English Grammar Language as Human Behavior

Approaching grammar as a process and not a product, this text engages readers in a conversation about English that will help them reflect on how their language works and understand the social judgments that accompany language use-making them feel they are active participantsin shaping their language rather than passive victims of grammar rules that someone imposes on them. Employing the terminology of traditional grammar combined with the insights gained by modern linguistic analysis, it describes English as an instrument of communication, and lays the necessary groundwork for thinking about language so that students can extend what they learn to new situations and apply their knowledge of language in ways most useful to them. Three different types of exercises support the learning and review processes and motivate readers to think, talk, and write about English with increasing confidence and sophistication as the term progresses.

Anita K Barry, Professor Emerita, University of Michigan, Flint

PREFACE xiii

Chapter 1 WHY STUDY ENGLISH GRAMMAR? 1

Native Speakers and Grammar Study 1

Standard English 2

Judgments About English 4

The Legacy of the Eighteenth Century 7

Reflections 8

Chapter 2 HOW DO WE STUDY

ENGLISH GRAMMAR? 10

Why Do People Disagree About Grammar? 10

Who Is the Authority? 10

What Role Do Traditional Dictionaries Play? 10

Online Grammar Sources 12

Why Is There No One Standard? 13

Why Do Languages Change? 14

What Are the Common Elements of English? 16

Constituent Structure 16

Rules and Regularities 19

Reflections 20

Chapter 3 NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES 21

What Are Nouns? 21

What Are Some Common

Subcategories of Nouns? 23

What Makes Up a Noun Phrase? 26

Determiners 27

Predeterminers and Postdeterminers 29

What Are the Functions of Noun Phrases? 30

Subject 30

Direct Object 32

Indirect Object 33

Object of a Preposition 35

Complement 35

Verbal Nouns and Noun Phrases 36

Compounds 38

Reflections 40

Practice Exercises 42

Chapter 4 VERBS AND VERB PHRASES 46

What Are Verbs? 46

What About the Exceptions? 50

What Are Some Common

Subcategories of Verbs? 53

What Is Verb Tense? 57

What Makes Up a Verb Phrase? 63

What Are Nonfinite Verb Phrases? 66

Compounds 66

What Is Subject Verb Agreement? 67

Reflections 72

Practice Exercises 76

Chapter 5 PRONOUNS 80

What Are Pronouns? 80

Personal Pronouns 81

Reflexive Pronouns 88

Reciprocal Pronouns 91

Demonstrative Pronouns 91

Relative Pronouns 92

Interrogative Pronouns 94

Universal and Indefinite Pronouns 95

Reflections 97

Practice Exercises 99

Chapter 6 ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS 1

03What Are Adjectives? 103

How Do Adjectives Modify Nouns? 106

What Are Adjective Phrases? 108

What Are Adverbs? 109

Is All Well and Good? 112

What Are Adverb Phrases? 115

Reflections 116

Practice Exercises 117

Chapter 7 PREPOSITIONS AND PARTICLES 120

What Are Prepositions? 120

What Are Prepositional Phrases? 121

What Are Particles? 125

Reflections 127

Practice Exercises 128

Chapter 8 NEGATION 131

What Is Negation in Grammar? 131

Verb Negation 131

Negation of Indefinites 133

Noun Negation 135

Adjective and Adverb Negation 136

Negation of Compounds 137

Reflections 139

Practice Exercises 140

Chapter 9 VOICE 144

What Is Grammatical Voice? 144

How Is the Passive Voice Formed? 146

How Are Grammatical Relations

Determined in the Passive Voice? 147

Why Do We Need the Passive Voice? 149

What Is a Truncated Passive? 150

Reflections 152

Practice Exercises 153

Chapter 10 DISCOURSE FUNCTION 156

What Is Discourse Function? 156

Declaratives 157

Interrogatives 158

Yes No Questions 158

Wh Questions 160

Tag Questions 164

Minor Question Types 167

Imperatives 169

Exclamatives 170

Crossover Functions of Clause Types 171

Reflections 174

Practice Exercises 175

Chapter 11 COMBINING CLAUSES INTO

SENTENCES: COORDINATION 179

How Is a Sentence Different from a Clause? 179

Sentence Building Through Coordination 179

Clause Coordination and Ellipsis 183

Reflections 185

Practice Exercises 186

Chapter 12 COMBINING CLAUSES INTO

SENTENCES: SUBORDINATION 189

Sentence Building Through Subordination 189

Adverbial Clauses 191

Noun Clauses 194

Relative Clauses 199

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive

Relative Clauses 202

Reduced Relative Clauses 204

Naming Sentence Types 206

Reflections 208

Practice Exercises 210

Chapter 13 WHY STUDY ENGLISH GRAMMAR?

(ONCE MORE!) 215

Teaching Grammar 215

Final Reflections 217

ANSWERS TO PRACTICE EXERCISES 219

GLOSSARY 233

INDEX 241

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English Grammar Language as Human Behavior

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials