درهم بر هم

Postponement

The mechanisms for moving an element to the end of a sentence are

known as ‘postponement’. The passive construction can be regarded as a

mechanism for postponement, as well as for fronting. The item that is

postponed is the subject, so Jennifer in:

Monica has been insulted by Jennifer.

An apology was given to Monica by Jennifer.

The passive also leaves open the possibility that the ‘doer’ (or ‘agent’) can

be omitted:

Monica has been insulted.

Monica has been given an apology.

This then locates alternative items in the final position of the sentence:

the verb in the first example (insulted ), and in the second the object that

has not been fronted (an apology).

The item that fills the initial position in a sentence, besides functioning

as the ‘theme’ or ‘topic’ of the sentence, is also often an item that has been

mentioned in the, or a previous, sentence in the text. It refers to what is

called ‘given information’. At the most general level, a text can be viewed

as a series of sentences with the structure ‘given’ + ‘new’ information,

where the ‘new’ information in one sentence becomes the ‘given’ information

in a subsequent sentence. This also implies that ‘given’ information

comes at the beginning of a sentence, making the connection with

what has gone before, and ‘new’ information comes towards the end of a

sentence. This is a generalisation, and in reality texts have a much more

complex structure and texture than this implies.

What happens when you don’t have any ‘given’ information to start a

sentence with, such as at the beginning of a text or a paragraph? You can

use an introductory sentence known as an ‘existential’ sentence, introduced

by the word there:

There is one further point to consider.

There was a proposal for a new college.

There has been a spate of burglaries in this neighbourhood.

The word there stands for the theme, which is postponed, and the sentence

serves to state the existence of something, to be elaborated on in

subsequent text.

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A more obvious and widespread case of postponement is ‘extraposition’

(literally, ‘putting outside’). It operates on sentences that have clauses as

subject, for example:

That the liquid in the test tube turned cloudy is surprising.

To classify diseases in this way is useful.

These sentences are unwieldy. In English, the longest element in a sentence

tends to go at the end, under the so-called ‘principle of end-weight’.

Extraposition supports this principle by filling initial position with a

‘dummy it’ and moving the subject clause to the end of the sentence:

It is surprising that the liquid in the test tube turned cloudy.

It is useful to classify diseases in this way.

The clauses that are usually subject to extraposition are that clauses and

to infinitive clauses (see Chapter 4). With seem as the main verb in the

sentence, extraposition is obligatory:

It seems that the chairman has decided to resign.

but not:

That the chairman has decided to resign seems.

Another way in which a long subject can be made shorter is by postponing

part of it. This can happen, for example, if the subject noun phrase

contains a relative clause or a comparative phrase or clause:

The family who had disappeared the previous week were found

camping in Devon.

could become:

The family were found camping in Devon who had disappeared

the previous week.

in which the relative clause who had disappeared the previous week is postponed

to the end of the sentence. Similarly:

Fewer road accidents have resulted in death or serious injury than

last year.

has the postponement of the comparative phrase than last year from the

subject:

Fewer road accidents than last year have resulted in death or serious

injury.

These mechanisms for fronting and postponement demonstrate how

sentence elements can be moved around within sentences, especially to

fill the important initial and final positions. As you write, the questions

to ask are these:

• Does this sentence make connection with those I have already

written, so that a reader can easily follow my train of thought?

• Does this sentence announce its topic at or near the beginning, so

that a reader immediately grasps what the sentence is about?

• Does this sentence read well? Does it have balance? Are the longer,

more weighty elements positioned towards the end?

• If I have ignored the principles of initial ‘given’ theme or end-focus

or end-weight, is the stylistic effect worth it? Or am I likely to confuse

my readers?

Reflecting on how you distribute information within a sentence may

help you to get your point across more successfully.

Rearrangement

Rewrite the following sentence, bringing in turn as many of

the elements as possible into initial position.

They have offered the manager’s job to Barry.

As it stands, with the third person pronoun they as the first element, the

reference of they must be looked for in a previous sentence. Presumably, it

stands for a noun such as ‘interview panel’ or ‘board’, which has already

been mentioned; and so they provides a link from this sentence back

into the text. The final, most newsworthy, element in this sentence is

EXERCISE

5 Sentence

Arrangements

‘to Barry’: it is saying that the offer of the job to Barry, rather than to anyone

else, is the most significant piece of information. If, on the other hand,

Barry was already in the frame for a job and the significant fact was which

job he would be offered, then the sentence would have to read:

They have offered Barry the manager’s job.

or

To Barry they have offered the manager’s job.

If ‘the manager’s job’ is what is being talked about, then it could take up

first position:

The manager’s job they offered to Barry.

Since the initial and final elements in sentences are so important to

enabling the message of a text to be developed successfully, it is not surprising

that there are grammatical processes for rearranging the order of

elements in a sentence, in order to move elements to these initial and

final positions. In our example sentence it is possible to reposition the

elements without using any specific grammatical process:

To Barry they have offered the manager’s job: implies that ‘Barry’ is the

current topic of the text.

The manager’s job they have offered to Barry: implies that ‘the manager’s

job’ is in focus at this point in the text.

The one sequence that is unalterable in this statement sentence is that of

subject (they) + verb (have offered ). The reason for the relative flexibility

of the structure of this sentence is that it is possible to identify easily the

function of the elements without relying on their syntactic position:

they has the subject form of the third person pronoun

to Barry is indirect object because it is a prepositional phrase introduced

by to

the manager’s job is, therefore, by default the direct object.

Sometimes the meaning allows identification of the functions of elements.

For example, in

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Lydia answered the door.

the alternative order is possible:

The door Lydia answered (and I answered the telephone).

This is because with a verb like answer, which expects a human subject

‘doing’ the action, a personal name can be identified as the subject.

However with a sentence like

Lydia telephoned her parents.

the rearrangement into

Her parents Lydia telephoned.

becomes less possible, since telephone expects a person as both subject and

object, and in this rearranged version, it is not immediately clear who

telephoned whom.

Another way in which sentence elements can be rearranged is by the

choice of verb. Compare:

Lydia owns the Mini convertible.

The Mini convertible belongs to Lydia.

‘Own’ and ‘belong to’ are counterpart verbs to express ownership: ‘own’ puts

the owner into initial position and the object owned into final, and ‘belong

to’ does the reverse. Other pairs of ‘converse’ words act similarly; compare:

Rachel sold the Mini convertible to Lydia.

Lydia bought the Mini convertible from Rachel.

and:

The museum is behind the warehouse.

The warehouse is in front of the museum.

In this last case the converses are a pair of prepositions: behind and in front of.

Fronting

The mechanisms for moving an element to the initial position of a sentence

are known as ‘fronting’. One way of fronting an element, which we

have considered briefly already (Chapter 3), is the ‘passive’ construction.

The basic form of a sentence is ‘active’: the ‘doer’ of an ‘action’ is the subject

of the sentence, and the ‘victim’ is normally the direct object, as in:

Jennifer has insulted Monica.

In the ‘passive’ form of a sentence, the ‘victim’ becomes the subject in

initial position, and the ‘doer’ takes up final position in a prepositional

phrase introduced with by:

Monica has been insulted by Jennifer.

You will also notice that the form of the verb changes. For a sentence to

be changed into the passive, the verb must be ‘transitive’; that is, it must

take an object. A sentence with an intransitive verb, such as go, cannot be

made passive. For example:

They have gone to the park.

cannot be changed into:

To the park has been gone by them.

or

The park has been gone to by them.

Where a verb can take two objects (direct and indirect), usually either of

them can be fronted in a passive version of the sentence. For example:

Jennifer gave Monica an apology.

can become either:

An apology was given (to) Monica by Jennifer (direct object

becomes subject).

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or:

Monica was given an apology by Jennifer (indirect object becomes

subject).

Note again the passive form of the verb: was given.

Another mechanism for fronting an element of a sentence and at the same

time giving it a measure of emphasis is the so-called ‘cleft construction’.

The cleft construction splits (cleaves) a sentence in two to provide focus

on a fronted element. For example, taking our previous sentence:

It was Monica // to whom Jennifer gave an apology.

Monica is fronted and focused, and the second half of the sentence is

introduced by the relative pronoun whom, alternatively that Jennifer gave

an apology to. Any of the noun elements in the sentence could have the

same treatment:

It was an apology that Jennifer gave (to) Monica.

It was Jennifer who gave Monica an apology.

Even the subject (Jennifer) can have the cleft treatment.

The one item that cannot be clefted by the ‘It + be + focus // relative

clause’ formula is the verb itself. This is remedied by another kind of

cleft construction, of the form:

What Jennifer did // was give Monica an apology.

or:

What Jennifer gave (Monica) // was an apology.

The formula here is: ‘What + subject + do // be … .’

Why Use Compound and

Complex Sentences?

If we were to speak or write in a series of simple sentences, it would

make for rather uninteresting discourse. Moreover, we would be unable

to express the complexity of thought that a more complex grammar

enables us to do. In our thinking we make connections between things,

which then need to find expression in the grammar of what we say

or write.

If we are reporting what someone said or wrote, then what we report will

be a proposition, a sentence in itself. So, it is inevitably the case that

verbs of reporting (say, tell, report, comment, etc.) will have a subordinate

clause as object containing the proposition.

If we are telling a story and putting events into a narrative sequence, then

it is highly likely that we will want to relate events to each other explicitly

in time, by a number of means, including adverbial clauses of time.

If we are constructing an argument, then we will need to relate contrasting

theses, adduce conflicting evidence, draw alternative conclusions.

The grammar of complex sentences enables us to do that.

If we are explaining how something works, or the rules of a game, or the

reasons for some course of action, then we shall need to make connections

between part and whole, cause and effect, state of affairs and reasons

for it.

Complex communication requires complex grammar. Knowing what

grammatical resources are available to you, being able to make judicious

choices from among them, will make you a more reflective and skilful

communicator, especially in writing.

EXERCISE

Subordinate clauses

Which are the subordinate clauses in the following sentences? For

each one, say whether it is a noun, an adjectival, or an adverbial

clause.

1 People who live on the estate were feeling isolated.

2 Now they are celebrating because their hard work has been

recognised.

3 What impressed me was that residents of all ages got stuck in.

4 She decided to set up a residents’ group to tap into the funds.

5 Getting all ages involved has created a sense of local identity.

6 When they see people making an effort, kids won’t be antisocial.

7 This is an example of a small investment that can have a big

effect.

8 We placed bollards at the end so that kids who had nicked cars

couldn’t get on the estate.

9 If you break the problem down and do small things, it can start

the ball rolling.

10 This shows that a small investment can have a big effect.

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

Summary

This chapter has introduced quite a number of grammatical terms. The

following are the main ones. They are all in the Glossary at the end of

the book. If you are not sure how they are used, look them up in the

Glossary, or revise the relevant section of this chapter.

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clause

simple sentence compound sentence complex sentence

subject verb object complement adverbial

direct object indirect object

Clause structure

1 subject — verb — complement

2 subject — verb — indirect object — direct object

3 subject — verb — object — adverbial

4 subject — verb — object — complement

5 adverbial — subject — verb — adverbial.

Noun clauses

1 to switch off our mobile phones: object, infinitive clause

2 leaving your assignment until the last minute: subject, -ing

clause

3 that you can pay in instalments: object, that clause

4 what this track is called: object, wh- clause

5 to err: subject, infinitive clause.

Adjectival clauses

1 suggested by my colleague: participle clause (non-finite)

2 for whom I have the greatest respect: relative clause (finite)

3 that I have conducted: relative clause (finite)

4 measuring the flow of water: participle clause (non-finite)

5 which has been verified by other experiments: relative

clause (finite).

SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

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subordinate clause embedded clause

noun clause adjectival clause adverbial clause

that clause wh- clause -ing clause

infinitive clause

relative clause participle clause

Subordinate clauses

1 who live on the estate: adjectival, relative clause

2 because their hard work has been recognised: adverbial

clause of reason

3 what impressed me: noun, wh- clause (subject)

that residents of all ages got stuck in: noun, that clause

(object)

4 to set up a residents’ group: noun, infinitive clause

(object)

to tap into the funds: adverbial, infinitive clause of purpose

5 getting all ages involved: noun, -ing clause (subject)

6 when they see people making an effort: adverbial clause of

time

people making an effort: noun, -ing clause (object of ‘see’)

7 that can have a big effect: adjectival, relative clause

8 so that kids who had nicked cars couldn’t get on the

estate: adverbial clause of purpose

who had nicked cars: adjectival, relative clause

9 if you break the problem down and do small things: adverbial

clause of condition

the ball rolling: noun, -ing clause (object of ‘start’)

10 that a small investment can have a big effect: noun, that

clause (object).

