A COURSE BOOK IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR - Springer

Contents11.2Subordinate fmite clauses11.2.1 Noun clauses as subject11.2.2 Noun clauses as object11.2.3 Non-restrictive relative clauses11.2.4 Appositive noun clauses11.2.4.1 Appositive clause or relative clause?11.2.5 Finite adverbial clauses12 DERIVED CLAUSES12.1 Direct and indirect speech12.1.112.212.312.412.512.6Direct speech - quoting and quoted clauses12.1.1.1 Adverbs in quoting clauses12.1.2 Indirect speech - reporting and reported clausesChange of order of the constituents, SPCA12.2.1 Adverbials brought to the front of the clause astheme - ASPC12.2.2 Other places for adverbials12.2.3 Other clause constituents as theme12.2.4 Existential there12.2.5 Clauses derived by extrapositionComplex and derived clauses in a text12.3.1 Use of the passive voiceMaking information prominent12.4.1 Cleft clauses/sentences12.4.2 Pseudo-cleft clauses/sentencesSummaryPostscript - ways of diagramming a structural analysis12.6.1 NP and PrepP structures12.6.1.1 Labelled bracketing12.6.1.2 Linear analysis12.6.1.3 Tree diagrams12.6.2 VP structure12.6.2.1 Labelled bracketing12.6.2.2 Linear analysis12.6.2.3 Tree diagrams12.6.3 Clause structure12.6.3.1 Labelled bracketing12.6.3.2 Linear analysis12.6.3.3 Tree diagrams13 SENTENCES13.1 Sentence or complex clause?13.2 Simple sentences13.3 Compound sentences - coordination13.3.1 Coordination with and.XIV13.413.3.2 COQrdination with but13.3.3 Coordination with orComplex and compound-complex 74275275276276276278280280282282282283283284

Contents13.5Compound, complex and compound-complex sentences in texts13.5.1 Bracketing and description13.5.2 linear analysis28428528914 THE GRAMMAR OF TEXTS AND SPEECH14.1 The sentence in written English14.2 The clause-complex in spoken English14.2.1 The grammar of narrative speech14.2.1.1 Television interview14.2.1.2 Five-year-old's narrative14.2.1.3 Adult narrative14.2.2 Speech in fiction14.3 Grammar and style in texts14.3.1 Text analysis I - Portrait ofthe Artist as a Young Man14.3.2 Text analysis 2 - news reporting14.3.2.1 Choices of vocabulary (i) - classifying the actors14.3.2.2 Choices of vocabulary (ii) - classifying the processes(who did what to whom?)14.3.2.3 Choices in grammatical structure - theme andmeaning14.3.3 Text analysis 3 - Dickens's styles14.3.4 Text analysis 4 - Ulysses14.3.5 Text analysis 5 - conversation14.3.6 Text analysis 6 - dialectal speech, Sons and Lovers14.3.7 iography324Index of texts326General index328311313315317320321323xv

SymbolsSymbols and abbreviations are useful because they save time and space indescribing grammatical features.Word-classes (parts of ronounprepositionconjunctionsubordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunctionClasses of phraseNPVPAdjPAdvPPrepPPossPnoun phraseverb phraseadjective phraseadverb phraseprepositional phrasepossessive phraseClasses of clause (form)NCIPrepCIAdvCINonfCIxvinoun clauseprepositional clauseadverbial clausenonfinite clause

SymbolsClasses of clause (function)main clausesubordinate clauserelative clauseMCISCIRelCIElements of NP structureUse lower-case letters:ddeterminermmodifier ( pre-modifier)hhead wordqqualifier ( post-modifier)Elements of VP structureauxop-vmhbe-progbe-passs-auxvauxiliary verboperator-verbmodal auxiliary verbhave as auxiliarybe used to form progressive aspectbe used to form passive voicesemi-auxiliary verbmain (lexical) verbElements of clause structureUse upper-case letters lKinds of complementoOdOiCiCaptobject (complement) or Codirect objectindirect objectintensive (complement)adverbial (complement)adverb particle (complement)Bracketing()[]()to mark phrasesto mark clausesto mark coordinated elements (words, phrases or clauses)xvii

SymbolsPhonetic transcriptionSquare brackets are also used with symbols of the International PhoneticAlphabet to indicate the pronounciation of spoken words and sounds, e.g. [re], [.fl.Other symbolsAn asterisk * is placed before a word or construction which is ungrammatical orunacceptable to make clear that it is not a usable expression.A question mark ? placed before a word or construction queries itsacceptability, which may differ from one person to another.The sign 0 is used to mark the deletion (or ellipsis) of a word that is'understood', e.g. The food" I bought yesterday . . from The food that I bought yesterday .x ii

