TEMA 12 – ELEMENTOS ESENCIALES DE MORFOSINTAXIS DE LA

LENGUA INGLESA. ESTRUCTURAS COMUNICATIVAS ELEMENTALES.

USO PROGRESIVO DE LAS CATEGORIAS GRAMATICALES EN LAS
PRODUCCIONES ORALES Y ESCRITAS PARA MEJORAR LA
COMUNICACIÓN.

The present essay aims to study the concept of morphosintax.

In order to do so, I will first develop the essential elements of morphosintax –

the morpheme, the word, the phrase and the sentence.

Second, I will focus on the elementary communicative structures, giving a

formal classification of sentences at the syntactic level; that is, declarative,
imperative, interrogatives and exclamatives sentences; next giving a semantic
classification of sentences which consists of statements, questions, directives
exclamations; and finally, giving a pragmatic classification of utterances by
discussing speech acts and their taxonomy.

The third part of the essay will study the progressive use of grammar categories
to improve oral and written communicative competence. In this way, I will
emphasize on how to teach grammar. In doing so, I will describe the goals and
techniques for teaching grammar, and then, the strategies for learning
grammar. I will stress on developing grammar activities and assessing grammar
proficiency.

Finally, a section is dedicated to explain how to teach grammar through ICT and
the resources I can use in the classroom to give an updated approach to
teaching grammar.

To develop the first part of the topic, where the elements of morphosyntax are
going to be explained, it is necessary first to give a definition of morphosyntax.
A morphosintactic analysis of language uses criteria from both morphology and
syntax to study language. Syntax is concerned with the way words combine to
form sentences, while morphology is concerned with the forms of words.

Let us now consider the essential elements of morphosintax: the morpheme,

the word, the phrase and the sentence.

As regards the morpheme, it may be said that it is the meaningful unit.

Sometimes, it is not easy to analyse words into morphemes. In English, It is
difficult to analyse irregular nouns and verbs; mice is the plural of mouse, but it
is not obvious how to identify a plural morpheme in the word, analogous to the -
s ending of cats. Another difficulty is that morphemes sometimes have more
than one phonetic form, e.g. the past tense morpheme –ed in English is
pronounced in three different ways. These variant forms of a morpheme are
known as allomorphs.

Morphemes can be classified into free and bound forms. Free morphemes can
occur as separate words, e.g. iron, crab. Bound morphemes cannot occur on
their own, e.g. – tic, inter – Two main fields are traditionally recognized within
morphology:

a) Inflectional morphology studies the way in which words vary (or inflect) in
order to express grammatical contrast in sentences, such as singular,
past, present. These grammatical contrast are called grammatical
categories ( Crystal: 1987): aspect, case, gender, mood, number,
person, tense and voice.
b) Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the construction
of new words, without reference to the specific grammatical role a word
might play in a sentence. There are some processes in English by which
new words are created:
- Compounding: A joining of separate words to produce a single form.
E.g. sunburn, wallpaper, etc.
- Blending: This conbining of two separate forms to produce a single
new term is also present in the process called blending. One example
of blending is Brunch ( breakfast/ lunch)
- Coinage: Is one of the most common process of word-formation in
English, that is the invention of toatally new terms. Words as aspirin
and nylon, originally invented trade names, are examples. Familiar
recent examples are Kleenex and Xerox.
- Borrowing: One of the most common source of new words in English
in the process simply labelled borrowing, that is, the taking over of
words from other language. Thorought its history, the Enbglish
language has adopted a vast number of loan-words from other
languages, including alcohol ( Arabic), boss (Dutch), croissant
( French), siesta ( Spanish)
- Clipping The elements of reduction which is noticeable in blending is
even more apparent in the process described as clipping. This occurs
when a word or more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form,
often in casual speech. The term gasoline is still in use, but occurs
much less frequently than gas, the clipped form. Common examples
are ad ( advertisement), plane ( aeroplane) etc.
- Conversion: A change in the function of word as for example, when a
noun comes to be used as a verb ( without any reduction) is generally
knows as conversion. E.g. guess, must, spy, aim, record.
- Acronyms: Some new words are formed from the initial letters of a set
of other words. These acronyms often consist of capital letter, as in
NATO, UK, E.U but can lose their capital to become everyday terms
such as lasser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
- Affixation: In the preceding group of words, it should be obvious that
some affixes have to be added to the beginning of a word ( un- ).
These are called prefixes. The other affixes forms are added to the
end of the word ( -ish) and are calle suffixes. All English words
formed by derivational process use either prefixes and suffixes, or
both. Thus mislead has a prefix, disrespectful has both prefix and
suffix and foolishness has two suffixes.
Now that the morpheme has been considered, I will focus on the word. Words
are usually the easiest units to identify in the written language, as they
commonly have spaces on either side.