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When we put sentences together into a paragraph or text, we need to pay

particular attention to the choice of elements to fill the initial and final slots

of the sentence. These positions in sentence structure have a particular significance

in the developing communication of a text. What a sentence starts

with usually relates back in some way to the previous sentence or sentences

in the text, and it thus serves to tie the present sentence into the text structure.

It also represents the ‘theme’ or starting point of the sentence, what the

sentence is about. The final position in a sentence usually contains the most

‘newsworthy’ element, and it thus contributes to carrying forward the

message of the text. Consideration of how you distribute material within a

sentence can contribute to success in getting your point across.

C L A U S E S — M A I N A N D S U B O R D I N AT E / 5 3

3 The college has agreed that you can pay in instalments.

4 I do not know what this track is called.

5 To err is human.

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

ADJECTIVAL CLAUSES

The major function of adjectives (see Chapter 2) is within noun phrases,

to add descriptive information about nouns:

a large house, a successful application, the empty glass, twelve freshbaked

loaves, the previous urgent request, all this unnecessary fuss.

Adjectival clauses have a similar function; however, because they are

longer, they are positioned after the noun to which they relate. There are

two basic types of adjectival clause: finite, which are called ‘relative’

clauses; and non-finite, which are participle clauses. Here, first, are some

examples of relative clauses:

1 the large house that/which we looked at yesterday

2 a successful application, which came in at the last moment

3 the empty glass to which I was referring

4 my favourite aunt, who(m) I shall visit on Thursday

5 the scientist who/that made this discovery

6 the animal whose feet made these tracks.

Relative clauses have a similar structure to wh- clauses: they are introduced

by a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that), which is an element

of the relative clause: that/which is object of looked in 1, which is subject of

came in in 2, whom is object of visit in 4, and who/that is subject of made in 5.

In 3, which is preceded by the preposition to because the verb is refer to; and

in 6, whose is equivalent of possessive his/her/its in whose feet. The object form

of the who relative pronoun – whom (in 4) – is only now used in fairly

formal writing. The difference between which and who is one of ‘person’:

who relates to a noun referring to a person, which to one referring to a nonpersonal

noun. The possessive relative pronoun whose belongs to the personal

who set, but it is increasingly found with non-personal nouns:

7 the bus company whose drivers are on strike

8 the bus, whose windows needed cleaning.

The alternative to 8 would be:

9 the bus, of which the windows needed cleaning

or

10 the bus, the windows of which needed cleaning

Both of which are rather complicated by comparison with 8. Otherwise

a relative clause is to be avoided:

11 the bus — its windows needed cleaning — … .

In Chapter 1, we showed that a knowledge of relative clause structure is

necessary to understand whether to put a comma before a relative pronoun.

You do not put a comma if the relative clause is ‘defining’, when it is used

to define or specify which noun is being referred to. In 1 above, for example,

the relative clause (that we looked at yesterday) specifies which ‘large

house’ is being talked about. Similarly in 5, who made this discovery specifies

‘the scientist’ under discussion. In fact, the use of that as a relative pronoun

is only possible if the relative clause is defining. By contrast, which came in

at the last moment in 2 and whom I shall visit on Thursday in 4 are non-defining

relative clauses: they are simply adding further information about the noun.

Here are now some examples of non-finite adjectival clauses:

12 the total sum raised so far

13 the return to work, negotiated by the unions yesterday

14 the overall impression resulting from the investigations

15 the president, speaking in a private capacity.

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The first two examples (12 and 13) contain a past participle introducing

the adjectival clause (raised, negotiated), and the other two examples (14

and 15) contain a present participle (resulting, speaking). As with non-finite

noun clauses, it is the subject that is missing. Non-finite adjectival

clauses could be viewed as reduced relative clauses – a passive clause for

past participles, and an active clause for present participles:

16 the total sum which/that has been raised so far

17 the return to work, which has been negotiated by the unions

18 the overall impression which/that results from the investigations

19 the president, who is/was speaking in a private capacity.

You will notice from the use or absence of a comma that non-finite adjectival

clauses may be defining (12 and 14) or non-defining (13 and 15), just

like relative clauses.

There is one further, but not very common non-finite adjectival clause –

an infinitive clause:

20 the long-jumper to watch this summer

21 the most versatile computer to appear on the market this year.

Adjectival infinitive clauses often occur in examples like 21, where the

noun is preceded by an adjective in the superlative degree (most versatile).

Adjectival clauses

Identify the adjectival clauses in the following sentences. Say if the

adjectival clause is finite (a relative clause) or non-finite (a participle

or infinitive clause).

1 The hypothesis suggested by my colleague is not supported by the

evidence.

2 My colleague, for whom I have the greatest respect, is mistaken.

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EXERCISE

3 A different result emerges from the experiments that I have

conducted.

4 An experiment measuring the flow of water has led to a different

outcome.

5 It is an outcome which has been verified by other experiments.

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

With the function of adverbials in sentence structure, adverbial clauses

express various types of circumstance information (see above and

Chapter 3). An adverbial clause is typically a finite clause introduced by

a subordinating conjunction that indicates the type of circumstance

information that the clause is intended to convey:

1 Where she had planted grass seed, buttercups were growing

(place).

2 When the alarm sounds, everyone must evacuate the building

(time).

3 No one knows the results of the tests, because the laboratory has

suppressed them (reason).

4 If you take that road, you will have to pay a toll (condition).

5 Although we didn’t reach the summit, we enjoyed the walk up the

hill (concession).

6 You must arrange the matchsticks so that they form a hexagon

(result).

We have illustrated only one adverbial clause of time in this set of examples,

but the time relationships between actions and events are often

expressed in this way, by subordinating conjunctions like before, after,

while, since, until.

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There is one type of circumstance meaning that is expressed not by an

adverbial clause but by an infinitive clause, and that is ‘purpose’:

7 We are going to the bank to change some currency.

8 To access the service, you must type in your PIN number.

Compound Sentence

When two or more simple sentences are joined together by means of a

co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, or), they form a ‘compound’ sentence,

and the components are called ‘clauses’. The clauses are essentially

independent sentences, which could stand alone. For example:

1 The number of homeless people has risen, and/but there is less

accommodation available for them.

2 The number of homeless people has risen. There is less accommodation

available for them.

The conjunction (and/but) in the compound sentence in 1 makes the

relationship between the two propositions more explicit. In a sense, it

demands less work of the reader. The reader has to infer the relationship

between the simple sentences in 2.

When two clauses are co-ordinated, items that are identical in both may

be omitted from one of the clauses, usually the second one:

1 The victim may have injected himself, or he may have taken sleeping

pills.

2 The victim may have injected himself or taken sleeping pills.

The second clause of 2 omits the subject (the victim/he) and the auxiliary

verbs from the verb phrase (may have). The omitted items are ‘recoverable’

from the first clause, so both clauses can still be said to be potentially

independent simple sentences, though the ‘or’ relationship probably needs

to be made explicit:

3 The victim may have injected himself. Alternatively, he may have

taken sleeping pills.

Without alternatively, the relationship could be interpreted as ‘and’ rather

than ‘or’:

4 The victim may have injected himself. He may have taken sleeping

pills.

Compound sentences have the advantage of enabling you to be clear

about the relationship you want your reader to understand between one

proposition and another that follows.

Complex Sentence

A complex sentence results from the inclusion of one sentence as an element

in another. The included sentence is said to be ‘embedded’, and it is

termed a ‘subordinate clause’. The sentence into which it is embedded is

called the ‘main clause’. There are many kinds of subordinate or embedded

clause, which we will review; but let us begin with a simple example:

1 The security forces ordered that the area should be cleared.

The clauses in this example are as follows:

main – The security forces ordered (something)

subordinate – that the area should be cleared.

The subordinate clause fills the object slot in the main clause; it is the

object of ordered. It is a ‘that clause’, introduced by the conjunction that.

If the conjunction is removed, the clause has the full structure of a simple

sentence: subject (the area) + verb (should be cleared). Not all subordinate

clauses are like this:

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2 The student asked to be excused the examination.

main – The student asked (something)

subordinate – to be excused the examination.

In this case the subordinate clause has an infinitive form of the verb

(to be excused) followed by an object (the examination), but it contains no

subject. It is called a ‘to infinitive clause’.

Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses like the that clause and to infinitive clause above are

‘noun’ clauses, because they fill slots (subject and object in particular)

that are usually filled by nouns or noun phrases. Other types of subordinate

clause are: ‘adjectival’, functioning like adjectives in describing

nouns; and ‘adverbial’, functioning like adverbs in the adverbial slot in

sentence structure. We’ll review each of these types of clause in turn, so

that we know what we’re talking about.

NOUN CLAUSES

There are four main kinds of noun clause in English: that clause, wh- clause,

infinitive clause, and -ing clause. They can all function as either subject

or object within a main clause, though it is more usual to find a noun

clause as object than as subject. Here are some examples:

1 That he was given the scholarship suggests a corrupt system (that

clause as subject).

2 She told us that the museum didn’t open until 10 o’clock (that

clause as (direct) object).

3 What she wanted to know was the opening times (wh- clause as

subject).

4 The announcer explained why the train was late (wh- clause as

object).

Wh- clauses are introduced by a wh- word (who, what, when, where, why, how),

which is not just a conjunction, like that in a that clause, but is also an element

within the wh- clause itself (as subject, object, complement, adverbial):

what is object of know in 3, and why is an adverbial (of reason) within the

wh- clause in 4. Both that clauses and wh- clauses are finite clauses with a complete

sentence structure. This is not the case for infinitive clauses and -ing

clauses, which are both non-finite clauses, usually without a subject:

5 To lose this match is a catastrophe (infinitive clause as subject).

6 They are always wanting to influence the outcome (infinitive

clause as object).

7 Discovering a new species is rarely achieved by a botanist (-ing

clause as subject).

8 They regretted signing the contract (-ing clause as object).

All the noun clauses in these sentences are potentially ‘subject + verb +

object’ structures, but they do not have a subject, and the verb is nonfinite

(infinitive, present participle). In some cases, it is possible to include

a subject with a non-finite noun clause; though, with infinitive clauses, it

may be introduced by for:

9 For them to lose this match is a catastrophe.

10 They are always wanting their stooges to influence the outcome.

11 They regretted Monica signing the contract.

Noun clauses

There is one noun clause in each of the following sentences. Identify

it, say if it is the subject or object, and which type (that clause, etc.).

1 The announcement told us to switch off our mobile phones.

2 Leaving your assignment until the last minute will make you

stressed.

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EXERCISE

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1 The strikers + welcomed + the decision.

2 The caretaker + has replaced + the light bulb.

3 Spiders + have + eight legs.

Where the subject denotes a ‘doer’, the object usually represents the ‘victim’,

the entity having something done to them (as in 1 and 2). In a ‘have’-type

state (3), the ‘possessor’ is subject and the ‘entity possessed’ is object. With

some verbs (for example, giving and telling), a second object may occur:

4 The salesman + offered + the enquirers + a bargain.

5 The explorer + related + his adventures + to the audience.

In these cases we talk of a ‘direct object’, which is the entity most immediately

affected by the action, so the ‘victim’: a bargain in 4 and his adventures

in 5. The other object is called an ‘indirect object’, and it usually

refers to a recipient or beneficiary of the action: the enquirers in 4 and the

audience in 5. An indirect object does not normally occur unless a direct

object is also present in the sentence; it usually refers to a person or other

animate being, or some entity associated with people, such as an organisation.

It is expressed either by a noun phrase, when it precedes the

direct object, as in 4, or by a prepositional phrase, usually introduced by

to or for, when it follows the direct object, as in 5.

The second kind of element that follows the verb in a simple sentence is

the complement, as in:

1 Lydia + is + a mathematician.

2 Lydia + seems + very intelligent.

3 They + have appointed + Jane + as the department’s representative.

4 Nobody + considers + the law + effective.

The last element in each case is the complement. In the first two examples,

it is a subject complement, in the last two an object complement.

