Syntactic constituency, structural ambiguity and Portuguese classes: the place of the grammatical theory in education and Portuguese teacher training

Abstract

This paper discusses how syntactic constituency is handled in Generative Grammar handbooks to justify the importance of Grammar teaching in Basic Education as well as in Portuguese teacher training. To do so, it reviews five constituency tests widely used in Generative Syntax papers to identify syntactic constituents subject to certain syntactic operations. It is suggested these tests can be used in the disambiguation of structurally ambiguous sentences, which proves to be an important tool for constructing texts and different meanings. The corollary of the proposed ideas is the acknowledgment of the place and importance of Grammar teaching –  with methodological contributions from the Generative Grammar.