Since the early days of grammatical study, words have been grouped into word
classes, traditionally labelled the parts of speech. Quirk et al. ( 1985) distinguish
the following:

a) Closed classes: prepositions ( of, at, in, on); pronouns ( he, she
anyboby); determiners ( the, a, that); conjunctions ( and, that, when);
modal verbs ( can, must, will, could) and primary verbs: ( be, have, to)
b) Open classes: nouns ( John, room, book); adjectives ( happy, sad, new);
full verbs ( search, grow, play) ; and adverbs ( steadily, completely,
really).

Apart from morphemes and words, I will focus now on the phrase and the
sentence. The main difference between these two units is that a phrase is a
constituent which can be identifies on the basis of the word class membership
of at least one of its constituent words, whereas a sentence is identifiable on the
basis of the relations holding among its immediate constituent. The following
phrases can be distinguished:

- Noun Phrase: All the kids were sleeping.

- Adjective Phrase: Everyone was extremely delighted when the winner
was announced.
- Adverb Phrase: I will meet you tomorrow.
- Prepositional Phrase: In the kitchen you will find my mom
- Verb Phrase: Mary might have been waiting outside for you.

Let us now turn to examine the sentence. According to Downing and Locke
( 2002) the term sentence is widely used to refer to quite different types of unit:
grammatically, it is the highest unit and consist of one independent clause or
two more related clauses; orthographically and rhetorically, it is that unit which
stats with a capital letter and comes between full tops. Three possible types of
sentence are usually distinguished:

a) Independent clause or sentence: The simple sentence, consisting of one

independent clause, as in John sold his house.
b) Paratactic relationship or independent clauses. The compound sentence,
consisting of two independent clauses, linked in a relationship of
coordination, as in John sold his house and Peter bought it.
c) Hypotactic relationship or dependent clauses. The complex sentence,
consisting of one independent clause and one dependent clause, linked
in a relationship of subordination, as in While John bought the tickets,
Mary parked her car.

The syntactic structure of a clause depends on the type of lexical verbs that
occurs in the sentence and the kind of complementation that the lexical verb
requires. There are six types of lexical verbs:

Monotransitive: verbs include one extensive complement. The complement is a

Direct Object. E.g. I phoned Mary.

Intransitive verbs: do not take Objects or Complements.

Ditransitive verbs such as give, send or fetch take two objects: Indirect
and Direct sequenced in that order, each of which can potentially
become Subject in a passive clause.
1. Intensive or copular verbs Sometimes referred to as relational linking or
copular, belong to a small group which include verbs like: be, seems,
become, look, appear, etc.
2. Complex transitive verbs, include one Object and one intensive
complement. The Direct Object generally represents a person or thing,
and the Object Complement adds information about this entry from the
standpoint of the Subject as in I found the place empty.
3. Prepositional verbs require a prepositional phrase in order to be
complete: glance at, lean on, refer to. E.g. I depend on him.
In the second part of the topic, I will consider the elementary communicative
structures, starting with the term communicative competence.

Such a concept was firstly introduced by Chomsky (1957) who defined

language as “a set of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a
finite set of elements”. An able speaker has a subconscious knowledge of the
grammar rules of his language which allows him to make sentences in that
language (i.e. language). Nevertheless, Hymes replaced Chomsky´s notion of
competence with his own concept of communicative competence and
distinguished the following aspects:

a) Systematic potential: A native speaker possesses a system that has a

potential for creating language.
b) Appropriacy: A native speaker knows what language is appropriate in
a given situation
c) Occurence: A native speaker knows how often something is said in the
language and act accordingly.
d) Feasibility: A native speaker knows whether something is possible in
the language

Let us analyse Canale and Swain´s theory, they point out that: “There is come
diversity of opinion in the literature as to:

a) Whether or not the notion “communicative competence” includes that of

“grammatical competence” as one of its components.
b) Whether or not “communicative competence” should be distinguished
from ( communicative) performance.

