What grammar actually is, the six major types of grammar and how each is used, when, and why — plus word classes, phrases, clauses, worksheets, 10 full lessons, Band 6 samples and marking criteria.
Definitions, the six grammar traditions, word classes, phrases and clauses, functional vs formal analysis, common confusions, citations, and how grammar powers analysis in every HSC course.
Open the Guide →Ten lessons with teaching content, stimuli, exam-style questions, starter sentences, Band 6 sample answers, annotation tables, marking criteria and printable worksheets.
Open the Lessons →Grammar is the system of rules a language uses to combine words into meaningful units. It has two sides: the formal side (the parts of speech and how they slot together) and the functional side (what each unit does in a sentence). In the NSW English K–10 Syllabus (2022), grammar is taught as a meaning-making resource, not a list of errors to avoid — students learn grammar so they can analyse how language positions readers, which is precisely what HSC markers reward.
Grammar is the structural glaze of language: it fixes colour into pattern.— adapted from M.A.K. Halliday, An Introduction to Functional Grammar (1985)