Book contents
- Doing English Grammar
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Doing English Grammar
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Tables
- Editors’ Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Place of Grammar
- 2 What Is Grammar?
- 3 The Need for New Descriptions
- 4 Working with Terminology
- 5 Issues in Grammatical Description
- 6 Grammar in Operation
- 7 Case Study 1
- 8 Case Study 2
- 9 Case Study 3
- 10 Case Study 4
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Index
- References
3 - The Need for New Descriptions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2021
Book contents
- Doing English Grammar
- The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series
- Doing English Grammar
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Tables
- Editors’ Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Place of Grammar
- 2 What Is Grammar?
- 3 The Need for New Descriptions
- 4 Working with Terminology
- 5 Issues in Grammatical Description
- 6 Grammar in Operation
- 7 Case Study 1
- 8 Case Study 2
- 9 Case Study 3
- 10 Case Study 4
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Index
- References
Summary
The chapter outlines five reasons behind the need for new grammatical descriptions: language change, misconceptions about grammar (often based on incorrect rules of thumb), the discovery of new phenomena, the extension of the scope of grammar, and alternative ways of looking at old problems. Then two problems hampering new descriptions are discussed: metalinguistic relativity (the claim that the current grammatical framework and associated terminology is too rigid and prevents novel insights), and poor transmission – a lack of communication between different constituencies of grammarian. Thus many ‘facts’ about English grammar have been known for some time, but have not reached the pedagogic domain.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Doing English GrammarTheory, Description and Practice, pp. 43 - 67Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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