According to Canale (1983:5) communicative competence refers to “the

underlying system of knowledge and skill required for communication”. The four
components of communicative competence can be summarized as follows:

a) Grammatical competence: producing a structured comprehensible

utterance ( including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling)
 b) Discursive competence: It refers to the ability to use different types of
discourse and organise them according to the communicative situation,
with coherence and cohesion.
c) Sociolinguistic competence: involving knowledge of the sociocultural
rules of language and of discourse.
d) Strategic competence: increasing the effectiveness of communication
and compensating for breakdowns in communication.
e) Sociocultural competence: awareness of the social and cultural context
in which the foreign language is used.

The concept of communicative competence is also present in our educative

system. The Organic Law 3/2020, highlights the importance of developing
both oral and written skills in the three different cycles of Primary Education.
More precisely, the Roya Decree 126/2014 divides the contents for the area
of foreign language in Primary Education: Block 1: Understanding of oral
texts; Block 2. Production of oral texts, expressions and interactions; Block
3. Comprehension of written texts; and Block 4. Production o written texts,
expression and interaction. All these contents contribute, to the development
of the different components of communicative competence in the foreign
language.

One of the elements of communicative competence is grammar competence; it

is not possible to communicate if it is not known how to form and understand
sentences as they are the most elementary communicative structures. A study
of elementary communicative structures must include three aspects:

a) Formal classification of sentences: Simple sentences may be divided into

four major syntactic types differentiated by their form:
- Declaratives: sentences in which the subject is presented and
generally precedes the verb, e.g. She brought me a car.
- Interrogatives: sentences which are formally marked in one or two
ways, In yes-no interrogative the operator is placed in front of the
 subject, e.g. Did you read the book? WH-interrogatives have the th-
element initially, e.g. Who did you see yesterday?
- Imperatives: sentences which normally have no overt grammatical
subject and whose verb has the base form, e.g. Pass me the salt!
- Exclamatives: sentences which have an initial introduced by what or
how, usually with subject-verb order, e.g. What a beautiful house!
b) Semantic classification of sentences: There are four classes of discourse
function, four general semantic classes at the most general level
( associated with previous sentence types):
- Statements: They are primarily used to convey information.
- Questions: they are primarily used to seek information on a specific
point. Could you send me an e-mail, please?
- Directives: they are primarily used to instruct somebody to do
something. Open the door, please
- Exclamations: they are primarily used to express the extent to which
the speaker is impressed by something. What a beautiful day!

Direct association between syntactic and semantic class is the norm, but two
classes do not always match, for example, She told you I was lying, is a
declarative question and Isn´t she pretty is sintactically interrogative but
semantically an exclamation.

c) Pragmatic classification of sentences. The four semantic classes of

discourse functions distinguish discourse functions at the most general
level. Furthermore, It is possible to make more refined distinctions. For
example, a statement can be used to make an assertion, a prediction, an
apology. These pragmatic categories indicate how the semantic classes
of sentences are used in actual utterances or speech acts, that is, when
we deal with the hearer´s communication intention.

Utterances are speech acts. A speech act is an utterance that serves a function
communication.

J.L. Austin developed the theory of speech act and Searle made a taxonomy.
According to Searle speech acts can be classified as follows:
From Searle's view, there are only five illocutionary points that speakers can
achieve on propositions in an utterance, namely: the assertive, commissive,
directive, declaratory and expressive illocutionary points. Speakers achieve the
assertive point when they represent how things are in the world, the commissive
point when they commit themselves to doing something, the directive point
when they make an attempt to get hearers to do something, the declaratory
point when they do things in the world at the moment of the utterance solely by
virtue of saying that they do and the expressive point when they express their
attitudes about objects and facts of the world

In the third part of the topic, I will develop the progressive use of grammar
categories to improve oral and written communicative competence when
teaching and learning grammar.