The complement reflects back on and ‘complements’ the subject or

object; it is in some way descriptive of the other element. So, mathematician

and very intelligent complement Lydia; the department’s representative

complements Jane; and effective complements the law. The complement

slot is filled by either an adjective phrase (very intelligent, effective), or a

noun phrase (a mathematician), or a prepositional phrase (as the department’s

representative). Complements occur after only a fairly restricted set

of verbs: be, seem, appear and similar verbs take subject complements; and

consider, judge, think and similar verbs, along with appoint, vote and the like,

take object complements. Some object complements may be preceded by

a preposition like as (3 above), or by to be, as in:

5 Nobody considers the law to be effective.

The third kind of element to follow the verb in simple sentences is the

adverbial. An adverbial, of which there may be more than one in a sentence,

refers to a range of ‘circumstances’ surrounding an action, event or

state (see Chapter 3). Such circumstances may relate to place – where

something is or has happened, or to or from where someone goes or comes:

1 The town of Ross + stands + above the Wye Valley.

2 An important Civil War battle + took place + near Worcester.

3 You + put + the dish + into the oven.

4 They + haven’t returned + from holiday in France.

Some verbs expect a place adverbial to be present (put in 3 and return in 4),

while in most cases the addition of information about place is entirely

optional. Where an adverbial is optional, its position in the sentence may

be variable:

5 Above the Wye Valley stands the town of Ross.

6 Near Worcester an important Civil War battle took place.

An adverbial may relate to time – when something happened, how long

something took, how often something occurred:

1 I + received + the letter from the university + on Tuesday.

2 We + stayed + in Paris + (for) two weeks.

3 You + must change + the dressing + daily/every day.

4 6 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

C L A U S E S — M A I N A N D S U B O R D I N AT E / 4 7

Time adverbials may be expressed by an adverb (daily), or by a noun

phrase (two weeks, every day), or most often by a prepositional phrase (on

Tuesday, for two weeks).

An adverbial may relate to how something happened, which includes the

manner in which something was done, as well as the means or instrument

used:

1 You + must remove + the glass plate + very carefully.

2 We + go + to the library + by bus.

3 You + can adjust + the mechanism + with a screwdriver.

Basic manner adverbials are expressed by means of manner adverbs, which

are usually derived from adjectives with the -ly suffix (careful-ly, nervous-ly).

Means is normally expressed by a prepositional phrase introduced by by (by

bus, by (means of) filtration); but note on foot. Instruments are also normally

expressed by a prepositional phrase introduced by with (with a screwdriver).

An adverbial may relate to why something happened (reason), to what

end it happened (purpose), or under what condition it happened:

1 The plan + failed + because of his incompetence.

2 They + are building + a new road + to relieve congestion.

3 If you wish to claim + you + must supply + evidence of your circumstances.

The reason adverbial in 1 is a prepositional phrase, introduced by because

of; it could equally as well have been a clause introduced by because:

4 The plan + failed + because he was incompetent.

The other two adverbials, in 2 and 3, are expressed by clauses. The purpose

adverbial is a to infinitive clause (to relieve congestion); alternatively, but

less often, it may be a for prepositional phrase:

5 They + did + it + for a laugh.

The condition adverbial is an if clause, which expresses the condition

under which something happens or may happen. Condition adverbials

frequently take initial position in a sentence.

With this last set of adverbials, we have strayed beyond the limits of the

simple sentence into those that are composed of more than one clause,

on which more below. Before that, let us summarise the structure of a

simple sentence. The minimal sentence is composed of:

subject + verb (Emma + smiled)

A sentence may additionally contain one or two objects:

subject + verb + object (Emma + consulted + her diary)

subject + verb + indirect object + direct object (Emma + offered +

Francis + an alternative date)

A sentence may alternatively contain a complement, either of the subject

or of the object:

subject + verb + complement (Emma + is + a shrewd woman)

subject + verb + object + complement (Emma + considers + Francis’

behaviour + unethical)

A sentence may contain a more-or-less obligatory adverbial, usually of

place:

subject + verb + adverbial (Emma + is travelling + to Russia)

subject + verb + object + adverbial (Emma + threw + her diary +

at Francis)

These are the basic structures, the models for all simple sentences.

Additionally, a sentence may optionally contain one or more adverbials

of place, time, manner, reason, etc.

Clause structure

Analyse the following sentences into subject, verb, object,

complement, adverbial:

EXERCISE

4 8 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

C L A U S E S — M A I N A N D S U B O R D I N AT E / 4 9

1 The Loire valley — is — one of France’s most beautiful regions.

2 This trip — will give — you — a good introduction to the region.

3 A coach — will take — you — to Monet’s house and garden.

4 People — regard — Chartres Cathedral — as the most magnificent

in France.

5 This evening — we — eat — in a charming restaurant.

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

Simple Sentence

The minimal form of a sentence is subject + verb:

1 The gaoler + laughed.

2 The wind + has dropped.

3 The street + has been cleaned.

The subject slot is normally filled by a noun phrase, and the verb slot by

a verb phrase. Where relevant, the head noun of the subject noun phrase

‘agrees in number with’ the first verb of the verb phrase; compare:

3 The street has been cleaned.

4 The streets have been cleaned.

Because ‘street’ in 3 is singular in number, the verb is ‘has’, the ‘third person

singular present tense’ form; whereas in 4 the plural ‘streets’ requires the

plural form ‘have’. This agreement rule, often cited as a marker of standard

English, applies only with present tense verbs; compare:

4 Clauses — Main and

Subordinate

1 The gaoler laughed.

5 The gaolers laughed.

However, there is one very common verb – be – where the agreement

applies in both present and past tenses:

Give the usual form of the verb be in the following

sentences:

6 The bus _____ departing (present).

7 The buses _____ departing (present).

8 The bus _____ departing (past).

9 The buses _____ departing (past).

10 I _____ departing (present).

11 He/She/It _____ departing (present).

12 We/You/They _____ departing (present).

13 I/He/She/It _____ departing (past).

14 We/You/They _____ departing (past).

The accepted written forms are: (6) is, (7) are, (8) was, (9) were, (10) am,

(11) is, (12) are, (13) was, (14) were. In colloquial speech, some people use

was for both singular and plural past:

15 We/You/They was departing.

All the examples of subject + verb sentences above follow the normal

order for ‘statements’, which will be taken as the basic order: subject

before verb.

Three further types of elements may occur in simple sentences, normally

after the verb. They will in part be determined by the main verb in

the sentence (see Chapter 3). A simple sentence may, in addition to the

subject + verb, contain an object slot:

4 4 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

Collocation

Compatibility of meaning extends beyond the appropriateness of an

adverbial for a sentence. Other word combinations may be ineligible

because they violate lexical or semantic compatibility conventions. To

take a simple example, if your cup of tea has been made using a large

amount of tea and left to brew for a considerable time, then you will

3 8 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 3 9

probably have a ‘strong’ cup of tea. Its opposite would be ‘weak’ tea.

There is no particular reason why we use ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ in respect

of tea, rather than, say, ‘dark’ and ‘light’, or ‘thick’ and ‘thin’. But ‘strong’

and ‘weak’ collocate with ‘tea’, rather than any other pair of adjectives.

That is a fact about this particular micro-structure of English.

Such collocational compatibilities permeate the language, and linguists

are still discovering what the conventions are in this area, and the degree

of freedom that a speaker or writer has in any particular context. For

example, the numeral expression ‘a brace of’ (meaning ‘a pair of’) is usually

applied to two kinds of item: birds, animals and fish that are ‘hunted’

(a brace of pheasant, rabbits, carp); and firearms, especially a brace of pistols.

However, you now find that ‘a brace of’ crops up in some unlikely places,

such as sports reporting: a brace of goals, tries, wickets. But you still cannot

use ‘a brace of’ for just any pair of things: a brace of gloves, socks, shoes, chairs.

Collocation operates across a number of structures, including adjective +

noun, verb + object, verb + adverb. Take the adjective heavy, for example.

Its usual meaning is concerned with ‘weight’; a ‘heavy’ object is one that

weighs a lot. But heavy collocates with a number of nouns where the

‘weight’ meaning is absent, though a transferred meaning of ‘large extent’

does apply:

heavy breathing; heavy casualties; heavy cold; heavy defeat; heavy

drinking; heavy fines; heavy rain; heavy schedule; heavy seas;

heavy sleeper; heavy smoker; heavy use.

The use of heavy in these contexts is arbitrary, and a learner of English as

a foreign language would not be able to guess that heavy would be the

appropriate adjective to indicate a ‘large extent’ for these nouns. Such

arbitrary collocations are not unusual. Consider:

deep divisions; deep trouble; fat chance; fat profit; take full advantage;

the full story; high opinion; high praise; in poor taste; poor value;

tall order; tall story; tame excuse; tame joke; wide margin; wide

vocabulary.

Constructing sentences also involves being aware of which adjectives can

collocate with the nouns that you wish to use.

Similarly, the appropriate match of verb and object may also be a matter

of collocation. For example, you ‘spend’ time and money, but you

‘expend’ energy or effort; and you can ‘waste’ all of them. You can ‘arrive

at’, ‘come to’ or ‘reach’ a decision; you may then ‘implement’, ‘overturn’

or ‘go back on’ it. With a promise, however, you can ‘make’ it, ‘keep’ it,

‘break’ it, ‘go back on’ it or ‘renege on’ it. Here are some further examples

of verb + object collocations:

break a contract, habit, journey, record, strike

command attention, respect, support, a high price

grant approval, asylum, a concession, a pardon, permission

mount a campaign, a challenge, an exhibition, a search

spoil your appetite, your chances, the effect, the view, yourself.

Matching verbs and object nouns is clearly important for achieving a

fluent text. Creative use of language, however, may involve attempting to

extend the collocational range of a word.

Let us look at our third set of collocation examples: verb + adverb, such

as laugh heartily. There is a limited number of ways in which we

can describe laughing; besides ‘heartily’, there is ‘loudly’, ‘hysterically’,

‘one’s head off ’, and perhaps one or two more. Sometimes, the

adverb is related to the adjective that is used with the related noun:

drink heavily – heavy drinker, laugh hysterically – hysterical laughter, oppose

resolutely – resolute opposition. Here are some further examples of verb +

adverb collocations:

complain, regret, resent bitterly

breathe, think, regret deeply

accept, agree, live, settle happily

correlate, identify, respond positively

applaud, greet, receive, welcome warmly.

If you are a speaker of English as your first language, then you may feel

that your intuitions are a good guide to collocational compatibilities;

and you are probably right. However, it is good to be aware of this

dimension of choice, or constraint; as just occasionally our intuitions

may desert us.

4 0 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 4 1

There is just one further, related matter to mention in connection with

semantic compatibility. Think of the types of object that you would

typically find following the verb commit. You will come up with a list that

is likely to include nouns such as:

adultery, crime, error, offence, murder, rape, sin, suicide.

You will notice that all these nouns have a ‘negative’ meaning; and, generally

speaking, it would appear that you cannot ‘commit’ anything very

pleasant. Commit spreads a negative meaning; it occurs in a sentence in

which the accompanying words tend to have unpleasant and negative

meanings. Similarly, the verb wreak has a negative influence, occurring

with nouns such as:

havoc, mayhem, destruction; revenge, vengeance.

Words may have positive, as well as negative, influences. For example,

you can embark on a:

career, journey, programme, project, tour.

The adjective warm, similarly, has a positive meaning, occurring in

phrases such as ‘lovely and warm’, ‘warm and friendly’, ‘cosy and warm’,

‘soft and warm’.

Summary

In this chapter we have seen that, while grammar allows a measure of creativity

to the writer, and the writer has to exercise choice in selecting the

words, phrases and constructions that best fit the purpose of the text, there

are, nevertheless, a number of constraints, both syntactic and semantic, that

operate to determine the shape that a sentence, and ultimately a text, will

take. Knowing about what is possible and what is constrained in grammar

will make you a more self-aware writer, and therefore a more proficient one.

In the following chapters, we consider in more detail how sentences may be

structured and arranged to achieve optimum communicative effect.

4 2 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

The follow terms have featured in this chapter. You may wish to remind

yourself of how they are used by looking them up in the Glossary at the

end of the book.

active/passive

action event state

circumstance

time place condition

reason purpose manner

collocation

The nub of syntax is the structure of the clause. Choices made here have

an influence on adjoining clauses and sentences, and ultimately on the

way a text as a whole develops its message. In this chapter, then, we’re

going to look at the structure of sentences and clauses, to examine the

kinds of choice that we make as writers, and to acquire some terminology

for talking about this aspect of grammar. We begin by looking at the

‘simple sentence’, composed of one clause; and then we examine complex

sentences, composed of two or more clauses

Choosing Your Verb

Let us pursue this line of thinking a little further by illustrating the grammatical

consequences of the choice of a number of different kinds of

verb. Let us begin with the verb break. Like a number of verbs in English,

break may express:

• An action: Jenny has broken your favourite mug.

• An event: Your favourite mug has broken.

The action version could also be expressed in the passive, with or without

the perpetrator: Your favourite mug has been broken (by Jenny). As an

action verb, break expects two participants in the sentence, the ‘doer’ and

the ‘victim’; as an event verb, it expects only one, the ‘victim’.

