ENGLISH GRAMMAR

English grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the English language. A language is such that its elements must be combined according to certain patterns. This article is concerned with (and restricted to) morphology, the building blocks of language, and syntax, the construction of meaningful phrases, clauses and sentences with the use of morphemes and words. The grammar of any language is commonly approached in two different ways: A descriptivist, usually based on a systematic analysis of a large text corpus and describing grammatical structures thereupon; and a prescriptivist, which attempts to use the identified rules of a given language as a tool to govern the linguistic behaviour of speakers (see Linguistic prescription and Descriptive linguistics). Prescriptive grammar concerns itself with several open disputes in English grammar, often representing changes in usage over time. There are a number of historical, social and regional variations of the English language. For example, British English and American English have several lexical differences; however, the grammatical differences are not equally conspicuous, and will be mentioned only when appropriate. Further, the many dialects of English have divergences from the grammar described here; they are only cursorily mentioned. This article describes a generalized present-day Standard English, the form of speech found in types of public discourse including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news reporting. Standard English includes both formal and informal speech.

Word classes and phrase classes

Seven major word classes are described here. These are: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and determiner. The first six are traditionally referred to as "parts of speech." There are minor word classes, such as interjections, but these do not fit into the clause and sentence structure of English.[1] Open and closed classes Open word classes allow new members; closed word classes seldom do.[1] Nouns such as "celebutante," (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles)" and "mentee," (a person advised by a mentor) and adverbs such as "24/7" ("I am working on it 24/7") are relatively new words; nouns and adverbs are therefore open classes.[1] However, the pronoun, "their," as a gender-neutral singular replacement for the "his or her" (as in: "Each new arrival should check in their luggage.") has not gained complete acceptance during the more than 40 years of its life; pronouns, in consequence, form a closed class. [1]

Word classes and grammatical forms

A word can sometimes belong to several word classes. The class version of a word is called a "lexeme."[2] For example, the word "run" is usually a verb, but it can also be a noun ("It is a ten mile run to Tipperary."); these are two different lexemes.[2] Further, the same lexeme may have several grammatical forms: for example, as a verb lexeme, "run" has several finite forms such as "runs," "ran," and "running."[2] Words in one class can sometimes be derived from those in another and new words be created. The noun "aerobics," for example, has recently given rise to the adjective "aerobicized" ("the aerobicized bodies of Beverly Hills celebutantes."[2])

Phrase classes
Words combine to form phrases which themselves can take on the attributes of a word class. These classes are called phrase classes.[2] The phrase: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth" functions as a noun in the sentence: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard and dry." (Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush) It is therefore a noun phrase. Other phrase classes are: verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, prepositional phrases, and determiner phrases.[2]

Nouns and determiners

Nouns form the largest word class. According to Carter and McCarthy, they denote "classes and categories of things in the world, including people, animals, inanimate things, places, events, qualities and states."[2] Consequently, the words, "Mandela," "jaguar," "mansion," "volcano," "Timbuktoo," "blockade," "mercy," and "liquid" are all nouns. Nouns are not commonly identified by their form; however, some common suffixes such as "-age" ("shrinkage"), "-hood" ("sisterhood"), "-ism" ("journalism"), "-ist" ("lyricist"), "-ment" ("adornment"), "-ship" ("companionship"), "-tude" ("latitude"), and so forth, are usually identifiers of nouns.[2] There are exceptions, of course: "assuage" and "disparage" are verbs; "augment" is a verb, "lament" can be a verb; and "worship" is a verb. Nouns can also be created by conversion of verbs or adjectives. Examples include the nouns in: "a boring talk," "a five-week run," "the long caress," "the utter disdain," and so forth.

Number, gender, type, and syntactic features.

Nouns have singular and plural forms.[3] Many plural forms have -s or -es endings (dog/dogs, referee/referees, bush/bushes), but by no means all (woman/women, axis/axes, medium/media). Unlike some other languages, in English, nouns do not have grammatical gender, one that affects the form the verb in a sentence.[3] However, many nouns can refer to masculine or feminine animate objects (mother/father, tiger/tigress, alumnus/alumna, male/female).[3] Nouns can be classified semantically, i.e. by their meanings: common nouns ("sugar," "maple," "syrup," "wood"), proper nouns ("Cyrus," "China"), concrete nouns ("book," "laptop"), and abstract nouns ("heat," "prejudice").[3] Alternatively, they can distinguished grammatically: count nouns ("clock," "city," "color") and non-count nouns ("milk," "decor," "foliage").[4] Nouns have several syntactic features that can aid in their identification.[4] Nouns (example: common noun "cat") may be modified by adjectives ("the beautiful Angora cat"), preceded by determiners ("the beautiful Angora cat"), or pre-modified by other nouns ("the beautiful Angora cat").[4]

Noun phrases
Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences. In addition, nouns serve as "heads," or main words of noun phrases. [4] Examples (the heads are in boldface): "The burnt-out ends of smoky days."[5] "The real raw-knuckle boys who know what fighting means, ..."[6]

"The idle spear and shield ..."[7] The head can have modifiers, a complement, or both. Modifiers can occur before the head ("The real raw-knuckle boys ...," or "The burnt-out ends ..." and they are then called pre-modifiers; or, they can occur after the head ("who know what fighting means ...") and are called post-modifiers.[4] Example: "The rough, seamy-faced, raw-boned College Servitor ..."[8] The pre-modifying phrase, for example, is composed of determiners ("The"), adjectives ("rough," "seamy-faced," ...) and other nouns ("College"). Complements occur after the head as well; however, they are essential for completing the meaning of the noun phrase in a way that post-modifiers are not.[9] Examples (complements are italicized; heads are in boldface): "The burnt-out ends of smoky days."[10] "The suggestion that Mr. Touchett should invite me appeared to have come from Miss Stackpole."[11] "The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard and dry."[12] Within a sentence, a noun phrase can be a part of the grammatical subject, the object, or the complement. Examples (the noun phrase is italicized, and the head boldfaced):[9] grammatical subject: "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest."[13] object: "Dr. Pavlov ... delivered many long propaganda harangues ..."[14]) complement: "'All they see is some frumpy, wrinkled-up person passing by in a carriage waving at a crowd."[15]

Verbs
Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns. According to Carter and McCarthy, verbs denote "actions, events, processes, and states."[16] Consequently, "smile," "stab," "climb," "confront," "liquefy," "wake," "reflect" are all verbs. Some endings, which while not dead giveaways, are often associated with verbs. Examples are: "-ate" ("formulate"), "-iate" ("inebriate"), "-ify" ("electrify"), and "-ize" ("sermonize").[16] There are exceptions, of course: "chocolate" is a noun, "immediate" is an adjective, "prize" can be a noun, and "maize" is a noun. Prefixes can also be used to create new verbs. Examples are: "un-" ("unmask"), "out-" ("outlast"), "over-" ("overtake"), and "under-" ("undervalue"). [16] Just as nouns can be formed from verbs by conversion, the reverse is also possible: [16] "so are the sons of men snared in an evil time"[17] "[a national convention] nosed parliament in the very seat of its authority"[18] Verbs can also be formed from adjectives:[16] "To dry the old oak's sap, and cherish springs."[19] "Time's glory is to calm contending kings"[20]

Regular and irregular verbs

A verb is said to be regular if its base form does not change when inflections are added to create new forms.[21] An example is: base form: climb; present form: climb; -s form: climbs; -ing form: climbing; past form: climbed; -ed participle: climbed.[21] Irregular verbs are ones in which the base form changes; the endings corresponding to each form are not always unique.[21] Examples: base form: catch; present form: catch; -s form: catches; -ing form: catching; past form: caught; -ed participle: caught.

base form: choose; present form: choose; -s form: chooses; -ing form: choosing; past form: chose; -ed participle: chosen. The verb "be" is the only verb in English which has distinct inflectional forms for each of the categories of grammatical forms: base form: be; present form: am, are; -s form: is; -ing form: being; past form: was, were; -ed participle: been.[21]

Type and characteristics

Verbs come in three grammatical types: lexical, auxiliary, and modal.[22] Lexical verbs form an open class which includes most verbs (state, action, processes, and events). For example, "dive," "soar," "swoon," "revive," "breathe," "choke," "lament," "celebrate," "consider," "ignore" are all lexical verbs.[22] Auxiliary verbs form a closed class consisting of only three members: be, do, and have.[22] Although auxiliary verbs are lexical verbs as well, their main function is to add information to other lexical verbs. This information indicates (a) aspect (progressive, perfect), (b) passive voice, and (c) clause type (interrogative, negative).[22] In the following examples, the auxiliary is in boldface and the lexical verb is italicized. aspect (progressive): "'She is breathing Granny; we've got to make her keep it up, that's alljust keep her breathing."[23] aspect (perfect): "'Yes, I want a coach,' said Maurice, and bade the coachman draw up to the stone where the poor man who had swooned was sitting."[24] passive voice: "When she was admitted into the house Beautiful, care was taken to inquire into the religious knowledge of her children."[25] clause type (interrogative): (Old joke) Boy: "Excuse me sir, How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Man on street: "Practice, Practice, Practice." clause type (negative): Wasn't she monstrously surprised?"[26] Modal verbs also form a closed class which consists of the core modals ("can," "could," "shall," "should," "will," "would," "may," "might," "must"), semi-modals ("dare," "need," "ought to," "used to"), and modal expressions ("be able to," "have to").[22] Modals add information to lexical verbs about degrees of certainty and necessity.[22] Examples: less certain: "Before the snow could melt for good, an ice storm covered the lowcountry and we learned the deeper treachery of ice."[27] more certain: "Eat your eggs in Lent and the snow will melt. That's what I say to our people when they get noisy over their cups at San Gallo ..."[28] expressing necessity: "But I should think there must be some stream somewhere about. The snow must melt; besides, these great herds of deer must drink somewhere."[29] Modal verbs do not inflect for person, number or tense.[22] Examples: person: "I/you/she might consider it." number: "I/We/She/They might consider it" tense: "They might have considered/be considering/have been considering it." Verbs too have features that aid in their recognition: they follow the (grammatical) subject noun phrase (in italics): "The real raw-knuckle boys who know what fighting means enter the arena without fanfare." they agree with the subject noun phrase in number: "The real raw-knuckle boy/boys who knows/know what fighting means enters/enter the arena without fanfare." they agree with the subject noun phrase in person: "I/He, the real raw-knuckle boy who knows what fighting means, enter/enters the arena without fanfare", and

with the exception of modal verbs, they can express tense:"The boys ... had been entering the arena without fanfare."

