These two units of the Minnesota Project English curriculum employ transformational grammar in an attempt to make eighth-grade students aware of fundamental facts about their language. Concepts taught in the first unit are (1) that an infinite number of English sentences exists, (2) that a few basic transformations are the basis for a large number…

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, the eighteen lessons in this unit aim to interest third and fourth grade students in thinking about how sentences are made, to introduce some grammatical concepts, and to build on the instinctive knowledge students already have about the English language. The first three lessons are devoted to…

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this curriculum unit introduces fifth and sixth graders to sentence structure. Based on transformational grammar, the unit (1) demonstrates to students their built-in knowledge of English grammar which enables them to produce and recognize sentences although they are not consciously aware of…

English teachers have a responsibility to interpret for students the current linguistic insights into language and to lead them in an open-minded inquiry involving (1) careful observation of language data, (2) translation of this observation into rule-like descriptions, and (3) verification of the rules to determine if revisions must be made. In…

AN EXPLANATION OF THE THEORY OF DEEP STRUCTURE AS IT SERVES TO DESCRIBE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SIMPLY, CONSISTENTLY, AND COMPLETELY CONSTITUTES THIS LANGUAGE UNIT FOR 11TH-GRADERS. PRESUPPOSING THE STUDENT'S KNOWLEDGE OF PHRASE STRUCTURE AND TRANSFORMATION RULES, THE CONCEPT OF DEEP STRUCTURE IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE IMPERATIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCE…

This collection on transformational grammar has two general content areas: Sentence Components, and Transformations. The method of approach differentiated between traditional grammar and transformational grammar. The objective normally begins with a simple conventional declarative sentence known as the "kernel" which is then transformed…

Tested was the hypothesis that a sequential, linguistically-oriented program of instruction in written sentence structure and in the relationships between written and oral sentences will produce significantly greater achievement in sentence construction than the traditional English program. Nine classrooms of students (grades 3-5) participated in…