Now consider the verbs buy and sell, which are both action verbs expecting

the same three participants in the sentence: the ‘seller’, the ‘purchaser’

and the ‘goods’ that exchange hands. Compare:

1 Bill bought a new computer from a friend.

2 A friend sold Bill a new computer.

The choice of buy or sell to express this transaction makes a difference in the

order of the elements in the sentence, and in the perspective from which the

transaction is reported. With buy the purchaser is the ‘doer’ in subject position,

and the seller comes last in a prepositional phrase introduced by from;

whereas with sell, the ‘seller’ is the initial ‘doer’ element, and the final position

may be taken by the ‘goods’, as in 2 above, or by the purchaser, as in:

3 A friend sold a new computer to Bill.

Let us look next at the verb think. This verb is used mainly as a ‘private’

state, to express a belief or an opinion, and the most common ‘experiencer’

of the private state is ‘I’:

1 I think (that) the conflict will continue for some time.

2 I think Julia (to be) the best violinist in the orchestra.

These are the two main grammatical structures with think as a private

state verb. In 1 the ‘thought’ is expressed by a that clause, although the

introductory conjunction that is often omitted. In 2, where an opinion

is being expressed about someone, there are two elements after the

verb, which may be joined by to be. First is the person or thing about

which an opinion is being expressed ( Julia), followed by the evaluation

(the best violinist …). These two elements could be related in a ‘be’ type

of state:

3 Julia is the best violinist in the orchestra.

The verb think may also be used to express a mental process action:

4 Boris is thinking about his next move.

Finally, let us take the verb smell. As an action verb, smell expects a ‘doer’,

the person (or animal) that deliberately puts their nose to something:

3 4 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

1 The badger smelt the food that had been put out.

However, this sentence could refer to an involuntary smelling: the odour

of the food reached the badger’s nostrils. Compare:

2 The badger could smell the food that had been put out.

Here, with the addition of the modal auxiliary could, the involuntary

meaning is the only one possible. Perhaps, with this meaning, smell

expresses an event rather than an action. In a quite different structure,

smell has a state meaning:

3 These flowers smell rather nice.

4 These curtains smell of stale tobacco smoke.

5 You smell.

As a state verb, smell can be followed either by an adjective, as in 3 (nice),

or by a prepositional phrase introduced by of (4), or by nothing (5). When

smell contains only an element referring to the thing emitting an odour,

then it implies an unpleasant odour.

This selection of verbs illustrates that the choice of verb influences the

structure of the sentence or clause in which it performs its pivotal role. It

also shows that some verbs can enter more than one structure, sometimes

with quite distinct meanings, at other times with a more nuanced difference.

When you are writing, it is useful to try out the different structures

that are possible with a given verb, to see which one fits best into the text

that you are composing.

Construct as many different sentence structures as you can

with each of the following verbs. How does each structure change

the perspective on what is being communicated?

close, e.g. The attendant closed the door — The door was

closed — The door closed

feel

suggest

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 3 5

EXERCISE

Circumstances

A main verb has some influence over the occurrence of other elements in

its sentence, but that influence does not usually extend to the ‘circumstance’

elements. By ‘circumstances’, we mean the where, when, how

and why of a situation. Some verbs do expect a ‘where’ circumstance to

be present in their sentence, for example keep and put, in the structure

‘someone keeps/puts something somewhere’:

1 We keep the cut-glass bowls in the cabinet.

2 She put the letters into the postbox.

The verb last expects a ‘when’ circumstance of duration (how long?):

3 The performance lasts for three hours.

Such verbs are, however, in the minority; and the vast majority of

verbs set up no strong expectations about the occurrence of particular

circumstances in their sentences. They may be freely and optionally

added.

Having said that circumstances may be freely added to any sentence,

it is, nevertheless, the case that a circumstance must be compatible in

meaning with the sentence to which it is added. If the sentence is in the

past tense, for example, and a time circumstance is added, then this must

have past time reference:

The army fired (past tense) a missile at the compound last night

(past time).

You could not say: ‘… next week’ (future time), as it would be incompatible

with the tense of the verb.

Similarly, a direction circumstance (to or from somewhere) is appropriate

only with a verb that denotes movement:

She walked/strode/crept towards the door.

3 6 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

Let us at this point review the main types of circumstances that we may

wish to add to a sentence. Broadly, we may wish to add information

about time, place, manner, reason, purpose, or condition. Time may indicate

‘when’ an action or event takes place, or may refer to ‘how long’ a

situation takes or lasts, or to ‘how frequently’ it occurs.

For each of the following, say which type of ‘time’

circumstance it is:

1 She has been writing the history essay for four days.

2 They go to the cinema twice a week.

3 The first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

Place may indicate ‘where’ a situation occurs or is the case, or may refer

to ‘direction’ (where from, to, or via), or to ‘distance’ (how far).

For each ‘place’ circumstance in the following, say which

type it is:

4 She is competing in the marathon this weekend in Tokyo.

5 You travel from Plymouth to Penzance, about 130 kilometres.

6 Please go through the door on the left and into the foyer.

Manner indicates ‘how’ an action/event occurred; reason indicates ‘why’

a situation occurred or exists; purpose indicates ‘what for’ something is

done; and condition indicates ‘under what condition’ something occurs

or exists.

EXERCISE

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 3 7

EXERCISE

EXERCISE

Which circumstance in the following indicates manner,

reason, condition, purpose?

7 The redundancies were handled rather insensitively.

8 If you complete this form, we shall be able to consider your

application.

9 She is running the Tokyo marathon to raise money for charity.

10 The game has been postponed because of the bad weather.

The answers are as follows: (1) how long; (2) how frequently; (3) when;

(4) where; (5) distance; (6) direction; (7) manner; (8) condition; (9) purpose;

(10) reason. This does not exhaust all possible circumstances, but gives

an indication of the main ones. You will note that a circumstance may be

expressed by:

• a prepositional phrase: for four days, in Tokyo

• a noun phrase: about 130 kilometres

• an adverbial clause: if you complete this form.

Summarising so far: the choice of the ‘main’ verb in a sentence both

predicts and constrains the presence of ‘obligatory’ elements (subject,

objects, complement). It only occasionally predicts the usually ‘optional’

circumstances (adverbials), but it constrains them to the extent that their

meaning(s) need to be compatible.

Matching the Bits

When you sit down to write a text, you may have the impression that

you are faced with unlimited choice. There are, of course, the constraints

imposed by the topic you are writing on, or the question that you are

supposed to be answering; but that is more likely to constrain your

choice of vocabulary, rather than your choice of grammar. There is also

the constraint associated with the type of text that you are writing: an

essay has an expected structure, consisting of an introduction, a series of

statements or arguments supported with evidence, and a conclusion. As

you organise your text into a coherent sequence of paragraphs, further

constraints come into play, relevant to the need to connect the paragraphs

together, so that they flow. Then you will have to take account of the

internal structure of paragraphs: an opening sentence that is elaborated

on by subsequent sentences, and rounded off with a concluding sentence.

Within each paragraph, the sentences will need to show some connection,

not only by relating to a common topic, but also structurally, so

that the reader is led through the developing argument or story. The

right choice of words – matching verbs with suitable nouns, subjects

with suitable objects – is important for making a text read fluently. The

choice of one verb rather than another may influence how the reader

experiences your text; a verb can change the perspective. We shall pursue

some of these points further in this chapter and in subsequent chapters

(see, especially, Chapters 5 and 6).

Structural choices are therefore important, because a grammatically

well-crafted text will not only be more effective as a piece of communication,

but also be a pleasure to read. Grammatical choices affect the

meaning of the text.

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 3 1

Compare the following sentences. How do they differ in

meaning, perhaps quite subtly?

1 The appointments committee invited the distinguished scholar

from Botswana to take up the post of Professor of Anthropology.

2 The distinguished scholar from Botswana was invited by the

appointments committee to take up the post of Professor of

Anthropology.

3 The distinguished scholar from Botswana was invited to take

up the post of Professor of Anthropology by the appointments

committee.

4 The distinguished scholar from Botswana was invited to take up

the post of Professor of Anthropology.

The first of these sentences is ‘active’, the others are ‘passive’ in structure.

The structural differences are:

• In the form of the verb phrase: passive sentences have a passive verb

phrase, comprising a form of the auxiliary verb be (in this case was) +

the past participle form of the main verb (in this case invited).

• In the order of the elements making up the sentence: in the active

sentence the ‘doer’ (the appointments committee) precedes the

‘action’ (invited) as subject of the verb, and the ‘victim’ (the distinguished

scholar from Botswana) follows, as object of the verb; in

the passive sentence the order is reversed (the object in the active

sentence becomes the subject in the passive), and the ‘doer’ is

introduced by the preposition by.

Sentences 2 to 4 illustrate the variations in the ordering of elements that

are possible with the passive version of the sentence, including in 4 the

omission of the ‘doer’. Although it could be argued that the basic propositional

meaning is the same in all four sentences, the communicative

meaning is different: which elements occur in initial and final positions

in a sentence have a crucial effect on how a sentence is understood. The

EXERCISE

initial position is taken by what the sentence is about (‘the appointments

committee’ or ‘the distinguished scholar’); the final position is for the

most ‘newsworthy’ item in the sentence. We shall consider the communicative

effects of sentence arrangements in more detail in Chapter 5.

What Do We Talk About?

Let me suggest to you that there are three basic kinds of situation that we

encode in sentences:

1 what people (mainly) do

2 what happens

3 the way things are.

We’ll call 1 actions, 2 events, and 3 states. Here are some examples:

1 (a) The fire fighter took off his helmet.

(b) They have insulted the memory of a great leader.

(c) She considered the choices facing her.

2 (a) The glass just slipped out of my hands.

(b) You are growing tall.

(c) I’ve forgotten to buy the sprouts.

3 (a) The water is cloudy.

(b) The baby has beautiful eyes.

(c) We believe you are innocent.

• Actions involve a ‘doer’, someone (usually a person) who instigates

the action: the fire fighter in 1a, they in 1b, and she in 1c. Actions

may be physical (1a), verbal (1b), or mental (1c).

• Events encompass things that happen, but without an explicit ‘doer’

or instigator; they may happen to something (2a) or to someone

3 2 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

MAT C H I N G T H E B I T S / 3 3

(2b, 2c). Events may refer to physical processes (2a, 2b), or to mental

processes (2c).

• States may refer to a ‘be’ relationship (3a) or to a ‘have’ relationship

(3b), or to a ‘private state’ of thinking or feeling (believe in 3c).

The crucial element that determines whether a sentence refers to an

action, an event or a state is the main verb. In the examples above, take

off, insult and consider are action verbs; slip, grow and forget are event verbs;

and be, have and believe are state verbs. As we indicated in Chapter 2, the

choice of main verb in a sentence or clause determines which other elements

are also likely to occur. Moreover, the choice of verb can influence

the perspective from which a situation is viewed. Compare:

1 The fire fighter took off his helmet (action).

2 The fire fighter’s helmet has come off (event).

3 The fire fighter has no helmet on (state).

Whether we choose to report a situation as action, event or state gives an

indication of how we wish a reader or hearer to view a particular state of

affairs.

Text and Discourse

Write down what you think the difference is between ‘text’

and ‘discourse’, and then read on.

These terms are both part of everyday vocabulary. A ‘text’ is usually

taken to refer to any complete written piece of communication. It might

S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 2 7

EXERCISE

EXERCISE

be as short as a notice, ‘Beware of the bull!’, or it may be a 150,000 word

novel or philosophical treatise. A ‘discourse’ usually refers to a piece of

spoken communication, either by one person (a monologue) or by two or

more (a dialogue). Some linguists have used the terms interchangeably

and referred to ‘spoken text’ and ‘written text’, or to ‘spoken discourse’

and ‘written discourse’. Since there are two terms, and they make a

useful distinction, it would seem sensible to restrict ‘text’ to written and

‘discourse’ to spoken pieces of communication.

Texts may be composed of chapters, chapters of paragraphs, paragraphs

of sentences. The composition will depend on how large the text is, what

its purpose and readership are, and how the writer wishes to structure it.

The composition of discourse is not so easily delineated. A monologue

may have much the same structure as a written text, and they are very

often ‘written to be spoken’ (e.g. a radio talk, a speech, a lecture). A dialogue

involves ‘turns’ and sequences of turns that make up ‘topics’. In this

book, we are mostly concerned with written language, so the grammar of

texts.

