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iA NEW GrammarCompanionF o r t e ac h e r sBEVERLY DEREWIANKA

First published April 2011Reprinted 2012Copyright Primary English Teaching Association, PETAA and Beverly DerewiankaISBN 978 1 875622 90 0National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entryDerewianka, Beverly, 1946A new grammar companion for teachers/Beverly Derewianka.2nd ed.ISBN: 9781875622900English language – Grammar – Study and teaching (Primary)Grammar, Comparative and general – Study and teaching (Primary)Other Authors/Contributors: Primary English Teaching Association (Australia)Dewey Number: 415Copying for Educational PurposesThe Australian Copyright Act 1968 allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever isthe greater, to be copied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that thateducational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to CopyrightAgency Limited (CAL) under the Act.For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact CALLevel 15, 233 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000Telephone (02) 9394 7600, Facsimile (02) 9394 7601e‑mail info@copyright.com.auCopying for other purposesExcept as permitted under the Act, for example a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research,criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means without prior written permission. All enquiries should be made to thepublisher at the address above.Edited by Rema Gnanadickam, Zodiac Publishing ServicesIndex by Fiona SimCover, text design and illustrations by Pamela Horsnell, Juno Creative ServicesTypeset by Jacqui Fry, CraftypePrinted at Ligare Pty Ltd138 Bonds Road Riverwood NSW 2210This book has been printed on paper certified by the Program for theEndorsement of Forest Chain of Custody (PEFC). PEFC is committedto sustainable forest management through third party forest certificationmanaged forests.ii

PrefaceOver the past few years, e:lit has published a number of books dealing directly orindirectly with questions of grammar. In the widely read Exploring How Texts Work(1990) by Beverly Derewianka certain grammatical features were highlighted interms of how they operated within particular genres. This provided insights intohow grammar could be treated functionally in context. John Collerson followed thisup with a more detailed account of English grammar from a functional perspectivein English Grammar: A Functional Approach (1994). This work was groundbreaking,introducing teachers to a different way of looking at language based on Halliday’sFunctional Grammar. In 1997, PETA published John Collerson’s Grammar inTeaching which demonstrated a rich variety of ways in which functional grammarcould be drawn upon in classroom activities.So why do we need another book on grammar? The increasing interest in grammarthroughout Australia and its appearance in a number of syllabus and curriculumdocuments — including the Australian Curriculum: English — has stimulated a demandfor a handbook which familiarises teachers with the basics of the English grammaticalsystem. While teachers have been excited by the potential of working with a functionalapproach to grammar, many are still a bit daunted by its newness and the terminology.This book is intended therefore as a bridge for teachers between what they alreadyknow about grammar and how they might extend that knowledge to include a morefunctional perspective.A New Grammar Companion employs standard grammatical terminology whichis familiar to teachers and the community, but it also uses terms which allow for amore functional interpretation.This book is not intended as a comprehensive grammar of English. It provides anoverview of those features of grammar that have been found to be useful in schoolcontexts in terms of supporting and extending students’ ability to use Englishproductively for educational purposes. For further detail on any of the aspects, youare encouraged to consult more detailed descriptions of English (as in some of thereferences in the final chapter).Unlike the previous edition, which was organised according to grammatical categories, this edition is organised around the main functions that language plays inour lives: expressing and connecting ideas, interacting with others and creatingcoherent texts. Another major difference is that the content now extends intosecondary schooling, dealing with the language challenges faced by older students.We are sure that A New Grammar Companion will become a well‑thumbedreference and guide, which will truly keep you company and provide reassuranceas you introduce students to the fascinating workings of grammar.PETAAPrimary English Teaching Association Australiaiii

This book is dedicated to thememory of Vladimir Derewianka who was constantly intrigued bythe possibilities of language.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe author would like to express her appreciation of the many stimulatingdiscussions about language in general and grammar in particular involvingteachers, students, and academic colleagues. In particular, she would like to thankMichael Halliday and Jim Martin for their inspiration and to the several readers ofthe draft for their helpful suggestions.Thanks also need to go to the tireless e:lit staff, to Rema Gnanadickam for herediting and Pamela Horsnell for her clean design and layout.Acknowledgement is due to copyright holders: authors and publishers for theirkind permission to include extracts, as referenced on page 197. A New GrammarCompanion is an updated edition of the original previously published work AGrammar Companion. While every effort has been made to trace copyright holdersin some cases this has proved impossible. In the event of a copyright query, pleasecontact the publishers.iv

