An earlier version of this paper was delivered in May, 1973, at the convention of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2.
For a discussion of adequacy, generality, and simplicity as criteria for evaluating scientific theories, see Noam Chomsky, Syntactic Structures, The Hague: Mouton and Co., 1957, 49-60.
3.
Charles C. Fries, Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1945.
4.
For discussion and examples, see George Lakoff, "Global Rules ," Language, 46: 627-39.
5.
M.A.K. Halliday , "Notes on Transitivity and Theme in English ," Journal of Linguistics, 3:37-81, 199-244; 4:179-216.
