Grammar: Prescriptive vs Descriptive

Question 1

What is grammar?

Answer 1

the structural rules governing a language’s syntax, morphology, and phonology

Question 2

Linguists believe grammar has two parts:

Answer 2

grammar and lexicon

Question 3

Non-linguists use the term grammar to include things like

Answer 3

spelling and punctuation

Question 4

Traditional grammar has origins in

Answer 4

Latin and Ancient Greek

Question 5

Parts of speech

Answer 5

nouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions

Question 6

Noun

Answer 6

used to refer to people, objects, creatures, places, qualities, phenomena, and abstract ideas

Question 7

Articles

Answer 7

used with nouns to classify those ‘things’

Question 8

Adjectives

Answer 8

give more info about nouns

Question 9

Verbs

Answer 9

used to refer to actions and states

Question 10

Adverbs

Answer 10

used typically with verbs to provide more info

Question 11

Prepositions

Answer 11

used typically with nouns to provide more info about time, place, or other connections

Question 12

Pronouns

Answer 12

used in place of noun phrases

Question 13

Conjunctions

Answer 13

used to make connections and indicate relationships between events

Question 14

Other parts of speech can include

Answer 14

interjections, numerals, postpositions

Question 15

Brainerd Kellogg created a way to

Answer 15

diagram a sentence

Question 16

Prescriptivism

Answer 16

holds that some varieties are better than others, most dictionaries and grammar guides are prescriptive, they identify and reinforce standard rules

Question 17

Descriptivism

Answer 17

an approach that most linguists take to language, linguists have a mission to describe real language

Question 18

Prescriptive rules come from

Answer 18

Latin and Greek

Question 19

Written language often

Answer 19

preserves linguistic forms that have died out in normal spoken language

Question 20

Facet of language

Answer 20

Phonology, morphology, syntax

Question 21

Phonology

Answer 21

sound system, phonemes (speech sounds) of a language and the rules regarding them

Question 22

Morphology

Answer 22

morphemes are the smallest units in a language that have meaning, usually are individual words but suffixes and prefixes are also examples of morphemes

Question 23

Syntax

Answer 23

word order within sentences and clauses

Question 24

How do linguists mark ungrammatical utterances

Answer 24

with an asterisk

Question 25

AAVE has a ________

Answer 25

habitual be

Question 26

AAVE

Answer 26

African-American Vernacular English