The Magic Lens Introduction to Grammar

Grammar A way of thinking about language.

Grammar... lets us think about language by giving names for different kinds of words and for the different ways that words represent our thoughts and feelings.

Grammar... is fascinating and worthwhile!

p as f of G Punctuation is a Function of Grammar.

p as f of G Punctuation is the art of marking the four levels of grammar so that written ideas and parts of ideas do not become confusing.

4 Four Levels of Grammar.

Four Levels of Grammar 1)Parts of speech 2)Parts of a sentence 3)Phrases 4)Clauses

1) Parts of speech The parts of speech level shows us each word, one at a time, asking, “What is this word doing?”

2) Parts of a sentence The parts of a sentence levels shows use the architecture of the idea, asking, “What is being said about what?”

3) Phrases The phrases level shows us the little groups of words in the sentence, groups that pretend to be a single part of speech, asking “What part of speech is this group of words doing?”

4) Clauses The clauses level shows us whether or not more than one idea is drawn into the sentence’s design, asking “How many different ideas are connected together in this sentence?”

Four Levels of Grammar in action... Although we will explain the details of this four-level analysis later, we can demonstrate the simplicity of the four levels by looking at a sentence from poet T.S. Eliot...

These fragments I have shored against my ruins. Parts of Speech: adj. n. pron. v. v. prep. pron. n. Parts of Sentence: ----direct object--- subj pred Phrases: --prepositional phrase- Clauses: one independent clause, simple declarative sentence

LEVEL????? Before we continue, consider for a moment the word level as a metaphor. In looking at the parts of speech, parts of a sentence, phrases, and clauses of a sentence, we are thinking about the same sentence in four different ways; we are examining four different phenomena within the sentence. Our four different views of a sentence are like four different views of the same human body, which looks different in visible light, x-rays, infrared images, and CAT- scans.

It’s not so much to learn. Shhh. The actual content of grammar is tiny. There are only about 20 key terms! It is very learnable!

A Term Total PARTS OF SPEECH Noun Proper/common Pronoun Subject/object Relative Demonstrative Person, 1,2,3 Adjective Degree Article Definite Indefinite Verb Tense Perfect tenses Helping verb Singular/plural Active/passive voice Action/linking Mood Adverb Conjunction Coordinating Subordinating Correlative Preposition Object of prep. interjection PARTS OF A SENTENCEPHRASESCLAUSES Sentencephraseindependent Fragmentprepositionaldependent Subjectappositivestructure Predicateverbalsimple simple/completegerundcompound Direct objectparticiplecomplex Indirect objectinfinitivecompound-complex Subject complimentpurpose predicate nomdeclarative predicate adjimperative interrogative exclamatory

Level One: Eight Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech There are eight kinds of words: noun pronoun adjective verb adverb preposition conjunction interjection

adj adv CONJ adj interj nvnn pron