Essential Morphosyntactic Elements of the English Language, Notes

TEMARIO DE OPOSICIONES

INGLÉS - PRIMARIA

TEMA 12
ELEMENTOS ESENCIALES DE
MORFOSINTAXIS DE LA LENGUA INGLESA.
ESTRUCTURAS COMUNICATIVAS
ELEMENTALES. USO PROGRESIVO DE LAS
CATEGORÍAS GRAMATICALES EN LAS
PRODUCCIONES ORALES Y ESCRITAS PARA
MEJORAR LA COMUNICACIÓN.
DE O
OS
PREI
IONES
DE CANARIAS
preparacionoposiciones.com
preparacion.oposicionesTOPIC 12. ESSENTIAL MORPHOSYNTACTIC ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE. BASIC COMMUNICATIVE STRUCTURES. PROGRESSIVE USAGE
OF GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES IN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN PRODUCTION
TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. ESSENTIAL
   MORPHOSYNTACTIC
   ELEMENTS OF
   THE
   ENGLISH
   LANGUAGE
3. THE STUDY OF MORPHOLOGY: MORPHEMES
4. THE WORD
5. PHRASES, CLAUSES AND SENTENCES
6. BASIC COMMUNICATIVE STRUCTURES
7. PROGRESSIVE USAGE OF GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES IN SPOKEN AND
   WRITTEN PRODUCTION TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION.
8. PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR
9. STAGES TO THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR
10. CONCLUSION
11. DOCUMENTAL REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

CCOSE
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1" All I know about grammar is its infinite power." - Joan Didion
Language is far more than just a means of communication; it is the very essence of human
connection, allowing us to share ideas, emotions, and identities. In the study of the English
language, morphosyntactic elements play a crucial role in this process, as they govern the
rules of word formation (morphology) and sentence structure (syntax). These elements, such
as verb tenses, agreement, word order, and sentence patterns, allow students to construct
coherent and meaningful sentences, providing the framework that enables learners to
communicate effectively and accurately.
The classroom becomes a space of exploration and growth, where students learn not just to
speak, but to connect deeply with others. It's a place where they begin to see the world
through new eyes, to understand the unspoken rules that guide our interactions, and to
appreciate the beauty of diverse cultures. As educators, our mission is to cultivate this
environment, one where every conversation is an opportunity to build bridges, to foster
understanding, and to create bonds that go beyond language itself.
This vision aligns with the principles of the LOMLOE and Royal Decree 157/2022,
emphasizing the importance of developing communicative competence and intercultural
understanding as part of a holistic educational approach. Besides, we could highlight the
Communication block of the basic knowledge stated in the Decree 211/2022, november
10th, which covers comprehension, production, interaction, and mediation.

ESSENTIAL MORPHOSYNTACTIC ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL, 2020)
distinguishes between linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences within the broad
concept of communicative language competences. Grammatical competence is an important
component of linguistic competences. The CEFR defines grammatical accuracy as the
knowledge of, and ability to use the grammatical resources of a language. In a formal sense,
the grammar of a language can be seen as the set of principles governing the elements of that
language into meaningful pieces or sentences. In the following sections, we will deeply
analyze all these pieces.
Morphosyntax may be defined as the study of grammatical categories or linguistic units that
have both morphological and syntactic properties. Morphemes and syntax are the elements
concerned primarily with the creation of meaning in language.
After this brief introduction, we will go to consider the essential elements of morphosyntax,
which are the morpheme, the word and the sentence.

THE STUDY OF MORPHOLOGY: MORPHEMES

A morpheme, according to Gimson (2001), is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit in a
language that carries its own meaning. It cannot be further divided. Words are formed by one
or more morphemes, as in the following examples: the word "ring" consists of a single
2
preparacionoposiciones.commorpheme, while "pencils" contains two morphemes-"pencil" (the base morpheme) and "'s"
(the plural morpheme).
Every morpheme can be classified as either free or bound.
Free morphemes occur independently as separate words, such as "school", "t-shirt" or "look"
Among them we find:

• Lexical morphemes, which are words that carry the content of the message, such as
  nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
• Functional morphemes, which are functional words in the language, such as,
  prepositions, conjunctions, articles and pronouns.

Bound morphemes do not have meaning by their own and cannot occur by their own. They
can be further classified as derivational on inflectional morphemes.

• Inflectional morphology deals with changes made to a word (called a lexeme) to
  show grammatical information, such as tense, number, gender, mood, or person.
  These changes do not create new words; instead, they modify the form of the existing
  word to fit the grammatical structure of a sentence. For example, when we add an
  ending like "-s" to the verb "walk" to make "walks," (third person).
• Derivational morphology studies how new words are constructed. Derivational
  morphemes, when combined with a root, change the semantic meaning of the part of
  speech of the affected word. In the word "happiness", the root is "happy," which is an
  adjective. By adding the bound morpheme "-ness," the word changes from an
  adjective (describing a feeling) to a noun (the state or quality of being happy).
  Similarly, in "disagree", the prefix "dis-" is a derivational morpheme because it
  changes the meaning of the root "agree", resulting in the opposite
  meaning: "disagree".

THE WORD

The term "word" is defined as the smallest unit of expression that can be identified in both
spoken and written language. According to Bloomfield (1926), words are the minimal free
form.
The classification of word classes was studied by Quirk et al. (1972), who divided them into
open and closed classes.
Open classes: These are word categories that can be expanded or modified, such as nouns,
adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.

