This practical book provides explicit directions for teaching sentence-level skills to students who have difficulties in this area. The author explains the key role of sentence combining in the writing process and presents effective techniques for instruction and assessment. Numerous sample lessons, practice activities, planning tips, and…

Two approaches to the problem of determining the illocutionary force(s) of a sentence are examined: Gordon and Lakoff's (1971) "Conversational Postulates," and Fraser's (1973) "On Accounting for Illocutionary Forces"; their relation to Searle's conditions is discussed. It is argued that Gordon and Lakoff's analysis can be…

The syntactic relationship between the quantifier and the noun phrase (NP) and the function of the quantifier in the sentence are studied. In the first part of the paper, the theories of several linguists concerning the structure of the NP that includes a quantifier are reviewed. In parts 2 and 3 a syntactic description of the quantifier is…

The first section of this paper deals with the attempts within the framework of transformational grammar to make semantics a systematic part of linguistic description, and outlines the characteristics of the generative semantics position. The second section takes a critical look at generative semantics in its later manifestations, and makes a case…

This paper is concerned with the treatment of anaphoric phenomena in a semantically based transformation grammar. It is argued that account of anaphora in terms of coreference are no better than accounts in terms of identical NPs; instead, it is proposed that a unified account of anaphora, which covers both quantified and unquantified NPs, may be…

This book attempts to bring linguists and language teachers up to date on the latest developments in semantics. A survey of the role of semantics in linguistics and other academic areas is followed by a historical perspective of semantics in American linguistics. Various semantic models are discussed. Anomaly, ambiguity, and discourse are…

This book had two goals: to provide an introduction to transformational-generative grammar, placing it into a historical and philosophical context with other earlier linguistic traditions, and to provide a survey of the elements of English grammar from a transformational point of view. The text is intended for anyone who wishes to know the basis…

The effects of syllable timing and syllable sequence type on vowel sandhi in Spanish are investigated in this paper. It is argued that structuralist and generative treatments of vowel sandhi, which are characterized by generalizations about vowel "shortening" and dropping and glide formation, are inadequate because they focus exclusively…

A survey of the history of linguistic theory concerning grammar in the United States traces the development of theory since 1910. It begins with a general historical review of American linguistics. The subsequent three chapters focus on grammar. The first of these deals with morphology, beginning with Leonard Bloomfield's ideas in both his early…

This paper is a study of the subclassification of English verbs in generative grammar. It is intended to discuss the subclassification of English verbs in terms of complement types and to investigate the problem of nonlocalization in complement constructions. Some verbs permit a "whether"-complement or a "that"-complement if…

This article attempts to refute D.M. Perlmutter's claim that the syntactic component in Spanish grammar can generate structures that are grammatical at the deep structure level but not at the surface structure level, and that it is necessary to impose a surface structure constraint (SSC) as a filter to reject the ungrammatical structures. The…

Use of "the language of observation" as a level of scientific discourse is exemplified. The formal properties of this language are characterized, and the derivability and feasibility of the axiomatic method as applied to it are considered. Also discussed are the theoretical and practical significance of this level with respect to various…

Designed for use by composition students as well as teachers, the essays and background discussions in this book address themselves to questions of theory and practice in rhetoric. The book is divided into sections on invention, form, and style, and contains articles by such authors as Janet Emig, Wayne C. Booth, Richard L. Larson, Kenneth Burke,…

A history of theories of transformational generative grammar is presented, and four theories are characterized as: Chomsky's initial theory, Chomsky's standard theory, the semantically-based theory, and finally Chomsky's nonstandard theory. The main issue appears to be the question of what determines sentence meaning. Specifically, it is stated…

This book introduces a specific approach to sentence analysis by comparing traditional grammar with newer methods, including transformational grammar. The first chapter discusses the teaching of grammar and language skills and the use of standard and nonstandard dialects. Traditional grammar is defined and discussed in chapter 2. The other…