Unit 1: Basic Concepts
1.1 Introduction
One of the most remarkable things about human beings is their ability to use language. Even young children can understand thousands of different sentences (the RECEPTIVE CAPACITY) and produce thousands of sentences themselves (the PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY). They can also learn foreign languages with ease.
Children can do all this without any formal knowledge of the structure of language. You don't have to teach a baby grammatical rules in order to enable her to speak. Many adults likewise use language competently in a wide range of contexts without having any theoretical knowledge of how it works. They may have learned a little grammar at school, perhaps when studying a foreign language, but they would gaze at you blankly if you asked them to define an adjective, or summarise the rules for the past tense in English.
If you yourself could not do either of these things, do not despair! The main purpose of this book is to explain the basics of English grammar. While you are studying these things, you will acquire a terminology which will enable you to talk about language. One of the problems of language study is that, in order to discuss language, we must use the thing we are discussing, i.e. language itself. Because of this, it is important that linguistic terms (the METALANGUAGE of the subject) should be defined and used precisely. In this book, technical terms are given in CAPITAL LETTERS when they first appear, and are listed in the index at the end.
In his Essay on Man (1733), Alexander Pope wrote:
"The proper study of mankind is man"
A modern writer might have expressed this sentiment differently, but the idea still underlies the range of disciplines taught under the broad heading of Arts and Social Sciences. Since language is so vital to human activities, a knowledge of its structure will be useful to you whenever you study the structure of texts or the ways in which ideas and information are communicated - in literature, journalism, or advertising, for example. Such knowledge should also make you more self-aware in your own use of language, whether you are speaking or writing. It will also be useful if you take up teaching English, either to native speakers or to foreign learners.
