English Morphosyntax and Semantics
Introduction
One of the competences a teacher needs is to know the language deeply, in terms of use and usage; that is, a teacher must know how to use the language in theory and in practice: after a student's question, a teacher must be able to give a coherent, complete explanation or must understand why an expression is mistaken or not. This is the rationale after this subject as you may read in the study programme.
Linguistics is the science of language and it offers a systematic attempt to study (and explain) language. Morphology, Syntax and Semantics are branches of Linguistics.
Visit the following links and prepare a poster with the definition of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics:
- Linguistics, by the Wikipedia
- Applied linguistics, by the Wikipedia
Then, answer the following questions.
The Sentence
Download here the handout about the English sentence (Power Point version here). After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
The Noun Group
Download here the readings about the NG. Check your knowledge with the set of activities included in the handout.
The Verb Group
Download here the readings about the VG. Check your knowledge with the set of activities included in the handout.
The Adjective Group
Download here the readings about the AdjG. After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
The Adverb Group
Download here the readings about the AdvG. After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
The Prepositional Group
Download here the readings about the PG. After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
The Text
Download here the readings about the text. After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
Principles of English Semantics
Download here the readings about English Semantics. After that, practise and check your knowledge with this set of activities.
Links and Bibliography
Bibliography
- Alexander, L. G., 1990, Longman English Grammar Practice for intermediate students, Essex: Longman.
- Batstone, R, 1994, Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Carter, Ronald & Michael McCarthy, 2006, Cambridge Grammar of English, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Downing, Angela & Philip Locke, 1992, A University Course in English Grammar, Hetfordshire, Prentice Hall.
- Greenbaum, Sidney & Randolph Quirk, 1990, A Student’s Grammar of the English Language, Essex, Longman.
- Huddleston, Rodney, 1984, Introduction to the Grammar of English, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Huddleston, Rodney, 1988, English Grammar: an outline, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Iglesias Rábade, Luís, 1996, A Course Book of Syntactic Analysis, Barcelona, EUB.
- Jacobs, Roderick A., 1995, English Syntax: a Grammar for English Language Professionals, New York, Oxford University Press.
- Lier, Leo van, 1995, Introducing Language Awareness, London, Penguin.
- Lock, Graham, 1996, Functional English Grammar: An introduction for second language teachers, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Murphy, Raymond, 1994, English Grammar in use, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Parkinson de Saz, M., 1980, A University English Grammar for Spanish Speakers, Madrid, Editorial Empeño.
- Quereda Rodríguez-Navarro, Luis, 1993, A morphosyntactic study of the English verb phrase, Granada, Editorial de la Universidad de Granada.
- Rinvolucri, Mario, 1984, Grammar Games, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Swan, Michael, 1980, Practical English Usage, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Thronbury, Scott, 1997, About Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Ur, Penny, 1988, Grammar Practice Activities, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Walker, Elaine & Steve Elsworth, 1986, Grammar Practice for Intermediate Students, Essex, Longman.
- Yule, George, 1985, The Study of Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Links
- The Linguist list
- Lexicon of Linguistics
- Glossary of Linguistic terms, by the SIL
- Grammatica analyses at the Institute of Language and Communication (ISK), University of Southern Denmark (SDU) [and world class games & slot filler quizzes]
- BNC-World Corpus
- Wordnet, a lexical database
- Thinkmap, the visual thesaurus
- Lexical Freenet
- The Rhethorical Structure Theory
- MIT Linguistics
- Center for Applied Linguistics
- The Linguistic Fun Page
- The Linguistic Fun Land
- Las Páginas Amarillas de la Lingüística