Synopsis: The Grammar of Language

         Some people learn best through personal experience or application while others stick to the book and standard rules. Learning English as a second language can be a tough job for anyone, there are people who have a natural aptitude for acquiring languages but there are also who find it really difficult.

            
           English grammar has three dimensions which are morphosyntactic, semantics and pragmatics. In simple terms they can be labelled as form, meaning, and use. Form is about accuracy and how a particular grammar structure is constructed. With semantics, we want to know what does a particular grammar structure means and what contribution it makes whenever it is used. On pragmatics, we are interested on when and why a particular grammar structure has been used instead of another structure with the same meaning. There are students who are good in identifying the form or structure of the language while others are better in meaning and there are also those who are best in usage. However, these three are of equal importance to achieve proficiency both in grammar and communication.

       
       Each student has a different learning process. For this reason, there are two approaches to teaching language. The first one focuses primarily on language use and the second focuses on language form or analysis. Under these approaches, grammar operates at three levels: the subsentential or morphological level, the sentential or syntactic level, and the suprasentential or discourse level. Subsentential level is the level below that of the sentence; it has three criteria which are semantic (standard definition), structural (position in a sentence) and functional (grammatical function in a sentence). Sentential level describe the word order of the English sentence, it has three terminologies which are simple, compound and complex sentences. Suprasentential level is where an analysis of how morphology and syntax are deployed to effect certain discourse purposes. Terminologies used under this level are cohesion (structure), register (level of formality of language), genre (linguistic variation due to the communicative purposes to which the language is put), given information (assumed by the writer to be known by the reader), and new information (newsworthy).

         After understanding these things, we should be able to use grammatical structures accurately, meaningfully and appropriately.

References: Celce- Murcia, M. & Larsen- Freeman, N. (2008). The grammar book. Singapore: Heinle- Thomson Learning Asia. pp. 2-5, 13-15, 161-175