Verb phrases Forms

Verb phrases are formed entirely of verbs. The verbs can be lexical, auxiliary, and modal. The head is the first verb in the verb phrase.[30] Example: "I didn't notice Rowen around tonight," remarked Don, as they began to prepare for bed. "Might have been sulking in his tent," grinned Terry."[31] Here, the verb phrase "might have been sulking" has the form "modal-auxiliary-auxiliary-lexical." In a verb phrase, the modal comes first, then the auxiliary or several auxiliaries, and finally the lexical (main) verb.[30] When a verb phrase has a combination of modal and auxiliaries, it is constituted usually in the following order: modal verb >> perfect have >> progressive be >> passive be >> Lexical verb.[30] Examples: "He might have been being used by the CIA as part of their debriefing procedure, but he might just as easily have been part of the Russians' plans to use Oswald in America."[32] Here, the verb phrase is: might (modal) have (perfect) been (progressive) being (passive) used (lexical). The modal expression "be able to" is an exception: "It is best to know that she has (perfect) been (progressive) able to (modal expression) balance (lexical verb) these qualities and quantities with a grace which has not fallen short of greatness ...."[33]

Tense
Verb phrases can vary with tense, in which case they are called "tensed verb phrases."[34] Example: "They have accomplished a lot this year, but they had accomplished even more last year." There are many non-tensed forms as well: base form of a lexical verb used as an imperative.[34] Example: "Halt!" base form of the lexical verb occurring as a subjunctive.[34] Example: "'If he is a spy,' said Gorgik, 'I would rather he not know who I am."[35] the infinitive with "to."[34] Examples: "Did you see her, chiefdid you get a glimpse of her pleasant countenance, or come close enough to her ear, to sing in it the song she loves to hear?'"[36] "She got so she could tell big stories herself from listening to the rest. Because she loved to hear it, and the men loved to hear themselves, they would 'woof' and 'boogerboo' around the games to the limit."[37] the "-ing" form.[34] Examples: "Biological diversity is plummeting, mainly due to habitat degradation and loss, pollution, overexploitation, competition from alien species, disease, and changing climates."[38] "Then it was swooping downward, and in the next second, a huge metal magpie, with wings outstretched in full flight, was plummeting toward them."[39] the "-ed" participle.[34] Examples: "I also know that the painter has dined twice with the Prince Regent."[40] "Which in all probability means that you had dined together," replied Monte Cristo, laughing, "I am glad to see you are more sober than he was."[41]

The time frame of a non-tensed verb phrase is determined by examining that of the main clause verb.[34] Examples: "From the very beginning, Coltrane was an indefatigable worker at his saxophone spending hours upon hours practicing every day."[42] "By assuming a good position and by practicing every day he will in time acquire a feeling and an appearance of ease before people."[43] In the first case, the time frame (past) of "practicing" is determined by "was" in the main clause; in the second, the time frame (present and future) of "practicing" is determined by "will in time," also in the main clause.

Aspect
Verb phrases can also express two aspects: progressive and perfect. Aspect provides additional information on the speaker's perception of time. Progressive aspect The progressive aspect consists of the auxiliary be form and the -ing form of the lexical verb.[44] Examples: "Landlord, chambermaid, waiter rush to the door; but just as some distinguished guests are arriving, the curtains close, and the invisible theatrical manager cries out, 'Second syllable!' "[45] "She made her curtsy, and was departing when the wretched young captain sprang up, looked at her, and sank back on the sofa with another wild laugh."[46] Properties: Progressive aspect may be found in verb phrases containing modals.[44] "Restless, exciting and witty, he cannot resist a fantastic theory ..., so that one might be meeting Synge, Fielding, and Aldous Huxley, and on the same page."[47] Non-tensed -ing forms, however, do not have the progressive aspect.[44] "By working every day, he had learned the peculiarities, the weaknesses and strengths, of opposing batters ..."[48] It cannot be changed to "By being working every day, ...." Progressive aspect can be combined with "to"-infinitive forms in a verb phrase.[44] "He loved to sit by the open window when the wind was east, and seemed to be dreaming of faraway scenes."[49]

Perfect aspect
The perfect aspect is created by the auxiliary "have" and the "-ed" participle form of the lexical verb.[44] It refers to a time period that includes the present moment.[44] Contrast "The flowers didn't bloom this summer" with "The flowers haven't bloomed this summer." The latter sentence suggests that the summer is not over yet. Properties: The perfect aspect can pair with modal verbs.[44] "You might (modal) have invited (perfect) the Mad Hatter to the tea-party." The perfect aspect can be combined with the -ing and the to-infinitive forms.[44] "Having turned the TV on, he now mindlessly flicked through the channels." "To have run the marathon, she would have needed to be in good shape." Finally, the two aspects, progressive and perfect, can be combined in a verb phrase: "They've been laughing so hard that their sides hurt."

Voice
The passive voice, which provides information about the roles of different participants in an event, is formed with the auxiliary "be" and the "-ed" participle form of the lexical verb.[50] Examples: (Sentence) "The older critics slammed the play with vituperation inexplicable unless one attributes it to homophobia."[51] (passive voice) "Ever notice how she was (past of "be") slammed (-ed participle) by the critics until the actors started doing it themselves?"[52] Properties: Modal verbs can occur in passive voice.[50] "And if they couldn't get a handle on it soon, cities and towns all up and down the Eastern Seaboard could (modal) be slammed (passive) by the biggest storm of the year ...."[53] Passive voice can be combined with non-tensed verbs forms such as "-ing" form and the "to-" infinitive.[50] "There he wasgetting slammed by the criticsand still taking the high road."[54] "We were about to be slammed by an 80-foot breaking wave."[55] Passive voice can combine with both the progressive and the perfect aspects.[50] (passive, progressive): "The wind had picked up. The boat was being slammed by the swells, and floundering."[56] (passive, perfect): "Although, alas, it's not such an exclusive club. I've sent them to everyone who has been slammed by that dreadful woman."[57]

Mood
A verb phrase can also express mood, which refers to the "factual or non-factual status of events."[50] There are three moods in English: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive. [50] Indicative mood The indicative is the most common mood in English.[50] It is a factual mood, and most constructions involving the various choices of person, tense, number, aspect, modality are in the indicative mood.[50] Examples: "She will have a hangover tomorrow morning." "The Prime Minister and his cabinet were discussing the matter on that fateful day in 1939."

Imperative mood
The imperative mood is a non-factual mood and is employed for issuing directives:[50] "Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on"[58] "'Your father's urn is on the backseat. Just leave the keys in the cup holder."[59] Subjunctive mood The subjunctive mood is also a non-factual mood which refers to demands, desires, etc. [50] It uses the base form of the verb without inflections.[50] It is rare in English and is used after only a handful of words such as "demand," "request," "suggest," "ask," "plead," "pray," "insist," and so forth.[50] Examples: "I demanded that Sheriff Jeanfreau stay. I even wanted worthless and annoying Ugly Henderson to stay."[60] "'I suggest that you not exercise your temper overmuch,' Mayne said, and the French tinge in his voice sounded truly dangerous now." [61] Properties:

Subjunctives can be used after conditional subordinators.[50] "I accepted on the condition that I not be given a starring role."[62] Subjunctives can also be used after expressions of necessity.[50] "Two nuns are asked to paint a room in the convent, and the last instruction of Mother Superior is that they not get even a drop of paint on their habits."[63] The subjunctive form of the verb "be" can occur as the base form "be".[50] "Whenever a prisoner alleges physical abuse, it is imperative that the prisoner be seen by an officer at the earliest possible opportunity."[64] In its "were" form the subjunctive is used to express a hypothetical situation.[50] "'Lin said, turning toward Pei, "I'm afraid she's excited at seeing me home again." Pei smiled. "I would be too, if I were she."[65]

Adjectives
According to Carter and McCarthy, "Adjectives describe properties, qualities, and states attributed to a noun or a pronoun."[66] As was the case with nouns and verbs, the class of adjectives cannot be identified by the forms of its constituents.[66] However, adjectives are commonly formed by adding the some suffixes to nouns.[66] Examples: "-al" ("habitual," "multidimensional," "visceral"), "-ful" ("blissful," "pitiful," "woeful"), "-ic" ("atomic," "gigantic," "pedantic"), "-ish" ("impish," "peckish," "youngish"), "-ous" ("fabulous," "hazardous"). As with nouns and verbs, there are exceptions: "homosexual" can be a noun, "earful" is a noun, "anesthetic" can be a noun, "brandish" is a verb. Adjectives can also be formed from other adjectives through the addition of a suffix or more commonly a prefix:[66] weakish, implacable, disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen. A number of adjective are formed by adding "a" as a prefix to a verb: "adrift," "astride," "awry."

Gradability
Adjectives come in two varieties: gradable and non-gradable.[67] In a gradable adjective, the properties or qualities associated with it, exist along a scale.[67] In the case of the adjective "hot," for example, we can speak of: not at all hot, ever so slightly hot, only just hot, quite hot, very hot, extremely hot, dangerously hot, and so forth. Consequently, "hot" is a gradable adjective. Gradable adjectives usually have antonyms: hot/cold, hard/soft, smart/dumb, light/heavy.[67] Some adjectives do not have room for qualification or modification. These are the non-gradable adjectives, such as: pregnant, married, incarcerated, condemned, adolescent (as adjective), dead, and so forth. In figurative or literary language, a non-gradable adjective can sometimes be treated as gradable, especially in order to emphasize some aspect: "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with a forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room."[68] A non-gradable adjective might have another connotation in which it is gradable. For example, "dead" when applied to sounds can mean dull, or not vibrant. In this meaning, it has been used as a gradable adjective: "... the bell seemed to sound more dead than it did when just before it sounded in open air."[69]

