The structural Approach is organized along grammatical giving primacy to language form.

It
specifies structural patterns as the basis units of learning. Its backbone is grammar study which
leads to sentence building.
Grammar- A set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words.
8 basic Parts of speech:
● Noun- are names of person, places, or things.
● Pronoun- take the place of a noun in a sentence.
● Verbs are words that express time while showing action, condition, or fact that
something exists.
● Adverb- modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs
● Adjective- describe a noun or give a noun or pronoun a more specific meaning.
● Preposition- are words that relate a noun or pronoun that appears with it to another word
in the sentence.
● Conjunction
● Interjection
Articles- (an, a, the) also known as limiting adjectives such as
● Modals- is a verb that combines with another verb to indicate mood or tense. A modal,
also known as a modal auxiliary or modal verb, expresses necessity, uncertainty,
possibility, or permission.
● Phrase- a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming
a component of a clause.
- Group of related words that lacks both a subject and a predicate.
● Clause- a unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in
traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.
Syntax
- is the study of word formation.
- the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
- the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax.
- the way in which linguistic elements (such as words) are put together to form constituents
(such as phrases or clauses)
a. A constituent is a word or group of words that form a unit built around a head. They can
be made up of words, phrases, and even entire clauses.
b. Can the candidate constituent be moved elsewhere in the sentence while maintaining
grammaticality? The ability to move, or topicalize a string of words, resulting in
grammatical sentence is evidence of a constituent.
- Syntax argues that verb movement is a narrow syntactic phenomenon that can affect
locality constraints. The altered locality domains are detectable from the way certain
phrasal elements such as a phrase containing a Wh are forced to undergo movement.
- the part of grammar dealing with this
- "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases,
clauses, and sentences.

Morphology
● The study of the construction of words out of morphemes.
Morphomes
● This is the smallest unit that can have meaning or grammatical function.
● In the English language derivational morphemes can be; Prefixes and Suffixes
a. Prefixes- an affix attached to the beginning of a word, base, or phrase and
serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form
- The meaning of the prefix "under" is too little
- In the word "overact," the prefix "over" means too much.
b. Suffixes - an affix occurring at the end of a word, base, or phrase.
(Not included ) Infixes- derivational or inflectional affix appearing in the body of a word (such
as Sanskrit -n- in vindami "I know" as contrasted with vid "to know")
● In the English language inflectional morphemes can be Suffixes only
● Which list has all words with inflectional morphology?
- elements, linked, ordering, Persians, killed
- The meaning of the word 'centenarian' is a person who is at least 100 years old.
● inflectional morpheme- does not change meanings or parts of speech
- NOT an example of an inflectional morpheme is -ing
- An example of an inflectional morpheme is -er to form a comparative adjective.
-
● Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
a. Acoustic phonetics is the branch of phonetics that deals with the production of sounds.
● Phonology- study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across language.
● Semantics- is to propose exact meaning or study of meaning in a language.
● Ambiguity- Word or sentence that is not clear about the Intention or meaning.
● Descriptive Grammar- Study of language on how it usually used , has been used by
speaker
- Is a set of rules about language based on how it is actually used. In a descriptive there is
no right or wrong language.
● Using ‘’cliche’’. Verbs should agree w/ subject (not using ME) no right
or wrong language
Prescriptive Grammar – specifies how a language and it’s grammar should be used
- Not a start a sentence w/ because , do not use commas to split independent clauses .
Using active voice .
Content Word – are words that have meaning nouns, main verbs , adjective, adverb are
content word
- In the English language derivational morphemes can be prefixes and suffixes
- In the English language inflectional morphemes can be suffixes only . Thus not
changing meaning or part of speech.
Determiner – words that introduce nouns or specific the denotation of nouns. EX( THIS,THAT,
THOSE, THEIR).
Lexical Semantic – a branch and logic concerned with meaning. It is study of lexical meaning
Nouns – names a person ,places or things
Pronouns – takes a place of a noun in a sentence
Verbs – showing action
Adverb – modify verb, adjective or adverb .
EX ( extremely, dangerously, seriously, very fast, almost daily)
Preposition – are words that relate a noun or pronoun that appears w/ it to another word in a
sentence. EX ( in, at, on ,between, upon, with, after, toward, about)
Auxiliaries – function to help another verb, but do not themselves contribute greatly to the
meaning of the sentence . HELPING VERB. Ex.( have, many, I’ll, would).
Coordinator – are also called coordinating conjunction , they can join two verbs , two nouns,
two adjectives , two phrases or two independent clauses.
FANBOYS- For, and, nor, but, yet, so
Complementizer – are also called subordinating or subordinators . It joined two clauses where
one clause is subordinate to the other . Ex. ( as, even if, so that, whenever, as if, even though,
as long)
Proper nouns ( specific , start big letter)
● Ex. Jocelyn, my cousin who studies in Manila, reads Philippine Panorama Magazine
Common nouns – common start small letter
● Ex. The boy who resides near the river catches frogs
Mass noun- always singular in form ( non-countable)
▪ advice beef applause
▪ baggage catchup blood
▪ cattle coffee air
▪ equipment flour cement
▪ lightning knowledge corn
▪ music mail fun
▪ stationary pomade luck
▪ tea soap milk

