Grammar (morphology and syntax): word formation and inflection, word classes, phrases and clauses, sentence types and functions, mood and voice, and the move from a grammatical feature to its effect on meaning (AO1 and AO3 across the Eduqas A700 components).

What this dot point is asking

Grammar (morphology and syntax) is the framework that analyses how words are formed and combined into phrases, clauses and sentences. In Eduqas English Language it is one of the most powerful analytical levels, because sentence structure and function shape meaning, control and effect in every text and transcript. This dot point covers the toolkit (morphology and word formation, word classes, phrases and clauses, sentence types and functions, mood and voice) and the move from a grammatical feature to its effect, which is what makes grammar earn AO3 marks rather than sitting as inert AO1 labels.

The answer

A grammatical analysis identifies structures precisely (AO1) and reads what they do to meaning, emphasis and control in context (AO3). The unifying idea is that structure is a choice: how a sentence is built foregrounds some ideas and backgrounds others, directs or invites, conceals or exposes an agent. Reading those structural choices is high-value analysis because grammar is often where power and stance are encoded most subtly.

The grammatical toolkit

A set of tools covers most grammatical analysis, and naming them precisely is the AO1 foundation.

• Morphology. Word formation: inflection (grammatical endings such as plural -s, past -ed), derivation (affixes that change class or meaning), compounding and conversion. Central to the Component 2 change paper.
• Word classes. The grammatical role of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions) and how they pattern.
• Phrases and clauses. Noun phrases (and their pre- and post-modification), verb phrases, the main and subordinate clauses that build complex sentences.
• Sentence types. Simple (one main clause), compound (coordinated clauses), complex (a main clause plus subordination), and minor or incomplete sentences (common in speech and adverts).
• Sentence functions. Declarative (statement), interrogative (question), imperative (command or instruction), exclamative (exclamation). Functions carry interactional force.
• Mood and voice. Mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive) and voice (active versus passive). The passive lets the agent be omitted or backgrounded.

Move from feature to effect

As with every framework, the marks come from the move from feature to effect. Naming a structure ("a sequence of imperatives") earns AO1; reading its effect ("the speaker directs the listener, asserting instrumental power") earns AO3.

• Name the structure: the sentence type or function, the mood or voice, the clause structure.
• Quote or reference: the specific sentence or short stretch.
• Read the effect: what the structure does to emphasis, control, relationship or clarity in this context.

Sentence functions and interactional force (especially in speech)

In a Component 1 transcript, sentence functions carry the dynamics of the interaction. Interrogatives can elicit, control the floor or test; imperatives can direct or instruct; declaratives can assert or inform. A speaker who asks the questions and issues the instructions is often the one holding power. Read functions as moves in the interaction, not just as grammatical labels.

Examples in context

The texts and transcripts are unseen, so the moves below are illustrative.

A model grammar paragraph. "The notice is built almost entirely from imperatives ('keep', 'do not exceed', 'report'), and the relentless imperative mood positions the reader as a subordinate to be directed rather than persuaded. Because this is an official safety notice, the grammar enacts instrumental power: it leaves no room for negotiation, and the absence of any interrogative or first-person voice keeps the relationship impersonal and authoritative." This names the function and mood, references examples, and reads the effect against the genre.

A weak paragraph upgraded. A feature-spotter writes "There are lots of passive sentences." Upgraded: the repeated passive constructions ("the decision was taken", "errors were identified") systematically omit the agent, so the report distances the organisation from responsibility and frames events as having happened to no one in particular, a depersonalising choice suited to a defensive corporate purpose.

Try this

Q1. What is the difference between a sentence type and a sentence function? [2 marks]

• Cue. Type describes clause structure (simple, compound, complex, minor); function describes purpose (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamative).

Q2. What does the passive voice allow a writer to do, and why is that worth analysing? [2 marks]

• Cue. It allows the agent to be backgrounded or omitted, which can conceal responsibility or foreground the action; the analytical point is why the agent is hidden in this context.

Q3. Analyse how grammatical choices shape control and relationship in a spoken interaction. [10 marks]

• What the marker wants. Precise grammatical terminology (AO1) fused with analysis of how sentence functions, mood and structure construct the dynamics of the interaction (AO3), built into an argument.

A note on the toolkit

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. Grammar is a standard analytical framework; the precise terminology you are expected to deploy is set out in the current Eduqas A700 specification and its sample materials, so revise from those. The feature-to-effect method transfers across every framework.