CONTENTSPreface. iiiAcknowledgementS. iv1 Introduction 1What is grammar?. 1Why learn about grammar?. 1A multi-purpose grammar. 1A functional perspective. 3Texts in context. 5Language and learning. 7Terminology. 8Links to the Australian Curriculum: English. 8Considerations for teaching grammar. 8Levels of language. 102 Language for expressing Ideas13What is happening? . 15Looking at meaning: Different kinds of Processes. 15 Action verbsRelating verbs Saying verbs Sensing verbsExisting verbs Looking at form: The verb group. 26The simple present tense The simple past tenseOther aspects of time Other auxiliaries Multi-verb groups Negatives Who (or what) is taking part? . 37Looking at meaning: Different kinds of Participants. 37 The participants in our world Participant rolesLooking at form: The noun group. 41Who? What? (Thing) Which one/s? (Pointers)How many? (Quantifiers) What’s it like? (Describers) What type? (Classifiers) Tell me more (Qualifiers) Looking at form: Pronouns. 60 Personal pronouns Possessive pronounsLooking at form: The adjective group. 63Looking at form: Clause as Participant . 64v

What are the details surrounding the activity?. 66Looking at meaning: Different kinds of Circumstances. 66Looking at form: The grammar of Circumstances. 69Adverbs as Circumstances Adverb groups as CircumstancesPrepositional phrases as Circumstances Noun groupsas Circumstances Representing experience: Monitoring student learning. 74Representing experience: Analysed text. 793 Connecting ideas85Looking at meaning: Making connections. 85 Structuring coherent sentencesLooking at form: Combining items. 87 Words and phrases SentencesOther types of clauses Quoting and reportingCombining clauses: Monitoring student learning. 102Connecting ideas: Analysed text. 1044 Language for interacting with others109Patterns of interaction. 110Looking at meaning: Resources for interaction. 111Statements Questions Indirect ways of interacting Commands OffersLooking at form: The structure of statements, questionsand commands. 114The structure of statements The structure of questionsThe structure of commands Negative statements, questionsand commands Exclamations Involvement . 117Speech role pronouns. 117Terms of address. 118‘In group’ and ‘out group’. 119Expressing attitudes . 119Expressing feelings. 121Evaluating the qualities of things. 122Judging human behaviour. 123Adjusting strength and focus. 125Force. 125Focus. 127vi

Opening up spaces. 127Attribution. 128Intertextuality. 130Modality. 131 Tempering statementsThe role of modality Tempering commandsContracting the interaction space. 135Aligning with the listener/reader. 135Countering. 135Negatives. 136Interacting with others: Monitoring student learning. 136Interacting with others: Analysed texts. 1395 Creating cohesive texts143Organising the flow of information. 143Text level organisation. 143Paragraph level organisation. 144Sentence level organisation. 145Shifting the focus by using the passive. 150Cohesion. 150Referring words. 150Text connectives. 153Deletions and substitutions. 154Word associations. 155 Repetition Synonyms AntonymsWord patterns Word chains CollocationFeatures of mature written texts. 160Density. 160Nominalisation. 161Abstraction. 162Creating cohesive texts: Monitoring student learning. 164Creating cohesive texts: Analysed text. 1666 Revisiting the functions of language1691 Language for expressing ideas. 1702 Language for connecting ideas. 172vii

3 Language for interacting with others. 1734 Language for creating cohesive and coherent texts. 175Epilogue: The language of literary texts. 176Achieving social purposes. 176Representing experience: Creating story worlds. 178Processes. 180Circumstances. 181Participants. 181Connecting clauses. 182Interacting with others: The interpersonal charge. 186Expressing attitudes. 189Revealing emotions Judging behaviour Appreciating thingsAdjusting strength Quantifying Focusing Boosting the strength Lowering the strength Opening up and contracting the interaction. 191Opening up the interaction: Modalitythe interaction: Negatives Closing downCreating cohesive texts: Developing texture. 191Reference. 194Ellipsis. 194Text connectives. 194Word patterns. 194Things that are similar (synonyms) Things that areopposite (antonyms) Part-whole patterns Class-subclass patterns Repetition References. 198Further Reading. 199viii

