The Use of Syntax in Improving Students’ Grammar in Writing

A Paper

By

Oktavianus Vendi Ferdian Yulianto

Student Number: 136332024

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2014
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Language is the most important thing in communication. Without

language, we cannot convey information to other person. There are many types of

language such as oral language, written language, body language, gesture, and etc.

However, language also has some features such as grammar and vocabulary.

Grammar is part of the language in which it constructs the words to become

meaningful sentence. However, vocabulary is also important part of language as

quoted in Singleton (1999: 9) “without grammar very little can be conveyed,

without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wilkins, 1972: 111). Vocabulary

is part of the grammar.

However, from all of those points, language also has some parts such as,

phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. According to

Akmajian, et.el, (2001: 109) phonology is subfield of linguistics that studies the

structure and systematic patterning of sounds in human language. Morphology is

the subfield of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and the

relationships among words. According to Dwijatmoko (2013) Syntax is a branch

of linguistics which studies the arrangement of words to form phrases, clauses,

and sentences. Semantics is Semantics is a branch of linguistics which deals with

linguistic meaning. It studies the descriptive of a word/sentence. Pragmatics is a

branch of linguistics which studies meanings in context.

 From those kinds of language parts, the writer will only discuss about

syntax. The writer thinks that syntax is important to be discussed because it is

related to sentence structure. A good sentence structure is needed to form

meaningful information to other person. One of students’ difficulties in learning

English is that they cannot produce correct or meaningful sentence. They cannot

produce it because they do not understand the grammar of the sentence. Its also

happen to me because sometimes, I do not know how to produce good sentence in

a good arrangement. It is hard for the students to write or compose an essay since

they do not understand the grammar or the structure of the sentence. Another

factor which causes the students difficulties in writing is the lack of vocabulary.

Since the students have lack vocabulary, it is hard for them to produce good

sentence in English. They also do not know types of words and even types of

clauses. Therefore, it will be hard for them to produce or arrange good sentence in

correct grammatical form.

From that problem, the writer thinks that syntax is needed to be taught

because it studies the arrangement of words to form phrases, clauses, and

sentences. Syntax will help the students in arranging the sentence because the

students will know how to form words become clauses, from clauses become

phrases, and from phrases become sentences.

In this paper I would like to discuss about the use of syntax in improving

students’ grammar in writing. I think by knowing the syntax of the language in

which the students will learn about the types of words, types of clause, how to

form words to become clause, from clause to phrase, and from phrase to sentence,
the students will be more understand about the language and can make good

sentence which grammatically correct. In this paper I want to state that syntax can

be used to improve the students’ grammar in writing

 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

2.1 Theory about Grammar

Grammar is the sound, structure, and meaning system of language. All

languages have grammar, and each language has its own grammar. People who

speak the same language are able to communicate because they intuitively know

the grammar system of that language—that is, the rules of making meaning.

Students who are native speakers of English already know English grammar. They

recognize the sounds of English words, the meanings of those words, and the

different ways of putting words together to make meaningful sentences.

However, while students may be effective speakers of English, they need

guidance to become effective writers. They need to learn how to transfer their

knowledge of grammatical concepts from oral language to written language.

Effective grammar instruction begins with what students already know

about grammar, and it helps them use this knowledge as they write. By connecting

their knowledge of oral language to written language, teachers can demystify

abstract grammatical terminology so that students can write—and read—with

greater competence and confidence.

2.2 Some Research on Grammar and Writing

Research strongly suggests that the most beneficial way of helping

students improve their command of grammar in writing is to use students' writing

as the basis for discussing grammatical concepts. Researchers agree that it is more

effective to teach punctuation, sentence variety, and usage in the context of

writing than to approach the topic by teaching isolated skills (Calkins, 1980;

DiStefano and Killion, 1984; Harris, 1962).

As students revise and edit their writing, teachers can provide grammar

instruction that guides students in their attempts to identify and correct problems

in sentence structure and usage. For example, a teacher who sees that many

students are writing sentences containing misplaced modifiers can present a mini

lesson on this concept, using examples from student writing. The teacher can have

students edit their own and one another's drafts for this problem.

Integrating grammar instruction into the revising and editing process helps

students make immediate applications, thus allowing them to see the relevance of

grammar to their own writing.

