ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR by Professor David Eka
₦1,796.35
ABOUT THE BOOK
This book introduces fresh dimensions into both the elements of grammar and mechanics of English; It has enormous potential utility; there is material for almost every learner of English as a second language. Chapter 1,2,3 and 4 are particularly rich and are useful at the tertiary level of English education for both students and teachers. chapter 5,6. and 7 are equally rich but the tempo seems to have dropped slightly. Chapter 8 is peculiarly accessible to even users at the post-primary level. Reading the book from the beginning to the end gives one a feeling of having followed the events of a classical drama from exposition to development to complication to a climax, then to a resolution and a final catharsis! On a serious note the reader feels he has read it all.
It is also a great resource book. There is no doubt that this text will be found useful by a wide range of students and teachers in the Faculties of Arts and Education in the Universities.
Specifically, students of English Education, Linguistics, Foreign Languages and Communication Arts particularly from their sophomore years will find it a useful guide in the writing courses. Generally, the text will go a long way in righting the wrongs of grammatical inaccuracies or smoothening the rough edges of undergraduate writing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENERAL INTRODUCTlON
01 Background Issues
O2 Grammar: Take-oh Points
03 Mechanics of English:A Preliminary Survey
04 The Text
PART ONE
1 GOALS, CONCEPTS AND MODELS
1.1 Goals
1.2 The Concept of Grammar
1.2.1 Technical Explications
1.3 Grammatical Models
1.3.1 The Traditional Model
1.3.1.1 Problems with Traditional Grammar
1.3.1.2 The Other Side of Traditional Grammar
1.3.2 Phrase Structure Grammar
1.3.3 Transformational Generative Grammar
1.3.4 Systemic Grammar
1.3.4.1 Unit
1.3.4.2 Structure
1.3.4.3 Class
1.3.4.4 System
1.3.4.5 Additional Explications
1.4 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 1
2 ELEMENTS, GROUPS AND APPROACHES
2.1 Elements
2.2 Grouping cf the Elements
2.2.1 Opening Class Elements
2.2.2 Closed System Elements
2.3 Approaches to Analysis of the Elements
2.3.1 The Traditional Approach
2.3.2 The Positional Approach
2.3.3 The Inflectional Approach
2.3.4 Synthesis
2.4 Elements and Functions
2.4.1 Elements at Sentences and Clauses Levels
2.4.1.1 Sentence Elements
2.4.1.2 Elements and Types of Sentences
2.4.1.2.1 Structurally Determine Subtypes
2.4.1.2.2 Functionally Determined Subtypes
2.4.1.3 Clause Elements
2.4.1.4 Phrase Elements
2.4.1.5 Word Elements
2.4.1.5.1 The Notion and Key Terms
2.4.1.5.2 Allomorphic Variation
2.4.1.5.3 Affixation
2.4.1.5.3.1 Prefixation and Suffixation
2.5 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
3 NOUNS AND NOMINALS
3.1 Classification of Nouns
3.1.1 Proper Nouns
3.1.2 Common Nouns
3.1.3 Collectives Nouns
3.1.4 Abstract Nouns
3.2 Classification Along the Lines of Observed Characteristic
3.2.1 Patterning with Modifiers
3.2.2 Tangible Versus Abstract
3.2.3 Collective Versus Individual
3.2.4 Count Versus Noncount
3.2.4.1 General Formation of Plural
3.2.5 Human Versus Nonhuman
3.3 Nominals
3.3.1 Adjectives as Nominals
3.3.2 Verbs as Nominals
3.3.3 Pronouns as Nominals
3.3.4 Clauses as Nominals
3.3.5 Phrases as Nominals
3.3.6 Nominalization of Processes
3.3.7 Structure of he Nominal Group
3.3.7.1 The m Element
3.3.7.1.1 General Occurence of Items within the Element
3.3.7.1.2 The Nature of Patterning within the rn Element
3.3.7.2 The h Element
3.3.7.3 The q Element
3.4 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
VERBS AND VERBALS
4.1 Verbs:Their Narure
4.2 Verbs: Constrastive Pairs
4.2.1 Base Form!Derived Form
4.2.2 Regular/Irregular
4.2.3 Lexicalmuxilary
4.2.3.1 Central Auxilary Verbs
4.2.3.2 Modal Auxiliary
4.2.3.2.1 Modality in Modal Auxiliaries
4.2.3.2.2 Negation in Modal Auxilaries
4.2.3.3 Marginal Auxilaries
4.2.4 Finite/Nonfinite
4.2.5 Transitive/Intransitive
4.2.6 Linking/Nonlinking
4.2.7 Stative/Dynamic
4.2.8 Structure of the Verbal Group in English
4.2.9 A Note on Time, Tense, Mood and Aspect in English
4.3 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
5 ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVALS
5.1 Meaning and Distinction
5.2 Criteria for Determinating Syntactic Functions of Adjectives
5.3 Adjectival Position: Additional Notes and Clues
5.4 Static/Dynamic Adjectives
5.5 Order of Adjectives
5.6 Adjectival Clauses and Phrases
5.7 Structure of the Adjectival Group
5.8 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
6 ADVERDS AND ADVERBIALS
6.1 The Nature of Adverbs and Adverbials
6.2 The Morphological Shapes of Adverbs
6.2.1 Adverbs Derived Through Suffixation
6.2.2 Adverbs Derived Through Prefixation
6.2.3 Adverbs Not Derived Through Affixatlon
6.3 Adverbs and Adverbials: Functional Subtypes
6.3.1 General Functional Subtypes
6.3.2. Adverbial Clauses
6.4 Mobility of Adverb/Adverbials
6.5 Structure of the Adverbial Group
6.6 Review Questions
NOTES OF CHAPTER 6
7 CLOSED SYSTEM ITEMS
7.1 The Set
7.2 Pronouns
7.2.1 A Survey
7.3 Pronouns – Additional Subtypes
7.3.1 Relative Pronoun
7.3.2 Partitive Pronouns
7.3.3 Reflextive Pronouns
7.3.4 Reciprocal Pronouns
7.3.5 Interrogative Pronouns
7.3.6 Demonstrative Pronouns
7.4 Prepositions