Summary

This concludes our review of some of the terminology needed for talking

about grammar. In summary, we have mentioned the following, in order

of ‘size’:

text/discourse

paragraph

sentence

clause

phrase (verb phrase, noun phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase,

prepositional phrase)

word (noun, verb, adjective, adverb; pronoun, determiner, preposition,

conjunction)

We shall be using these terms in the following chapters. They are all

entered in the Glossary at the end of the book, should you need to refresh

your memory about their meaning and use.

2 8 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

Word classes

‘Slugabed’ (noun) is (verb) the (determiner) perfect (adjective)

description (noun) for (preposition) someone (pronoun)

too (adverb) lazy (adjective), too (adverb) slothful (adjective),

too (adverb) sluggardly (adverb) to drag (verb) themselves

(pronoun) out of (preposition) bed (noun). The (determiner)

word (noun) was (verb) probably (adjective) coined (verb) by

(preposition) Shakespeare (noun) and (conjunction) used (verb)

in (preposition) Romeo (noun) and (conjunction) Juliet (noun).

In (preposition) Act (noun) IV (number), Scene (noun) V (number),

the (determiner) nurse (noun) comes (verb) to wake (verb)

Juliet (noun) from (preposition) her (determiner) ‘unnatural

(adjective) sleep (noun)’ and (conjunction) says (verb): ‘Why

(adverb) lamb (noun)! why (adverb) lady (noun)! fie (adverb),

you (pronoun) slugabed (noun)!’At least (adverb) Juliet (noun)

had (verb) an (determiner) excuse (noun)!

Phrases

1 Her companion (NP) was telling (VP) her (NP) a boring joke

(NP).

2 The astonished guest (NP) dropped (VP) his knife and fork

(NP) with a great clatter (PrepP).

3 You (NP) must climb (VP) over the garden wall (PrepP)

immediately (AdvP) [and] escape (VP).

4 My dear wife (NP) seems (VP) rather listless (AdjP) this

morning (NP).

5 You (NP) should not believe (VP) everything you read in the

papers (NP).

S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 2 9

SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

Phrase

We tend to use the term ‘phrase’ in ordinary language in a rather loose

sense to refer to any sequence of two or more words that go together.

Linguists are rather more precise in their use of this term, and it is used

to refer to particular combinations of words. Specifically, the elements

filling the slots in the examples in the ‘Sentence’ section above correspond

to what linguists mean by phrases:

the jeweller

the diamond rings

all the people in the audience

in their own home

should show

were laughing

as well as:

you

Lydia

laughed.

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S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 2 3

Phrases are the elements that fill the slots in sentence (or clause) structure,

whether the element consists of one word or more than one word.

Linguists identify five types of phrase in English, each one with its own

distinctive structure and based on a particular word class:

• verb phrase

• noun phrase

• adjective phrase

• adverb phrase

• prepositional phrase

VERB PHRASE (VP)

The minimal form of a verb phrase is a main verb, in one of its inflectional

forms: decide, decides, decided, deciding, to decide. A verb phrase may

additionally contain, before the main verb, a number of ‘auxiliary’ verbs,

which contribute meanings mainly associated with time, for example:

are deciding

was decided

had decided

did decide

might decide.

More than one auxiliary verb may occur in a verb phrase, and so may a

negative word, especially not, which normally follows the first auxiliary:

is being decided

have been deciding

has not been decided

might not be decided.

A sentence or main clause must normally contain a ‘finite’ verb phrase,

which is a verb phrase that begins with a verb that is identifiable as either

‘present’ or ‘past’ tense. All the verb phrases listed above are finite: are, is,

have, has are present tense forms; was, had, did, might are past tense forms.

The simple forms decide, decides (present) and decided (past) may also be

finite, depending on context. The following are sentences/clauses with

finite verb phrases:

The government has decided that taxes should be raised.

The winner will be decided in the morning.

The jury decided that the defendant was guilty.

Non-finite verb phrases consist of, or begin with, an infinitive (to decide)

or a participle (deciding, decided) form of the verb. The following clauses

contain non-finite verb phrases:

Deciding whether to go or not …

… (difficult) to decide on the right verdict

Having decided to apply for the job …

The incompleteness symbol (…) shows that these clauses would be part

of a larger structure, for example, a sentence.

NOUN PHRASE (NP)

The minimal form of a noun phrase is a noun or pronoun: fish, chips, decision,

they, someone. A noun phrase may additionally contain before the noun:

• a determiner (the, a, my, many, five):

the fish

many chips

this decision

• an adjective:

funny fish

many home-made chips

this strange decision

• a noun modifier:

river fish

many oven chips

this committee decision

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S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 2 5

and after the noun:

• a prepositional phrase:

the fish in the sea

many chips from the fish-shop

this decision on the new road

• a relative clause:

the fish which were swimming in the sea

many chips that I have eaten

my aunty who lives in Grimsby

• a non-finite (participle or infinitive) clause:

the fish floating in the pond

many chips cooked by fish-shops

the first decision to increase taxes.

As you can probably conclude from this small set of examples, the range

and complexity of noun phrases are extensive. Here are some further

examples (taken from a newspaper):

a gloomier economic outlook

Britain’s most punctual inter-city train operator

the latest news from the world of personal finance

the racist police officers exposed in an undercover television

programme

the Information Commissioner, who is responsible for the implementation

of the Data Protection Act

a former Walt Disney executive who was responsible for marketing

the Mighty Ducks ice hockey team.

ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AdjP)

The minimal form of an adjective phrase is an adjective: funny, enormous,

special, friendly, beautiful. The adjective may be preceded by an adverb,

which is usually an ‘intensifier’:

very funny, absolutely enormous, quite special, unusually friendly,

extremely beautiful.

Some adjectives may be followed by a prepositional phrase, a that clause,

or an infinitive clause:

satisfied with the service

sorry that I shall not be able to be with you

afraid to go out in the dark.

ADVERB PHRASE (AdvP)

The minimal form of an adverb phrase is an adverb: sadly, eventually, soon,

carelessly, afterwards, clockwise. Some adverbs may be preceded by an

‘intensifying’ adverb:

very sadly

quite soon

extremely carelessly.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PrepP)

A prepositional phrase is composed of a preposition followed by a noun

phrase:

on the top shelf

outside the window

before this last performance

with five bags of shopping

in spite of the bad weather.

PHRASES IN CLAUSES/SENTENCES

As noted earlier, phrases fill the slots in clause/sentence structure:

Einstein (NP) had propounded (VP) the theory of relativity (NP).

The film producer (NP) thought (VP) her (NP) very talented

(AdjP).

2 6 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

The celebrity chef (NP) was pouring (VP) the brown liquid (NP)

very carefully (AdvP) into the saucepan (PrepP).

The driver (NP) must have braked (VP) suddenly (AdvP) [and]

the coach (NP) skidded (VP) on the ice (PrepP).

You (NP) look (VP) extremely smart (AdjP) in your new

outfit (PrepP).

Phrases

Now do the same for the following sentences:

1 Her companion was telling her a boring joke.

2 The astonished guest dropped his knife and fork with a great

clatter.

3 You must climb over the garden wall immediately and escape.

4 My dear wife seems rather listless this morning.

5 You should not believe everything you read in the papers.

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

Word Classes

Before we leave words, let us note that the word stock of a language, its

vocabulary or lexicon, is divided into a number of classes, based on how

words are used in grammar. The traditional term for word classes is

‘parts of speech’, which may be a term more familiar to you.

Linguists divide the words of English into eight classes, four large ones

and four relatively small ones, as follows:

noun pronoun

verb determiner

adjective preposition

adverb conjunction

Those on the left are the large classes, and the words in these classes provide

most of the meaning of sentences. Those on the right are the small

classes, and the words in them have a mostly supporting function in the

construction of sentences.

• Nouns denote: ‘things’, including people (aunt), animals (badger),

objects (clock), abstract ideas (socialism), feelings (compassion),

and so on.

• Verbs denote: actions (kick, shout), events (fall, lose), states (contain,

comprise).

• Adjectives denote: size (large), colour (yellow), shape (oblong),

appearance (pretty), evaluation (commendable), and so on.

• Adverbs denote: manner (cautiously), time (soon), direction (along),

etc.

• Pronouns mainly substitute for nouns and include: the personal pronouns

(I, me, mine), reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves), indefinite

pronouns (everybody, nothing), relative pronouns (who, whose, which).

• Determiners accompany nouns and include: the articles (a, the),

demonstrative determiners (this, that), possessive determiners (my,

our), numerals (five, fifth), indefinite quantifiers (some, few, a

lot of).

• Prepositions relate a noun to other parts of a sentence, for example,

in the garden, under the sofa, after the lecture, because of the

delay, during the night.

• Conjunctions join elements, mainly clauses, together in a sentence;

they include: and, or, but; while, whereas, although, if, that, when,

so that, because.

Some words belong to more than one word class. For example, round is a:

noun in ‘She bought a round of drinks’

verb in ‘They rounded the corner’

adjective in ‘Bring me a round dish’

adverb in ‘Come round tomorrow’

preposition in ‘We took a trip round the harbour’.

It is useful to be able to name the class that a word belongs to when talking

about the structure of a sentence. Each word class is defined briefly

in the Glossary at the end of the book, and dictionaries give the word

class of each word entered.

1 8 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 1 9

Word classes

To help you remember, give a word class label to each of the words

in the following:

‘Slugabed’ is the perfect description for someone too lazy, too

slothful, too sluggardly to drag themselves out of bed. The word

was probably coined by Shakespeare and used in Romeo and

Juliet. In Act IV, Scene V, the nurse comes to wake Juliet from

her ‘unnatural sleep’ and says: ‘Why lamb! why lady! fie, you

slugabed!’ At least Juliet had an excuse!

The solution is at the end of the chapter.

Sentence

The second of our terms is also familiar from the vocabulary of everyday

life. Again, we have a fairly clear idea of what constitutes a sentence:

a sequence of words, beginning with a capital letter and ending with

a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. This definition, like the

one for word, derives from our experience of writing and does not apply

in speech, which doesn’t have capital letters or full stops.

If you want to reflect on what you are writing, it is more useful to think

of sentences in terms of their structure. What does a sentence consist of?

Looking at sentences from a structural point of view shows more clearly

the choices that face the writer, and that a writer can manipulate to

advantage. Some of these issues we shall elaborate on in subsequent

chapters. There are a number of ways in which to approach this question.

I find the following one of the most helpful and accessible.

The central, pivotal element in a sentence is the (main) verb. It is always

represented by the last verb in a verb phrase (explained below); for example,

in all the following verb phrases the main verb is show:

showed

was showing

had shown

EXERCISE

may have shown

could be showing

must have been shown.

The choice of a verb opens up a number of other possible ‘slots’ in a

sentence. The choice of the verb show, for example, would lead you to

expect: ‘someone’ who shows, ‘something’ that is shown, and possibly

‘someone’ to whom the ‘something’ is shown, as in:

(The jeweller) showed (the diamond rings) (to the couple).

(You) should show (the teacher) (some respect).

Note the alternative positions for the ‘something’ and ‘to someone’ elements.

The choice of the verb contain expects a ‘something’ that is a container,

and a ‘something’ that is the contents, for example:

(This box) contains (a first-aid kit).

(This first-aid kit) contains (all that you need to help someone in

trouble).

The choice of the verb laugh expects a slot only for the ‘someone’ who

laughs:

(Marley) laughed.

(All the people in the audience) were laughing.

In addition to the verb, a sentence may contain between one and three

slots filled by people and things involved in the scenario that the verb is

about. What can then be added to this are further elements expressing

the circumstances (when, where, how, why, etc.) under which the scenario

took place:

The jeweller showed the diamond rings to the couple yesterday

afternoon (when?) in their own home (where?).

This box contains a first-aid kit, so that you can help anyone in

need (why?).

Marley laughed uncontrollably (how?) the whole day (when?).

2 0 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

From this you can see that your choice of verb for a sentence will determine

to a large extent its structure, what elements it will contain, and the order

in which they will occur. Compare the verbs own and belong to: both

expect ‘something’ owned and ‘someone’ who owns, but the order of the

elements differs depending on which verb is chosen:

(Lydia) owns (the yellow car).

(The yellow car) belongs to (Lydia).

What ‘slots’ do the following verbs open up? What kinds

of element do they expect in a sentence?

come, eat, inform, tempt, yawn

Think about it, before you look at the discussion that follows.

Like many verbs of ‘motion’, come opens up two slots: one for the

person(s) or vehicle that comes, and one for the place from which or to

which they come. Similarly, eat requires a person or animal, usually, that

eats and something, usually food, that is eaten. The verb inform, as a verb

of ‘communication’, opens up three slots: a person informs another of/about

something. Tempt also opens up three slots: the tempter, the person

tempted, and the act which they are tempted to do. Lastly, yawn opens up

only one slot, the person who yawns.