Uninflected noun- retain the same spelling for both singular and plural meanings.
Ex. - alms bass baggage
headquarters sheep series
- However, the following have special plural forms to imply assortments of the kind
candy*
fish*
fruit*
Count noun – countable things may have singular or plural forms
Special singular noun - have plural termination but remains singular meanings
ex.
▪ aeronautics athletics calisthenics
▪ electronics genetics mathematics

Special plural nouns – do not have singular forms and permanently used as plural
▪ bloomers overalls pajamas
▪ jeans shorts trunks

Abstract noun – not perceptible to senses

Ex. unity envy
communism democracy

Concrete noun – something perceptible or touch

Ex. seats balloons
pencils books

COLLECTIVE NOUNS-
● Denotes a group of persons, animals or things considered as one or as a unit
● It requires singular verb when considered as one unit, but a plural verb when taken as
individual
● Some collective nouns, however, have plural termination
Ex. audience – audiences
troop – troops
Interrogative pronoun – introduce questions who, which, what and whose
Reflexive pronoun – end suffixes Ex. ( self or themselves)
Singular Indefinites
● In affirmative sentences
● something, someone, somebody
● In negative sentences
- anything, anyone, anybody, anywhere
● In questions
- anything, anybody, anywhere, anyone
- other ex.: each, each one, no one, not one, none, either, neither
Plural Indefinites
Indefinite pronouns, like collective nouns, can be singular or plural, depending on how they are
used in a sentence
● all
● both
● few
● many
● some
● more
● severa

COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS

● REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
● INTENSIVE PRONOUN

PROPERTIES OF PRONOUNS
1. Person (1st, 2nd , 3rd )
2. Number (singular, plural)
3. Gender ( masculine, feminine, neuter, common, bisexual)
4. Case (nominative, possessive, objective, reflexive)
OTHER USES OF PRONOUNS
● Demonstratives, indefinites, distributives, possessives, and interrogatives are used both
as pronouns or adjectives.
● All forms of adjectives do not have plural form except demonstratives (this-these, that-
those)
● Nominative pronouns are used as part of the compound subject or compound predicate
 - Carlos and I saw them last week.
- You and she are expected to attend the program.
- The watchers are Rodrigo and I.
- The awardees who came were you and he.
CASES OF POSSESSIVE NOUNS AND PRONOUNS
Noun
Ricardo’s is here now.
She saw Mercedes’.
This is my sister's.
Manuel’s is active.
We met cousin’s.
Pronoun
His is here now. (subject)
She saw hers. (direct object)
This is mine. (predicate nominative)
His is active. (subject)
We met his. (direct object)

● THE PRONOUN “WHO” (HAS 3 CASES: WHO- NOMINATIVE; WHOSE –

POSSESSIVE; WHOM - OBJECTIVE)
● UNINFLECTED VERBS (RETAIN THE SAME SPELLING IN ALL TENSES)

REMEMBER:
- Demonstrative , Indefinite, distribute, possessive, interrogative are used both as
pronouns or adjectives.
- All forms of adjective do not have plural form except demonstrative.
- Nominative pronouns are used as part of the compound subject or compound predicate.
- Indefinite pronouns have general reference which may be singular or plural.
- Distributed pronouns refer to a person placing things separately.
- Possessive pronouns do not use apostrophe to show ownership.
- Reciprocal pronouns refer to two persons, places, things or three or more.
- Relative pronouns are also connecting words. The relative pronoun what, however, has
no antecedent.
- Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject and are also referred to as compound personal
accounts.

● Verbs of Perception (Sense Verbs)

Smell, feels, hear, taste, sees, seem, look
● Voice of the verb
- ACTIVE VOICE- describe a sentence, where the subject performs the action stated by
the verb.
- PASSIVE VOICE- the subject is acted upon by the verb.
● ELLIPTICAL SENTENCE and IMPERSONAL VERBS- Elliptical sentences are typical in
simple imperatives where impersonal verbs are used.
Elliptical sentences are typical in simple imperatives where impersonal verbs are used.
● Run Hurry! Go home early.
● No Parking No Vacancy Welcome!
● Turn Right Detour Resume Speed
 ● Road Closed Silence Don’t Panic
● Danger! No Smoking Don’t pick flowers.
● Stop! Keep Off! No Left Turn.
● Go Slow Information Off Limits!
● Long Live Beware of Dogs Private Property

●INTERVENING WORDS- Intervening words do not affect the number of the subject and
the corresponding verb in the sentence.
AGREEMENT:
1. A verb agrees with its subject in number and in person.
2. A pronoun agrees with its antecedents in number in gender and in person.
3. A demonstrative adjective (formed from a demonstratives pronouns) agrees with its
noun in number.
4. Expletives agree with the subject in number.
5. Use of you are and you were regardless of whether the number is singular or plural.

