This paper describes a demonstration of a totally integrated discovery procedure to present sentence-combining practice. This practice makes students aware not only of the complex structures but of the usage and style related to each structure. Guidelines for the execution of the practice include: (1) the use of a sequence of questions by the…

First in a series of books that illustrate the functions of words in sentences, this book uses cartoon characters (a different "Humpty" for each part of speech) to help make learning grammar easier by associating an abstract concept with a visual image. The book introduces each part of speech and offers practice pages where students can reinforce…

Grammar can have meaning and be of use to the learner depending upon the methods of instruction that are being used. The eight traditional parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverbs, prepositional phrase, conjunction, pronouns, and interjection) can be made useful for learners by giving concrete, semi-concrete, and abstract examples when…

A study investigated young children's knowledge of the constraint that prevents questioning from a position inside a temporal adjunct: i.e., knowledge of the ungrammaticality of a question such as "Who did Fred kiss Sue before hugging...?" Subjects were 30 children aged 3 to 5 years, who listened to stories accompanied by pictures and…

The assumption that language is used solely to convey information with the maximum efficiency is refuted with examples of expository prose. Eight brief samples of expository prose are examined in order to demonstrate the use of syntactic euphemism to manipulate communication in complex and subtle ways. Syntactic euphemism involves the use of the…

Transcripts of 24 spontaneous speech samples from 2 year old children are analyzed for use of nouns and pronouns in sentences. (Author/DEP)

This study attempts to develop a satisfactory child version of the linguistic task of judging grammaticality. With a nondifferentially reinforced forced-choice procedure, it was found that responses of 48 children (aged 5 and 7) varied as a function of the grammatical complexity of stimulus sentences. (Author/GO)

Patients with cortical lesions, both with or without aphasia, were asked to reconstruct sentences. It was found that syntactic comprehension deficits exist only in aphasics. Two groups are distinguishable, those with deficits due to problems of repetition and those with deficits due to problems of object recognition. (Text is in French.) (TL)

Inexact uses of adverbs by students of Russian which are believed to be caused in part by native language interference are discussed. (RM)

A number of syntactic constructions in Mandarin Chinese are analyzed which, synchronically, are unrelated and highly irregular. However, all reflect a diachronic drift which has been operating in Mandarin Chinese, in the light of which the syntactic constructions can be viewed as structures in transition. (Author/RM)

This paper concerns the theory of systemic grammar developed by Halliday, Hudson and others. It suggests modifications of Hudson's generative version, and the model presented resembles transformational grammar. (CHK)

The movements of such higher predicates as time, locative, and complementation verbs are studied, and Tai's Predicate Placement Constraint is rejected as an incorrect account of predicate movements in Chinese. It is proposed, on the other hand, that there is only leftward movement involving predicates in Chinese. (Author)

The subject of a semantic sentence-forming process is discussed. It is suggested that the concept of agency should not be treated on a par with the concept of the objective. The hypothesis is confined to simple intransitive and transitive sentences. (Available from: See FL 508 214). (Author/RM)

Examines structural properties of Romanian participle types in order to explain their descriptive relationship to the infinitive. (RM)

Quantifiers are discussed and evidence presented for their existential character in some cases. Their relation to surface and underlying structure is discussed. (RM)