1st Edition
Exploring Grammar Through Texts Reading and Writing the Structure of English
This textbook provides an innovative introduction to core areas of grammar: a systematic guide to the structure of English, arranged hierarchically from the word to the sentence to the paragraph level. Using a linguistic framework, activities and exercises, and diverse authentic texts, the book connects grammar knowledge to writing development, strengthening student understanding of language as a tool for text construction. Students of linguistics and English language will develop foundational knowledge about grammar and texts, as will writing students. Aligning with state curricular standards around the world, the book will be particularly useful for students of English Education.
Chapter 1: Foundational Foundational understandings about language and writing
Chapter 2: Function words (The Closed Class of Words)
Chapter 3: Content words (The Open Class of Words)
Chapter 4: Phrases
Chapter 5: Clauses
Chapter 6: Consolidation
Chapter 7: Sentence Complexity and Sentence Functions
Chapter 8: Weaving Fluent Texts
Chapter 9: Punctuation (syntactic and stylistic)
Afterward: Honing the Craft of Language
Bibliography
List of texts
Index
Biography
Cornelia Paraskevas is Professor of Linguistics and Writing at Western Oregon University.
"Exploring Grammar Through Texts is the book I have been waiting for. It is perfect for my English Structure undergraduate course. Paraskevas uses a blend of terminology from the fields of linguistics and traditional grammar, staying true to the descriptive mission of linguistics. She makes a point of separating out a part of speech's form from its function, and she offers strategies (tests) for readers to confirm their own linguistic intuitions about the parts of language. Paraskevas' motivation is clear: more overt, metalinguistic knowledge leads to a wider array of rhetorical choices. That is, it makes us better writers (and readers, I would add). Paraskevas rightly goes beyond sentence-level examples to embed grammar in real-world examples of discourse. The samples, from across genres, affirm the ways knowledge about grammar is not just for English or linguistics majors. Paraskevas finds an approach that is accessible to undergraduates from any writing-heavy discipline."
Susan J. Behrens, Director of the Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence, Marymount Manhattan College, and Author of Grammar: A Pocket Guide