• Nouns are a part of speech that denote a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are
  commonly divided into categories such as proper nouns (e.g., Arya Stark), common nouns
  (e.g., table, chair), abstract nouns (e.g., love, truth), countable nouns (e.g., two cars),
  uncountable nouns (e.g., music, water), and collective nouns (e.g., forest, herd).
  . Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words by identifying or
  qualifying/quantifying (e.g., comparatives and superlatives) another person or thing.
  3
  preparacionoposiciones.comAdjectives are usually positioned before the noun or pronoun they modify, depending on
  certain considerations: quantity, quality, size, age, shape, colour, proper adjective and
  purpose.
• Verbs are the central part of a sentence, expressing an action, occurrence, or state of being.
  A sentence or question cannot exist without a verb. Some important features of verbs include
  auxiliary verbs, such as in "Does she write a letter?"; modal verbs like "can," "could,"
  "should," and "must"; and phrasal verbs, which combine a verb and a preposition, as in "look
  at." Irregular verbs, such as "go, went, gone," also play a key role in the language.
  Additionally, verb forms can take the form of gerunds, which end in "-ing" (e.g., "running"),
  or infinitives, which are formed with "to" plus the base form of the verb (e.g., "to write").
  Verbs can also be used in the passive voice, as in the example "My laptop was stolen."
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. For instance, in the phrase "quite
  slowly," the adverb modifies another adverb. Adverbs often end in "-ly" when derived from
  adjectives and can be categorized into time (e.g., "tomorrow"), place (e.g., "here"), degree
  (e.g., "very"), frequency (e.g., "always"), and manner (e.g., "quickly").
  Closed classes, unlike open word categories, cannot be changed or expanded. They include
  prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and pronouns.
  . Prepositions link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other parts of the sentence. Examples
  include time prepositions like "in," "on," and "at"; place prepositions like "on," "under," and
  "behind"; and direction prepositions like "towards" and "through."
• Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses and are often referred to as connectors or
  linking words, such as "but," "however," "thus," "because," and "and."
  . Determiners specify the number and definiteness of nouns and include articles ("the," "a,"
  "an"), demonstratives ("this," "that," "these," "those"), possessives ("my," "your," "his,"
  "her"), quantifiers ("some," "more"), and cardinal numbers ("one," "two").
• Pronouns, which replace nouns or other pronouns to avoid repetition, come in several
  forms: personal pronouns (e.g., "I," "you," "he," "she"), possessive pronouns (e.g., "mine,"
  "yours," "theirs"), relative pronouns (e.g., "where," "who," "whoever"), and reflexive
  pronouns (e.g., "myself," "yourself"). These closed-class words are essential to the structure
  of sentences, even though they carry less meaning compared to content words like verbs and
  nouns.

PHRASES, CLAUSES AND SENTENCES

In this section, we will provide a distinction between phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Phrases are groups of words that do not contain both a subject and a predicate, and they
cannot stand alone as a clause or sentence. For example, "a yellow car" is a noun phrase.
Clauses are groups of words containing both a subject and a predicate, and they function as
part of a complex or compound sentence. For instance, "I studied a lot" (independent clause)
and "because I wanted to pass the exam" (dependent clause).
4
preparacionoposiciones.comSentences are grammatically complete and semantically independent units. They usually
begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark, such as a full stop. Traditionally,
every complete sentence has a subject and a predicate, but other elements may also be
present.

1. The subject refers to the person or thing that performs the action of a verb.
2. The predicate is the part of a sentence that provides information about the subject. It
   contains the verb, which can be transitive, intransitive, or copulative, among others.

• Intransitive verbs indicate a complete action without needing a direct
  object.
• Transitive verbs require a direct object (the action performed by the subject)
  and sometimes an indirect object (the person or thing affected by the action).
• Copulative verbs are verbs that link the subject to an adjective or another
  noun. Common examples include "be" (is, are), "appear," "seem," "look,"
  "feel," and "taste."

3 Complements are words or phrases that complete the meaning of the subject or predicate
and are necessary to make the sentence meaningful.

• Subject complements (defining the subject): My sister is pretty.
• Object complements (following direct objects): She named her baby Sarah.
• Verb complements (a direct or indirect object of a verb): Granny left her daughter all
  her money.

To sum up, we will analyze one sentence syntactically: "The children buy some sweets and
pastries for the teachers." In this sentence, "The children" is the subject, and "buy some
sweets and pastries for the teachers" is the predicate. The direct object is "some sweets and
pastries, " and the indirect object is "for the teachers."

BASIC COMMUNICATIVE STRUCTURES

A proper study of elementary communicative structures includes both formal and functional
classifications.
Formal classification refers to the structure of sentences based on their grammatical form.
Functional classification, on the other hand, focuses on the purpose or function of a sentence
within communication. According to Greenbaum (1990), simple sentences can be divided
into five major syntactic types:

1. Declaratives (formal) and statements (functional): These are statements used to
   convey information or facts. Example: I like nuts.
2. Interrogatives (formal) and questions (functional): These are questions used to
   seek information. Example: Do you like nuts?
3. Imperatives (formal) and commands and requests (functional): These sentences
   are used to give commands or requests. Example: Eat up all the nuts!