Gradable adjectives can occur in comparative and superlative forms.[67] For many common adjectives, these are formed by adding "-er" and "-est" to the base form:[67] cold, colder, coldest; hot, hotter, hottest; dry, drier, driest, and so forth; however, for other adjectives, "more" and "most" are needed to provide the necessary qualification: more apparent, most apparent; more iconic, most iconic; more hazardous, most hazardous. Some gradable adjectives change forms atypically:[67] good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; some/many, more, most. [edit] Adjective phrases Forms An adjective phrase may consist of just one adjective, or a single adjective which has been modified or complemented.[70] Adjectives are usually modified by adverb phrases (adverb in boldface; adjective in italics):[70] "... placing himself in a dignified and truly imposing attitude, began to draw from his mouth yard after yard of red tape ..."[71] "Families did certainly come, beguiled by representations of impossibly cheap provisions, though the place was in reality very expensive, for every tradesman was a monopolist at heart."[72] "... of anger frequent but generally silent, ..."[73] An adjective phrase can also consist of an adjective followed by a complement, usually a prepositional phrase, or by a "that" clause.[70] Different adjectives require different patterns of complementation (adjective in italics; complement in bold face):[70] "... during that brief time I was proud of myself, and I grew to love the heave and roll of the Ghost ..."[74] "... her bosom angry at his intrusion, ..."[75] "Dr. Drew is especially keen on good congregational singing."[76] Examples of "that" clause in the adjective phrase (adjective in italics; clause in boldface): "Was sure that the shrill voice was that of a mana Frenchman."[77] "The longest day that ever was; so she raves, restless and impatient."[78] An adjective phrase can combine pre-modification by an adverb phrase and postmodification by a complement,[70] as in (adjective in italics; adverb phrase and complement in boldface): "Few people were ever more proud of civic honours than the Thane of Fife."[79] Attributive and predicative An adjective phrase is attributive when it modifies a noun or a pronoun (adjective phrase in boldface; noun in italics):[70] "Truly selfish genes do arise, in the sense that they reproduce themselves at a cost to the other genes in the genome."[80] "Luisa Rosado: a woman proud of being a midwife"[81] An adjective phrase is predicative when it occurs in the predicate of a sentence (adjective phrase in boldface):[70] "No, no, I didn't really think so," returned Dora; "but I am a little tired, and it made me silly for a moment ..."[82] "She was ill at ease, and looked more than usually stern and forbidding as she entered the Hales' little drawing room."[83] [edit] Adverbs

Adverbs, according to Carter and McCarthy, are a class of words "which perform a wide range of functions. Adverbs are especially important for indicating time, manner, place, degree, and frequency of an event, action, or process."[84] They typically modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adjectives and adverbs are often derived from the same word.[84] A majority of adverbs are formed by adding to "-ly" ending to their corresponding adjective form.[84] Recall the adjectives, "habitual," "pitiful," "impish." We can use them to form the adverbs: "habitually": "... shining out of the New England reserve with which Holgrave habitually masked whatever lay near his heart."[85] "pitifully": "The lamb tottered along far behind, near exhaustion, bleating pitifully."[86] "impishly": "Well, and he grinned impishly, "it was one doggone good party while it lasted!"[87] Some suffixes that are commonly found in adverbs are "-ward(s)" and "-wise":[84] "homeward": "The plougman homeward plods his weary way."[88] "downward": "In tumbling turning, clustering loops, straight downward falling, ..."[89] "lengthwise": "2 to 3 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1-inch pieces."[90] Some adverbs have the same form as the adjectives:[84] "outside": Adverb: "'You'd best begin, or you'll be sorryit's raining outside."[91] Adjective: "It would be possible to winter the colonies in the barn if each colony is provided with a separate outside entrance; ..."[92] "straight" Adverb: "Five cigars, very dry, smoked straight except where wrapper loosened, as it did in two cases."[93] Adjective: "Numbering among the ranks of the "young and evil" in this text are ... straight women who fall in love with gay men, ..."[94] Some adverbs are not related to adjectives:[84] "quite": "Mr. Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and ... Mrs. Bennet was quite disconcerted."[95] "too": "... like a child that, having devoured its plumcake too hastily, sits sucking its fingers, ...."[96] "so": "... oh! ... would she heave one little sigh to see a bright young life so rudely blighted, ...?"[97] Some adverbs inflect for comparative and superlative forms:[84] "soon" "O error, soon conceived, Thou never comest unto a happy birth, ..."[98] "Nerissa: 'superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer."[99] "'Least said, soonest mended!' "[100] "well" "Valrosa well deserved its name, for in that climate of perpetual summer roses blossomed everywhere."[101] "'I'm afraid your appearance in the Phycological Quarterly was better deserved,' said Mrs. Arkwright, without removing her eyes from the microscope ..."[102] "Who among the typical Victorians best deserved his hate?"[103] [edit] Adverb phrases

Forms An adverb phrase is a phrase that collectively acts as an adverb within a sentence; in other words, it modifies a verb (or verb phrase), an adjective (or adjective phrase), or another adverb.[104] The head of an adverb phrase (roman boldface), which is an adverb, may be modified by another adverb (italics boldface) or followed by a complement (italics boldface):[104] "Yet all too suddenly Rosy popped back into the conversation, ...."[105] "Oddly enough, that very shudder did the business."[106] "The Stoics said, perhaps shockingly for us, that a father ceases to be a father when his child dies."[107] An adverb phrase can be part of the complement of the verb "be." It then usually indicates location (adverbe phrase in boldface; form of "be" in italics):[104] "'... it is underneath the pink slip that I wore on Wednesday with my Mechlin.'"[108] "... north-by-northeast was Rich Mountain, ..."[109] Adverb phrases are frequently modifiers of verbs:[104] "They plow through a heavy fog, and Enrique sleeps soundlytoo soundly."[110] "Sleepily, very sleepily, you stagger to your feet and collapse into the nearest chair."[111] Adverb phrases are also frequently modifiers of adjectives and other adverbs (modifier in boldface; modified in italics):[104] (adjectives) "Then to the swish of waters as the sailors sluice the decks all around and under you, you fall into a really deep sleep."[112] (adverbs) "'My grandma's kinda deaf and she sleeps like really heavily."[113] Adverb phrases can also be modifiers of noun phrases (or pronoun phrases) and prepositional phrases (adverb phrases in boldface; modified phrases in italics):[104] (noun phrase): "She stayed out in the middle of the wild sea, and told them that was quite the loveliest place, you could see for many miles all round you, ...."[114] (pronoun phrase): "... the typical structure of glioma is that of spherical and cylindrical lobules, almost each and everyone of which has a centrally located blood vessel."[115] (prepositional phrase): "About halfway through the movie, I decided to ..."[116] Adverb phrases also modify determiners (modifier in boldface; modified in italics):[104] "The devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing him nearly every evening."[117] "Nearly if not quite all civilized peoples and ourselves above almost all others, are heavily burdened with the interest upon their public debt."[118] Functions According to Carter and McCarthy, "As well as giving information on the time, place, manner and degree of an action, event, or process, adverb phrases can also have a commenting function, indicating the attitude and point of view of the speaker or writer towards a whole sentence or utterance."[119] Examples: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."[120] "Astonishingly, she'd shelled every nut, leaving me only the inner skin to remove."[121] Adverb phrases also indicate the relation between two clauses in a sentence.[119] Such adverbs are usually called "linking adverbs." Example: "... they concluded from the similarities of their bodies, that mine must contain at least 1724 of theirs, and consequently would require as much food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians."[122]

[edit] Prepositions Prepositions relate two events in time or two people or things in space.[119] They form a closed class.[119] They also represent abstract relations between two entities:[119] Examples: ("after":) "We came home from Mr. Boythorn's after six pleasant weeks."[123] ("after":) "The body of a little wizened Gond lay with its feet in the ashes, and Bagheera looked inquiringly at Mowgli. "That was done with a bamboo," said the boy, after one glance.[124] ("to":) "I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, ..."[125] ("between" and "through":) "Between two golden tufts of summer grass, I see the world through hot air as through glass, ..."[126] ("during":) "During these years at Florence, Leonardo's history is the history of his art; he himself is lost in the bright cloud of it."[127] ("of":) "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrances of things past."[128] Prepositions are accompanied by prepositional complements;[129] these are usually noun phrases.[129] In the above examples, the prepositional complements are: preposition: "after"; prepositional complement: "six pleasant weeks" preposition: "after"; prepositional complement: "one glance" preposition: "to"; prepositional complement: "the seas"; preposition: "to"; prepositional complement: "the vagrant gypsy life"; preposition: "Between"; prepositional complement: "two golden tufts of summer grass,"; preposition: "through"; prepositional complement: "hot air"; preposition: "as through"; prepositional complement: "glass." preposition: "during"; prepositional complement: "these years at Florence." preposition: "of"; prepositional complement: "sweet silent thought"; preposition: "of"; prepositional complement: "things past." [edit] Prepositional phrases A prepositional phrase is formed when a preposition combines with its complement. [130]. In the above examples, the prepositional phrases are: prepositional phrase: "after six pleasant weeks" prepositional phrase: "after one glance" prepositional phrases: "to the seas" and "to the vagrant gypsy life" prepositional phrases: "Between two golden tufts of summer grass," "through hot air" and "as through glass." prepositional phrase: "During these years at Florence." prepositional phrases "of sweet silent thought" and "of things past." [edit] Conjunctions According to Carter and McCarthy, "Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between phrases, clauses and sentences."[131] There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.[131] Coordinating Coordinating conjunctions link "elements of equal grammatical status."[131] The elements in questions may vary from a prefix to an entire sentence.[131] Examples: (prefixes): "The doctor must provide facilities for pre- and post test conselling and have his own strict procedures for the storing of that confidential information."[132]

(words): "'No, I'll never love anybody but you, Tom, and I'll never marry anybody but you--and you ain't to ever marry anybody but me, either."[133] (phrases): "Can storied urn or animated bust back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?"[134] (subordinate clauses): "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.[135] (independent clauses): "Well, I think you're here, plain enough, but I think you're a tangle-headed old fool, Jim."[136] (sentences): "He said we were neither of us much to look at and we were as sour as we looked. But I don't feel as sour as I used to before I knew robin and Dickon."[137] A correlative conjunction is a pair of constituent elements, each of which is associated with the grammatical unit to be coordinated.[131] The common correlatives in English are: "either ... or": "The clergyman stayed to exchange a few sentences, either of admonition or reproof, with his haughty parishioner ...."[138] "...; for I could not divest myself of a misgiving that something might happen to London in the meanwhile, and that, when I got there, it would be either greatly deteriorated or clean gone."[139] "neither ... nor": "Buck made no effort. He lay quietly where he had fallen. The lash bit into him again and again, but he neither whined nor struggled."[140] "For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, to stir men's blood: I only speak right on; ..."[141] "both ... and" "There was no mistaking her sincerityit breathed in every tone of her voice. Both Marilla and Mrs. Lynde recognized its unmistakable ring."[142] "There messages have both ethical and pragmatic overtones, urging women to recognize that even if they do suffer from physical and social disadvantages, their lives are far from being determined by their biology."[143] "Not only ... but also" "The director of A Doll's House, the brilliant Zhang Min, ..., was impressed with Lin not only professionally but also personally."[144] "... she attempted to persuade her husband to give up his affair. Not only did he refuse, but he also told her he loved them both ...."[145] Subordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunction relate only clauses to one another. They make the clause associated with them into a subordinate clause.[146] Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are: (of time) after, before, since, until, when, while; (cause and effect): because, since, now that, as, in order that, so; (opposition): although, though, even though, whereas, while; (condition): if, unless, only if, whether or not, whether or no, even if, in case (that), and so forth.[146] Examples: (time: "before"): "Perhaps Homo erectus had already died out before Homo sapiens arrived.[147]

