This paper deals with deep and surface structure differences and their implication for language teachers. Examples of similar surface structures and dissimilar underlying structures often presented to students of English for pattern drill are pointed out (e.g., the "it" in "It's easy to speak English,""It's difficult for us," and "It's hot…

This material was designed to present the essential features of English phrase and clause structure, for the benefit of both native speakers and learners of English as a second language. The author has followed a "deliberately eclectic" approach. The diagrams are developments of the type discussed and exemplified in Hockett, 1958, and…

The properties of "do", its distribution and meaning, are discussed. "Do" is one of the most common error-zones for Indian learners of English. Two analyses of "do" which account for the distribution and meaning of this element are presented. According to the transformational approach, "do" is introduced in…

The divisions in transformational grammar into surface and deep structure give rise to the hypothesis that imitative-repetitive drills will never go beyond the surface structure, and that an explicit verbalization of underlying structures will result in better achievement and proficiency in second language learning. The Project described here,…

To help assess the writing ability of college freshmen studying English as a second language (ESL), this study was undertaken to identify particular structures of subordination associated with writing maturity and to develop a diagnostic instrument to test student control of those structures. Following sentence-generating principles of…

It is possible to examine the development of English wh-questions in first and second language learners and to detect regularities in the order of emergence of certain linguistic structures. It is also possible to speculate whether the stages in language acquisition correspond to the transformational derivation in transformational grammar. The…