A possible application of generative-transformational (phrase-structure) grammar to the teaching of English composition at the college freshman level is described in this dissertation, which presents a potential textbook for a course on language and its relationship to culture. Topics discussed include traditional grammar, the bases of…

Discusses four definitions of "grammar" and suggests that ignorance of any of the four harms research and teaching. (DD)

Contends that the rule "do not split infinitives" is a proper subset of the rule "do not split verbs," and that both should be taught. (DD)

The serious student of language, English or foreign, and especially the future language teacher must receive a solid training not only in theoretical but also in applied syntax. Such a course should be offered at the advanced level and deal with the syntax of the language involved in a rigorously systematic way. The search for a systematic, yet…

Tentative conclusions were that controlled sentence practice and sentence combining can increase the overall writing effectiveness and syntactic maturity of college students in a single semester. (DD)

The freshman composition course at Mayville State College (North Dakota) progresses from basic grammar to sentence combining to the development of expository writing skills based on the principles of generative rhetoric. The course begins with a brief review of grammar, emphasizing the phrase, clause, and sentence, and then moves on to the process…

Contemporary syntactic theory rejects the idea that prescriptive grammar can provide students with any insights into how language works. For generative grammar, a term for the aggregate of methodologies which currently dominates modern linguistics, rules determining the grammaticality of a sentence do not relate in any way to the rules which make…

Describes a study which found that generative rhetoric instruction produced a quantitative and qualitative increase in college students' syntactic maturity. (DD)

Generative rhetoric is an essential part of any composition program or instruction in written language that begins with the preschool child and continues through the freshman year of college and beyond. Applying the principles of generative rhetoric to selected essays and student performance established the need to maintain the place of generative…

A study of the effect of an "incremental" version of a generative rhetoric approach to writing instruction was conducted to determine whether such an approach would increase students' syntactic complexity. Ninety-eight college students were randomly assigned to one of five experimental or five control sections of a freshman composition…

Guidelines for connecting the rhetorical principles taught by Francis Christensen with concepts from sentence-combining in a plan to help students learn to invent and develop sentences. (RL)

Two studies were conducted to test Francis Christensen's theory of generative rhetoric, which maintains that students should be taught the types of sentences that they infrequently use, especially ones with nonrestrictive phrasal modifiers (participial phrases and appositives) as a way to approach invention. The first study examined the principles…

Describes the transformational-generative model of grammar and discusses how this theory has influenced composition teaching and theory. Outlines a new model of language being developed by cognitive scientists and how this model might inform composition in the future. (HB)