THE ROLE OF GRAMMATICAL MEANS IN MEDICAL ENGLISH: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL, PRAGMATIC, AND FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

This article explores the significance of grammatical features in medical English, drawing on key studies to highlight their role in enhancing clarity, precision, and functionality in specialized discourse. Based on analyses of English-language medical research articles, it examines nominalization, passive voice, and complex sentence structures as prevalent tools for conveying scientific objectivity and cognitive complexity. Contributions from researchers like Yi Shi emphasize these elements in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) to non-native speakers, while Salvager's work underscores compounding, affixation, and synonymic doublets as core characteristics of medical terminology. M.Jbankov's study reveals that over 50% of medical terms consist of adjective+noun or noun+noun compounds, which promote morphological integration and syntactic efficiency. The article further discusses sentence types—simple for concise clinical communication and complex for detailed research—along with affixation using Latin/Greek roots for systematic term formation. Passive voice prioritizes processes over agents, modal verbs express obligations and possibilities ethically, and tense systems accurately timeline medical events. Deictic elements add pragmatic depth, reinforcing the need for grammatical accuracy in high-stakes medical interactions. Overall, these grammatical means ensure effective, globally intelligible communication in medicine, with implications for education and practice.