Explanation of Attributive Clauses

張鑫

Abstract： Structuralism is an ideology that provides a way of thinking， and is one of many methodologies. The attributive clauses are analyzed from the perspective of structuralism in order to give teachers some advice to take grammar class well.

Keywords： structuralism; grammar; attributive clause

Structuralism originated in the 19th century. It is a research method used by scholars to analyze language and society. （Li 2007） Structuralists believe that it is only necessary to understand， transform， and apply a structure to recognize things. This structure is usually a closed system with complex relationships and is hardly affected by external influences. In 1933， Bloomfields most influential book “Language” was published. And direct component analysis method is also proposed in Bloomfields “Language”.（Lei 2016） The direct component analysis method analyzes character strings from two consecutive levels of combination and aggregation. The dichotomy of direct component analysis has certain advantages over traditional grammar. It can concisely reveal the internal levels between sentences and phrases and the relationship between components. Many times， it can directly reveal ambiguity of the sentence.

We dont know that the phrase beautiful girls dress means a beautiful womens dress or a pretty girls dress， but if we use immediate constituent analysis to divide the ingredients. If the structure we are dividing is beautiful （girls dress）， the phrase means a beautiful womens skirt; if we divide the structure （beautiful girls） dress， the phrase means a pretty girls skirt.

Through the above example， we can very intuitively see that the direct component analysis method has a great advantage in analyzing attributions. Next， ? analyze attributive clauses are analyzed with direct component analysis method.The methods that a community devises to perpetuate itself come into being to preserve aspects of the cultural legacy that community perceives as essential. （the origination of the sentence 2020） This sentence is a bit long， and it is difficult for non-native English speakers to understand the meaning of this sentence at once， but if we use direct component analysis to analyze this sentence simply：

[The methods） （that a community devises）（ to perpetuate itself）] （come into being） [to preserve aspects of the cultural legacy （that community perceives as essential）].The meaning of this sentence is very clear.

Through the analysis of the above example sentences， we can find that when learning attributive clauses， if we can use the direct component analysis method， we can quickly and clearly grasp the grammatical rules of attributive clauses. Therefore， when teaching grammatical knowledge of attributive clauses in the classroom， teachers can try to use direct component analysis.

Teachers can first use the story background in Spider-Man （Iron Man， Superman and a series of movies that may be of interest to students） as the overall context to stimulate student interest. Then， teachers use PPT or blackboard to display some attributive clauses in “Spider-Man”， analyze these sentences， and use direct component analysis method to explain the structure of attributive clauses. Teachers can choose some attributive clauses in the movie as practice questions， allowing students to analyze sentences using direct component analysis. Teachers can also prepare a letter from Spider-Man to classmates in advance to guide students to analyze the attributive clauses contained in the letter. Finally， teachers can ask the students to write a reply to Spider-Man and request that three to five attributive clauses must be used in the letter.

Of course， direct component analysis method also has shortcomings. It destroys the integrity of the sentence， and it cannot reveal the potential meaning of the sentence. However， if teachers use this method to explain attributive clauses， the structure of attributive clauses will be clearly divided . Students will quickly understand the grammatical structure of attributive clauses and present them clearly in their own minds.

References：

[1]李克建（Li， Kejian），2007，結(jié)構(gòu)主義與教育研究：方法論的視角[J]，《全球教育展望》（9）：46-51。

[2]雷麗（Lei， Li），2016，布龍菲爾德語言理論對漢語語法的影響[J]，《開封教育學(xué)院學(xué)報》（1）：42-43。

[3]生物醫(yī)藥大詞典英漢雙語句子大全（Bilingual Dictionary of Biomedicine）， the origination of the sentence [OL].

http：//dict.bioon.com/sentence/detail.asp？id=4ee754998495 （accessed 20/03/2020）.