar, e.g. ellipsis, substitution, reference and conjunction.

Course learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish between descriptive, prescriptive, pedagogical and functional approaches to analysing English grammar.
2. Explain the key contrasts between the grammars of spoken and written English.
3. Define the elements of open and closed word classes and explain their functions.
4. Explain the functions of different kinds of verbs, and discuss the roles played by voice, tense and aspect in the verb phrase.
5. Explain the key aspects of agreement, disputed usages and variation in terms of gender, socio-economic grouping and occupation in English grammar.
6. Analyse simple sentences in terms of both their illocutionary force and functional constituents, and complex sentences in terms of noun phrase and clause types.
7. Apply cohesive devices in English grammar to the analysis of authentic written texts, and reorganize texts to improve their cohesiveness.

Here we will describe the study materials and scheme of assessment for the course.

Materials

In addition to this Course Guide , the course has the following important components. Please ensure that you have all these materials available:

• a file containing the ten study units which make up the main body of the course
• an Assignment File specifying in advance the requirements of each assignment
• a set of published readings on a range of topics explored in the course.

Study units

Before you look at the outlines of individual units, I want you to look at the structure of a typical unit. Each unit has the following features:

• an introduction to the unit, a statement of unit objectives, the body of the unit, a summary of the unit, and suggested answers to self-tests and activities
• explanations, examples and diagrams to provide clarity of input, and authentic texts to provide realistic practice activities
• concept-checking activities to offer you the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter
• self-tests to consolidate in an on-going fashion the knowledge dealt with in the particular unit
• talks and discussions as audio recordings on the Online Learning Environment (OLE)
• references to further reading in the set book and other books and websites
• selected published readings forming part of the instructional material.

Below I give some basic information on the content of the ten study units. Note that Unit 1 is a 'warm-up' to the whole course.

Unit 1 What is grammar?

• descriptive, prescriptive and pedagogical grammars
• contrasts between the grammar of spoken and written English
• interrelations between grammar, lexis and discourse
• the role of word order in grammar
• contrasting the word orders of English and Chinese.

Unit 2 Analysing simple sentences

• mood and form-function variation: using simple sentences in communication for declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory purposes
• sentence functions: subject, predicate, subject complement, direct and indirect object, object complement
• phrase types and functions.

Unit 3 Word classes and functions

• the sentence functions of nouns, modifiers, determiners, quantifiers, prepositions and pronouns
• nouns: common, proper, abstract and collective
• adjectival and adverbial modification
• central, pre- and post-determiners
• quantifiers as a special case of determiner
• prepositions in prepositional phrases and complements
• pronouns: personal, possessive, reflexive and demonstrative.

Unit 4 Actions, processes and states

• functions of verb types: lexical, auxiliary, copulative, sense, factitive, transitive, ditransitive and intransitive
• the active/passive transformation as a function of word order
• the cohesive and pragmatic functions of the passive voice in discourse.

Unit 5 Time and perspective

• the present and past tenses
• the perfect and progressive aspects
• referring to future time.

Unit 6 Modal verbs and modality

• full and semi-modal verbs
• root and epistemic meanings of full modal verbs
• alternatives to the use of modal verbs for conveying notions of possibility and obligation.

Unit 7 Analysing complex sentences

• identifying and analysing main clauses and subordinate clauses
• identifying and analysing noun phrases
• identifying and analysing reduced relative clauses.

Unit 8 Grammar in context

• problems in agreement: number and person
• variation in grammar according to gender, socio-economic grouping and occupation
• sexism in English
• other disputed usages.

Unit 9 Grammars of English

• What is standard English?
• international native speaker varieties of English, e.g. the form of English spoken in Australia , Canada , America and the UK
• non-native speaker varieties of English
• the grammatical features of Hong Kong English.

Unit 10 Linking ideas

• the semantic and discourse-related roles of cohesion
• analysing the four major cohesive devices: ellipsis, substitution, reference and conjunction.

Set textbooks

There is one compulsory textbook required for ENGL A200:

Yule, G (1998) Explaining English Grammar, Oxford University Press. (ISBN: 0-19-437172-7)

Multimedia

This course includes audio recordings of talks and discussions related to the study units. These recordings can be accessed via the Online Learning Environment (OLE) under 'multimedia'. There is a single talk or discussion for each unit. The information given in the recordings is not supplementary; it is important to your understanding of key concepts. Some of the information will be of direct relevance to your assignments. So, please do listen to all the material in the recordings. Review the information two or three times if a single listening is insufficient for you to understand the main points. Audio scripts are provided at the end of the units. My advice is to use the audio scripts only if you need to clarify a point that was difficult to understand when listening to the recordings, or when you need to cite some of the information accurately in an assignment.

Assignment File

The Assignment File gives details of each assignment in advance and so is an important document that helps you organize both your assignments and your time effectively. Please take time to read the whole file before the course begins to get an overview of what the assignments require generally. Read the information on individual assignments before attempting them.

Presentation Schedule

The Presentation Schedule is available on the Online Learning Environment (OLE), and gives you the dates for completing assignments, and attending tutorials, day schools and so on. Since the schedule varies from presentation to presentation, it is not given here. But it will be available before the start of each presentation of the course.