(cause and effect: "in order that"): "In order that feelings, representations, ideas and the like should attain a certain degree of memorability, it is important that they should not remain isolated ..."[148] (opposition: "although"): "Ultimately there were seven more sessions, in which, although she remained talkative, she increasingly clearly conveyed a sense that she did not wish to come any more."[149] (condition: "even if"): "Even if Sethe could deal with the return of the spirit, Stamp didn't believe her daughter could."[150] [edit] Sentence and clause patterns Identified in English by a capitalized initial letter in its first word and by a period (or full stop) at the end of its last word, the sentence is the largest constituent of grammar.[151] A text that contains more than one sentence is no longer in the realm of grammar, but rather of discourse, as are all conversations, howsoever brief.[151] Sentences themselves consist of clauses which are the principal constituents of grammar. A clause consists of a subject, which is usually a noun phrase, and a predicate which is usually a verb phrase with an accompanying grammatical unit in the form of an object or complement.[151] [edit] Verb complementation [edit] Clause types [edit] Clause combination [edit] Adjuncts [edit] Information packaging [edit] History of English grammar writing The first English grammar, Pamphlet for Grammar by William Bullokar , written with the ostensible goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-bound as Latin , was published in 1586. Bullokars grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily s Latin grammar, Rudimenta Grammatices (1534), which was being used in schools in England at that time, having been prescribed for them in 1542 by Henry VIII . Although Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a reformed spelling system of his own invention, many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokars effort, were written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. Christopher Coopers Grammatica Lingu Anglican (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin. Even as late as the early 19th century, Lindley Murray , the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite grammatical authorities to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin. [edit] History of English grammar [edit] See also English verbs Conditional sentence Capitalization Disputes in English grammar English noun phrase English prefixes Grammar checker Nominal group

Thematic equative [edit] Notes and references ^ a b c d Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 296 ^ a b c d e f g h Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 297 ^ a b c d Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 298 ^ a b c d e Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 299 ^ T. S. Eliot, "Preludes" ^ Charles Emmett Van Loan, "The Legs of Freckles," Inside the ropes ^ John Milton, "Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, Composed 1629" ^ Thomas Carlyle,"Dr. Johnson" ^ a b Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 300 ^ Unlike post-modifiers, which can be replaced by relative clauses, complements cannot, we cannot say: ends which are of smoky days ... ^ Henry James, Portrait of a lady Chapter XVI. Note: We cannot say: "The suggestion which is that Mr. Touchett should invite me" ^ Thomas Hardy, "The Darkling Thrush" ^ Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. "here," an adverb, which qualifies "may rest," is not a part of the noun phrase. ^ Eleanor Roosevelt, Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chapter 31, "I Learn about Soviet Tactics" ^ Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place ^ a b c d e Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 301 ^ The Bible, Ecclesiastes, IX, 11-18, King James Version, 1611. ^ Edmund Burke ^ William Shakespeare, "The Rape of Lucrece" ^ William Shakespeare, "The Rape of Lucrece" ^ a b c d Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 302 ^ a b c d e f g Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 303 ^ Gene Stratton-Porter, The Harvester, Chapter XVII, "Love Invades Science". ^ Maria Edgeworth, Popular tales, "The Lottery," Chapter VII. ^ John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Chapter V. ^ Letter from Susan Burney to Frances Burney, in The early diaries of Frances Burney, volume 2. ^ Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides, Chapter 10. ^ George Elliot, Romola, "A Florentine joke" ^ G. A. Henty, Under Drake's flag: a tale of the Spanish Main, Chapter XI, "The marvel of fire" ^ a b c Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 304 ^ Wyckoff, Capwell. The Mercer boys in Ghost Patrol, "At Rustling Ridge" ^ Edward Jay Epstein in interview with Susana Duncan, "Oswald: The Secret Agent," New York Magazine, March 6, 1978. ^ Our Famous Women: An Authorized and Complete Record of their Lives and Deeds ^ a b c d e f g Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 305 ^ Delany, Samuel R., Flight from Nevron, "The Tale of Fog and Granite" ^ James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer, Chapter IX. ^ Zora Neale Hurston, Their eyes were watching God, Chapter 14.

^ Huggett, Richard J., Fundamentals of biogeography, "Conserving species and populations." ^ Byng, Georgia. Molly Moon Stops the World, Chapter 27. ^ Thomas Mann, Death in Venice and other stories, "Gladius Dei" ^ Alexandre Dumas, pre, The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter LVI, "The Insult" ^ Farah Jasmine Griffin, Salim Washington, Clawing at the limits of cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the greatest jazz collaboration ever, "Prelude: The Head" ^ Immel, Ray Keesler, The delivery of speech: a manual for course 1 in public speaking, "Formal delivery--Action" ^ a b c d e f g h Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 306 ^ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter LI. ^ Cornhill Magazine April 1860, Love the Widower, Chapter IV, "A Black Sheep" ^ Hugh Walpole, Tendencies of the Modern Novel, "Spain" ^ Gil Bogen, Ernie Banks, John Kling: a baseball biography, "Chapter 6, Charting a Course" ^ John Coleman Adams, "Midshipman, the Cat," in The greatest cat stories ever told, edited by Charles Elliott. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 307 ^ Robert Bernstein, Cast out: queer lives in theater, "Paradise won and lost" ^ John Waters, Crackpot: the obsessions of John Waters, "Why I love Christmas" ^ Greg Enslen, Black Bird, "Saturday, September 17" ^ Jerry Lewis, Dean and Me: A Love Story, Chapter Sixteen ^ Bob Bitchin, Letters from the lost soul, "Island Exploring" ^ Ken Douglas, Running Scared, Chapter 12. ^ Michaels, Kasey. Maggie by the Book Chapter 4. ^ Alice Wine. ^ Russo, Richard. That Old Cape Magic, Chapter 10, "Pistolary" ^ Anne Rice, Blackwood Farm, Chapter 13. ^ Eloisa James, Your wicked ways, Chapter 9, "Of Great Acts of Courage." ^ Philip Freiher Von Boeselager, Valkyrie, "Epilogue" ^ Wheeler, Billy Edd. Real Country Humor: Jokes from Country Music Personalities, "Introduction" ^ Lee, Luke T. Consular law and practice, Part III, "Consular Functions" ^ Gail Tsukiyama, Women of Silk: A Novel, Chapter Ten, "1928, Pei". ^ a b c d Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 308 ^ a b c d e f Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 309 ^ Shakespeare, As You Like It iii. 3. ^ Robert Boyle, quoted in Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language 11th meaning of entry "dead". ^ a b c d e f g Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 310 ^ Charles Dickens, "Lord Peter and the Wild Woodsman, or The Progress of Tape" in Household Words, Volume 4, issues 79--103. ^ Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's secret, Chapter X, "Coltonslough" ^ Anthony Trollope, "Mr.Crawley's interview with Dr. and Mrs. Proudie" , The Last Chronicle of Barset ^ Jack London, The Sea-Wolf, Chapter XVI

^ Charles Dickens, "More Warnings Than One," Dombey and son ^ Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, Chapter XVII. ^ Edgar Allan Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" in Tales of mystery and imagination. ^ Richard Burton "Symptoms of love" in Anatomy of Melancholy. ^ Walter Scott, "Appendix by J. Train to Introduction to "The Surgeon's Daughter," Waverly Novels, volume 25. ^ Alison Jolly, Lucy's legacy: sex and intelligence in human evolution, Chapter 10, "Organic Wholes" ^ Hilary Marland, The art of midwifery: early modern midwives in Europe, "Models of midwifery in the work" ^ Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter XLVIII ^ Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter XII ^ a b c d e f g Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 311 ^ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables: a romance, Chapter XX, "The Flower of Eden" ^ Elmer Kelton, The Time it Never Rained, Chapter 12 ^ Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, Chapter XXXIII. ^ Thomas Grey, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ^ Walt Whitman, "The Dalliance of the Eagles," Leaves of Grass ^ Joy of Cooking, "Roasted chicken and vegetables" ^ [[Upton Sinclair]], Jungle, Chapter 27. ^ Iona Fowls, "Gleaned by Asking," Gleanings in bee culture, volume 48. ^ Frear, William. "Experiments in growing Sumatra tobacco under shelter tent, 1904," The Annual Report of The Pennsylvania State College for the year 1905-1906. ^ Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler, "The Young and Evil: A Walk on the Wild Side," in Boone, Joseph Allen, ed., Libidinal Currents: sexuality and the shaping of modernism. ^ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter I. ^ Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey, Chapter XV, "The Walk" ^ Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, "Tom as a general" ^ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, V. III. ^ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, I. I ^ Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter XXXV, "Depression" ^ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, "Lazy Laurence" ^ Juliana Horatia Ewing, Six to Sixteen: A story for girls, "Jack's Ointment" ^ Frank Swinnerton, Figures in the foreground: literary reminiscences, 1917-1940, "Apostles of Culture" ^ a b c d e f g Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 312 ^ James D. Watson, The double helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA, p. 74 ^ Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, "My Sea Adventure" ^ Brad Inwood, The Cambridge companion to the Stoics, "Stoic Metaphysics" ^ Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Rajah's Diamond: Story of the Bandbox," in New Arabian Nights ^ Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, Red dust and broadsides: a joint autobiography, "Youth and politics"

^ Sonia Nazario, Enrique's Journey, "Gifts and Faith" ^ Stewart Edward White, "On the Way to Africa," Harper's Magazine, Volume 126) ^ Stewart Edward White, "On the Way to Africa," Harper's Magazine, Volume 126 ^ Jeremy Iverson, High School Confidential: secrets of an undercover student, "Two weeks go deep" ^ Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, "The Little Mermaid". ^ Adolf Alt, "Remarks on glioma of the retina and the question of rosettes," The American Journal of Opthalmology September 1904, Volume XXI, number 9. ^ Barack Obama, Dreams of my father: a story of race and inheritance, Chapter Six. ^ Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" ^ "Money and its substitutes," Atlantic Monthly," volume 37, page 355, 1876. ^ a b c d e Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 313 ^ In film version of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1939); the book version (1936) did not have the comment adverb "Frankly." ^ "How to peel chestnuts," The Gift of Southern Cooking: recipes and revelations from two great American cooks by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock. ^ Jonathon Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Chapter III. ^ Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Chapter XXIII, "Esther's Narrative" ^ Rudyard Kipling, Jungle Book. ^ John Masefield, "Sea Fever"). ^ Edmund Gosse, "Lying in the grass" ^ Walter Pater, "Leonardo and La Gioconda," in Notes on Leonardo da Vinci ^ William Shakespeare, Sonnets. ^ a b Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 315 ^ Carter & McCarthy 2006, pp. 314315 ^ a b c d e Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 315 ^ British Medical Association, Misuse of Drugs, Chapter 4, "Constraints of current practice." ^ Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter VII. ^ Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. ^ Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter 1. ^ Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 15, "Huck loses his raft" ^ Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, Chapter 18, "Tha' Munnot Waste No Time" ^ Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVI ^ Charles Dickens]], Great Expectations, Chapter XIX, "I take my leave of Biddy and Joe" ^ Jack London, The call of the wild, Chapter V, "The toil of trace and trail" ^ William Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar, III. II ^ Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter X, "Anne's Apology" ^ Meiling Chang, In other Los Angeles: multicentric performance art, Chapter 6, "What's in a Name?" ^ Ross Terrill, Madam Mao: the white boned demon, Chapter 3, "Onstage in Shanghai 1933--37."

