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English Grammar - What is
it?
English
grammar is a plan or a blueprint
of the English language. People who
read and write English use this blueprint to construct words, groups
of
words (phrases) and sentences.
This plan helps at two levels:
- for forming words; and
- for building sentences.
It's
like building a house.
When
you construct a house, you buy all kinds of building material: bricks,
cement, sand, iron rods, wood, etc.
If you pile up one type of material
over the other, you do not get a house. You need someone called an
architect to build the house according to some plan in his or her head.
Architects draw such plans on a special kind of paper.
Such plans are called blueprints.
Poor people who cannot afford an architect become
their own architects and use common sense to build their
simple, ordinary-looking houses. They do not worry about whether they
have the
latest styles. They make sure that their houses suit their minimum need
for shelter...but
they too have a plan, though simple and not
sophisticated.
When
you come across difficult words such as sophisticated, its
meaning is usually given, as above (not sophisticated =
simple). So you may ignore the word if you wish.
However, I feel by retaining (keeping) the word there, you get an
opportunity to improve your word power. |
Similar
is the case with English language.
English
grammar is a kind of plan for English language. We have a name
for the professional person who writes down the plan of a
language. We call that person a grammarian. A grammarian studies the
rules and structures of a language deeply — more deeply than other
people.
Ordinary people use English only for their day-to-day
ordinary needs of speaking and writing. They may want to know how to
take part in a conversation in English, or how to write a letter, or
fill an application form. Such
people too need the plan (grammar) of English, though not
as
deeply as someone like the grammarian.
Grammarians as well as ordinary persons use some plan for building
their
sentences. Just as you don't pile one type of building material over
the other, you don't keep words together in any order you like.
If you just throw in words together you do not get a sentence. Like
this...
east
the the sun in rises
You do not get a sentence. If you arrange those same words like this...
the
sun rises in the east
we get some meaning out of it. Then we give this arrangement some more
polish like this...
The
sun rises in the east.
We
have capitalized the first letter and added a full-stop (period) at the
end of this arranged group of words. We call this a sentence. A plan,
hiding behind this arrangement, helped us to put the words in the
correct order, i.e.
the order which brings meaning.
The
Two Levels of English Grammar.
English grammar works at two levels.
- The
formation of words (Morphology).
Words are like building material. Take cement. Many chemicals join
together according to some chemical formula to become cement. Words are
born out of word-parts (these parts have names such as stems, affixes,
prefixes, suffixes, etc.).
This whole science of word-formation has the high-sounding name of
'morphology.' Morphology
is one of the two important parts of
English grammar.
- The
construction of sentences (Syntax).
Usually people tend to think of this part as grammar. Different words
such as nouns,
verbs,
pronouns,
and others, called 'parts
of speech', come together to become
sentences. The plan that people follow to build sentences from words
has also a high-sounding name - syntax. Syntax
is the other important part of English grammar.
You may ask me, "what about sentences making a paragraph?" Good
question.
Smaller
sentences come together to form more complicated sentences (they are
called by names such as Complex, Compound, Complex-Compound sentences).
The study of this is a part of syntax.
When we use sentences of all types to
create paragraphs, we are busy with 'composition.' 'Composition' is
a general name
for anything a person creates out of parts. We do not usually consider
it a part of grammar.


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