Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 13
Introduction 15
1 Doing Grammar in Modern Times 17
Linguistic Description: Slipping Standards? 18
What Does Grammar Even Mean Now? 18
The Monolith Fallacy 20
A Note on the Prescriptive and Descriptive Approaches for Future Teachers 22
2 Parts of Speech: An Introduction to Word Classes 27
Parts of Speech 27
Lexical versus Grammatical Categories 28
Word Classes Treated in This Book 28
Word Classes and Productivity 29
Lexical Word Classes 30
Nouns 30
Grammatical Pattern of Nouns: Occurrence with the Definite Article 31
Grammatical Pattern of Nouns: Occurrence with the Plural Marker 32
Verbs 33
Adjectives 35
Are Funner and Funnest Correct? 38
Adverbs 39
Grammatical Word Classes 42
Pronouns 42
Auxiliary Verbs 43
Determiners 43
Conjunctions 44
Prepositions 44
3 Units of Grammatical Analysis 49
Word 49
Phrase 50
Finite Verb 50
Clause 52
Sentence Types 52
Declarative Sentences 53
Yes/No Questions 53
Wh-Questions 54
Imperative Sentences 55
Tag Questions 56
Exclamative Sentences 56
4 The Basic Sentence 59
The Subject-Predicate Split 59
Language Is Like an Onion 60
Form versus Function 61
Form-Function Diagrams 61
The Noun Phrase 62
Potential Parts of the Noun Phrase 63
Determiners 63
The Definite Article 63
The Indefinite Article 64
The Demonstrative 65
The Possessive Determiner 66
Diagramming Noun Phrases with Determiners 66
Adjectives 69
Prepositional Phrases 70
Review of Determiners within Noun Phrases 73
5 Nouns and Pronouns 77
Nouns 77
Proper Nouns and Common Nouns 77
Count and Non-Count Nouns 78
Collective Nouns 80
Pluralia Tantum and Similar Nouns 81
Irregular Plurals 81
Older English Plurals 82
Voicing Plurals 83
Foreign Plurals 83
Latin 83
Greek 84
Hebrew 84
Pronouns 84
Personal Pronouns 85
Subject Pronouns 85
Pronouns and Gender 86
Object Pronouns 87
Possessive Pronouns 88
Compound Pronouns and Case 89
Demonstrative Pronouns 91
Indefinite Pronouns 92
Impersonal Pronouns and Gender 93
Reflexive/Reciprocal Pronouns 94
Quantifier Expressions 95
Relative and Interrogative Pronouns 95
6 Functions of the Noun Phrase 97
Noun Phrase as Subject 97
Dummy Subjects and Cleft Sentences 99
Existential Constructions 101
Noun Phrase as Direct Object 102
Transitivity 104
Noun Phrase as Subject Complement 104
Noun Phrase as Indirect Object 106
Noun Phrase as Object Complement 107
Diagramming Noun Phrases 108
Noun Phrase as Direct Object 110
Noun Phrase as Indirect Object 111
Noun Phrase as Subject Complement 112
Noun Phrase as Object Complement 114
Appositives 115
7 Functions of Prepositional Phrases 119
Adjuncts 119
The Core of the Clause 120
Attitudinal Adjuncts 121
Adverbial Adjuncts 123
Adverbial Complements 127
Adverbial Complements Following Copulative Verbs 128
Diagramming Adverbial Complements 128
Completion of the Trajectory of a Verb 132
Analyzing Sentences with Multiple Prepositional Phrases 133
Prepositional Verbs 136
Phrasal Verbs 137
Intransitive Phrasal Verbs 137
Transitive Phrasal Verbs 139
Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs 143
Prepositional-Phrasal Verbs 145
Adverbial Complements Following Adjectives 147
8 The Inflection Phrase 153
Tense versus Aspect 154
Verb Forms 155
Notes on the Forms 155
Synopsis of the English Verb 158
Present Progressive 158
Present Perfect 160
Present-Perfect Progressive 161
Past Progressive 161
Past Perfect 161
Past-Perfect Progressive 162
Diagramming Verbs 162
Be as the Only Verb in a Sentence 167
9 Other Verb Forms 175
The Subjunctive Mood 175