2.3 Grammar Contribution in Some Specific Aspects of Writing

Because writing is a complex and challenging activity for many students,

teachers should focus on the grammatical concepts that are essential for the clear

communication of meaning.
 Research conducted since the early 1960s shows that grammar instruction

that is separate from writing instruction does not improve students' writing

competence (Braddock and others, 1963; Hillocks, 1986). In addition, research

indicates that the transfer of formal grammar instruction to writing is not

applicable to larger elements of composition. Through detailed studies of students'

writing, Shaughnessy (1977) concludes that the best grammar instruction is that

which gives the greatest return for the least investment of time. Shaughnessy

advocates four important grammatical concepts: the sentence, inflection, tense,

and agreement. She recommends that teachers encourage students to examine

grammatical errors in their own writing. She also cautions teachers not to

overemphasize grammatical terminology to the detriment of students' ability to

understand and apply the concepts.

Weaver (1998) proposes a similar approach to teaching grammar in the

context of writing. She writes, "What all students need is guidance in

understanding and applying those aspects of grammar that are most relevant to

writing." Weaver proposes five grammatical concepts that enable writers to show

improvement in sentence revision, style, and editing. Those concepts are first,

teaching concepts on subjects, verb and sentences, clause, phrase, and related

concepts for editing. Second, teaching style through sentence combining and

sentence generating. Third, teaching sentence sense though the manipulation of

syntactic elements. Fourth, teaching both the power of dialects and the dialects of

power. The last is teaching punctuation and mechanics for convention, clarity, and

style.
 Rather than strive to teach all grammatical concepts to all students,

teachers should prioritize and provide instruction on the grammatical elements

that most affect their students' ability to write effectively. Teachers should also be

sensitive to individual students' readiness to learn and apply grammatical

concepts.

2.4 Sentence Combining in Improving Writing

Sentence combining is the strategy of joining short sentences into longer,

more complex sentences. As students engage in sentence-combining activities,

they learn how to vary sentence structure in order to change meaning and style.

Numerous studies (Mellon, 1969; O'Hare, 1973; Cooper, 1975; Shaughnessy,

1977; Hillocks, 1986; Strong, 1986) show that the use of sentence combining is an

effective method for improving students' writing. The value of sentence

combining is most evident as students recognize the effect of sentence variety

(beginnings, lengths, complexities) in their own writing.

Hillocks (1986) states that "sentence combining practice provides writers

with systematic knowledge of syntactic possibilities, the access to which allows

them to sort through alternatives in their heads as well as on paper and to choose

those which are most apt" (150). Research also shows that sentence combining is

more effective than freewriting in enhancing the quality of student writing

(Hillocks, 1986).
 Hillocks and Smith (1991) show that systematic practice in sentence

combining can increase students' knowledge of syntactic structures as well as

improve the quality of their sentences, particularly when stylistic effects are

discussed as well. Sentence-combining exercises can be either written or oral,

structured or unstructured. Structured sentence-combining exercises give students

more guidance in ways to create the new sentences; unstructured sentence-

combining exercises allow for more variation, but they still require students to

create logical, meaningful sentences. Hillocks (1986) reports that in many studies,

sentence-combining exercises produce significant increases in students' sentence-

writing maturity.

Given Noguchi's (1991) analysis that grammar choices affect writing style,

sentence combining is an effective method for helping students develop fluency

and variety in their own writing style. Students can explore sentence variety,

length, parallelism, and other syntactic devices by comparing their sentences with

sentences from other writers. They also discover the decisions writers make in

revising for style and effect.

Teachers can design their own sentence-combining activities by using

short sentences from student writing or other appropriate sources. For example,

teachers who notice many choppy sentences in students' writing can place these

sentences on an overhead for all their students to read. Teachers can then ask

different students to combine orally the short sentences in a variety of ways.

 By participating in oral and written sentence-combining activities, students

better understand the ways in which sentence structure, usage, and punctuation

affect meaning.

When presented as a revising strategy, sentence-combining activities help

students identify short, choppy sentences in their own writing, leading them to

combine their ideas in more fluid and sophisticated ways. As students generate

more complex sentences from shorter ones, they discover how the arrangement of

phrases and clauses, for example, affects meaning and its impact on their readers.

