Discovering Grammar: An Introduction to English Sentence Structure

Discovering Grammar: An Introduction to English Sentence Structure encourages students to explore grammar through a unique "discovery" approach that encompasses both critical thinking and text analysis. Ideal for courses in the structure of English, this book is also useful for courses in English education/language arts, English as a second language, and linguistics. Part One offers an overview of different definitions of and approaches to grammar and outlines the approach to descriptive grammar taken in the text. This section also includes an introduction to phrase structure and evidence for syntactic structure based on movement, pronominalization, and coordination. Part Two introduces each syntactic category (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition) through morphological and syntactic evidence and highlights the basic division between lexical and grammatical categories. Part Three focuses on the structure of sentences, discussing subordination, complementation, adjunction, and more.
In contrast with most traditional grammar books--whose exercises focus on drills and memorization--Discovering Grammar features practical and engaging exercises. Discovery Problems encourage students to "discover" sentence structure by analyzing patterns of data. Students can then apply their skills to Text Analysis exercises in which they examine a wide variety of different texts including excerpts from poetry, novels, television, movies, and other media. Language Diversity Exercises introduce students to other varieties of English, both earlier versions (Old and Middle English) and current "world" Englishes used both inside and outside the U.S. Each chapter concludes with a chapter review and a comprehensive exercise that can be used as a chapter test. The volume is further enhanced by a concise glossary and a guide for doing Language Diversity Exercises.

Anne Lobeck is at Western Washington University.