The formal teaching of grammar is not an objective in Primary Education. In our

country, the main priority is to be able to acquire basic communicative skills in a
foreign language to be able to express and understand simple messages in
daily situations. Such objective is stated in Decree 89/2014 which temporarily
establishes the curriculum of Primary Education for the Community of Madrid.

Following Byrd (1998) Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of

languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well.
Many people, including language teachers, hear the word “grammar” and think
of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate “good” grammar
and think of a fixed set of word forms of the language, such as those used in
writing and in formal oral presentations, and “bad” or “no” grammar with the
language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of non-prestige
forms.

Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of

forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and
then drilling students on them. Other language teachers, influenced by recent
theoretical work on the difference between language learning and language
acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. Believing that children acquire
their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect students to
learn their second language the same way.

The communicative competence model balances these extremes. The model

recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language
more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the large
context of teaching students to use the language. Instructors using this model
teach students the grammar they need to know to accomplish defined
communication tasks.

As regards the techniques for teaching grammar, three main implications need
to be considered:

a) Students need overt instruction that connects points with a larger

communication context.
b) Students do not need to master every aspects of each grammar point,
only those that are relevant to the inmmediate communication task.
c) Error correction is not always the instructor´s first responsibility

At this point it is necessary to deal with those strategies that teachers and
students may consider for learning grammar:

a) Relate knowledge needs to learning goals . Identify the relationship of

declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge to student´s goals for
learning the language.
b) Apply higher order thinking skills . Recognize that development of
declarative knowledge can accelerate development of procedural
knowledge. Teaching students how the language works and giving them
opportunities to compare it with other languages they know allows them
to draw on critical thinking and analytical skills.
 c) Provide plentiful, appropriate language input. Understand that
students develop both procedural and declarative knowledge on the
basis of the input they receive.
d) Use predicting skills. Discourse analysts have demonstrated that
different communication types can be characterized by the clusters of
linguistic features that are common on those types. Awareness of these
features allows students to anticipate the forms and structures they will
encounter in a given communication task.
e) Limit expectations for drills. Mechanical drills in which students
substitute pronouns for nouns or alternate the person, number, or tense
of verbs can help students memorize irregular forms and challenging
structures. However, students do not develop the ability to use grammar
correctly in oral and written interactions by doing mechanical drills,
because these drills separate form from meaning and use.

Now that I have developed the strategies for learning grammar, I will stress on
the adequacy of the grammar activities introduced in the classroom in order to
make students aware of the correct use of language.

Textbooks usually provide one or more of the following types of grammar

exercises:

- Mechanical drills: Each prompt has only one correct response, and
students can complete the exercise without attending to meaning. For
example: George waited for the bus this morning. He will wait for the
bus tomorrow morning, too.
- Meaningful drills. Each prompt has only one correct response, and
students must attend to meaning to complete the exercise. For
example: Where are George´s papers? They are in his notebook

In order to provide authentic assessment of student´s grammar proficiency, an

evaluation must reflect real-life uses of grammar in context. This means that the
activity must have a purpose other than assessment and require students to
demonstrate their level of grammar proficiency by completing some tasks.

To develop authentic assessment activities, begin with the types of tasks that
students will actually need to do using the language.

Assessment can then take the form of communicative drills and communicative
activities like those used in the teaching process.

The use of resources involving ICT is a must in the curriculum nowadays. The
Organic Law 3/2020, passed on 28 th December, highlights the importance of
ICT indicating that, handling technology constitute one of the contents that
students must develop in all areas, which are termed as common elements.
Different supports and resources can be used such as:

- DVDs
- Website with flashcards and written activities to improve their
grammar is one example
- Language labs activities

To sum up, what I have developed in the present essay is to provide a detailed
account on the concept of mophosintax. Secondly, I have developed
elementary communicative structures, giving a formal classification of
sentences at the syntactic level. Thidly, I have studied the progressive use of
grammar categories to improve oral and written communicative competence. In
this way, I have emphasized on how to teach grammar. Finally, I have pointed
out the importance of ICT in language learning.

In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used:

- Brewster, J. Ellis, G. and Girard, D. The Primary English Teacher´s

Guide, New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, Essex, U.K. 2002
- Windownson, H.G. Teaching Language as Communication. O.U.P.
Oxford. 1978
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