The course has two formal modes of student assessment: assignments and a final examination. Assignments serve as the continuous assessment component of the course and contribute 50% of the total course mark. The other 50% is based on the final examination.

In order to obtain a pass in this course, you are required to obtain at least 40% or above as an average for your assignment scores as well as 40% or above in the final examination.

Assignments

Continuous assessment involves submission of all assignments. Assignments serve three purposes. They:

1. provide a mechanism to help you maintain progress;
2. test your understanding of the topics and require you to demonstrate your achievement of the objectives of each unit; and
3. provide an opportunity for you to apply what you have learned.

Assignments, after being marked by the tutor, are returned to you for feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. In addition, you can deepen your knowledge through tutor feedback.

In addition to formal assessment, you are expected to undertake self-tests and interactive activities built into the study material. As a general principle, the activities will encourage you firstly to reflect on what has been taught and, secondly, provide the basis for interaction with other students in ensuing tutorial sessions.

Final examination and grading

Specific information about the final examination will be sent to you in the second semester. The examination will be directly related to the assignment work that you do so it is important that you keep track of all the assignment work even if you do not submit all the assignments. Also, if you obtain low grades in the assignments you should make sure you know clearly what the correct answers should have been.

In the short-essay sections of the exam you should be aware that your examiners are interested in the quality of your answer and not the quantity you manage to write. Concentrate on ensuring that your words are carefully chosen, and your answers are well structured and well thought out.

Course scheme of assessment

The table below provides an overview of the scheme of assessment for the course.

The table below gives an overview of the whole course. Please do get into the habit of regular study. It can be very hard to catch up if you fall even a little behind with the schedule.

Tutors

Before the beginning of the course, you will receive notification of your tutor's name, address and contact telephone number(s).

Your tutor is your guide through the content of this course. He or she will mark and comment on your assignments, monitor your progress, lead tutorial sessions and provide you with whatever assistance you may need.

Do not hesitate to contact your tutor by telephone if you need help. If your tutor has given you particular times at which to contact him or her, please try to observe these times. In particular, do not phone your tutor very early in the morning or very late at night, e.g. before 9 a.m. or after 10 p.m. The following are some typical circumstances in which you may find help necessary:

• if you are finding it difficult to understand what the writer is saying
• if you wish to discuss your response to the units
• if you are having any difficulties with the exercises or assignments (bearing in mind that your tutor will help you to clarify your own thoughts, and not tell you the answers)
• if you have a question or problem arising from your tutor's comments on your assignment or on its grading.

Tutorials

Regular two-hour tutorial sessions will be provided. Tutorial topics will be a selection of issues taken from unit contents and objectives. Student attendance at tutorials is optional although strongly encouraged. Tutorials will be led by your tutor and will provide an opportunity for you to raise problems you have encountered with the previous weeks' work and to work on new topics and exercises. Remember, your tutor is there to help you, but the burden is on you to have covered the relevant material before the tutorial session.

The following steps provide a suggested procedure for you to work through the course.

• Turn first to this Course Guide and study the outline, aims and objectives of the whole course. Note the difference between aims and objectives. The former state course intentions and the latter give the expected outcomes, i.e. what you should know or be able to do after studying particular units.
• Work through the units in the order presented -- this is important because they are graded for increasing difficulty and complexity. You need to master each unit before going on to the next.
• For every unit, first read the objectives so that you understand the purpose of the unit and have a target to aim at.
• Proceed by attempting the activities and self-tests and checking the answers at the end of the unit. For most units there is also a published reading to complete, and for all units there is a recording to listen to.
• Units may quote occasionally from other references such as books and websites. When the unit asks you to, please consult these references.
• After completing a unit, review the objectives for the unit to confirm that you have achieved them. For any objectives about which you feel unsure, review the study material again and consult your tutor.
• Begin the next unit and proceed unit by unit through the course, using the Presentation Schedule to pace your study.
• Review your assignment file on the OLE carefully so that you are aware of the deadlines for the assignments and manage your time appropriately so that you always submit your work on time.
• Submit your assignments on time via the OLE. The due dates for the assignments are given in the Presentation Schedule, which is provided on the OLE, and on the assignment papers.
• After each assignment has been marked, it will be returned to you. You should look through it carefully, paying particular attention to any comments your tutor has made. Contact your tutor if you have any questions or problems.
• As you work on the final unit, prepare for the examination: review the course as a whole, including your completed assignments. Examination information will be provided to you separately. You must check your university email account frequently.
• Finally, a note on how much time you should expect to invest in the course: students work at different paces, but in planning your study, assume that an average student probably needs to set aside about seven to ten hours a week.

We wish you every success in your studies. We feel confident that you will enjoy the course and find it useful and worthwhile. You are strongly recommended to follow the advice in this Course Guide to maximize the effectiveness of your studies.

Finally, a few words about academic conventions. It is an accepted and important convention to always use your own words when using ideas and information from source material in your assignments. You should also make sure that you know how to write accurate references to your sources of information. So, please take a little time to study the instructions given in the Assignment File . Review the document when you write any assignment requiring references to sources.

Chris Green is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has worked in tertiary education in Hong Kong for nearly 20 years. His main research interests are in grammatical analysis, pedagogical grammar and language typology. He has written a number of language textbooks and has also developed other HKMU courses.