2.5 Some Strategies that can be Used to Teach Grammar in The Context of

Writing

Grammar instruction is most naturally integrated during the revising,

editing, and proofreading phases of the writing process. After students have

written their first drafts and feel comfortable with the ideas and organization of

their writing, teachers may wish to employ various strategies to help students see

grammatical concepts as language choices that can enhance their writing purpose.

Students will soon grow more receptive to revising, editing, and proofreading

their writing. In writing conferences, for example, teachers can help students

revise for effective word choices. As the teacher and student discuss the real

audience(s) for the writing, the teacher can ask the student to consider how formal

or informal the writing should be, and remind the student that all people adjust the

level of formality in oral conversation, depending on their listeners and the

speaking context. The teacher can then help the student identify words in his or

her writing that change the level of formality of the writing.

To help students revise boring, monotonous sentences, teachers might ask

students to read their writing aloud to partners. This strategy helps both the

partner and the writer to recognize when, for example, too many sentences begin

with "It is" or "There are." Both the partner and the writer can discuss ways to

vary the sentence beginnings. After the writer revises the sentences, the partner

can read the sentences aloud. Then both can discuss the effectiveness of the

revision.

Teachers can help students edit from passive voice to active voice by

presenting a mini lesson. In editing groups, students can exchange papers and look

for verbs that often signal the passive voice, such as was and been. When students

find these verbs, they read the sentence aloud to their partners and discuss whether

the voice is passive and, if so, whether an active voice verb might strengthen the

sentence. The student writer can then decide which voice is most effective and

appropriate for the writing purpose and audience.

Teachers can help students become better proofreaders through peer

editing groups. Based on the writing abilities of their students, teachers can assign

different proofreading tasks to specific individuals in each group. For example,

one person in the group might proofread for spelling errors, another person for

agreement errors, another person for fragments and run-ons, and another person

for punctuation errors. As students develop increasing skill in proofreading, they

become responsible for more proofreading areas. Collaborating with classmates in

peer editing groups helps students improve their own grammar skills as well as

understand the importance of grammar as a tool for effective communication.

As teachers integrate grammar instruction with writing instruction, they

should use the grammar terms that make sense to the students. By incorporating

grammar terms naturally into the processes of revising, editing, and proofreading,

teachers help students understand and apply grammar purposefully to their own

writing. Strategies such as writing conferences, partnership writing, grammar

minilessons, and peer response groups are all valuable methods for integrating

grammar into writing instruction.

2.6 Syntax Theory about Teaching Grammar

It is true that we can still comprehend a sentence (as long as we know the

meaning of individual words or maybe even if we do not know all the words).

That is, even if we have not encountered a particular sentence in particular

linguistic experience, we are nevertheless able to understand it because we

recognize familiar units (words that we know) combined in a novel but

appropriate way. However, they cannot just memorize all of the words, phrases or

sentence of a language. Since they cannot memorize each phrase or sentences,

given that the set of phrases and sentences is infinite, their linguistics knowledge

cannot be characterized as list of phrases or sentences. We can say that a speaker’s

linguistic knowledge can be characterized as a grammar consisting of a finite set

of rules and principles that form the basis for the speakers’ ability to produce and
comprehend the unlimited number of phrases or sentences of a language. The

rules and principles of the grammar also serve to capture regularities in the

language.

The words in a language occur in a certain linear order. That is why we

can conclude that a sentence is structured. No matter how free a language is with

respect to word order, it will inevitably have some word order constraints.

Furthermore, in many languages, the linear order of words plays an important role

in determining the meaning of sentences. For examples the sentence the frog eats

mosquitoes has different meaning with the mosquitoes eats the frog, even though

the very same words are used in both. Hence, we might say that sentences are

unstructured strings of words, but we must ensure that we specify at least liner

order for those words.

Before we come to sentence structure, we should know about the elements

of the sentence itself. The first element of the sentence is word. By combing

words, we can make a phrase. According to Dwijatmoko (2013), a phrase is a

group of words which form a unit of meaning. We can also say that a phrase is a

group of words which follow the grammatical rules of the language. phrases

consist of some categories such as Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP),

Adjective Phrase (AP), Prepositional Phrase (PP), Adverbial Phrase (Adv P), and

other phrases.