1IntroductionWhat is grammar?While there are many technical definitions of grammar, for our purposes we couldsimply say that grammar is a way of describing how a language works to makemeaning.Why learn about grammar?We learn about grammar to: be able to reflect on how the English language works be able to use language effectively, appropriately and accurately understand how different kinds of meaning are created through the useof different grammatical forms so that we can control and shape thosemeanings more skilfully and effectively ourselves critically analyse texts so we can understand how grammar has beenused to achieve certain effects examine patterns of language and word choices so that we canappreciate, interpret and create well-constructed texts have a shared language for teaching and learning about the mainfeatures of the English language.A multi‑purpose grammarThe description of grammar provided here has been designed so that teachers canuse it for a number of different purposes: for exploring how language functions tocreate different types of meaning; for understanding the structure or formationof various language features; and for anticipating where students might needparticular assistance with certain features. The book therefore includes sectionson looking at meaning, looking at form, and troubleshooting.If you are primarily interested in meaning, you might like to focus on thosesections that discuss how our linguistic choices create certain meanings. In thisbook we are viewing grammar as a resource – an array of possibilities from whichwe can choose. Learning grammar in this sense is seen as extending a learner’spotential to make and interpret meanings.If you are primarily interested in form, you might like to focus on those sectionsthat explain how various grammatical features are structured. A traditional motivefor teaching about grammar has been the development of an analytical approach tolanguage – an ability to ‘reason grammatically’ – along with the identification and1

2A new Grammar Companionnaming of different grammatical categories, providing students with a language fortalking about language. Knowing how language is structured helps us to deal withquestions such as: What does a noun group consist of? How are different verb tenses formed? What does a clause look like? How are messages combined to form sentences?Preferably, however, the focus will be on the relationship between meaningand form. In this book, we look at how the different grammatical categories areinvolved in the construction of meaning with questions such as: What range of meanings do verbs express? How can my choice of nouns affect the meaning of the text? How can I use certain types of adjectives to express my opinion aboutsomething? Which grammatical features are involved in skills such as classifying,defining, describing, generalising, exemplifying? Which linguistic features can help me produce a text that is coherentand cohesive? How do grammatical patterns change from text to text? Why and withwhat effect? How does the context affect the kinds of grammatical choices made?If you are concerned about the kinds of problems students might encounter,look for the Troubleshooting notes. There are certain linguistic structures thatoften cause problems, particularly for young students and EAL/ESL1 learners. Inmany cases, the problems will sort themselves out over time. Often, however, it isuseful for the teacher to be able to identify trouble spots so that the problem canbe explained or so that activities can be designed to address the difficulty. ESLlearners will need a much greater focus on developing their control over Englishgrammatical structures and meaning.It is this area that many people associate with the learning of grammar: thecorrection of ‘mistakes’. This is a legitimate area of concern. Students’ languageis often judged by their control over certain linguistic features, and this can bea significant factor in examinations, job applications, and so on. It is important,however, not to let this get out of perspective. Many ‘problems’ reflect students’ useof social dialects, especially in the spoken mode: he done it; me and him are goinghome. In the written mode, however, there are probably only a dozen or so problemstructures that regularly crop up – and most of them are to do with punctuation,not grammar. Typical of these are issues such as the use of ‘comma splices’ (It wasgetting late, we went home.); ‘run on sentences’ (The cows got out of the paddock theyran through the streets the farmer couldn’t catch them.); and ‘sentence fragments’(There were lots of animals. Such as kangaroos, koalas and rabbits.)1Learners of English as an Additional Language/English as a Second Language

IntroductionA functional perspectiveThe approach to grammar adopted in this book draws heavily upon the pioneeringwork done by Professor Michael Halliday in the area of Systemic FunctionalLinguistics. Functional Grammar is built upon a series of assumptions about theway language works in context: Language is a dynamic, complex system of resources for makingmeaning. Language reflects the culture in which it has evolved. It is not aneutral medium, but expresses certain world views, values, beliefs andattitudes. Our language choices change from situation to situation, depending onthe social purpose for which language is being used, the subject matter,who is involved, and whether the language is spoken or written. The emphasis in language study is on how people use authenticlanguage in various contexts in real life to achieve their purposes.The particular focus of this book will be on the language needed forsuccessful participation in school contexts. A knowledge of grammar can help us to critically evaluate our owntexts and those of others (eg identifying point of view; examining howlanguage can be manipulated to achieve certain effects and positionthe reader in different ways; knowing how language can be used toconstruct various identities or a

A new grammar companion for teachers/Beverly Derewianka. 2nd ed. ISBN: 9781875622900 English language – Grammar – Study and teaching (Primary) Grammar, Comparative and general – Study and teaching (Primary) . critically analyse texts s

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