English Grammar English Grammar & Your Life& Your Life

English Grammar English Grammar & Your Life& Your Life

Chun-yin Doris ChenChun-yin Doris Chen

National Taiwan Normal National Taiwan Normal UniversityUniversity

Grammar

•Why?•What?•How?

Why do we need grammar?

•A word = a man•Our world: traffic lights a peaceful life•Their world: rules beautiful sentences

What is grammar?

•Word Classes•Grammatical Roles•Construction Types•Sentence Types

Word Classes•Everyone has his

personality.•Every word has its

characteristics. •big classes vs. small

classes

•N– apple, pen, book, …•V– eat, come, sleep, …•Adj.– good, tall, smart, …•Adv. – yesterday, here, slowly, …

•Prep. – in, on, at, …•Art. – a, an, the•Conj. – and, or, but, …•Interj. – wow, oops, oh, …

Grammatical Roles

•S John is reading.•O John has a good friend.

•C John looks happy.

Construction Types

Construction: making friends with others

•Our society: 1 (an individual) 1+1= 2 (a small group) 2+2= 4 (a big group)

•Their society: 1 (a word) 1+1= 2 (a small group= a phrase)

2+2= 4 (a big group= a sentence)

•NP– a book, that boy, …•VP– eat an apple, study

English, sleep, …•Adj. Phrase– very funny, so

sad, …•Adv. Phrase – very quickly,

very fast, …

Sentence Types•Simple Eric is sleeping.•Compound Eric is sleeping but his brother

is reading.•Complex Eric is sleeping because he is

sick.

How to learn grammar?

•attitude (total=?) a:1 t: 20 i: 9 u: 21 d: 4 e: 5

Answer: _____________

Tag-questions•You have a new boyfriend,

…..?•You don’t really love him, …..?•He is poor, ….?•He is not handsome, …..?•He can’t buy you diamonds,

…..?•Bread is more important than

love, …..?

•You will not be happy with him, …..?

•He doesn’t really care about you, ….?

•But I really care about you, …..?•You should come back to me,

….?•You can’t live without me, …..?

About Connectives-- and, or, but

•Keeping healthy ... young is what we need.

•Eat vegetables … fruit every week.

•Drink more water … not tea.•A nice day is coming, we

believe.

How many “if clauses” are there?

• If I could reach the star

• you would be the first one I give it to• No matter how far

• I don’t want to see you blue• If it were not for you • my life would not be complete • Days on the earth are so few

• and I’m so glad we could meet

The End! The End! The End! The End!