Noun phrase is a group of word with a noun as the headword

(Dwijatmoko, 2013). For the example is My brother watches Sponge Bob movie

several time. The phrase Sponge Bob movie can be determined as the noun phrase
of the sentence. The NP identification can be determined by pronoun substitution,

sentence position, and who/what which replacement.

Verb phrase is a group of words which have a verb as its head. Verb

phrase can be identified by adverb modification and what-do replacement

(Dwijatmoko, 2013). Besides of verb phrase identification, verb can be classified

into full verb, linking verb, and auxiliary verb.

Adjective phrase is a phrase which has an adjective as its head

(Dwijatmoko, 2013). For the example is The children are very happy to go for a

picnic.The phrase very happy to go for a picnic is an adjective phrase. Adjective

phrase can be identified by intensifier modification and so replacement.

A preposition phrase is a phrase which has a preposition at its head

(Dwijatmoko, 2013). For the example, Mrs. Smith arrived exactly at 3:00 o'clock.

The phrase exactly at 3:00 o'clock is the prepositional phrase of the sentence.

Prepositional phrase can be identified by starting with a preposition, giving

answers to questions on sentence adjuncts, and giving answers to the questions

with which (Dwijatmoko, 2013).

Adverb phrase is a phrase which has an adverb as its head. An adverb may

indicate manner, time, and place. An Adverb Phrase can be functions as a

sentence adjunct (Dwijatmoko, 2013).

By combing the phrase, it will produce a clause. A clause is a group of

words which have a subject and predicate (Dwijatmoko, 2013). From clause, we

can make a sentence by combining some clauses. A sentence is a group of words

which has a subject and a predicate (Dwijatmoko, 2013). However, it can also be

followed by tense indicator such as past, present, or future.

Sentence has some elements such as subject, predicate, direct object,

indirect object, subject complement, object complement, predicator, and adjunct.

From those sentence elements we can make some sentence pattern such as

subject-predicate, subject-predicate-subject complement, subject-predicate-object,

subject-predicate-direct object-indirect object, subject-predicate-direct object-

object complement, subject-predicate-object-predicator, It-predicate-subject

complement, and there-predicate-subject complement.

There are three important aspects of sentence structure. Those are the

linear order of words in a sentence, the categorization of words into part of

speech, and the grouping of words into structural constituents of the sentence.

Those three types of structural information can be encoded into what is called tree

diagram. Let’s see the examples below!

 From that tree diagram, we can see that each word of the sentence is

assigned to a certain lexical category (part of speech). Thus, the word the is

connected by a branch to the symbol Art, standing for Article, indicating that the

is an article. The word people is connected by a branch to the symbol N, standing

for noun, indicating that people is a noun. The word in is connected to by a branch

to the symbol P, standing for preposition, indicating that in is a preposition. The

word move is connected by a branch to the symbol V, standing for verb, indicating

that move is a verb. We can see that all words of the sentence are connected by

branches to appropriate symbols indicating their lexical category. Notice that the

words, as well as the lexical category symbols Art, N, P, V, and so on are all

shown in a specific linear order of words. The tree diagram above also represents

structural constituents of a sentence. We can see that in the subject phrase, the

people in the room, have a certain constituents structure. For example, the

sequence of words, the room, is shown as a noun phrase (NP),that is the symbols

Art and N are connected by branches to the symbol NP. Both Art and N are

connected by branches to the symbol, NP. Hence, Art and N form a single

constituents. The NP the room and the preposition in are shown as forming a

prepositional phrase (PP), in which the symbol P (in) and NP (the room) are both

connected by branches to the symbol PP. Both P and NP are connected by

branches to the same symbol, PP. Hence, P and NP form a single constituent.

However, noun phrase do not only consists of article followed by nouns.

Sometimes the noun in a noun phrase can be followed by a modifying phrase. The
phrase the people in the room, the prepositional phrase in the room is a modifying

phrase. It provides additional information about the noun people.

The article the, the noun people, and the prepositional phrase in the room

are all connected by branches to the same symbol NP. Therefore, article, noun,

and PP all form a single constituent, which function as the subject of the sentence.

