The objectives of grammatical study suggested above are very far-reaching. To describe in any detail a system for choosing, realizing and signalling meanings is a huge task. It is even more formidable than may at first appear since it entails developing a theory of the character of human language in general. One needs a general theory of language so that each language may be
described. modest indeed. Nevertheless, it deals with some of the most fundamental concepts in language analysis with special reference to the description of English. A language is a means of constructing utterances (including written ‘utterances’) for use in communication. This means, among other things, that patterns of wording have to be correlated with meanings. The fundamental concept here is ‘patterns of wording’. The verbal patterns are formal constructions and the elements of these patterns, words, can be identified and studied. In this book we look at certain classes of English words. We ask by what means they are classified, and how they can combine with
each other to form phrases and sentences.