AJ1211 Selected Chapters from Syntax

Faculty of Education
Spring 2023
Extent and Intensity
1/0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Martin Adam, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Renata Povolná, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Renata Povolná, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ1211/KombiPred01: each odd Thursday 17:00–17:50 Virtuální místnost, M. Adam
AJ1211/PrezPred01: Thu 15:00–15:50 učebna 50, M. Adam
AJ1211/PrezPred02: Tue 12:00–12:50 učebna 1, R. Povolná
Prerequisites
AJ1102 Practical Language 1B || AJ2102 Practical Language 1B
This course must be attended by all students who have completed the compulsory course Syntax A since it is one of the most important linguistics-oriented subjects studied before students' final bachelor exam.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The main goal of the course is to give bachelor students an overall survey of English syntax with an emphasis on the differences between the sentence structure in the English language and the students´ mother tongue, i.e. the Czech language. This course will raise students’ awareness of similarities and differences between English and their native language / mother tongue and thus enables them to identify potentially problematic areas for their future learners.
Learning outcomes
This course enhances the acquisition of linguistic knowledge and teaching competencies indispensable for the professional development of future teachers of English, in particular communication and interpersonal skills, collaboration and teamwork, flexibility and adaptability (viz Strategic Aim 1, Strategies 2030). The students are expected: 1. to understand the linguistic terms from the area of English syntax; 2. to be capable of forming and using correctly the simple, complex and compound sentence; 3. to recognize the differences between the structure of the English and Czech sentence; 4. to be aware of the various possible ways of expressing different syntactic relationships; 4. to know how to form different types of dependent clauses (included embedded clauses); 5. to be able to analyse texts written in English and explain them while using appropriate terms from the area of English syntax.
Syllabus
  • The lectures are related to the topics studied for the final exam in English syntax. Here follow some key terms from the topics that will be discussed in the lectures: 1. The simple sentence. Clause types. Verb classes. Clause elements and their semantic and syntactic characterization. Concord. Vocatives. Negation (focus and scope). 2. Coordination. Syndetic, asyndetic, polysyndetic coordination. Coordinators. Correlatives. 3. Simple and complex coordination. Appended coordination. Pseudo-coordination. Quasi-coordination. 4. Complementation of verbs and adjectives. Multi-word verbs. Intransitive and transitive verbs. Prepositional, phrasal and phrasal-prepositional verbs. Copular verbs. Complex-transitive verbs. Adjective complementation. 5. Sentence types and discourse functions. Four major syntactic types. Three major classes of questions. Three minor types of questions. Directives. Exclamatives. Block language. 6. The complex sentence. Subordinate and superordinate clauses. Subordination. Three structural classes of clauses: finite, non-finite, and verbless clauses. Subordinators. 7. Direct and indirect speech. Transferred negation. 8. Pro-forms and ellipsis. Recoverability. Types of recoverability. Coreference. Types of pro-forms. 9. Ellipsis. Types of ellipsis (situational, structural, textual). Appended clauses. 10. Semantic and syntactic functions of subordinate clauses. Nominal clauses and their types. 11. Adverbial clauses (time, place, condition, concession, contrast, reason, exception, purpose, result, proportion, preference). Comment clauses. Sentential relative clauses. Comparative clauses. 12. The semantics and grammar of adverbials. Semantic roles, grammatical functions, formal realization and position of adverbials. Adjuncts, subjuncts, disjuncts (content and style) and conjuncts and their types.
Literature
    required literature
  • YULE, George. Oxford practice grammar : with answers. Updated edition first publis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, vii, 274. ISBN 9780194214766. info
  • BIBER, Douglas. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Edited by Randolph Quirk. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2000, xxviii, 12. ISBN 0582237254. info
  • CHALKER, Sylvia. A student's English grammar : workbook. First published. Harlow: Longman, 1992, 186 stran. ISBN 0582088194. info
    recommended literature
  • DUŠKOVÁ, Libuše. Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny. 3. vyd. Praha: Academia, 2003, 673 s. ISBN 8020010734. info
  • YULE, George. Oxford practice grammar : supplementary exercises with answers. First published. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, v, 132. ISBN 9780194579872. info
  • QUIRK, Randolph and Sidney GREENBAUM. A Student s Grammar of the English Language. 1. vyd. London: Longman, 1990, 490 s. ISBN 0-582-07569-6. info
  • YULE, George. Explaining English grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, xv, 333. ISBN 0194371727. info
  • QUIRK, Randolph. A Comprehensive grammar of the English language. Edited by David Crystal. London, New York: Longman, 1985, x, 1779 p. ISBN 0-582-51734-639. info
Teaching methods
Mode of teaching: lecture The methods used in classes are mainly presentations of new and/or problematic grammatical issues by the teacher, followed by class discussions and questions from students if necessary. As for written assignments, students are supposed to do all the tests which accompany the topics of the individual lectures and which are included in the is.muni.cz course Selected chapters from syntax (Vybrané kapitoly ze syntaxe).
Assessment methods
At the end of the course, the students have to take two final revision tests which are included in the is.muni.cz course Selected chapters from syntax (Vybrané kapitoly ze syntaxe).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: kombinované studium: výuka v blocích.
Teacher's information
https://is.muni.cz/auth/ucitel/warp_predmet_vyber?fakulta=1441;obdobi=6085;predmet=773605
FOR ONLINE SEMESTER: Students are requested to secure good internet connection in order to participate in online lessons as indicated in the schedule. Students must attend these meetings with both the sound and camera on.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2023/AJ1211