From the subject of the sentence which function as a noun phrase, now we

move to the verb phrase. The symbols V (move), NP (the desk), and PP (into the

hall) are all connected by the branches to the symbol, VP. It means that V, NP,

and PP form a single constituent, namely verb phrase.

Finally, the subject NP (the people in the room), the auxiliary verb (will)

and the VP are all connected by branches to the same symbol S (Sentence).

Therefore, noun phrase, auxiliary, and verb phrase form a single constituent,

namely sentence. A tree diagram represents syntactic constituent structure in

terms of the particular way that its lines branch. The particular points in the tree

that are connected by branches to other points are called nodes of the tree, and

these nodes are symbolized by some letters such as S, NP, VP, Aux, PP, Art, p,

and N. Particular labeled nodes represent single constituents, made up of the items

connected to them by branching lines.

When making a tree diagram, we should not be worried about where we

should start making the tree diagram. We can start a tree diagram from the top and

work it down to see how larger constituents are broken down into their

constituents parts. However, we can also start from the bottom of a tree and work
it up to see how individual words make up smaller constituents, and how smaller

constituents make up larger ones.

From those explanations above, the writer thinks that by learning syntax,

the students will know how to combine some words to become meaningful

sentence with correct grammatical form. The students will know types of words

and phrases, therefore by following the grammatical rules on making a sentence,

the students can create grammatically correct sentence. Therefore, the students

can compose an essay easily.

This is also happen to the writer when he joined foundation of linguistics

class. At first, the writer had difficulties in making good sentence in good

grammatical form, especially in making an essay or paper. However, by learning

about syntax, the writer becomes more understand on how to make good sentence

in grammatical forms because the writer know the syntactic structure of the

sentence and types of clause which form a sentence. The writer also knows the

types of sentence patterns, therefore it becomes easy to make a sentence.

From his experience, the writer also tries to implement it to his students

and the result is that the students’ grammar in writing is improved. The students’

can create good grammatical sentence in their writing since they know the syntax

theory.

2.6.1 Syntactic Relation

The syntactic relation is also important part in teaching grammar of the

language because it is related to the relation from word to word, word to phrase,
phase to clause, and clause to sentence. The point is that there is relation among

the words in which it will be meaningful sentence if it is put in a good order.

There are four type of relation in syntactic relation, those relations are

structure of modification (head-modifier), structure of predication (subject-

predicate), structure of complementation (head-complement), and structure of

coordination (and, but, or).

Let us see the example below!

The man with sunglasses looks very suspicious

The diagram above shows the syntactic relation of the sentence. Basically,

the sentence is divided into two parts those are subjects and predicate. The phrase

with sunglasses is the complement in the clause the man with sunglasses. It

modifies the word man. It also happens to the as the determiner of the clause. It

also modifies man because man is the head of the clause.

In the predicate clause we can see that the verb looks has a function as a

complement. It is the complement of the clause looks very suspicious. It also

modifies the phrase very suspicious. The head of the phrase is the word

suspicious.

From the sentence diagram above we can see that it is important to know

the syntactic structure of the language of the language. By knowing the syntactic

structure of the language, the students will know syntactic structure of a sentence

and they can arrange words into meaningful sentence. Besides, they also learn the

correct grammatical rules of the language and later it will improve their writing

mastery.
 CHAPTER III

3.1 Conclusion

From the writer’s problem in making good grammatical sentence

in writing, the writer can conclude that syntax can be used in improving students’

grammar in writing. When the students know types of words, types of phrase, and

the sentence patterns, they become more understand on how to make a good

grammatical sentence. Therefore, they can write a composition in a correct

grammatical form with minimum mistakes. As Weaver (1998) proposes five

grammatical concepts that enable writers to show improvement in sentence

revision, style, and editing such as teaching concepts on subjects, verb and

sentences, clause, phrase, and related concepts for editing; teaching style through

sentence combining and sentence generating; teaching sentence sense though the

manipulation of syntactic elements; teaching both the power of dialects and the

dialects of power and teaching punctuation and mechanics for convention, clarity,

and style. It is proved that y study the sentence structure in syntax, the students

can improve their grammar in writing.

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