^ Charlotte Ikels, The Return of the God of Wealth: The Transition to a Market Economy in Urban China, Chapter 3, "Family and Household" ^ a b Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 316 ^ Bryan Sykes, The seven daughters of Eve, "The Last of the Neanderthals" ^ Sigmund Freud, Interpretation of dreams, Chapter I, section D ^ Alex Holder, Ana Freud, Melanie Klein, and the psychoanalysis of children and adolescents, Chapter 3, "The technique of child analysis" ^ Toni Morrison, Beloved, Chapter 17. ^ a b c Carter & McCarthy 2006, p. 486 [edit] Bibliography [edit] Grammar books Biber, Douglas; Johansson, Stig; Leech, Geoffrey; Conrad, Susan; Finegan, Edward (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. p. 1203. ISBN 0582237254. Carter, Ronald; McCarthy, Michael (2006). Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide. Cambridge University Press. p. 984. ISBN 0521674395. Celce-Murcia, Marianne; Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1998). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course, 2nd ed.. Heinle & Heinle. p. 854. ISBN 0838447252. Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. Oxford University Press. p. 464. ISBN 0192800876. Cobbett, William (1883). A Grammar of the English Language, In a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of Young Persons in General, but more especially for the use of Soldiers, Sailors, Apprentices, and Plough-Boys. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes and Company. http://books.google.com/books? id=LIgAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPR1,M1. Cobbett, William (2003, originally 1818). A Grammar of the English Language (Oxford Language Classics). Oxford University Press. p. 256. ISBN 0198605080. Curme, George O. (1978; original 1931, 1935). A Grammar of the English Language: Volumes I (Parts of Speech) & II (Syntax). Verbatim Books. p. 1045. ISBN 0930454030. Greenbaum, Sidney (1996). Oxford English Grammar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 672. ISBN 0198612508. Greenbaum, Sidney (1990). A Student's Grammar of the English Language. Addison Wesley Publishing Company. p. 496. ISBN 0582059712. Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 3rd. edition. London: Hodder Arnold. p. 700. ISBN 0340761679. Huddleston, Rodney D. (1984) Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Huddleston, Rodney D. (1988) English grammar: An outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K., eds (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press. p. 1860. ISBN 0521431468. Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2005). A student's introduction to English grammar. Cambridge University Press. p. 320. ISBN 0521612888. Jespersen, Otto. (1909-1949). A modern English grammar on historical principles (Vols. 1-7). Heidelberg: C. Winter.

Jespersen, Otto (1933). Essentials of English Grammar: 25th impression, 1987. London: Routledge. p. 400. ISBN 0415104408. Jonson, Ben (1756). "The English grammar: Made by Ben Jonson for the benefit of all strangers, out of his observation of the English language now spoken and in use". The Works of Ben Jonson: Volume 7. London: D. Midwinter et al. http://books.google.com/books? id=SaM_AAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA205,M 1. Kolln, Martha J. (2006). Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects, 5th edition. Longman. p. 336. ISBN 0321397231. Kolln, Martha J.; Funk, Robert W. (2008). Understanding English Grammar (8th Edition). Longman. p. 453. ISBN 0205626904. Morenberg, Max (2002). Doing Grammar, 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 352. ISBN 0195138406. Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; & Svartvik, Jan. (1972). A grammar of contemporary English. Harlow: Longman. Quirk, Randolph (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Harlow: Longman. p. 1779. ISBN 0582517346. Strang, Barbara M. H. (1968) Modern English structure (2nd ed.) London: Arnold. Zandvoort, R. W. (1972) A handbook of English grammar (2nd ed.) London: Longmans. [edit] Monographs Adams, Valerie. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-formation. London: Longman. Bauer, Laurie. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/94). Spoken and written language. Deakin University Press. Huddleston, Rodney D. (1976). An introduction to English transformational syntax. Longman. Huddleston, Rodney D. (2009). The Sentence in Written English: A Syntactic Study Based on an Analysis of Scientific Texts. Cambridge University Press.. p. 352. ISBN 0521113954. Jespersen, Otto (1982). Growth and Structure of the English Language. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. p. 244. ISBN 0226398773. Kruisinga, E. (1925). A handbook of present-day English. Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon. Leech, Geoffrey N. (1971). Meaning and the English verb. London: Longman. Marchand, Hans. (1969). The categories and types of present-day English wordformation (2nd ed.). Mnchen: C. H. Beck. McCawley, James D. (1998). The syntactic phenomena of English (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Palmer, F. R. (1974). The English verb. London: Longman. Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals. London: Longman. Plag, Ingo. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns. London: Longmans. [edit] External links English Grammar, wikibook in English A Friendly Grammar of English by Robert de Beaugrande

Modern English Grammar by Daniel Kies The American Heritage Book of English Usage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. [Date of Printout]. The Internet Grammar of English. Adjectives, Compounds and Words (Laurie Bauer) Wikibooks has a book on the topic of English Grammar Worksheet Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar" Categories: English grammar | Grammars of specific languages Hidden categories: Pages actively undergoing construction Views Article Discussion Edit this page History Personal tools Try Beta Log in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search Top of Form
Go Search

Bottom of Form Interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this page Languages

Anglo-Saxon Catal esky Deutsch Franais Italiano Magyar Polski Svenska This page was last modified on 3 January 2010 at 04:57. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Contact us Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers

Different types of grammar. Stratificational grammar, transformational grammar, universal grammar, tagmemic grammar, phrase structure grammar, incorporating grammar, synthetic grammar, inflectional grammar, analytic grammar, distributive grammar, isolating grammar, traditional grammar, the new grammar*. -- (from Webster's New World Dictionary) Robbie

Types of Clauses
Like a phrase, a clause is a group of related words, but unlike a phrase, a clause has a subject and predicate. An independent clause, along with having a subject and predicate, expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. On the contrary, a subordinate or dependent clause does not express a complete thought and therefore is not a sentence. A subordinate clause standing alone is the most common type of sentence fragment.

Independent clauses
He saw her. The Washingtons hurried home. Free speech has a price. Grammatically complete statements like these are sentences and can stand alone. When they are part of longer sentences, they are referred to as independent (or main ) clauses. Two or more independent clauses can be joined by using coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet) or by using semicolons. The most important thing to remember is that an independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence. In the following example the independent clause is a simple sentence.

Erica brushed her long, raven hair.

Here, the coordinating conjunction and joins two independent clauses:

Fernando left, and Erica brushed her long, raven hair.

Here, a semicolon joins two independent clauses:

Fernando left; Erica brushed her long, raven hair.

All sentences must include at least one independent clause.

After she told Fernando to leave, Erica brushed her long, raven hair.

The independent clause is preceded by a clause that can't stand alone.

Erica brushed her long, raven hair while she waited for Fernando to leave.

The independent clause is followed by a clause that can't stand alone.

Beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions

Any of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) can be used to join an independent clause to another independent clause. But can you begin a sentence with one of these conjunctions?

No one knew what to do. But everyone agreed that something should be done.

An old rule says that you shouldn't. But beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction is widely accepted today. (Notice the preceding sentence, for example.) Sometimes beginning a sentence this way creates exactly the effect you want; it separates the clause and yet draws attention to its relationship with the previous clause. Use this technique when it works for you. If you're confronted with an advocate of the old rule, you'll have no trouble finding support for your position from the best writers and usage experts.

Subordinate clauses
A subordinate clause has a subject and predicate but, unlike an independent clause, cannot stand by itself. It depends on something else to express a complete thought, which is why it is also called a dependent clause. Some subordinate clauses are introduced by relative pronouns (who, whom, that, which, what, whose) and some by subordinating conjunctions (although, because, if, unless, when, etc.). Subordinate clauses function in sentences as adjectives, nouns, and adverbs.

Relative clauses
A relative clause begins with a relative pronoun and functions as an adjective. In the following sentence, the relative pronoun that is the subject of its clause and won is the predicate. This clause couldn't stand by itself. Its role in the complete sentence is to modify novel, the subject of the independent clause.

The novel that won the Pulitzer Prize didn't sell well when it was first published.

In the next example , which is the relative pronoun that begins the subordinate clause. Celebrities is the subject of the clause and attended is the predicate. In the complete sentence, this clause functions as an adjective describing ceremony.

The ceremony, which several celebrities attended, received intense coverage.

Note that in a relative clause the relative pronoun is sometimes the subject of the clause, as in the following sentence, and sometimes the object, as in the next sentence.

Arthur, who comes to the games every week, offered to be scorekeeper.

Who is the subject of the clause and comes is the predicate. The clause modifies Arthur. In the following sentence , mother is the subject of the clause, adored is the predicate, and whom is the direct object of adored. Again, the clause modifies Arthur.

Arthur, whom the team mother adored, was asked to be scorekeeper.

Noun clauses
A noun clause serves as a noun in a sentence.

What I want for dinner is a hamburger. (subject of the predicate is) The host told us how he escaped . (object of the predicate told)

The vacation is what I need most. (complement of the linking verb is) Give it to whoever arrives first. (object of the preposition to )

Pronoun case in subordinate clause

Who, whom, whoever, whomever. In deciding which case of who you should use in a clause, remember this important rule: The case of the pronoun is governed by the role it plays in its own clause, not by its relation to the rest of the sentence. Choosing the right case of pronoun can be especially confusing because the pronoun may appear to have more than one function. Look at the following sentence.

They gave the money to whoever presented the winning ticket.