AcknowledgementsI am very grateful to Tony Fairman, who read and annotated the draft of thisenlarged edition with a discerning and critical eye. I was able to revise the wholetext in the light of his comments.The author and publishers wish to thank the following for permission to usecopyright material:The Guardian, for the extracts from the issues of 8 March 1979,27 August 1983,19 December 1985, 10 December 1990, 3 May 1993, 1 July 1993 and 19 December1993;the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, for the extract from English forAges 5 to 16, DES, June 1989;Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, for the table from Hughes & Trudgill, EnglishAccents and Dialects (Edward Arnold, 1979);Newspaper Publishing PLC, for the extract from The Independent, 13 September1990.Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright-holders, but if any have beeninadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessaryarrangement at the first opportunity.xix

Introduction to the second editionThe nine chapters of the first edition have been thoroughly revised and enlarged.Chapter 1 is new, and presents what is intended to be an objective linguisticperspective on the perennial arguments over the social concepts of good Englishand correct English. Chapters 5 and 6 are new.Chapter 5 adds a commentary on the vocabulary of English, introducing theconcept of core vocabulary and describing the relationship of the principaletymological sources of English to our assessments of formal and informalvocabulary. Chapter 6 continues the examination of the texts used in chapter 5 togive a preliminary overview of the types of phrase in English. Chapter 8 in the firstedition, 'Complex and Derived Clauses' has now been divided into two separatechapters: chapter 11 'Complex Clauses' and chapter 12 'Derived Clauses' in thecourse of revision. Similarly, the former final chapter 9 is now chapters 13 and 14,'Sentences' and 'The grammar of texts and speech'.Dialectal grammarThe most important additions to this edition are the sections that describe thosedialectal features of present-day English which differ from Standard English. Ifyou accept the definition of the English language as 'the sum of all its dialects'(a concept discussed in chapter 1), then any grammar of English should includeat least some reference to dialectal grammar. All the dialects of English are, bydefinition, 'mutually comprehensible' and belong to the same language. Thedifferences between the dialects (and this includes Standard English, the 'prestigedialect') are very few compared with the vocabulary and grammar common tothem all, but these differences clearly differentiate them and are especiallymarked in social attitudes. In England we identify speakers according to wherethey come from, or their educational attainment or their social class, in relationto how far they speak Standard English in the accent known as ReceivedPronunciation (RP).The descriptions of dialectal grammar are general and confined mainly tovariants in England. I believe that those forms of the language spoken daily byxx

Introduction to Second Editionmillions of English speakers in England should be seen as legitimate and fullygrammatical in their context of use, not as 'deviations' from the standard. Thispoint of view in no way questions either the status of Standard English as the onlyacceptable written form of the language or the prime responsibility of schools toteach Standard English. To include descriptions of dialectal forms is not toadvocate that they should be adopted, only that students of language should beable to recognise and describe them precisely in linguistic terms.Reference grammarsTo use a reference grammar, you have to know what to look up; in other words,you have to know some grammar first. A determined student could sit down andread a reference grammar from beginning to end, but this would be unusual, andis not the best way to learn. A Course Book in English Grammar is a different kindof book. It is planned as a textbook, to be read and studied chapter by chapter. Itsaim is to describe the grammar of English in relation to its main functions incommunication, and to provide enough detailed description to be of practical usein the study of texts in English.TextsThe word text means any piece of writing, or transcription of speech, which isintended to communicate a message and a meaning. A scribbled note left on thetable, 'Back at 2.20', is as much a text in this sense as a novel, a hire-purchaseagreement or a sermon. It has a definite function, and its grammar is suited to thatfunction.An important part of the study of English is the reading, understanding andevaluation of texts, and a knowledge of the grammar of English is indispensable ifthis study is to be full and informed.Knowing grammarIn one sense of to know (knowt) every speaker of English knows the grammar,because the grammar provides the rules for putting words into the right order sothat our meaning is clear, and all speakers of English therefore must know thegrammar in order to speak it. But in the sense of to know about (know2) those whoknow the grammar are those who have studied it in the way provided in textbooksand reference grammar books, and can talk and write about grammaticalstructure.The book has been written with native speakers of English in mind, notstudents learning English as a foreign language, and so it makes use of a nativespeaker's knowledge (knowt) of English, or that of an already fluent speaker ofEnglish. It does not therefore always provide comprehensive lists of features, andxxi

Introduction to Second Editionsometimes asks you to apply what you know already (knowl) in order to becomeaware (know2) at a conscious level. In this sense, parts of it are a kind of do-ityourself manual, although I assume that teachers and lecturers will at all stages becommenting on, developing and criticising what the book has to say.Neither does the book pretend to 'make grammar easy'. Even the simplest texts(see, for example, the infant reading primer extracts in chapter 2) contain featuresof grammar which might not appear in a short, over-simplified grammar book. Ihave had to select, and leave out lots of interesting problems concerned with thebest way of describing the language.Models of languageYou would find, if you explored the study of language (linguistics), severaldifferent 'models', or theories of language - ways of understanding anddescribing it: traditional grammar, systemic-functional grammar, transformational-generative grammar, relational grammar, generalized phrase-structuregrammar, and so on, all of which are meaningless terms to non-specialists inlinguistics.Nevertheless, you have to choose a model in order to talk about the grammareven at the simplest level. To use the words sentence, noun or word is to begin touse a theory of language.The model adopted in this course book is not new or original, but derivesmostly from traditional and systemic-functional grammar, making choicesbetween them when there is a difference. Systemic-functional grammar, as itsname implies, is concerned to discover the 'network of systems' that relategrammar to the major functions of language. A recent presentation of this modelis in Halliday's An Introduction to Functional Grammar.An example of the differences to be found between two descriptive models is inthe meaning given to the term complement. The dictionary meaning of the word is'that which completes'. In traditional grammar it means the element in a certaintype of clause which refers to the subject (subject complement) or the object (objectcomplement). In the one-clause sentence,Meanwhile life was hard.life would be called the subject and hard the subject complement in the terms oftraditional grammar. In the one-clause sentence,They found life hard.life would be called the object and hard the object complement.In this book, however, the meaning of complement in a clause is applied to anyelement which 'completes' the grammar/meaning of the verb. There are thereforethree kinds of clause complement, which are introduced in chapter 2, anddescribed in detail in chapter 9.xxii

