Page 9 - DENG103_English - I

English–I

Notes Overall, functional grammar is concerned with the way that the different kinds of meaning
that contribute to grammatical structure are comprehensively addressed. It is concerned with
resources for
• analysing experience—what is going on,
• analysing interaction—who is communicating with whom
• analysing the ways in which messages are constructed

Notes In order to model grammar as a context sensitive, meaning-making resource, functional
grammar looks closely at the different contributions made by clause, phrase and group
and word structure to a text.
At the clause level, functional grammar deals with resources for:
• analysing experience (Process type, Participants and Circumstances),

• participating in communication (mood and modality)
• packaging information (theme and cohesion)

In addition it is concerned with resources for combining clauses into clause complexes (sentences).
At the phrase and group level, functional grammar deals with resources for :
• constructing Participants (noun groups)
• assessing events and setting them in time (verb groups)

• modifying events (adverb groups)
• qualifying Processes (preposition phrases)

• At the word class level functional grammar is concerned with resources for adapting
words to clause, phrase and group structures

• Within words, functional grammar is concerned with resources for analysing morphemes
(inflection and derivation).

Because the study of language structure has not been an explicit part of teacher education for
some decades, a technical approach to language is unfamiliar to many teachers. However the
resources described above are regularly used by speakers and writers to make meaning in
speech and writing. Bringing these resources to consciousness provides a powerful tool for
teachers and students to use in comprehending and composing texts within contexts.

1.1 Phrase

In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a
group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a
sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause.
For example, the house at the end of the street is a phrase. It acts like a noun. It can further
be broken down into two shorter phrases functioning as adjectives: at the end and of the
street, a shorter prepositional phrase within the longer prepositional phrase. At the end of the
street could be replaced by an adjective such as nearby: the nearby house or even the house
nearby. The end of the street could also be replaced by another noun, such as the crossroads
to produce the house at the crossroads.

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