At first, you may be tempted to think whomever rather than whoever should be the pronoun here, on the assumption that it is the object of the preposition to. But in fact the entire clause, not whoever, is the object of the preposition. Refer to the basic rule: The case should be based on the pronoun's role within its own clause. In this clause, whoever is the subject of the verb presented. (A good way to determine the right pronoun case is to forget everything but the clause itself: whoever presented the winning ticket, yes; whomever presented the winning ticket, no.) The following two sentences show more dramatically how you must focus on the clause rather than the complete sentence in choosing the right pronoun case.

We asked whomever we saw for a reaction to the play. We asked whoever called us to call back later.

In each sentence the clause is the direct object of asked. But in the first sentence, whomever is correct because within its clause it is the object of saw, while in the second sentence, whoever is correct because it is the subject of called.

Adverbial clauses

Many subordinate clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions called adverbial clauses . Examples of these conjunctions are because, unless , if, when, and although. What these conjunctions have in common is that they make the clauses that follow them unable to stand alone. The clauses act as adverbs, answering questions like how, when, where, why, to what extent, and under what conditions.

While Mauna Loa was erupting and spewing fountains of lava into the air, we drove away as quickly as we could.

In the preceding sentence , while is a subordinating conjunction introducing the adverbial clause; the subject of the clause is Mauna Loa and the predicate is was erupting and [was] spewing. This clause is dependent because it is an incomplete thought. What happened while the volcano was erupting? The independent clause we drove away as quickly as we could completes the thought. The adverbial clause answers the question When did we drive? In the following sentence, because introduces the adverbial clause in which van is the subject and needed the predicate. This clause is an incomplete thought. What happened because the van needed repairs? The independent clause The group of tourists decided to have lunch in the village is necessary to complete the thought. Again, the subordinate clause as a whole acts as an adverb, telling why the tourists decided to have lunch in the village.

The group of tourists decided to have lunch in the village because the van needed repairs.

Traditional grammar
In linguistics, traditional grammar is a theory of the structure of language based on ideas Western societies inherited from ancient Greek and Roman sources. The term is mainly used to distinguish these ideas from those of contemporary linguistics. In the English-speaking world at least, traditional grammar is still widely taught in elementary schools. History Traditional grammar is not a unified theory that attempts to explain the structure of all languages with a unique set of concepts (as is the aim of linguistics). There are different traditions for different languages, each with its own traditional vocabulary and analysis. In the case of European languages, each of them represents an adaptation of Latin grammar to a particular language. Traditional grammar distinguishes between the grammar of the elements that constitute a sentence (i.e. inter-elemental) and the grammar within sentence elements (i.e. intraelemental). Controversy The term is mainly used to distinguish these ideas from those of contemporary linguistics, which are intended to apply to a much broader range of languages, and to correct a number of errors in traditional grammar. Although modern linguistics has exposed the limitations of traditional grammar, it is still the backbone of the grammar instruction given to the general population in Western countries. As such, while very few people have encountered linguistics, nearly everybody in a modern Western culture encounters traditional grammar. This is one of the big difficulties that linguists face when they try to explain their ideas to the general public. Modern linguistics owes a very large debt to traditional grammar, but it departs from it quite a lot, in the following ways (among others):

Linguistics aims to be general, and to provide an appropriate way of analysing all languages, and comparing them to each other. traditional grammar is usually concerned with one language, and when it has been applied to non-European languages, it has very often proved very inappropriate. Linguistics has broader influences than traditional grammar has. For example, modern linguistics owes as much of a debt to Panini's grammar of Sanskrit as it does to Latin and Greek grammar. Linguistics is in many ways more descriptively rigorous, because it goes after accurate description as its own end. In traditional grammar, description is often only a means towards formulating usage advice.

While there is a large overlap between traditional grammar and prescriptive grammar, they are not entirely the same thing. Traditional grammar is best thought of as the set of descriptive concepts used by nearly all prescriptive works on grammar. Linguists' critiques of prescriptive grammar often take the form of pointing out that the usage prohibition in question is stated in terms of a concept from traditional grammar that modern linguistics has rejected. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_grammar"

Introduction to traditional grammar

1. Introduction
This guide is designed mainly for students who haven't been taught formal grammar at school, and find that the study of medieval literature at University level requires basic language skills that they don't have. It is deliberately conservative, keeping as far as possible to the terminology of 'traditional grammar', which is found in most of the dictionaries, glossaries and grammars you are likely to use. Since this terminology is mainly derived from Latin and Greek grammar, it isn't an ideal way of describing English, which in some respects has a very different structure. If your main interest is in modern English language rather than medieval literature, you should consult a reference work using a more recent analytical model; two approachable examples are the Collins Pocket English Grammar (London: HarperCollins, 1992), and David Crystal's Rediscover Grammar (London: Longman, rev. ed. 1996). You should also note that the guide is descriptive rather than prescriptive; it introduces you to basic grammatical terms and concepts rather than telling you what you should or shouldn't do in your written English.

It is also available as a printed booklet from English, School of Humanities, University of

Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, at 1.50 including p&p (UK only); email or phone the English Discipline Administrator for details (see http://www.soton.ac.uk/english/contact/contactus.html).

2. The basics
2.1 Accidence and syntax Grammar deals with two aspects of language, accidence and syntax. i) Accidence is mainly concerned with how individual words vary in form according to their grammatical function: e.g. book, books; write, wrote. This variation in form is known as inflexion. ii) Syntax is concerned with how individual words are put together to make sentences. 2.2 THE PARTS OF SPEECH Words can be classified into 9 categories: noun, adjective, adverb, verb, article, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection. 2.3 Noun the name of a person, place, or thing: Clarissa, Middlemarch, book. Nouns can be inflected to indicate the plural (book, books; man, men) and, in some instances, the possessive (or genitive) case (see 3.4, 3.7): Shakespeare's Sonnets, the wife's admirers, the men's room, a week's holiday. 2.4 Adjective a word describing (or 'qualifying') a noun: purple patches, a handsome husband, the posture is ridiculous, the three Musketeers, the fifth column, my country, that woman. Some adjectives are inflected to indicate the comparative (happier) and superlative (happiest); others use more and most instead: e.g. Mama says that she was then the prettiest, silliest, most affected husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers. Most adjectives can be used either attributively (the green hat) or predicatively (the

hat is green); e.g.: Johnson: I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor. Boswell: That, sir, was great fortitude of mind. Johnson: No, sir, stark insensibility. 2.5 Adverb a word qualifying an adjective (very fat, so sweet, seriously displeased), a verb (he almost ran, I read slowly), another adverb (I read incredibly slowly, I am most seriously displeased), or the sentence as a whole (Then my trousers fell down. Fortunately nobody noticed). Most adverbs form their comparative and superlative with more and most, but a few are inflected (faster, fastest). The characteristic adverbending is -ly. 2.6 Verb a word expressing a state or action: be, have, do, run, write, love give, can, must. 2.6 i) Main verbs and auxiliary verbs Verbs are divided into two classes, main verbs and auxiliary verbs. The great majority of verbs function as main verbs, which can be used on their own in a sentence: Run! I send no compliments to your mother. I saw something nasty in the woodshed. A small number of very common verbs (e.g. can, may, will, must, dare) function as auxiliary verbs. As the term suggests, auxiliary verbs act as a support system to the main verbs, and will only occur together with a main verb, expressed or understood: e.g. I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram. I may, I must, I can, I will, I do / Leave following that, which it is gain to miss. He would say that, wouldn't he? The verbs do, have, and be can be used either as main verbs (I have an overdraft at the bank. I do as little work as I can. Why am I a fool?) or as auxiliaries (We have seen the lions at Longleat. You don't mind if I smoke, do you? Yes, I do! Why are we waiting?). Auxiliary verbs can be used to form questions (Why does he conduct the music with a poker?) and negative statements (A lady does not move),and to express tense, mood, voice, and aspect (see next four sections). 2.6 ii) Tense indicates the time at which, or during which, the action described by the verb takes place. Only two tenses are marked by inflexion in English, the present (I/you/we run, he/she/it runs) and the past (I ran, etc.; I walked, etc.). Other tenses are formed periphrastically (that is, by the use of auxiliary verbs): e.g. the perfect (You have wasted two whole terms) and the pluperfect (Mr McKnag had been so shocked by Flora's letter that his old trouble had returned) are formed by adding have to the main verb, and the future usually by adding will or shall (In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance. Not only marble, but the plastic toys / In cornflake packets will outlive this rhyme). 2.6 iii) Mood The verb has three moods: a) Indicative, used for statements and questions (No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?). By far the most common mood; often not specifically indicated in glossaries. b) Imperative, used for commands (Publish and be damned! Unhand it, sir! Do not lean out of the window. Keep Britain tidy).

c) Subjunctive, used to express wishes, demands, and hypothetical or unreal conditions (I wish I were dead! I insist that he leave [or: should leave] at once. If you were to read Richardson for the story, your patience would be so fretted that you would hang yourself. Had we but world enough and time, / This coyness, lady, were no crime. Be that as it may...). Apart from the dropped -s ending in the present tense of verbs (as in that he leave), which tends in any case to be an American rather than an English idiom, the only distinctive subjunctive forms in modern English are found in the verb to be (present tense be, past tense singular were); the subjunctive mood is now mainly indicated by past tense forms (If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?) or by the use of auxiliary verbs (If I were as rich as Mr Darcy, I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine every day). 2.6 iv) Voice The verb has two voices, active (e.g. I write my essays at the last minute. The dog bit the man) and passive (e.g. My essays are written at the last minute. The man was bitten by the dog). The passive is formed by the verb be and the past participle of the verb (see 2.6 vi)). 2.6 v) Aspect indicates the way in which the action or state described by the verb is regarded (e.g. as completed or in progress); compare the simple past tense form I wrote with the forms I was writing (progressive aspect) and I have written (perfective aspect). 2.6 vi) Finite and non-finite forms A finite form of the verb is one that expresses tense and mood. The non-finite forms of the verb are called the infinitive, the present participle, and the past participle (the last two terms are rather misleading, however, as neither expresses tense: e.g. in I was singing, singing is a present participle, and in he will be beaten, beaten is a past participle). a) the infinitive This usually has to in front of it, except after auxiliary verbs: We laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided who, being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, or clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation. b) the present participle Marked by its ending in -ing: We were working in the Library. The English winter, ending in July / To recommence in August . . . c) the past participle Usually (though not always) ends in -ed (I love, I have loved, I was loved) or -en (I write, I have written, it was written). E.g.: The English language, while it was employed in the cultivation of every species of literature, has itself been hitherto neglected; suffered to spread into wild exuberance, resigned to the tyranny of time and fashion, and exposed to the corruptions of ignorance, and caprices of innovation.