Clause

With this third main term we probably begin to enter the territory of the

unknown for many of you, or the notions at least begin to get hazy. In

particular, you are likely to be uncertain about the difference between

‘sentence’ and ‘clause’, and not without reason. What was said about the

structure of sentences in the previous section applies equally to clauses.

They, too, can be regarded as having a structure centred on a main verb.

It is, thus, a defining criterion of both sentences and clauses that they

EXERCISE

S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 2 1

contain a main verb, which determines to an extent what other elements

may occur in the clause or sentence.

The difference between clauses and sentences is one of composition.

Sentences may be composed of more than one clause. If a sentence contains

more than one clause, they are often joined by a conjunction; for example:

(The leaves are falling from the trees), and (the days are getting

shorter).

(The train arrived on time), although (it was held up near

Banbury).

(I am not going out), if (I cannot afford it).

(The club has closed its doors) and (they are turning people away),

because (it is already full to capacity).

When (the telephone rings) (you must answer it).

The relationships between clauses in sentences are further explored in

Chapter 4.

Summary: What Is Grammar, Then?

‘Grammar’ is a number of things:

1 Grammar is the means by which we structure the language that we

speak and write.

2 Grammar is the set of rules, conventions and principles, together

with their exceptions, that we have stored in our heads (‘internalised’)

as a consequence of acquiring or learning the language.

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 1 3

EXERCISE

3 Grammar is the set of descriptive statements, expressed in appropriate

terminology (‘codification’), and within a consistent framework

(theory, or model) that we use to account for ‘grammar’ in senses

1 and 2.

4 A grammar is a book containing 3.

Knowledge of grammar is as vital to a writer as is knowledge of paint and

brushstrokes to a painter, or musical notation and the characteristics of

musical instruments to a composer.

This chapter has introduced the following grammatical terms. They are

given brief definitions in the Glossary and explained more fully in the

chapters indicated there.

1 4 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

conjunction

countable/uncountable

defining/non-defining

homophone

inflections

noun

participle clause

past participle

past tense

possessive

preposition

present participle

present tense

subject—verb agreement

subordinate clause

syntax

If you are going to reflect on your own writing, ask yourself questions

about it, and seek to improve it, then you will need a vocabulary, a set of

terms, to enable you to do that. In this chapter we are going to introduce

some basic terminology of grammar, so that you will be equipped to do

the necessary reflection to improve your writing.

Some of the terms may well be familiar to you; they are part of our

everyday vocabulary. However, we will make them more precise and serviceable.

Other terms you may have never heard before; they are from

the technical terminology of linguistics. They are worth getting to know,

because they will extend the range of your thinking about language.

Word

Let us start with the most familiar and obvious term, though for linguists

it throws up some interesting problems of definition. The simplest definition

would be:

A word is a sequence of letters separated by spaces from other

words.

Certainly, this is how a word processing program on a computer counts

words, and it is usually how you count words for a ‘word limit’ in an

assignment. Note that this defines ‘word’ only in writing, not in speech;

and consider the following:

1 How are talk, talks, talking, talked related?

2 Is put up with the same as tolerate?

3 Are lead (a metal) and lead (go ahead of) the same word?

4 Is seat belt one word or two?

2 Some Basic Terminology

As you have thought about these questions, it may have dawned on

you that we use the term ‘word’ in a number of ways, to refer to

different but related concepts. For example, you will find only one of

the words in 1 entered in a dictionary: talk. This is the base form of

the word; the others are ‘inflected’ forms. The inflections are -s, -ing, -ed,

added to the base form. They are common to nearly all verbs in

English:

-s ‘third person singular present tense’ inflection, used when

the subject (see Chapter 4) is the equivalent of he, she, it (for

example, ‘He talks in his sleep’, ‘The computer talks to you’)

-ing ‘present participle’ inflection, used to form certain verb

tenses and on its own in present participle clauses (see

Chapter 4) (for example, ‘They are talking about the film’,

‘Talking of which …’)

-ed ‘past tense’ and ‘past participle’ inflection, used to form verb

tenses (for example, ‘They talked all night’, ‘I haven’t talked

to her since’).

In terms of words on the page, put up with (in 2) consists of three words,

but in terms of meaning it is the equivalent of tolerate, and like tolerate it

would be entered as a headword in a dictionary. Items like put up with are

called ‘phrasal verbs’, because they operate like a single-word verb, but

they are a ‘phrase’ composed of a verb word (put) together with one or

two adverbs or prepositions (see below). Phrasal verbs are usually used

in informal writing and usually have a more formal single-word equivalent.

Here are a few more phrasal verbs, from the hundreds in English,

with their formal equivalents:

break off discontinue

call out summon

look down on despise

speed up accelerate

stand down resign

take (someone) off imitate

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S O M E B A S I C T E R M I N O L O G Y / 1 7

In 3, lead and lead are the same word as far as spelling is concerned,

though they have a different pronunciation, and a very different meaning.

They are called ‘homographs’ (homo = ‘same’, graph = ‘writing’).

A similar problem is presented in writing by ‘homonyms’, which are

both spelled and pronounced the same, but have a different meaning

and origin, for example, ear (‘organ of hearing’ and ‘part of cereal crop’

(ear of wheat)), strip (‘remove one’s clothing’ and ‘narrow piece of cloth

etc.’).

The example in 4 is rather like the phrasal verb in 2, in that seat belt consists

of two written words, but has a single meaning. It is a ‘compound

word’, but one that is written ‘open’, as against ‘solid’ (for example,

seaweed) or ‘hyphenated’ (for example, see-through).

We can use the term ‘word’ quite loosely in any of the senses we have just

discussed, but a more precise term may be needed where it is necessary

to be more specific.

‘Bad’ Grammar

What, then, is bad grammar? Put simply, bad grammar results when the

‘rules’ for structuring language appropriate to the variety or context are

flouted, such that the reader or listener cannot readily gain the intended

meaning or is liable to misunderstand what is written or said. Let me give

you a few examples from formal written English.

1 Sitting in the corner, she could not see anyone.

Who is ‘sitting in the corner’, ‘she’ or ‘anyone’? Taken at face value, a

reader would be expected to interpret this sentence as meaning ‘because

she was sitting in the corner, she couldn’t see other people’. However,

some people write such sentences and expect to mean ‘she couldn’t see

anyone who might be sitting in the corner’. With ‘participle clauses’ such

as sitting in the corner in this example, it is important to make clear which

noun or pronoun they relate to. It may be necessary to reword the sentence

1 0 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 1 1

in order to make it unambiguous; for example, ‘She was sitting in the

corner and so she could not see anyone.’

2 We don’t know whose supposed to be contributing to the publication.

This mistake arises because two words that sound the same in speech –

whose and who’s – have two quite different roles in grammar. Whose is the

‘possessive’ form of the relative pronoun who; for example in the student

whose name I’ve forgotten. Who’s is a contracted form of who is or who has;

for example in the member of staff who’s (who is) nicknamed ‘Tadpole’. So, our

example sentence should have read: We don’t know who’s supposed….

3 Figure 1 shows that 40% of the population read a newspaper.

Whereas Figure 2 shows that the proportion that watches television

news is 60%. Figure 3 shows that 30% get their news from the radio.

The problem here lies with the conjunction whereas. It introduces a ‘subordinate

clause’, which should be attached to a ‘main clause’. In this

example the subordinate whereas clause stands alone; it needs to be

attached either to the preceding or to the following sentence, so that it is

clear which contrast is being drawn, between newspapers and television

or between television and radio. A subordinate clause may either follow its

main clause – Figure 1 shows …, whereas Figure 2 shows… – or precede it –

Whereas Figure 2 shows …, Figure 3 shows….

4 This is the basic criteria by which we must judge the work.

How many criteria are being used? There is much confusion over

whether criteria is a singular form (The criteria is…) or a plural form (The

criteria are …). Many people, including most students, use it as a singular;

but technically it is the plural form of criterion, a word taken from Greek

along with its original plural criteria. So, the example should read either

These are the basic criteria … or This is the basic criterion … . If you use criteria

as a singular, what is its plural form? Is it criterias, perhaps?

5 This is a reasonable set of conclusions, however, they may be interpreted

differently.

The problem here is knowing which part of the sentence however relates

to. Does it go with the first part and so read This is a reasonable set of conclusions,

however. They may be interpreted differently? Or does it go with the

second part and so read This is a reasonable set of conclusions. However, they

may be interpreted differently? As a general rule, however, as a word that

joins sentences, goes towards the beginning of a sentence, either in initial

position followed by a comma (However, they may …) or near the beginning

with a comma before and after (They may, however, be …). If it is

placed between propositions in a single written sentence, then it should

be preceded or followed by a semicolon, depending on whether it goes

with the following proposition (the more usual case) or the preceding

one; for example This is a reasonable set of conclusions; however, they may….

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

We noted earlier that many people, when they think of correct grammar,

mean primarily spelling and punctuation. We noted that spelling and

punctuation are features specifically of writing, and that speech has

grammatical organisation as much as writing. Nevertheless, spelling and

punctuation are important for ensuring that your message is both readily

comprehensible and taken seriously. Moreover, punctuation, as we saw

with the earlier example containing defining and non-defining relative

clauses, may serve to mark a vital grammatical distinction.

A text that is littered with incorrect spellings may not be incomprehensible,

but it may give the impression of incompetence on the part of the

writer. If you write The principle reason for this…instead of The principal

reason …, or if you write It served it’s purpose…instead of It served its purpose,

or The guide lead them … instead of The guide led them …, then your reader

will probably get your meaning, but they may well be less inclined to take

what you write seriously, because you haven’t bothered to spell it properly.

English spelling is notoriously difficult, partly because it does not relate

in a uniform way to pronunciation, but also because there are numerous

pairs of homophones (words pronounced in the same way, but spelt differently

and with a different meaning). The examples in the previous

paragraph (principle/principal, it’s/its, lead/led) are all of this kind. In other

cases, the spelling may be just arbitrary: why do we spell credible

with-ible, but believable with-able? And why do we change y to i in trier

(try + er), but not in dryer; and can spell flier or flyer and cryer or crier? It

is important to be aware of the vagaries and idiosyncrasies of English

spelling, and to be ready to consult a dictionary when you are uncertain.

There are also many useful spelling rules that can be learned, though it

1 2 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

is not unusual, as with most rules of language, for there to be exceptions.

One such rule you may have learned is the ‘i before e except after c’ rule,

so achieve, but receive. The ‘cei’ part of this works well, but there are a

number of words that have ‘ei’ after another letter, such as seize, protein,

surfeit, weird. If you are not sure, look it up!

What is the difference between: to/too, horse/hoarse,

affect/effect, preceding/proceeding, faint/feint?

If you’re not sure, look the words up in a dictionary.

Punctuation is another matter. Here, there is less that can be called

correct or incorrect; it is more a matter of using punctuation to help

your reader grasp your meaning most readily, without having to stop

and work it out. Having said that, conventions for the use of punctuation

marks do exist, and abiding by them will enhance your writing.

A comma placed, in an inappropriate spot, can cause, confusion; just as

a comma put in an appropriate place can, conceivably, help the sense.

(Which punctuation marks help and which hinder in the previous

sentence?)

We shall be looking at spelling rules and punctuation conventions in

some detail in Chapter 9.

‘Bad’ Grammar

What, then, is bad grammar? Put simply, bad grammar results when the

‘rules’ for structuring language appropriate to the variety or context are

flouted, such that the reader or listener cannot readily gain the intended

meaning or is liable to misunderstand what is written or said. Let me give

you a few examples from formal written English.

1 Sitting in the corner, she could not see anyone.

Who is ‘sitting in the corner’, ‘she’ or ‘anyone’? Taken at face value, a

reader would be expected to interpret this sentence as meaning ‘because

she was sitting in the corner, she couldn’t see other people’. However,

some people write such sentences and expect to mean ‘she couldn’t see

anyone who might be sitting in the corner’. With ‘participle clauses’ such

as sitting in the corner in this example, it is important to make clear which

noun or pronoun they relate to. It may be necessary to reword the sentence

1 0 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 1 1

in order to make it unambiguous; for example, ‘She was sitting in the

corner and so she could not see anyone.’

2 We don’t know whose supposed to be contributing to the publication.

This mistake arises because two words that sound the same in speech –

whose and who’s – have two quite different roles in grammar. Whose is the

‘possessive’ form of the relative pronoun who; for example in the student

whose name I’ve forgotten. Who’s is a contracted form of who is or who has;

for example in the member of staff who’s (who is) nicknamed ‘Tadpole’. So, our

example sentence should have read: We don’t know who’s supposed….