The First Subjunctive 175
The Second Subjunctive 177
Modal Verbs 177
Deontic Meaning 178
Ability 179
Epistemicity 179
Future Time 179
Quasi-Modals 181
Modal Verbs in Combination with the Progressive and Perfect Verb Forms 181
Diagramming Modals 182
10 Negation 193
Negation in the Predicate Phrase 193
Not 193
Near-Negatives 196
Negation in the Noun Phrase 196
The Negative Determiner No 197
Negative Indefinite Pronouns 198
Any 199
Two Negatives Make a Positive? 201
11 Active and Passive Voice 203
Semantic Roles 203
Passivization 204
When to Use the Passive 205
Passive Verb Forms 206
Stative versus Inchoative Passive 207
Diagramming Passive Sentences 207
12 Question Formation 215
Types of Questions 215
Yes/No Questions 216
Wh-Questions 217
Who/Whom 219
Wh-Words as Objects of a Preposition: Pied-Piping versus Preposition Stranding 220
Echo Questions 221
Tag Questions 222
Aren't I or Am I Not? 222
Tag Questions with There Is and There Are 223
13 Coordination and Compound Sentences 227
Coordinating Conjunctions 227
Lists and the Oxford Comma 228
Parallel Structure 229
Correlative Conjunctions 230
False Coordination 230
Conjunctive Adverbs 232
Subordination versus Coordination 233
Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences 234
Diagramming Coordinating Conjunctions 235
14 Adverbial Clauses 245
Types of Adverbial Clauses 246
Clauses of Time 246
Clauses of Place 246
Clauses of Concession 247
Clauses of Adverseness 247
Clauses of Cause 248
Clauses of Result 248
Clauses of Purpose 248
Clauses of Similarity 249
Clauses of Commentary 249
Clauses of Condition 249
The Structure of Complementizers 249
The Second Subjunctive 251
Subjunctive Verb Forms in Other Adverbial Clauses 254
If I Were or If I Was? 254
15 Relative Clauses 257
Restrictive versus Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses 258
Restrictive Relative Clauses 260
Who and That as Subjects and Direct Objects 260
Ø-Relative 265
Relative Pronouns as Object of the Preposition 266
Pied-Piping versus Preposition Stranding 267
Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses 269
Relative Determiner Whose 270
A Recap of Relative Pronoun Usage 272
16 Noun Clauses 277
Type I Noun Clauses 278
Type II Noun Clauses 285
Type III Noun Clauses 289
Reported Speech and Tense Shifting 292
17 Infinitive and Participle Phrases 299
Infinitives 299
Forms of the Infinitive 299
Forms of the Participle 301
The Phrase-Clause Boundary 303
Participle Phrases and Gerunds 308
The Participle-Noun Continuum 311
Complements and Adjuncts in Infinitive and Participle Phrases 312
Compound Infinitives and Participles 315
Infinitives and Participles in Modifying Functions 316
Adverbial Function of Infinitives and Participles 320
A Final Note on Form-Function Trees 322
18 Grammar Myths 327
Grammar Myth #1 Don't End a Sentence with a Preposition 327
Grammar Myth #2 Don't Start a Sentence with a Conjunction 329
Grammar Myth #3 People Who Don't Speak Correctly Are Lazy 329
Grammar Myth #4 People Who Don't Speak Correctly Are Stupid 330
Grammar Myth #5 Don't Use the Passive 332
Grammar Myth #6 Singular They Is Wrong 333
Grammar Myth #7 Use of Singular They Achieves Gender "Neutrality" 334
Grammar Myth #8 Two Negatives Make a Positive 335
Grammar Myth #9 People Used Better Language in the Past 336
Grammar Myth #10 Don't Split Infinitives 338
Grammar Myth #11 Ain't Ain't a Word 338
Appendix A Prepositions 341
Single-Word Prepositions 341
Multi-Word Prepositions 342
Appendix B List of Phrasal Verbs 343
Index 349
