In-Class, Sept. 21st: Intro Grammar for Grammarians

In-class exercise: Grammar is......

STEP 1: As a COMMENT to this blog, write your own personal DEFINITION of GRAMMAR!
(5 minutes; minimum: at least one complete sentence; maximum 5 sentences)



STEP 2:
Today, we are beginning the work with our textbook. For those who have forgotten to bring it, I have scanned the pages we are going to use in class today.

Read/skim pages 2, 3, 4, and 5 of your textbook (or, the first four pages of the 6-page scan), and learn how to define the terms

• prescriptive,
• descriptive,
• generative, and
• contextual.

STEP 3: Get together in 5 groups. Each group will get certain exercises that deal with this chapter. You have to correctly categorize statements about grammar into the four groups we have just gotten to know. Create a Word document (pick one writer per group, and include all group members' names) in which you first type the statement, then the category, and then briefly EXPLAIN why it belongs to the category you've assigned to it. Copy and paste your Word document and put it up as a NEW THREAD on the blog! (Make sure nothing is bold-printed or in different fonts, because this will cause error messages and avoid publication of the post. You can edit the layout later on the blog.)

Distribute the tasks fairly, so that each group member gets at least one task to solve!

GROUP 1:
You'll get exercise 1) on page 5 of your textbook, plus 3 definitions of grammar from your own peers that you can choose from this blog.

GROUP 2:
You'll get exercise 2) a-e on page 5 of your textbook, plus 3 definitions of grammar from your own peers that you can choose from this blog.

GROUP 3:
You'll get exercise 2) f-k on page 6 of your textbook, plus 3 definitions of grammar from your own peers that you can choose from this blog.

GROUP 4:
You'll get exercises 3), 4), and 5) a) and b) of your textbook, plus 3 definitions of grammar from your own peers that you can choose from this blog.

GROUP 5:
You'll get exercises 5) c) and d) and 6) of your textbook, plus 3 definitions of grammar from your own peers that you can choose from this blog.

HOMEWORK for WEDNESDAY:
Read chapter 1 (pp. 8-20), "Part 1: Prescriptive Grammar"!