Note: often the past tense form of the verb is the same as that of the past participle, and the grammatical context must be used to distinguish them. Compare I walked home, she won the match (past tense, finite form) with I have walked home, the match was won (past participle, non-finite form following auxiliary verb). All other forms of the verb are finite. Test your recognition of finite and non-finite forms on this example: The Devil, having nothing else to do, Went off to tempt my lady Poltagrue. My Lady, tempted by a private whim, To his extreme annoyance, tempted him. 2.7 Article This minute category contains only the definite article (the) and the indefinite article (a, an). 2.8 Pronoun A word used as a substitute for a noun: he, himself, that, what, who, each, either, some, one. There are several different kinds of pronoun, including personal (I, you, he, etc.) possessive (my, mine, etc.) reflexive (myself, etc.) relative (who, which, that; e.g. the woman who rode away, the book that I bought) interrogative (who, what, which; e.g. What was that? I asked her who was there) demonstrative (this, that; e.g. Drink this.) 2.8 i) Case Six pronouns, I, we, he, she, they, and who, have three different case-forms (a relic of the Old English case-system; see 3.4): the subjective (or nominative) (I go to work. Who is it?); the possessive (or genitive) (That's my book. Whose is it?); and the objective (She hit me. By whom?). 2.8 ii) Person Personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns distinguish person in both singular and plural: Singular 1st person 2nd person 3d person I, my, myself you, your, yourself he, she, it (etc.) Plural we, our, ourselves you, your, yourselves they, their, themselves

2.8 iii) Gender Personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns also distinguish gender in the third person singular. In Modern English this means that the form varies according to the sex (or lack of it) of what is being talked about: masculine (he, etc.) for male persons and

(sometimes) animals, feminine (she, etc.) for female, and neuter (it, etc.) for other things. 2.9 Preposition Prepositions are used to relate nouns or pronouns grammatically to the rest of the sentence. They can be either simple (at, on, by, through, with) or compound (away from, because of, by means of). 2.10 Conjunction Conjunctions are used to link words or groups of words. Conjunctions can be coordinating (and, but, or) or subordinating (if, although, because, that, when, so that); see 2.17. Like prepositions, they can be either simple (and, but, if) or compound (so that, provided that, as long as). 2.11 Interjection an exclamation, grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence: Alas! Oh dear! Damn! D'oh! 2.12 Words with more than one function Note that many words can be classified in more than one way, and their function in the sentence should always be taken into account. For instance, that in that man functions as an adjective; in I like that as a demonstrative pronoun; in I wouldn't go that far as an adverb; in the book that I bought as a relative pronoun; and in he said that he would come as a subordinating conjunction. When in doubt, look carefully at the grammatical context. 2.13 PARTS OF THE SENTENCE The sentence is a self-contained syntactical unit. It is traditionally divided into two parts, subject and predicate. 2.14 The subject of a sentence represents the person or thing about which a statement is being made: The cat sat on the mat. All Ireland is washed by the Gulf Stream. When the verb is active (e.g. sat), the subject carries out the action; when it is passive (e.g. is washed), the subject is affected by the action. The usual position for the subject is at the beginning of the sentence, but this is not invariable: What am I to do? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted? Last night we stayed up late. Or even: Him the almighty power / Hurled headlong. In imperative sentences the subject is usually not expressed: Run! Make my day! Don't even think about parking here! 2.15 The predicate contains all parts of the sentence other than the subject. It can contain several elements, but the only essential one is a finite verb (Run! Birds fly). Other possible elements are: 2.15 i) an object Some verbs take a direct object (I need a drink. She hit him), others both a direct and an indirect object (Give me the daggers. Don't bring Mr Elton any more wine). The indirect object normally comes before the direct object; it can be replaced by a phrase with to or for (Give the daggers to me. Don't bring any more wine for Mr Elton). Verbs

which take an object are known as transitive, those which don't (e.g. He laughed. It's raining) as intransitive. 2.15 ii) a complement This can be either a subject complement (She is fat. He became a midwife. You seem surprised) or an object complement (Drinking makes me fat. They appointed him chairman. He proved them wrong). Subject complements refer back to the subject of the verb, object complements to its object. 2.15 iii) an adverbial element This may qualify the verb (That will do nicely. March indefatigably on) or the sentence as a whole (Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn). 2.16 The phrase is a small group of words which functions in the same way as a single part of speech; unlike the sentence, it doesn't have both a subject and a predicate. Traditional grammar concentrates on a few specific types of phrase: 2.16 i) the prepositional phrase, which is introduced by a preposition (under the greenwood tree; by the rules of grammar; with his muddy boots on). 2.16 ii) the participial phrase, which includes a present or past participle (pouring himself a drink; all things considered). 2.16 iii) the infinitive phrase, which includes an infinitive (to learn my ABC; to be a pilgrim). Individual nouns (or pronouns), adjectives, and adverbs can be replaced by phrases of this kind: The end of writing is to instruct (cf. The end of writing is instruction: noun) I saw a woman wearing Manolo Blahniks (cf. I saw a fashionable woman: adjective) All things considered, it's not worth it (cf. Ultimately it's not worth it: adverb). 2.17 The clause is a group of words containing its own subject and predicate. Clauses can be either main clauses or subordinate ('dependent) clauses. A simple sentence, with a single subject and predicate (e.g. The cat sat on the mat), consists of a single main clause. A compound sentence contains more than one main clause (She gave me a ring but I diced it away. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh.) The main clauses are linked by co-ordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or). Where the subject of the two clauses is the same, it need not be expressed in both: They cut me up with a knife and fork / And tied me to a cabbage stalk. A complex sentence is one which contains not only a main clause (or clauses) but at least one subordinate clause (There'd be no kissing if he had his wish. When I'm a veteran with only one eye, / I shall do nothing but look at the sky. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done). Subordinate clauses can be introduced by: subordinating conjunctions: if, because, although, since, etc. relative pronouns: e.g. We have done those things which we ought not to have done. I met a man who wasn't there. interrogative pronouns: e.g. I've no idea who she was. relative adverbs: e.g. Where there is leisure for fiction, there is little grief.

interrogative adverbs: e.g. I don't know how you could do such a thing.

or sometimes inverted word-order: Had we but world enough and time... Relative pronouns are sometimes omitted: e.g. Well, Lulu, here is another book and we have not read half the ones we have got yet. Subordinate clauses, like phrases, can replace nouns (or pronouns), adjectives, or adverbs: noun clause: What's to come is still unsure. I know that he's here. (Cf. The future is still unsure. I know that.) adjectival clause: I met a man who was over eighty. (Cf. I met an old man). adverbial clause: He went home when it was dark. I left the party because they threw me out bodily. (Cf. He went home late. I left the party reluctantly). Is the following sentence simple, compound, complex, or compound and complex? Full of quiet dignity, and so obviously an English gentleman of perfect breeding and impeccable taste, even in the khaki shorts, sun-helmet and old school tie appropriate to the burning tropical sun, his bronzed clean-cut countenance radiant with the unselfconscious superiority so much admired---yet so vainly imitated---by less fortunate nations untouched as yet by the public school tradition, the Civil Engineer, watching the gradual but irresistible collapse of his new bridge into the brown, swirling waters of the flooded river hundreds of feet below, and ignoring, with the ease of long practice, the coarse but good-natured badinage of his workmen and the less friendly, indeed actively hostile, criticism of the representatives of the local authorities, consoled himself by imagining, with a thrill of anticipatory aesthetic pleasure, the excellence of the English prose, beautifully phrased and brilliantly punctuated, soon to be enshrined in his report justifying and explaining this unfortunate contretemps---an exquisite prose developed through his regular attendance at the admirable lectures on the Use of English provided, regardless of trouble and expense, though without extra emolument accruing to the lecturer dedicated to the task, by the benevolent authorities of his old University.
John Swannell

2.18 Apposition When a noun (or pronoun) is followed by another noun describing it, the second noun is in apposition to the first: Have you got Mr Bones, the undertaker? I, Tiresias, have foresuffered all.

3. Old English
Introduction

You will find a detailed account of Old English grammar, designed for student use, in
Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, edd., A Guide to Old English, 7th edn. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), and you should learn to find your way round it---start with pages 1-7. Because it is so detailed, however, you may find it hard to sort out the wood from the trees at first. The notes here are intended to give you an overview of the main features of Old English grammar

to identify the main difficulties you will meet

to explain the technical terms that you will need to recognize. The main difference between Old English (OE) and Modern English (MnE) is that OE is, like modern German, a highly inflected language. Grammatical relationships which in MnE are made clear by the use of prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and a rigidly fixed wordorder are often shown in OE by inflexion instead, and you will have to pay close attention to inflexions in order to make sense of OE texts. The way in which inflexions vary in nouns, pronouns, and adjectives is known as declension; in verbs it is called conjugation. 3.1 DECLENSION OE nouns, pronouns, and adjectives vary their forms according to their number, gender, and case. 3.2 Number: normally either singular (= one) or plural (= more than one), as in MnE. However, a linguistic fossil, the dual (= two) is preserved in the first and second person personal pronouns as an intermediate form between singular and plural: so we have singular dual plural ic, thu wit, git we, ge I, you [one person] we two, you two we, you [more than two people]

3.3 Gender MnE has natural gender (see 2.8 iii)): he, she, and it refer to the actual gender of the person or thing being described. OE, however, has grammatical gender: as in modern French and German, every noun is assigned a gender which may have no natural connection whatever with what it describes. So OE hlaefdige 'lady' is grammatically feminine, but OE wif 'woman' is neuter, and OE wifmann 'woman' is masculine. 3.4 Case This is one of the ways in which inflexions can be used to express grammatical relationships. Case is used extensively in many languages (including German, Greek, and Latin), and you will need to master it to translate OE correctly. Very little of the OE case-system survives in MnE; one area where it does survive to some extent is in the pronouns (see 2.8 i)), and you may find it helpful to start there. The following summary is only a rough guide to the meaning and functions of the cases; for other uses, see Mitchell and Robinson, sections 188-92. There are five separate cases in Old English: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and (less common) instrumental. 3.5 Nominative The subject-case: He andwyrde sona 'He answered at once'; Him andwyrde se faeder 'The father answered him.' Note that in OE the subject is not necessarily placed before the beginning of the sentence, or even before the verb. 3.6 Accusative Characteristically the direct-object case: Tha se engel gelaehte hine 'Then the angel seized him'; Tha stowe habbath giet his iefernuman 'His successors still have that place'.