3 Figure 1 shows that 40% of the population read a newspaper.

Whereas Figure 2 shows that the proportion that watches television

news is 60%. Figure 3 shows that 30% get their news from the radio.

The problem here lies with the conjunction whereas. It introduces a ‘subordinate

clause’, which should be attached to a ‘main clause’. In this

example the subordinate whereas clause stands alone; it needs to be

attached either to the preceding or to the following sentence, so that it is

clear which contrast is being drawn, between newspapers and television

or between television and radio. A subordinate clause may either follow its

main clause – Figure 1 shows …, whereas Figure 2 shows… – or precede it –

Whereas Figure 2 shows …, Figure 3 shows….

4 This is the basic criteria by which we must judge the work.

How many criteria are being used? There is much confusion over

whether criteria is a singular form (The criteria is…) or a plural form (The

criteria are …). Many people, including most students, use it as a singular;

but technically it is the plural form of criterion, a word taken from Greek

along with its original plural criteria. So, the example should read either

These are the basic criteria … or This is the basic criterion … . If you use criteria

as a singular, what is its plural form? Is it criterias, perhaps?

5 This is a reasonable set of conclusions, however, they may be interpreted

differently.

The problem here is knowing which part of the sentence however relates

to. Does it go with the first part and so read This is a reasonable set of conclusions,

however. They may be interpreted differently? Or does it go with the

second part and so read This is a reasonable set of conclusions. However, they

may be interpreted differently? As a general rule, however, as a word that

joins sentences, goes towards the beginning of a sentence, either in initial

position followed by a comma (However, they may …) or near the beginning

with a comma before and after (They may, however, be …). If it is

placed between propositions in a single written sentence, then it should

be preceded or followed by a semicolon, depending on whether it goes

with the following proposition (the more usual case) or the preceding

one; for example This is a reasonable set of conclusions; however, they may….

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

We noted earlier that many people, when they think of correct grammar,

mean primarily spelling and punctuation. We noted that spelling and

punctuation are features specifically of writing, and that speech has

grammatical organisation as much as writing. Nevertheless, spelling and

punctuation are important for ensuring that your message is both readily

comprehensible and taken seriously. Moreover, punctuation, as we saw

with the earlier example containing defining and non-defining relative

clauses, may serve to mark a vital grammatical distinction.

A text that is littered with incorrect spellings may not be incomprehensible,

but it may give the impression of incompetence on the part of the

writer. If you write The principle reason for this…instead of The principal

reason …, or if you write It served it’s purpose…instead of It served its purpose,

or The guide lead them … instead of The guide led them …, then your reader

will probably get your meaning, but they may well be less inclined to take

what you write seriously, because you haven’t bothered to spell it properly.

English spelling is notoriously difficult, partly because it does not relate

in a uniform way to pronunciation, but also because there are numerous

pairs of homophones (words pronounced in the same way, but spelt differently

and with a different meaning). The examples in the previous

paragraph (principle/principal, it’s/its, lead/led) are all of this kind. In other

cases, the spelling may be just arbitrary: why do we spell credible

with-ible, but believable with-able? And why do we change y to i in trier

(try + er), but not in dryer; and can spell flier or flyer and cryer or crier? It

is important to be aware of the vagaries and idiosyncrasies of English

spelling, and to be ready to consult a dictionary when you are uncertain.

There are also many useful spelling rules that can be learned, though it

1 2 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

is not unusual, as with most rules of language, for there to be exceptions.

One such rule you may have learned is the ‘i before e except after c’ rule,

so achieve, but receive. The ‘cei’ part of this works well, but there are a

number of words that have ‘ei’ after another letter, such as seize, protein,

surfeit, weird. If you are not sure, look it up!

What is the difference between: to/too, horse/hoarse,

affect/effect, preceding/proceeding, faint/feint?

If you’re not sure, look the words up in a dictionary.

Punctuation is another matter. Here, there is less that can be called

correct or incorrect; it is more a matter of using punctuation to help

your reader grasp your meaning most readily, without having to stop

and work it out. Having said that, conventions for the use of punctuation

marks do exist, and abiding by them will enhance your writing.

A comma placed, in an inappropriate spot, can cause, confusion; just as

a comma put in an appropriate place can, conceivably, help the sense.

(Which punctuation marks help and which hinder in the previous

sentence?)

We shall be looking at spelling rules and punctuation conventions in

some detail in Chapter 9.

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 5

entities; whereas using plural were implies that you regard them as

groups of individuals.

Grammatical rules also change over time, even for a given variety of

English. Let me give you two examples. You may have noticed that I

used the preposition from after the adjective different at the end of the

paragraph before the exercise. That probably marks me as being rather

old-fashioned. Most people these days would say – and write – different

to. One is not ‘right’ and the other ‘wrong’; both ‘rules’ co-exist at the

moment. In due course, different from may well disappear. My second

example concerns the use of less and fewer.

Insert either less or fewer in the following sentence:

There are _____ students in class this week.

My prediction would be that you would choose less rather than fewer.

And I am sure that you would say: ‘There is less agreement about how

we should dress for a formal occasion.’ The ‘rule’ used to be: use fewer

with ‘countable’ nouns (like student) and less with ‘uncountable’ nouns

(like agreement in this context). But the common practice in all varieties of

English now seems to be: use less whatever noun may follow.

Now insert either a large number of or a large amount of

in the following sentence:

There was __________ students attending the class this week.

Your response to this one is rather less predictable. A similar and

parallel change (to that affecting fewer/less) appears to be happening with a

number of (used with countable nouns) and an amount of (used with uncountable

nouns), especially if used in the expression a large number/amount of.

EXERCISE

EXERCISE

6 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 7

If you chose number here but less in the previous example, then your

grammar hasn’t quite completed the rule change that is taking place in

contemporary English.

You may have noticed in our discussion of this first misconception that

we have used grammatical terms like ‘subject’, ‘verb’, ‘noun’, ‘countable’,

‘agreement’. You cannot talk about how language works or how language

is used without a grammatical terminology. This is the beginning of an

answer to misconception 5.

Let us turn to the second misconception: that languages have variable

amounts of grammar. This misconception usually arises among people

who have had some experience of a highly inflecting language like Latin,

Greek or Russian, or even of a moderately inflecting language like

German or French. Grammar is here being equated with endings on

words, the ‘declensions’ of nouns and adjectives and the ‘conjugations’ of

verbs. In Latin, for example, every noun has potentially ten different

forms, and every verb over a hundred, and the forms may differ according

to the ‘class’ that a noun or verb belongs to. If that is all there is to

grammar, then English doesn’t have very much:

• a maximum of three endings on a noun — girl-s (plural), girl-’s

(possessive singular), girl-s’ (possessive plural)

• normally three endings on a verb — talk-s (third person singular

present tense), talk-ed (past tense/past participle), talk-ing (present

participle)

• two endings on some adjectives — small-er (comparative), small-est

(superlative).

But that isn’t all there is to grammar. The kinds of grammatical meaning

that are expressed by the endings (inflections) on Latin nouns and verbs are

expressed in different ways in a language like English. What becomes more

important is the order in which words are sequenced in a sentence and how

different groups of words are joined together by items such as prepositions.

Let us turn to the third misconception: that grammar is only for foreign

language learners. If English is your first language, or indeed if it is a

second language acquired in childhood, then you will not have been

taught grammar. Linguists talk of ‘language acquisition’, and the rules

(including the grammar) for speaking English will have been ‘internalised’

with little conscious effort on your part. If you learn another language as

a teenager or adult, then it is not so easy to ‘acquire’ this second language

in the same way that you did your first language. You may well require,

and it is often helpful to be told, something about the ‘rules’ of grammar

in the language.

When you started school, if you can remember back that far, you would

have been taught to read and write in your first language, and you would

have been conscious of the learning effort involved. You would have

learned new words, how to spell them, how to pronounce them, how to

use them in sentences and texts. You would have learned in due course

about the more complex sentence structures, about paragraphs and the

structure of different types of text. The learning may have been more by

example and correction of misguided efforts than by rule, but it involved

learning rather than acquisition. Indeed, your task may have been made

easier, if you could have understood how the system worked, and some

of your present uncertainty and persistent mistakes could have been

avoided by more explicit explanation of what was going on in the grammar

of English.

What is the difference between:

My aunt who lives in Sheffield has sent me a DVD for Christmas

and

My aunt, who lives in Sheffield, has sent me a DVD for Christmas?

I expect you to say: the first sentence implies that I have more than one

aunt, and the second that I have only one. In other words, who lives in

Sheffield ‘defines’ which aunt I’m referring to in the first sentence, but in

the second it’s just a bit of extra information that I chose to tell you about

my one and only aunt. You mean to tell me that a mere pair of commas

makes that vital difference in meaning? Well, yes, it does as a matter of

fact. What’s going on here? It has to do with a grammatical distinction

EXERCISE

8 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

WHAT D O W E M E A N B Y ‘ G R A M M A R ’ ? / 9

between ‘defining’ and ‘non-defining’ relative clauses (who lives in Sheffield

is a relative clause), and that presupposes knowing what a relative clause

is and does and what ‘defining’ and ‘non-defining’ mean.

Unless you put those commas in, and in the right places, you may not be

making your meaning clear. This is one of the most common confusions that

I come across in all kinds of documents, including students’ assignments. If

you don’t get it right, you’ll make it harder for your reader to understand

what you are trying to say. Getting it right involves understanding the

grammar of relative clauses. So, grammar is for you as well, native speaker!

Let’s move on to the fourth misconception: that grammar is only in

grammar books and it’s only for nerds. First, I hope that our discussion

earlier has demonstrated that, as a native speaker of English, you have

acquired, or internalised, the grammar of the language, and that whenever

you speak or write English you are using the ‘rules’ of the grammar

in order to produce sentences that can be understood by your hearers or

readers. So, grammar is not just in grammar books; it’s in your head.

What’s in the grammar book is an attempt at describing what is in our

heads, a formulation of the rules by which we construct sentences, texts

and discourses in our language.

Second, I hope also to have demonstrated that, especially in the more

complex forms of writing, for example relative clauses, a more explicit

knowledge of grammar can help in constructing sentences that are clear

in the meaning that you wish to convey. Making it difficult for your

reader to understand your message may detract from the message itself.

So, grammar is not just for nerds; it’s for anyone who wants to be a successful

communicator, especially in writing.

Finally, let’s deal with the fifth misconception: that grammar is of no

practical use. I’ll take an example from the field of human–computer

interaction. If you want to give your computer an instruction or input

data into a file, then you currently most probably use a keyboard and a

mouse. When you ring up an organisation, a bank or insurance company,

for example, and you are answered by a computer, you have to answer

the voice at the other end by pressing keys on your telephone’s keypad.

In due course, both of these interactions with computers will be achieved

through your talking to the computer, and it talking back to you. To

enable this to happen, the software engineers who are writing the

programs that will make this possible not only have to account for the

fact that every individual has a different ‘voice’ but also have to consider

that the sentence structures used for a particular instruction will not

always be identical. They, therefore, need a means of analysing the grammar

of sentences, so that the machine will ‘understand’ the instructions

correctly.

Anyone working in the area of ‘natural language processing’ needs a

detailed knowledge of the way in which grammar works. That also goes

for anyone involved in teaching foreign languages, including English as

a foreign language, or involved in treating language impairments as a

speech and language therapist, or involved in teaching English language

and literature, either as a primary school teacher or as a secondary school

teacher of English. Arguably, anyone who uses the English language in

their professional life – journalists, marketing executives, press officers,

public relations people, administrators – as well as those involved in writing

reports, and that’s probably just about every professional, needs to

know about the workings, including and especially the grammar, of the

language that they are using to craft their communication. At the least,

knowledge of grammar will enable you to be a more discerning, more

reflective, more skilled user of the language.

What Do We

Mean by ‘Grammar’ —

Good and Bad?

fear of the unknown and an apprehension that it is something that must

be avoided.

While the primary purpose of this book is not to rehabilitate grammar,

I hope that you will come to appreciate that a knowledge of the grammar

of the language that you speak and write will not only benefit your career

as a student, and beyond, but also prove to be not as scary as you had

anticipated. Indeed, there are some of us who find the study of language,

and of grammar in particular, to be so fascinating that we devote our

working lives to it. ‘Sad people,’ you may say, but the results of their

study may yet benefit you and your career.

