To browse Academia. Detailed grammar points do not appear in the text, but the Grammar Reference Section gives you all you need, with almost all the examples drawn from the text in the book. We hope you enjoy this McGraw-Hill eBook! If you'd like more information about this book, its author, or related books and websites, please click here. Knowledge of syntax is useful to language students for two reasons. Firstly, syntax provides a metalanguage β a way of talking about the complexities of language in a shorthand way which allows linguists to explain problem areas efficiently.
Secondly, syntax is important as an academic discipline in its own right. Proofs and discussions of the best way to analyse a sentence are worthwhile exercises because they belong to the scientific activity of argument, demonstration and explanation.
These skills are relevant beyond the field of linguistics, but also happen to make syntax one of the most interesting and enjoyable specialisms in linguistics. This book sets out a simple system which can be used to analyse the fundamental structures of French, with practice sentences and model answers. Syntax is unusual in the academic study of language, in that for many sentences there is a correct analysis as long as that analysis is consistent with the system presented.
However, the real interest for the advanced learner lies in the complexities which cannot be covered by the core system. For this reason I have included for each model answer some open-ended comments which discuss potential difficulties and points of interest.
For students who are interested in following up their studies of syntax in project dissertations, for example , in the final part of the book I have also included a discussion of areas of current interest in the theory and analysis of syntax. We can learn to articulate our moral beliefs more effectively within the public square so that we can consciously contribute to public policies and attitudes.