Introduction to Second EditionTraditional and new termsI have tried to explain clearly what each term means as and when the need for itoccurs, and have chosen the more familiar (traditional) terms wherever possible.But new and unfamiliar terms are necessary, for new and unfamiliar concepts,sometimes changing the scope of a familiar word (like complement) or introducingnon-traditional terms (like predicators in phase). There has been a very positivedevelopment in our knowledge and understanding of the grammar of English inlinguistic studies since the 1940s, which must be integrated with traditionaldescriptions.As is said later in the book, no description of the grammar can be the only rightone, and there are often alternative ways of describing the same feature. To keepthe book to manageable proportions, such alternatives cannot always bedescribed in detail, but they should be discussed rather than avoided whereverpossible. In other words, students should be encouraged to think critically, andnot to absorb passively.Using the bookI assume that other descriptive and reference grammars will be used by teachersand lecturers with their students, to supplement and clarify what this course bookcan only sometimes mention briefly.I have tried to avoid making up examples to illustrate features of the grammar(though this has not always proved possible), and have drawn upon a variety oftexts, literary and non-literary, written and spoken. This is because it is only in thestudy of 'authentic English' that a knowledge of the grammar can be put to use,and real texts are a challenge, sometimes producing good examples of what youare illustrating, but at the time throwing up interesting problems.Activities are provided at every stage in each chapter. Teachers will make theirown choice, and should modify and add to them according to the needs of theirstudents. For instance, you should look in a variety of other texts for examples offeatures of the grammar which are being studied.Fuzzy edgesOne important idea to stress is what is called in linguistic study the principle ofindeterminacy, or 'fuzziness'. This means that we cannot always assign a clear,unambiguous descriptive label to a word, phrase or clause. For example, isswimming in I like swimming a noun or a verb?The edges of the boundaries between categories are not necessarily clear, andthere are often borderline cases. When this happens, no student should feel a senseof failure or frustration at not knowing the right answer (there may not be one),but should try to see the alternatives, and why there are alternatives - againthinking linguistically and critically. xxiii

Introduction to Second EditionConceptsThere is, I believe, no short cut or easy way to understanding grammar which youcan guarantee for every student. It demands the ability to conceptualise, andstudents have to make a breakthrough into conceptual thinking at some stage.For some this comes easily and early on; for others it remains a mystery and thepenny never drops.If you consult reference grammars, you will find that they differ from each otherin terminology and explanatory description. The same concept may have two ormore names. For example, what is called noun phrase in this book is also callednominal group, subordinating conjunctions are also binders, coordinating conjunctions are listers, and certain adverbs are linkers. The second terms in these pairsare short and clear, but because they are not used in most reference grammars, thetraditional and more widely used terms have been used in this book.Similarly, the same word, used in two descriptive grammars, may be found tohave two different meanings, and writers have to define their own particular use ofa technical term. An example which has been referred to is the term complement.Another example is the word complex, which is used in related but distinctmeanings in grammatical description: In its everyday meaning of consisting of several parts, complicated, with itsrelated noun complexity referring to this meaning.As a term in the traditional system of classifying sentences - simple, complex,compound and compound-complex.As the head word in the series word-complex, phrase-complex and clausecomplex, terms taken from functional grammar to mean coordinated words,phrases or clauses, used where single words, phrases or clauses also function.The differences should be clear from the contexts in which complex andcomplexity are used. Ambiguity of this sort can be confusing, but to invent newterminology would be, I think, even more confusing, and unsuited to a coursebook which is based upon existing conventions of descriptive linguistics. I havetried to anticipate some of the learning problems, drawing upon my ownexperience of teaching grammar, and to chart a way which provides continuity inteaching.Where do

1.1 The meanings of grammar and English I 1.1.1 'Grammar is "correct" English' I 1.1.2 'Standard English is the English language' I 1.1.3 'The English language consists of all its dialects' 2 1.1.4 Descriptive and prescriptive grammar 3 1.2 Shibboleths 4 1.2.1 Shibboleths in pronunciation 5 1.2.2 Shibboleth