In chapter 6 we saw how linguists divide the study of grammar into two main areas: morphology deals with the grammar of words, while syntax focuses on the grammar of sentences. Now look at the following sentences:

1. I drink several cups of tea a day.

2. We could go shopping tomorrow.

It is part of your knowledge about English which tells you that these sentences are grammatical or well-formed. In this respect, they differ from the following:

1. *Drink tea several a cups day I of.

2. *Shopping could tomorrow we go.

These sentences are clearly ungrammatical or ill-formed (hence the asterisk). They break all the rules of syntax which a speaker of English must know in order to use the language correctly.

As children, we learn the syntactic rules of our mother tongue without any conscious effort. Even though these rules are extremely complex, we master them quickly, efficiently and long before we can write. When we learn a foreign language as adults, however, things are rather different. As with our first language, there is an extent to which we can rely on our implicit sense of what is right and wrong. But beyond a certain point, it becomes useful to develop a more explicit awareness of the ways in which syntax works. One reason for doing this is so that we can appreciate some of the more subtle meanings which are expressed by different types of word order.