Note that in OE the direct object may be placed before the verb, as in the second example. 3.7 Genitive Mainly possessive; can often be rendered by MnE 'of'. E.g. Godes engel 'God's angel'; on Cyres dagum cyninges 'in the days of King Cyrus'. Note: hiera fif 'five of them'; fela wundra 'many wonders'. 3.8 Dative Characteristically the indirect-object case: Sege thinum leodum miccle lathre spell 'Give your people a much more hostile message'; He sealde aelcum anne pening 'He gave each one a penny'. Can often be rendered by 'to' or 'for' in MnE. 3.9 Instrumental This refers to the means by which, or the manner in which, an action is done, and can often be rendered in MnE by 'by' or 'with': lytle werode 'with a small force'; wundum werig 'worn out by wounds.' Nouns have no separate instrumental inflexion, and use dative forms to express this case. 3.10 Cases after prepositions All the above cases except the nominative may also occur after prepositions: e.g. on thone thriddan daeg [accusative] 'on the third day'; with thaes hrofes [genitive] 'towards the roof' and some prepositions can be followed by more than one case. 3.11 Noun-declension Nouns (as in modern German) can have either a strong or a weak declension. These terms refer simply to the kind of inflexional endings they have. Strong nouns (e.g. stan 'stone', hus 'house', giefu 'gift') have a wide variety of inflexional endings; weak nouns (e.g. sunne 'sun', nama 'name') have endings predominantly in -an. The weak endings in particular are not always distinctive enough to be very helpful in establishing the grammatical function of a noun; for other clues to its function, see under 3.12, 3.13. 3.12 Adjective-declension Adjectives, like nouns, can be declined either strong or weak (case-endings similar, but not identical, to those of nouns). But while a given noun will belong to either the strong or the weak declension (not both), the great majority of adjectives (as in modern German) can take either strong or weak inflexions according to their function in the sentence. Weak endings are always used after the definite article and the demonstrative adjectives 'this' and 'that', and sometimes after possessive adjectives like 'my' as well. Adjectives agree with the nouns they qualify in number, gender, and case. 3.13 Pronoun-declension This is considerably more complicated than in MnE (see Mitchell and Robinson, sections 15-21); it will save you time in the long run to learn by heart at least the forms of the personal pronoun (Mitchell and Robinson, sections 18, 21). You will also find that it saves time to learn the forms of the definite article (Mitchell and Robinson, section 16), as this will often allow you to establish the number, gender, and case of the noun it goes with without having to identify the form of the noun itself (a task which can be difficult, time-consuming, and inconclusive).

Note that i) the definite article doubles as the demonstrative adjective 'that'; translate according to context ii) the in Old English is not a form of the definite article but a very common indeclinable relative pronoun ('who, which, that'). 3.14 CONJUGATION OE verbs have a larger number of distinct inflexions than MnE verbs, and a distinctive present and past subjunctive form. See Mitchell and Robinson, sections 87-134, for full details. The main types of verb are summarized below. 3.15 Strong and weak verbs The two main types of verb in OE (as in MnE) are strong and weak. Weak verbs, the more regular and more common type, normally form their their past tense and past participle by adding an ending with -d-: e.g. fyllan (infinitive), fylde (past tense), gefylled (past participle), which gives the MnE verb-forms '[to] fill', '[he/she] filled', '[he/she has] filled'. This has remained the dominant type of verb in MnE: love, loved; walk, walked, etc. Strong verbs form their past tense and past participle by vowel-change: e.g. drincan (infinitive), dranc (past tense), gedruncen '[to] drink', '[he/she] drank', '[he/she has] drunk'. Many strong verbs still survive in MnE: ride, rode, ridden; choose, chose, chosen; run, ran, run; win, won. In OE there is sometimes vowel-variation within the present tense (ic ceose 'I choose', but he ciest 'he chooses') or the past tense (ic band 'I bound' but we bundon 'we bound') as well as between the present and the past. These vowel-changes are not always predictable (though the analogy of the corresponding MnE verb can sometimes help; when in doubt, look through Mitchell and Robinson, Appendix A (pp. 152-58), where you will find a list of all the verb-forms you are likely to encounter. 3.16 Preterite-present verbs These are a small but frequently-occurring group of verbs, mainly auxiliaries, which have a present tense which is past (='preterite') in form but present in meaning: e.g. dearr 'dare', can 'can', maeg 'may'. They have acquired a new, weak past tense: dorste 'dared', cuthe 'could', mihte 'might'. 3.17 Anomalous verbs These are common verbs too irregular to fit into the previous categories: they include wesan/beon 'to be', gan 'to go' (note the irregular past tense eode 'went'), willan 'will'. 3.18 SYNTAX Consult Mitchell and Robinson, Ch. 5. The most likely source of problems for the beginner is word-order: the standard pattern of the MnE sentence, subject-verb-object, is much less common in OE, especially in the poetry. Those who have studied German will recognize the following features of OE word-order: Infinitives or past participles may be placed at the end of a main clause: Ic wolde thas lytlan boc awendan 'I wanted to translate this little book'. An object, complement, or adverb may be put at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis: in this case the subject will follow the verb: Tha swigode se cyning 'Then the king was silent.' In subordinate clauses the verb is usually moved to the end of the clause: thaet

hie thone Godes mann abitan scolden 'that they should eat up the man of God.' Because of this greater variety in word-order, you will need to look closely at inflexional endings to be sure you have understood the Old English correctly. So, for instance, don't assume automatically that a noun (or pronoun) at the beginning of a sentence is the subject of that sentence. Is it in the nominative case? If not, it can't be the subject. Does it agree in number with the verb that follows it? If it is singular and the verb is plural, or vice versa, it can't be the subject of that verb.

General index of grammatical terms ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ A

accidence 2.1 accusative case 3.6 active voice 2.6 iv) adjectival clause 2.17 adjectival phrase 2.16 adjective 2.4 adverb 2.5 adverbial clause 2.17 adverbial phrase 2.16 anomalous verbs 3.17 apposition 2.18 article 2.7 aspect 2.6 v) attributive (adjective) 2.4 auxiliary verb 2.6 i)

C case 2.8 i), 3.4-10

clause 2.17 comparative (adjective) 2.4 comparative (adverb) 2.5 complement 2.15 ii) complex sentence 2.17 compound conjunction 2.10 compound preposition 2.9 compound sentence 2.17 conjugation 3, 3.14-17 conjunction 2.10 co-ordinating conjunction 2.10, 2.17

D
dative case 3.8 declension 3 definite article 2.7 demonstrative pronoun 2.8 dependent clause 2.17 direct object 2.15 i)

dual 3.2

F
feminine 2.8 iii), 3.3 finite 2.6 vi) future 2.6 ii)

G
gender 2.8 iii), 3.3 genitive case 2.8 i), 3.4, 3.7 grammatical gender 3.3

I
imperative 2.6 iii) indefinite article 2.7 indicative 2.6 iii) indirect object 2.15 i) infinitive 2.6 vi) infinitive phrase 2.16 inflexion 2.1 instrumental case 3.9 interjection 2.11 interrogative adverb 2.17 interrogative pronoun 2.8, 2.17 intransitive 2.15 i)

M
main clause 2.17 main verb 2.6 i) masculine 2.8 iii), 3.3 mood 2.6 iii)

N
natural gender 3.3 neuter 2.8 iii), 3.3 nominative case 2.8 i), 3.5 noun 2.3 noun clause 2.17 noun phrase 2.16 number 3.1-2

O
object 2.15 i) object complement 2.15 ii) objective case 2.8 i)

P
participial phrase 2.16 parts of speech 2.2-12

passive voice 2.6 iv) past participle 2.6 vi) past tense 2.6 ii) perfect tense 2.6 ii) perfective aspect 2.6 v) periphrastic (verb-forms) 2.6 ii) person 2.8 ii) personal pronoun 2.8 phrase 2.16 pluperfect tense 2.6 ii) plural 2.3, 3.2 possessive case 2.3, 2.8 i), 3.7 possessive pronoun 2.8 predicate 2.15 predicative (adjective) 2.4 preposition 2.9 prepositional phrase 2.16 present participle 2.6 vi) present tense 2.6 ii) preterite = past tense 2.6 ii) preterite-present verb 3.16 progressive aspect 2.6 v) pronoun 2.8

R
reflexive pronoun 2.8 relative adverb 2.17 relative pronoun 2.8, 2.17

S
sentence 2.13-17 simple sentence 2.17 singular 3.2 strong declension 3.11-12 strong verb 3.15 subject 2.14 subject complement 2.15 ii) subjective case 2.8 i) subjunctive 2.6 iii) subordinate clause 2.17 subordinating conjunction 2.10, 2.17 superlative (adjective) 2.4, (adverb) 2.5 syntax 2.1

T
tense 2.6 ii) transitive 2.15 i)

V
verb 2.6

voice 2.6 iv)

W
weak declension 3.11-12 weak verb 3.15 Acknowledgements I am grateful to my former colleague, John Swannell, for the last sentence in section 2.17, and to all the other masters and mistresses of the English language whose words I have borrowed to enliven the student's journey through the dusty deserts of barren philology. I am also grateful to Bob Wilkins, Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, for permission to reproduce his photograph of the Finglesham buckle, and to the British Library for permission to reproduce the illustration from London, British Library, Burney MS 275, f. 275r (no further reproduction permitted).
Bella Millett, English Department, University of Southampton

home | contents | search | top

What is the difference between traditional grammar and modern grammar?

In: Grammar [Edit categories]

There is no difference. All grammar is traditional. There is a difference between formal or written grammar, which insists on certain distinctions, as between who and whom, the appropriate use of subjunctive and the indicative moods and agreement of subject and verb, and informal or colloquial grammar which does not. In the old days, silly teachers often mistakenly taught that an English sentence may not end with a preposition, but that was simply incorrect, not formal grammar. Today's silly teachers sometimes mistakenly teach that the pronoun I may be the object of a proposition -" Dad took my sister and I to the beach" - but that is simply incorrect, not informal grammar. Modern English grammar, as the description of modern English usage characteristic of people under the age of forty, certainly suffers from the reduction of distinctions, the loss of refinement and the tongue-tied confusion of tenses and moods which is the inevitable result of having its standards set by the most careless speakers rather than by the most careful. Traditional grammar doesn't let you write like you talk. It doesn't, among other things, let you end a sentence with a preposition or start a sentence with the word "and." Some English teachers still insist that people comply with each and every one of those archaic rules, but many writers have accepted and even recommended the use of modern grammar instead.