Three grammars that, since the 50's, have supplemented or offered alternatives to traditional grammar are discussed in this article. The role of grammar in communicative utterances and the underlying considerations in describing a grammatical system are analyzed. Then, brief summaries about and comments on structural linguistics, tagmemic grammar,…

Transformational grammar offers the most adequate system by which to meet the goal of grammar instruction, which is to increase the student's understanding of the nature of language. This grammar attempts to explain the mental processes underlying the production and understanding of sentences, to describe linguistic competence, to construct…

A method of teaching question formation in the Chinese language by use of transformational grammar is described. (RM)

Describes a study using transformational generative grammar to demonstrate that the frequently used structure "verb a verb" in Spanish is to be interpreted in three ways. Conclusions are drawn for the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. (AMH)

The author questions the usefulness of the concepts of transformational generative grammar, especially as represented in Jacobs and Rosenbaum's "English Transformational Grammar, for the teacher of English as a Second Language. Paper presented at the TESOL Convention, Chicago, March 1969. (FWB)

In viewing the approach to English and other grammars in the light of linguistic universals, the author feels that the principal justification for deep structure analysis of English is that "deep structure analyses of all the languages of our multilingual world in combination can serve as a genuinely scientific basis of a defensible universal…

In an attempt to apply recent developments in transformational grammar to Latin syntax, this report analyzes first English, then Latin sentences for both deep and surface structures through transformational and phrase structure grammar methods. Auxiliary nodes, problems of Latin verb complimentation, and the gerund and gerundive constructions are…

"Advanced student" is defined here as the kind of student who can converse with native speakers and read simplified or simple English prose at reasonable rates with good comprehension. Such a student, however, is still not ready for university-level reading. The major problem for the teacher is not teaching English words but English structures.…

Examing the relationship between linguistic functions and other complex mental and emotional processes such as intellect, conceptual behavior, personality differences, egocentricity, and other important facets of cognitive and affective behavior may lead to the description of "psychologically" real grammatical structures which relate directly to…

Suggests the substitution of nonsense words for various parts of speech as a way of enabling children to understand the structural way parts of speech operate. (TO)

A pragmatic approach to the problem of teaching the uses of the definite article in English to students of English as a foreign language is presented. The discussion deals with--(1) the situational context as a determining factor for the definite article; (2) the role of the linguistic context; (3) the determining role of restrictive phrases and…

Modern transformational grammars can be effective tools for writing, for they offer hypotheses and generalizations about English sentences which can be used in an infinite number of linguistic contexts. One writing skill which transformational grammars can help students achieve is the ability to choose between synonymous expressions. Some…

Grammar translation method, direct method, and Army and audiolingual methods used for teaching modern foreign languages in America are described. A method based on psycholinguistic research and the theory of generative grammar is described, and its implications in teaching Mandarin Chinese are discussed. (RM)