PHRASES- a group of related words that lacks both a subject(noun or pronoun) and a predicate
(action/verb).
-It is not a sentence, A matter of expression.
Phrase Structure
■ A phrase is a syntactic unit headed by a lexical category such as Noun, Adjective,
Adverb, Verb, or Preposition.

■ Phrases are named for their heads:

• NP

• VP

• AdjP

• AdvP

•P
Phrase Structure Rules
• … are generative.

• … give different analyses of syntactically ambiguous sentences.

• … have a hierarchical structure.

• … allow recursion.

TYPES OF PHRASES
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES- Includes the preposition and the object of the preposition.
Ex. Above, across, under, before, down.
PARTICIPLE PHRASES- includes participle and the object of the participate or any words
modified or related to the participle (past: ed, em, en) (present: ing) (future: will)
GERUND PHRASES- includes the gerund and the object of the gerund or any modifiers related
to the gerund. All the verbs with “ing”.
INFINITIVE PHRASES- included the infinitive and the object of the infinitive or any modifier
related to the infinitive. Ex. To buy, to appoint to vote, (To+V)

DERIVATIONAL MORPHEME
● Create new words by changing the meaning or by changing the word class of the word
(make words or new words of a different grammatical category from the stem)
● In derivation a new word is formed by adding an affix to the root or stem.
● We can also add suffixes such as –hood (status), -ship (state or condition), -ness
(quality, state or condition) , -ity (state or condition), -ment (result or product of doing the
action), -al (act of something), -er (agentive), in the words like brotherhood, friendship,
wildness, sincerity, government, refusal, walker
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
● Does nor produce new words in the language
● Used to indicate aspects of grammatical function word
● Does not change category and does not create new lexemes, but rather changes the
form of lexemes so they can fit into different grammatical contexts
● In English morphology, an inflectional morpheme is a suffix that's added to a word (a
noun, verb, adjective or an adverb) to assign a particular grammatical property to that
word, such as its tense, number, possession, or comparison. Inflectional morphemes in
English include the bound morphemes -s (or -es); 's (or s'); -ed; -en; -er; -est; and -ing.
These suffixes may even do double- or triple-duty. For example, - s can note possession
(in conjunction with an apostrophe in the proper place), can make count nouns plural, or
can put a verb in the third-person singular tense. The suffix -ed can make past
participles or past-tense verbs.

The list of inflectional morphemes includes:

● s – is an indicator of a plural form of nouns

● s’ – marks the possessive form of nouns
● s – is attached to verbs in the third person singular
● ed – is an indicator of the past tense of verbs
● ing – indicates the present participle
● en – marks past participle
● er – is attached to adjectives to show a comparative form
● est – is an indicator of the superlative form of adjectives
8 TYPES OF INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
Noun inflection
● Number
● Person
● Gender
● Case
Verb inflect
● Tense
● Aspect
● Voice
● Mood and modality
NUMBER
- A category of nouns; marks singular or plural
E.g. singular: cat, ox, child
Plural: cats, oxen, children

PERSON

ASPECT
- related to verbs, marking point of speaking
VOICE
- A category of inflection that allows different noun phrases to be focused in sentences
MOOD & MODALITY
- a category of verb, marking speech act type and possibility.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE’S VERB INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES
1. The suffix –s functions in the Present Simple as the third person marking of the verb : to
work – he work-s
2. The suffix –ed functions in the past simple as the past tense marker in regular verbs: to
love – lov-ed
3. The suffixes –ed (regular verbs) and –en (for some regular verbs) function in the
marking of the past participle and, in general, in the marking of the perfect aspect: To
study studied studied / To eat ate eaten
4. The suffix –ing functions in the marking of the present participle, the gerund and in the
marking of the continuous aspect: To eat – eating / To study - studying

5. The suffix –s functions in the marking of the plural of nouns

dog – dogs
6. The suffix –s functions as a possessive marker
Laura – Laura’s book.
7. The suffix –er functions as comparative marker:
quick – quicker
8. The suffix –est functions as superlative marker:
quick - quickest
INFLECTIONAL
● Never changes category
● Do not change part of Speech
● Adds grammatical meaning
● Is important to syntax
 ● Is usually fully productive

