The learning of English tenses and verbs is obviously the major and challenging part of second language learning and acquisition for Chinese students. The paper analyzes the features of simple present tense, simple past tense and verbs in them from the aspect of Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk's student grammar book as an instructive example.…

This paper analyzes the "University Grammar of English" by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (1973) from the point of view of isolation of forms of language from meaning used to convey these forms, especially regarding gender differences and relations in the main characters, John and Mary Smith. It is suggested that females are underrepresented,…

The word "grammar" can be used in many ways: a general theory of language description; a theory for describing one language; a description of a particular language, either in the form of a book (an "English grammar") or the contents of that book; an ideal as opposed to actual description of a language; the properties and processes of a language…

This paper discusses the use of compliance tests and evaluation tests in two experiments dealing with specific questions of acceptability in English syntax. The experiments, conducted in 1970 at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, involved undergraduate students in their third or fourth years. The compliance tests, which are operation oriented…

Attitude and use in language do not always coincide. The foreign language teacher should be aware of language variation so that he can decide what forms to teach and when to introduce variants. Several generalizations about variation and acceptability in language are made. (Author/ND)

The author of this paper argues that, in the study of current usage, we need to supplement data from corpus studies by using methods that elicit use, reports of use, and evaluations of use on items which interest them. Ten methods for experimental elicitation of such data are described, related to one another, and illustrated with examples of data…

Overlapping samples of 191, 142, and 87 undergraduates rated pairs of sentences for the frequency and acceptability of the syntactic constructions represented to investigate the feasibility of using such ratings in the study of syntactic forms. The results indicated that subjects are consistent in their judgments of both the frequency and…

Data from undergraduates' ratings of the frequency and acceptability of selected syntactic constructions are analyzed for linguistically defined sets. Mean ratings of frequency and acceptability as well as the results from a cluster analysis of each set of sentences are given for seven target contrasts: active/passive, may/might, perfect/past,…

To ensure reliable language data for research there is a need for experiments eliciting acceptability judgments. Experimental data are discussed to show that evaluation of a sentence may be affected by the sentence with which it is paired. Sentences with similar deviances should be presented as a set for evaluation. (CHK)

Distinguishes between four types of English grammar (reference, pedagogical, theoretical, and teach-yourself) according to mode of use and shows how four factors enter into a typology of grammars: mode of use, language of the user, level of the user, and aims of use. (Author/CB)

Considers the frequently indefinable distinctions between descriptive and prescriptive English grammars, using examples of standard English and dialects to illustrate the uses of each. (Author/CB)

Describes the variety of meanings given to the word "grammar," and focuses on differences between descriptive and prescriptive uses of the term. Considers the usefulness of grammar instruction, and argues for its inclusion in school curricula. Emphasizes the utility and applicability of grammar within all the social sciences and humanities. (KH)

Discusses the development and progress of an international corpus of English (ICE) containing a regional corpora sampling of the standard varieties of English in countries where it is a first language, and the national varieties in countries where it is an official additional language. (GLR)

The central concern of this book is the pursuit of experimental methods whereby grammatical and semantic inquiry can be put on a satisfying objective basis. (To state that the aim is to find out whether a given linguistic form is "acceptable" is true, but an oversimplification which is misleading because it implies a "yes or no" decision and…

Presents results of a study on how accurately instructors in composition identified various kinds of errors. (RL)