Unit 1: Step 3 - The nature of grammar

Introduction to Linguistics

Estudiante
Miryam Fabiola Gonzalez

Nombre Tutor

Viviana Andrea Ospina Giraldo

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia - UNAD

Municipio Pacho - Cundinamarca

28 de octubre de 2019
Activity 1.

 Read the document “Grammar” Chapter 7, pages 80-95, in ‘Yule, G. (2010). The Study of
Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press’; found in the Course Contents, UNIT
1, in the Knowledge Environment; and also read the text “Grammar” Chapter 4, pages 19-
24, in ‘Bauer, Laurie.; The Linguistic Student's Handbook’
Based on the first text, you need to post the following analysis:
Study questions
Identify all the parts of speech used in the following sentence (e.g. woman = noun):
 
Sentence: “The woman kept a large snake in a cage, but it escaped recently”.

The Women Kept A Large Snake  

   

Article Noun Verb Article Adjective Noun  

In   A  Cage But It Escaped Recently

 
   
  Preposition Article Noun Conjunction Pronoun Verb Adverb
   
 
 
 
Activity 2.
 
2. Respond to following analysis:
According to the author, what is an important wrong linguistic view at establishing a proper
English grammar model in eighteenth-century (this conceptual error is even today present
when considering “a good English use”).
 
in spite of so much time of the study of English language, grammar rules continue to be
errors and the most notorious is the use of the times
 
What prescriptive rules for the “proper” use of English are not obeyed in the following
sentences and how would they be “corrected”?
 
 The old theory consistently failed to fully explain all the data.
according to how the sentence is formulated the rule of the infinitives is not fulfilled, since
an infinitive should not be divided, the sentence written correctly is:
The old theory consistently failed to explain fully.
 
 I can’t remember the name of the person I gave the book to.
According to the grammatical rule a sentence should not end in preposition, therefore it is
bad formulated, the sentence written correctly is:
I can’t remember the name of the person I gave the book.
 
Activity 3.
 
3. Another term used in the description of the parts of speech is “determiner.”
What are determiners? How many examples were included in this chapter?
Determinants are words that accompany the noun to specify it, determine it and provide
information about it: gender, number, situation in space or possession. Among the Classes
of Determinants are Articles, demonstrative, possessive, undefined, numerals,
interrogatives and exclamative.
 
This chapter offers the following examples:
 

Articles Demonstrative Possessive adjectives Quantifiers

pronouns
 
A, an, the This, these, that, those My, your, his, her, Each, every, all, both,
our, their, its few, little, half, many,
much, several and
some, among others.
 
 
Activity 4.
 4. In this chapter, we discussed “correction” in grammar. What is hypercorrection?
It is a lack of spelling, grammar or pronunciation that comes from the desire to correct or
avoid common mistakes or also a deformation of a word or expression due to an excessive
and wrong desire for correction, following the model of other words.
 
Activity 5.
5.  The structural analysis of a basic English sentence (NP + V + NP) is often described as
“Subject Verb Object” or SVO. The basic sentence order in a Gaelic sentence (V + NP +
NP) is described as “Verb Subject Object” or VSO.  After looking at the examples below
(based on Inoue, 1979), would you describe the basic sentence order in these Japanese
sentences as SVO or VSO or something else?
 

           
Japanese Translation to Sentence is Example Correct
sentence English described as English
VSO, SVO or translation
something else
 
           
        Jakku =  
Subject / Ga
         
gakkoo =
Sentence 1. Jakku-ga Jack school to   Object / e Jack goes to
gakkoo-e go ikimasu = school
SOV Verb
ikimasu
 
           
        Kazuko =  
Subject / ga
Sentence 2. Kazuko-ga Kazuko school   Kazuko is
gakkoo =
gakkoo-de at English learn learning
SOV Object / of
eigo-o naratte be. English at
eigo =
imasu school
Object / o
   naratte imasu
= Verbs
 
 
 Activity 6.
 
6. Divergence in the syntactic patterns of languages is responsible for the patterns of errors
made by English-language learners. Given that English-language learners from Korea
produce sentences such as *I ice-cream like and *I book read, what can you say about word
order in Korean? (Taken from Gordon T. 2012).
 
1.Koreans use order in the SOV words,
2.while Americans SVO,
3.this is due to the use of different patterns or structures.
 
While a second language is learned, in the case of Koreans and due to the structure of its
language tend to make mistakes when using said pattern of its language in English learning
and consequently in the order of words, this is because they have as a reference to learn a
new their mother tongue, so they make commitment grammatical errors.
 

Korean pattern Translation to English Example

 
     
  I ice-cream like I = subject/ ice-cream =
Object/ like= verb
SOV  
 
 
I=subject/book= Object/
I book read
read=verb
 
 

English pattern Correct English translation Example

  
     
  I like ice cream I=subject / like= verb/ ice
cream= object
SVO  
 
 
I = subject/ read=verb/ book=
I read book
Object
 
 
 
Activity 7.
 
 7. Based on the second text please answer: In the text we can see that in the history of
linguistics we have two forms to understand grammar: a Prescriptive form and a
Descriptive one; why the second comprehension it is considered a breakthrough in
Linguistics? 
Grammar is the study and evaluation of the principles and rules that govern the use of
languages and how words are organized within sentences, descriptive grammar is important
for linguistics because it deals with the study of the components of a language such as
phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, on the other side the descriptive grammar is
relevant as it focuses on the description of language as a specific phenomenon, we all use it
is such as important that it is the different aspect of the humanity of other species and
fundamentals for linguist as a city that studies the language.
 
Refeences:

Bauer, L. (2007). The Linguistic Student’s Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press. Retrieved from http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=194155&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site

Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Retrieved
from https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/cambridge.the_.study_.of_.language.4t
h.edition.apr_.2010.ebook-elohim.pdf

https://www.cursosortografia.com/importancia-de-la-gramatica/