The language of English grammar

Vol.3,No.1(2010)

Abstract
The aim of our paper is to draw attention to one of the areas of academic English – the language and the terminological apparatus of English grammar taught as part of linguistic disciplines at universities. We would like to concentrate on the inconsistent use of academic language based, perhaps, on the plurality of approaches to grammatical description. Various English grammar books and grammar reference sections of English language course books do not cover all grammatical items using the same language, terminology or even approaches to classifi cation. In our contribution, we discuss selected examples of this inconsistency and suggest some possibilities of helping Czech students to cope with the language of English grammar so that it does not become an obstacle in understanding the grammar itself.

Keywords:
academic English; English grammar; terminology; inconsistent use
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