The Core by Leigh A. Bortins

Author:Leigh A. Bortins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2010-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH

There are some languages that are structured differently from English, but they are still all analogous to English. In another language, if the direct object doesn’t come after the verb as it does in English, a student can ask, “Well, where does it go?” because she knows it has to go somewhere. If the foreign language studied doesn’t use verb tenses in the same way as the romance languages do, she can ask, “Well then, how do you distinguish time and tense in your language?” Maybe they use adverbs as the Chinese do instead of helping verbs and suffixes as in English. The point is that a student can know what questions to ask and can understand the answers if she knows the details of her own language. She can compare the new information to the ideas she is already familiar with. The classical educator teaches students the rules and origins of their mother tongue so they can explore all languages.

Here is the basic structure of English:

1. There are four sentence structures: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. All sentences are either simple sentences or use conjunctions to combine simple sentences into one of the other three.

2. There are four purposes to a sentence: declarative (use a period), exclamatory (use an exclamation mark), interrogative (use a question mark), and imperative (drop the subject and use a period as in a command).

3. There are seven patterns that form a simple sentence:

a. Subject–Verb Intransitive

b. Subject–Verb Transitive–Direct Object

c. Subject–Verb Linking–Predicate Noun

d. Subject–Verb Linking–Predicate Adjective

e. Subject–Verb Transitive–Indirect Object–Direct Object

f. Subject–Verb Transitive–Direct Object–Object Complement Noun

g. Subject–Verb Transitive–Direct Object–Object Complement Adjective

4. In English, a complete sentence contains capitalization, punctuation, a subject, a verb, usually a direct object, and forms a complete thought.

5. English words are either nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, or adjectives.

6. Phrases are added to modify one of the parts of speech in a sentence.

These six groups of ideas are the foundation of all language. Sentences are made by mixing and matching these ideas. The rules are beautifully simple and infinitely useful. And, best of all, any child can learn them before the age of twelve. Children who are involved in the daily study of the details of English can apply the same rules to other languages.

The brain power required to attack words is immense, but we know students are wired to learn this way because they can all speak words from a very early age. It’s the habit of “daily doing” and the attitude that learning the material is possible that encourages students to keep working. Learning to read and write is the hardest thing humans require of their minds. Mastering language skills enables your child to learn anything. This is why classical educators promote the liberal arts—the liberal arts are truly the arts of a free people.

Now you may find yourself in the position of teaching English grammar to your children, and wondering if learning so much grammar is necessary. Classical educators are convinced that grammar is very useful, but more importantly, it is beautiful.

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