7.4.1 The Nature/Classification of Prepositions
7.4.2 Relationship in Space
7.4.3 Relationship in Time
7.4.4 Double Function
7.4.5 Prepositional Phrases
7.5 Conjuncts
7.5.1 Meaning
7.5.2 Coordinating Conjunctions
7.5.3 Surbodinating Conjunctions
7.5.4 Conjuncts
7.6 Interjections
7.7 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 7
PART TWO
8 MECHANICS OF ENGLISH
8.1 General Issues
8.2 Punctuation
8.2.1 The Fullstop
8.2.2 The Comma
8.2.3 The Colon
8.2.4 The Semi-Colon
8.2.5 The Question Mark
8.2.6 The Hypen
8.2.7 The Dash
8.2.8 Quotation Marks
8.2.9 The Apostrophe
8.2.10 The Exclamation Mark
8.2.11 Other Punctuation Marks
8.2.11.1 Bracket
8.2.11.2 Italics
8.2.11.3 Underlining
8.3 Capitalization
8.4 Spelling
8.5 Grammar-Related Mechanics
8.5.1 Concord
8.5.2 Parallelism
8.5.3 Modification
8.5.4 Fragmentation
8.6 Review Questions
NOTES TO CHAPTER 8
REFERENCES
INDEX
Description
FOREWORD
I consider it a great honour to be invited to write a foreword to a great book written by a scholar of great promise in the field of English Language Studies, particularly in a nonnative environment.
Three competing forces appear to have coalesced to induce the creation of this book, forces the author might not have been aware he was responding to. First, in this environment in which the English Language is learnt, acquired and used as a second language, the school system is indeed the dominant source of learning and acquisition. At the centre of this system is THE BOOK – the source of language information and instructional cues for language use. Secondly, at the tertiary level of the Nigerian educational system, the dearth of suitable instructional books on English Language has been acute for the past decade or more. Thirdly, most of the existing books in the field are published abroad and therefore subject to two major negative forces. Such books are often not easily available to students because of prohibitive prices and import problems. Their contents on the other hand, are largely descriptive, less instructional and not focused on learners with peculiar needs. Elements of Grammar and Mechanics of the English Language has therefore appeared in the field of English Language Studies and acquisition as a product of the need to meet the challenges posed by all those negative forces identified above.
In content and orientation, the book combines the approach of language analysis and description with instructional cues, thus facilitating students learning the language while learning about the language. Although the book is analytical in identifying and describing the grammatical elements of English and the mechanics of its oral and written media. it is a synthesis of various aspects offered in practical learning perspectives. Its selective approach is guided by perceived needs of a great variety of students, since the grammar of English is such a wide field for both learning and research. The elements and the mechanics focus on areas of difficulty encountered by students learning and using English at the tertiary level for academic and practical communication purposes. In its treatment of the elements and the mechanics, this book has tried to take the language out of THE BOOK in order to endow it with practical usage possibilities
More specifically, the book has the following levels of appeal and relevance; the university undergraduate required to learn both the grammar of English and its usages; undergraduate students in universities, polytechnics and colleges involved in training in the Use of English for academic communication; teacher trainees in Faculties of Education and Colleges of Education required to understand the grammatical characteristics of English in order.to teach the language to learners. The postgraduate student of English and Literary Studies would. of course, find in the book introductory guide posts to the grammar of English.
It is therefore with pleasure and pride in its worth that I commend this book to teachers students and ordinary readers in our higher institutions of learning
Dele Orisawayi (Ph. D}
Department of English and Literary Studies
University of Calabar
Calabar
Cross River State
Nigeria.
March 1994.
Prof. David Eka
Late Prof David Eka was an erudite Professor of English with more than 42 years experience. As a scholar who specialized in The Phonology of English, Sociolinguistics, General Phonetics, Applied Linguistics and Use of English/Language Planning, he had lectured and imparted knowledge to many in several Institutions across the nation and beyond. He held professional memberships in some bodies some of which includes Literary Society of Nigeria. A major part of his career had been with the University of Uyo, where he lectured and held several responsibilities within the Faculty of Arts and the University at large. He lectured 7 Undergraduate Courses, 4 Postgraduate Courses and supervised several Undergraduate and Postgraduate projects, thesis and dissertations.
He has authored several books, book chapters and journal articles, many of which can can be accessed on this website. He has been the Chief Editor to the Journal of Humanities for several volumes. He was a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church. He is blessed with a beautiful family.
He is late now, but his works lives on.
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