If you are afraid of grammar, it is probably because you don’t know what

grammar is about. Many people think of grammar as being primarily

about spelling and punctuation, but these relate only to the written form

of the language. They have no equivalent in the spoken language, and yet

grammar is an essential component of both spoken and written language.

Language would not be language without grammar.

Some Misconceptions Examined

1 Grammar is the set of rules for speaking and writing English properly;

for example, you should say we were and not we was.

2 Some languages have more grammar than others; English doesn’t

have much grammar.

3 Foreigners need to learn grammar when they learn English, but I’m

a native speaker and so I don’t need to.

4 Grammar is what you find in grammar books. I’ve never read one.

Grammar is for nerds.

5 Grammar is no practical use to anyone except grammarians.

By labelling such statements as ‘misconceptions’, I have already betrayed

that I think they are wrong; so let me explain why I think that.

The first of them is widespread, including among government ministers

during the debates in the 1980s and 1990s on English in the national curriculum

in schools. This view wants to reduce grammar teaching to a set

4 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

of simple rules for correcting non-standard or dialect speech. The most

often quoted rule was the so-called ‘subject–verb’ agreement rule, which

states that you should say I was and he/she/it was, but we were, you were and

they were. I and he/she/it are ‘singular’ subjects and so should be followed

by the singular verb form was, while we, you and they are ‘plural’ subjects

and should be followed by the plural verb form were. However, many

people say – and it is a question largely of speech, not writing – we was

and you was. One government minister went so far as to suggest that

teachers on playground duty should listen out for such ‘mistakes’ and

correct pupils who committed them.

Now, subject–verb agreement is something that grammar is concerned

with, but not in this prescriptive way. Grammarians would recognise that

different systems, or ‘rules’, operate in different contexts. People whose

local speech form (dialect) has only the form was, whether the subject is

singular or plural, do not necessarily carry across this ‘rule’ to formal writing.

In saying this, you might notice that I’m trying to change the meaning

of the term ‘rule’. For grammarians, a rule is not a prescription of

language that must be obeyed; rather it is a convention by which we structure

the sentences and utterances of our language. Grammatical rules vary

from one variety of language or context of language use to another: speech

is different in grammar from writing; teenage speech is different from

adult speech; speech at the social club is different from speech at an academic

conference. And sometimes a rule is variable anyway.

Insert was or were in the following sentences:

1 Aston Villa _____ a great football team.

2 The band _____ exhausted by the end of the gig.

3 England _____ facing defeat yet again.

4 The government _____ proposing to charge students higher fees.

Normally you don’t think whether to use was or were; it’s instinctive. But

in these examples both are possible; so, does it make any difference

which you use? Arguably, using singular was means that you are regarding

Aston Villa, the band, England and the government as single, undifferentiated

Introduction

If you are a student in further or higher education and you have to write

essays or reports for assessment in your course, then this book is

designed for you.

Its aim is to enable you to improve the quality and accuracy of your writing.

It does this by:

• teaching you something about the basics of the grammar of English —

how sentences and texts are structured

• giving you some useful tips on things to look out for and pitfalls to

avoid

• pointing out to you where you can go for further information and

advice.

While the general tone of this small book is to give you help and advice,

the first six chapters are largely about how the grammar of English

works, and how you can exploit in your own writing the mechanisms

available in English. The next three chapters focus on advice: tips on

sentence structure, an examination of computer grammar checkers, help

with spelling and punctuation. The final chapter shows where you can

go for more detailed advice.

The book contains many examples, illustrating the points being made or

highlighting good and bad practice. Some of these examples are made up.

In some chapters, the examples are taken from two computer corpora

of texts:

• LOB — the Lancaster—Oslo/Bergen one-million-word corpus of 500

extracts from British English publications from the year 1961, representing

texts across a range of genres, from journalism through academic

to fiction

• FLOB — the Freiburg LOB corpus, parallel to the original LOB, but

with extracts from publications from the year 1991.

A few additional authentic examples are taken from other publications,

whose sources are indicated.

Whatever academic subject you are studying, you will have had to learn

the terminology that is used for talking about that subject. We sometimes

pejoratively refer to such technical vocabulary as ‘jargon’. Grammar has

its jargon too. Jargon can be empowering: it makes you knowledgeable

about a subject and able to talk about it intelligently. This book introduces

some terms used for talking about language, and about grammar in particular.

Those introduced in a chapter are summarised at the end, and

there is a Glossary at the end of the book. The Glossary defines the main

terms used in the book and also acts as an index, pointing you to the

chapter(s) in which a term was mainly used and explained. You might like

to look at the Glossary now, to familiarise yourself with what it looks like.

You will find it useful if you study the material in the first six chapters

in order, since they build up a picture of English grammar and its

resources, and introduce the terminology. My contention in this book is

that you can best improve the quality and accuracy of your writing by

being aware of the resources available to you and the techniques for

exploiting them. You will thus become aware of your own use of language,

and you will be able to talk about it and develop a self-critical attitude

towards it, thus enabling you to improve on what you write.

Just as a successful painter needs to be knowledgeable about the materials –

canvas, paint, brushes – that they use, and the techniques – paint mixing,

brush strokes – for exploiting them, so a writer should be knowledgeable

about the resources of language – grammar and vocabulary – and the

techniques for exploiting them – choice of words, sentence and text structuring.

This book is designed to help you to advance your knowledge in

this area.

2 / G O O D G R A M M A R F O R S T U D E N T S

If you have picked up this book and started reading it, then either you

have been recommended to do so by a tutor, or you feel the need to

improve your own writing by finding out more about how sentences and

texts are structured. You already have the grammar of English stored in

your head: you either acquired it as your first language, or learned it as

a second or foreign language. And it serves you very well when you

speak. Writing, though, is often a different matter: it demands more careful

thought to get it structured right; and you have only one chance to

get your meaning across, because your reader can’t usually ask you for

clarification. So, for written language it helps to be aware of how the

grammar works, so that you can make the right choices of words and

structures to make your communication as effective as possible.

This first chapter is a ground-clearing exercise. Its aim is to clear out of

the way some of the misconceptions that people frequently have about

grammar and to propose a more reasonable view of grammar, so that we

have an established starting point for the rest of the book.

At this point, you may find it useful to write down what you

think ‘grammar’ is about. Try and write it as a definition: ‘Grammar

is ….’ Then compare your definition with the discussion that follows.

Say the word ‘grammar’ to most people and you will more than likely get

a negative reaction. Why does the word have such a bad press? For older

generations it may stem from hours toiling over tedious grammatical

analysis in English lessons at school. For younger generations it is perhaps

EXERCISE

Good Grammar
For Students
SAGE Essential Study Skills
Essential Study Skills is a series of books designed to help
students and newly qualified professionals to develop their
skills, capabilities, attitudes and qualities so that they can apply
them intelligently and in ways which will benefit them on their courses
and careers. The series includes accessible and user-friendly guides to
improving a range of essential life-long skills and abilities in a variety of
areas, including:
♦ writing essays and reports
♦ numeracy
♦ presenting information
♦ and communicating your ideas.
Essential Study Skills will be an invaluable aid to all students on a range of
higher education courses and to professionals who need to make presentations,
write effective reports or search for relevant information.
Good Grammar
For Students
Howard Jackson
● ●
SAGE Publications
London Thousand Oaks New Delhi
© Howard Jackson, 2005
First published 2005
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or
private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication
may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form,
or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing
of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction,
in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the
publishers.
SAGE Publications Ltd
1 Oliver’s Yard
55 City Road
London EC1Y 1SP
SAGE Publications Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd
B-42, Panchsheel Enclave
Post Box 4109
New Delhi 110 017
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-4129-0202-9
ISBN 1-4129-0203-7 (pbk)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005902146
Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed on paper from sustainable resources
Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
for Marley,
a representative of
the next generation

Contents
Introduction 1
1 What Do We Mean by ‘Grammar’ — Good and Bad? 3
Some Misconceptions Examined 4
‘Bad’ Grammar 10
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar 12
Summary: What Is Grammar, Then? 13
2 Some Basic Terminology 15
Word 15
Word Classes 17
Sentence 19
Clause 21
Phrase 22
Text and Discourse 27
Summary 28
Solutions to Exercises 29
3 Matching the Bits 30
What Do We Talk About? 32
Choosing Your Verb 33
Circumstances 36
Collocation 38
Summary 41
4 Clauses — Main and Subordinate 43
Simple Sentence 43
Compound Sentence 49
Complex Sentence 50
Subordinate Clauses 51
Why Use Compound and Complex Sentences? 57
Summary 58
Solutions to Exercises 59
5 Sentence Arrangements 61
Rearrangement 61
Fronting 64
Postponement 65
An Example 68
Summary 70
6 Sentences into Texts 71
Paragraph 71
Sentence Connections 74
Paragraph and Text 80
Summary 84
Solutions to Exercises 85
7 Getting Your Point Across 86
Grammar: Ten Things To Avoid 87
Language Change 96
8 Why Can’t I Rely on My Computer’s
Grammar Checker? 101
Finding the Grammar Checker 101
Using the Grammar Checker 103
Is the Spellchecker Any Better? 107
Some Practical Tips 108
9 Spelling and Punctuation 110
Spelling 110
Punctuation 115
v i i i / C O N T E N T S
10 Where To Go for Further Information 127
Grammars 127
Dictionaries 129
Usage Guides 131
Style Guides 134
Spelling 135
Punctuation 135
Glossary 137
Index 150
C O N T E N T S / i x

روزي معلمي از دانش آموزانش خواست که اسامي همکلاسي هايشان را بر روي دو ورق کاغذ بنويسند و پس از نوشتن هر اسم يک خط فاصله قرار دهند.

سپس از آنها خواست که درباره قشنگترين چيزي که ميتوانند در مورد هرکدام از همکلاسي هايشان بگويند، فکر کنند و در آن خط هاي خالي بنويسند.

ادامه مطلب

نام : كمال

كلاس : سوم آ دبستان ...

موزو انشا : عزدواج!

هر وقت من يك كار خوب مي كنم مامانم به من مي گويد بزرگ كه شدي برايت يك زن خوب مي گيرم.

تا به حال من پنج تا كار خوب كرده ام و مامانم قول پنج تايش را به من داده است!

ادامه مطلب

دختر بودن یعنی ...

ادامه مطلب

گربه‌اي به نام اسكار قدرت پيش‌بيني مرگ بيماران را در خانه سالمندان دارد و در ساعات آخر عمر بيماران به آنان نزديك مي‌شود.

دقت او، كه در 25 مورد مشاهده شده، باعث شده وقتي بيماري را انتخاب مي‌كند، كاركنان خانه سالمندان در پراويدنس، رود آيلند، آمريكا، به اعضاي خانواده او خبر دهند. بيمار انتخابي گربه معمولا كمتر از چهار ساعت وقت دارد.

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موش ازشکاف دیوارسرک کشید تا ببیند این همه سروصدا برای چیست؟

مرد مزرعه دار تازه از شهر رسیده بود و بسته ای با خود آورده بود و زنش با خوشحالی مشغول باز کردن بسته بود.

موش لب هایش را لیسید و با خود گفت: « کاش یک غذای حسابی باشد.»

اما همین که بسته را باز کردند، از ترس تمام بدنش به لرزه افتاد؛ چون صاحب مزرعه یک تله موش خریده بود.

موش با سرعت به مزرعه برگشت تا این خبر جدید را به همه ی حیوانات بدهد. او به هرکسی که می رسید، می گفت: ...

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پسرک پدر بزرگش را تماشا کرد که نامه ای می نوشت.

بالاخره پرسید:

ماجرای کارهای خودمان را می نویسید؟ درباره ی من می نویسید؟

پدربزرگش از نوشتن دست کشید و لبخند زنان به نوه اش گفت:

درسته درباره ی تو می نویسم اما مهم تر از نوشته هایم ...

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تکه‌ای از رمان به تیر غیب گرفتار آمده‌ی "خانه‌ی ابر و باد" (1370)

      باید فراموش کند. پنهان کند. همه‌ی بایدها این را می‌گویند. همه‌ی فرمان‌ها می‌گویند که باید فراموش کند. باید همه چیز را فراموش کند، جز باید‌ها را. باید ساکت بماند. آن کنج، در پناه ستون بدقواره ساکت و بی‌حرکت مانده است. کلاس آمادگی حزبی. بوی پایی که به خورد موکت پرزدار قهوه‌ای سوخته رفته، حالش را به هم می‌زند. صدای تیز معلم -- ضرطه‌ی بی‌محل، بی‌امان، پایان ناپذیر. پرده‌ی گوشش خراشیده می‌شود. باید همه‌ی نیرویش را در سکون و سکوت ...

 

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