DERIVATIONAL
● Sometimes changes category
● Can change part of speech
● Often adds lexical meaning
● Produces new lexemes
● Can range from unproductive to fully Productive
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES
● Blending: brunch, smog, flubber
● Clipping: phone, exams, dis
● Compounding: basketball, blacklist
● Coining: Kodak, Pepsi, Yoda
● Forming acronym: radar, scuba, AIDS, NASA
● Semantic shift: hot, like, kosher

WHAT IS PHONETICS?
- Phonetics is the study of speech sounds; how they are produced in the vocal tract
(articulatory phonetics), their physical properties (acoustic phonetics), and how they are
perceived (auditory phonetics).
WHAT IS PHONOLOGY?
- Phonology is the study of the sound system of a language; how the particular sounds
contrast in each language to form an integrated system for encoding information and
how such systems differ from one language to another.
SEMANTICS
Anomalous sentences
- Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Contradictions
- The fertilizer killed the plant but it didn’t die.
Presuppositions
- Would you like another sandwich?
Metaphor
- That class was a long haul.
WHAT IS AMBIGUITY?
- The property of words or sentences of having more than one meaning.
- Words with more than one meaning are said to be lexically ambiguous (e.g., bank or
crane). Phrases with more than one meaning because of the structure of the phrase are
said to be syntactically ambiguous (e.g., Flying planes can be dangerous be dangerous)

LEXICAL AMBIGUITY
- is a writing error that occurs when a sentence contains a word that has more than one
meaning. This problem, which is also called semantic ambiguity, obscures the writer's
intent and confuses the reader.
- Lexical ambiguity presents two or more possible meanings within a single word. This is
also known as semantic ambiguity. We see a lot of this in puns and other forms of
wordplay.

SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY
- Syntactic ambiguity presents two or more possible meanings within a sentence or
phrase. This is also known as structural ambiguity. When dealing with syntactic
ambiguity, it's helpful to use your context clues to uncover the true meaning of the
sentence or phrase.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DESCRIPTIVE AND PRESCRIPTIVE RULES OF

GRAMMAR?
● Descriptive grammar is the objective description of a speaker’s knowledge of a language
(competence) based on their use language (performance).
● Prescriptive grammar is a set of instructions designed to give instructions regarding the
“correct” or “proper” way to speak or write.
PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR AND DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR
● Descriptive grammar: a grammar that "describes" how language is used by its
speakers. 
 For example, I am older than her. 
- Explanation: Subject pronouns (she, he, it, and so on) are paired with a verb,
whereas object pronouns (her, him, it, and so on) are not. Since the phrase "than
her" doesn't have a verb we can see or hear, some speakers choose an object
pronoun in the context. 
●  Prescriptive grammar: a grammar that "prescribes" how speakers should use the
language.
For example, I am older than she (is older).
- Explanation: 'than' is a conjunction; it joins two like forms: "I am older" with "she is
older", giving "I am older than she is older", but speakers omit the last part "is older"
because it's redundant. Nevertheless, according to prescriptive grammar, 'than' functions
as a conjunction, so speakers should use "she" in that context.
DESCRIPTIVE OR PRESCRIPTIVE?
● Never end a sentence with a preposition.
● In casual styles of speaking, people frequently end sentences with prepositions, but this
is generally avoided in formal styles.
● Between you and me; is correct; between you and I is ungrammatical.

NOUNS (GENDER IS A GRAMMATICAL TERM FOR SEX)

NEUTER NOUNS
- Has no gender
Ex. fan, house, bag, ball, tree, car

COMMON NOUNS
- Has suspended gender
Ex. friend, student, clerk, doctor, baby, employee, teacher

Some nouns have separate plural forms for the two sexes

a. Singular
- alumnus
- alumna
- beato
- beata
b. Plural
- Alumni
- Alumnae
- Beati
- beatae

MASCULINE AND FEMININE GENDERS

- Agreement in gender is necessary in the proper use of pronouns and antecedents.
Ex.
A boy lost his book this morning.
Luisa mends her torn dress.
We listen to our parent’s advice.

DECLENSION OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Number Gender Person Nominati Objective Possessive Reflexive

ve Case Case Case Case
Singular common 1st I me my, mine myself
common 2nd You you your, yours yourself
 masculine 3rd He him his himself
feminine 3rd She her her, hers herself
neuter 3rd It it its itself

Plural common 1st We us our, ours ourselves

common 2nd You you your, yours yourselves
common 3rd They them their, theirs themselves

Indefinite adjectives give nonspecific information about a noun

Movement
- Use passive movement to identify the NPs in these sentences.
Phrase Structures Rules are Generative
- Use a finite set of rules and elements to produce an infinite set of grammatical
sentences. E.g.,

– NP→ (D) N (PP)

– PP→ P NP (PP)
- Routine, family, fishing
- The president, a member, the contenders
- Time with family, the University of Wisconsin, a budget for the State of Wisconsin