This document discusses different approaches to grammar and analyzing sentence structure. It describes traditional prescriptive grammar that aimed to set rules based on Latin. It also describes descriptive grammar that aims to objectively describe how languages are used. The document also discusses analyzing immediate constituents, or how words group together into phrases. Labeling constituents with parts of speech allows sentence structure to be represented diagrammatically.

1. GRAMMAR

5. We have already considered two levels of description used in the study to
language. We have described linguistic expression as sequences of sounds that
can be represented in the phonetic alphabet and described in terms of
their features.
Example:
The lucky boys.
The type of phrase must have the sequence article +adjective +noun (and not
*noun + article +adjective). The process of describing the structure of phrases
and sentences in such a way that we account for all the grammatical
sequences in a language and rule out all the ungrammatical sequences is one
way of defining grammar.
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6. Traditional Grammar
The terms ‘article’. ‘adjective’ and ‘noun’ that we used to
Label the grammatical categories of the words in/ the
phrase the lucky boys/.
-The part of speech
.Nouns are words used to refer to people.
.Articles are words (a, an, the) used with nouns
to form noun phrases classifying those ‘things’
or identifying them as already known.
.Verbs are words used to refer to various kinds
of actions and states involving people and
things event.

7. Adverbs are words used typically with verbs to provide more information
about action, states and event. Some adverbs are use with adjective
to modify information about things.
Prepositions are words (at, in, on, near, with,without) use with nouns in
phrases providing information about time and other connection
involving actions and things.
Pronouns are words (she, herself, they, it, you) are use in place of nouns in
typically referring to people and things already known.
Conjunctions are words ( and, but, because,when) use to make connection
and indicate relationships between events
Agreement is addition to the term used for the part of speech. It’s
happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to
which it relates. some grammatical category (such as gender or person)
"agree" between varied words or parts of the sentence.

8. For example, in Standard English, one may say
I am or he is, but not "I is" or "he am". This is because the grammar of the
language requires that the verb and its subject agree in person
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns,
pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions
(such as "one", "two", or "three or more)
Tense
In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference.
Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs,
particularly in their conjugation patterns.
Grammatical Gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender is a specific form of noun-class
system in which the division of noun classes forms an agreement
system with another aspect of the language, such as adjectives,
articles, or verbs.

9. "Genders are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words.
Common gender divisions include masculine and feminine; masculine,
feminine and neuter; or animate and inanimate. In a few languages, the gender
assignation of nouns is solely determined by their meaning or
attributes, like biological sex, humanness, intimacy.
However, in most languages, this semantic division is only partially valid, and
many nouns may belong to a gender category that contrasts with their
meaning (e.g. the word "manliness" could be of feminine gender). In this
case, the gender assignation can also be influenced by the morphology or
phonology of the noun or in some cases can be apparently
arbitrary.
The Prescriptive Approach
This approach was taken by many of influent grammarians mainly in 18 century
England. They set out rules for the proper use of English
and follow from Latin grammar. This type of approach still be found today.
Some of example for these approaches will be:
+ You must not split an infinitive
+You must not end a sentence with a preposition

10. Traditional teacher would correct sentence like “When you study abroad , who
did you stay with?” it changes to “when you study abroad , with whom did you
stay ” so that the preposition don’t appear at the end of the sentence.
Another example “He is younger than me” became “He is younger than I” .
The word my family and me is change to my family and I. In ‘proper’ English we
wouldn’t start word and
Captain Kirk’s Infinitive
Captain Kirk is one of main character in Star Trek Episode that he always uses the
expression to boldly go. This is an example of split infinitive. His teacher might
correct him to say boldly to go or to go boldly. In Latin word the word to go
mean ire and the word boldly is audacter. Now in Latin he says Ire audacter. We
cannot have a change to split because to go in English has two word to and go
but in Latin have only one word is ire.
It would be very appropriate not to split an infinitive in Latin grammar but not
in English. In English we can say “to boldly go, to solemnly swear, to never ever
say goodbye”. So it makes us think that the structure of English is different
from Latin.

11. The Descriptive Approach
In some European languages such as Italian or Spanish is guide by a
well-established grammatical description of Latin. However it is less useful for
English and may be misled when we try to describe some non-European
language. As a result for most 20 century new approach was adopted. It called
the descriptive approach. They attempted to describe the regular structures
of languages as it was use and how it should be uses.
Immediate Constituent Analysis
The technique employed in this approach is designed to show small
constituents ( or component ) In sentences go together to form larger
constituents. One basic step is determining how word go together to form
Phrase. This analysis of the constituent structure of the sentence can be
represented in different type of diagrams .
e.g : The police caught the thief in the market.
• Noun phrases (NP) = the police, the thief, the market
Prepositional phrase (PP) = in the market
Verb phrase (VP) = caught the thief

12. Labeled and bracketed sentence
We can the label each constituent using abbreviated
grammatical terms such as *Art * (article) *N*(noun).
*NP*(Noun Phrase)
*V*(Verb) *VP*(Verb Phrase) and *S*(sentence).
e.g : The dog loved the girl
– Word level = [the ] or [dog]
– Phrase level = [the dog] or [loved the girl]
– Sentence level = [the dog loved the girl]
A Gaelic Sentence
Relating to the Gaels and especially the Celtic Highlanders
English Scottish Gaelic
• The boy saw the black dog Chunnaic an gille an cu dubh