Advanced English Grammar

A Linguistic Approach

Ilse Depraetere, Chad Langford

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781350069879
• eBook ISBN: 9781350069909
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Grammar & Punctuation
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

With more than 50 years of teaching experience between them, Ilse Depraetere and Chad Langford present a grammar pitched precisely at advanced learners of English who need to understand how the English language really works without getting lost in the complex specifics. Now fully updated and revised throughout, the second edition of this book pulls from linguistic theory all the relevant notions that will enable the language student to fully grasp English grammar. After introducing form and function, the authors cover verbs, nouns, aspect and tense, modality and discourse. Readers are led through the underlying principles of language use, with the book presupposing only a basic grasp of linguistic terminology and focusing on the critical issues. Full of challenging exercises and supported by a companion website featuring an extensive answer key, a glossary and further exercises for study, this is the reference grammar of choice for both native and non-native English speakers.

1

Getting started: Forms and functions

Chapter Outline

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Syntax, semantics, pragmatics and grammar

1.3 Forms and functions

1.4 The clause, the sentence and subordination

1.5 Conclusion

1. Introduction

A book about grammar has to be quite explicit about the kind of book it is and how the word ‘grammar’ is being used. When people say ‘a grammar’, they are often referring to an explanation of how a language works and what its possible constructions are. Traditionally, such an account takes the form of a book, and in this sense, the book you are reading right now is a grammar.

However, the word ‘grammar’ can also refer to what native or proficient speakers¹ of a language possess in their minds that enables them not only to use a language grammatically, but also to recognize when others are using it grammatically and when they aren’t. This is often referred to as native-speaker intuition. This definition of ‘grammar’ refers to the knowledge of possible constructions² in a particular language. Our goal in this book is to give you some insight into what speakers of English know about their language with an eye to helping you improve your own English. We do this by describing how speakers of English use the language while at the same time attempting to explain the system that underlies how they speak and write it.

Native speakers of any language occasionally have differing views on whether a particular sentence or structure is grammatical. Such differences in judgement are dependent upon a person’s view as to what is meant by ‘correct’. The terms prescriptive and descriptive are often used to define these different points of view. A grasp of these two terms is a basic step to understanding how we have conceived this particular book. A descriptive grammar takes stock of language use as it can be observed through different channels of communication (be they written or spoken) and genres (ranging from, for instance, informal conversation among friends to very formal contexts such as that of a political treaty). A prescriptive grammar is one that gives hard-and-fast rules about what is right (or grammatical) and what is wrong (or ungrammatical), often with advice about what not to say but with little explanation. In fact, what are considered mistakes are often examples of sociolinguistically marked variation – cases where people speak differently based on where they come from or their socio-economic background and level of education. As such, prescriptive grammar only addresses a very small part of how a language really works. Vast areas of language show little or no variation, or the variation is not sociolinguistically marked and therefore not the subject of prescriptivist debate. Four examples of commonly heard sentences that a prescriptive grammar would consider ungrammatical are given in (1):

(1)	(a)	I don’t have no time to waste.
	(b)	If he would have known, he wouldn’t have said that.
	(c)	You shouldn’t have went there without me.
	(d)	I don’t know him good enough to have an opinion.

In (2), you’ll find the ‘repaired’ sentences, all of which correspond to what a prescriptive grammar would consider grammatically correct in standard English:

(2)	(a)	I don’t have any time to waste./I have no time to waste.
	(b)	If he had known, he wouldn’t have said that.
	(c)	You shouldn’t have gone there without me.
	(d)	I don’t know him well enough to have an opinion.

Prescriptivism seen from this angle seems like a helpful enough approach for someone learning English as a foreign language or seeking to improve their knowledge about how the language works. After all, you probably do not want to produce sentences that many speakers of English, even if they understand what you mean, will consider incorrect or indicative of a lack of education, which is the case for the sentences in (1).

There are problems inherent in a prescriptive grammar, however. For one thing, it can be quite arbitrary, meaning that the people establishing these rules often determine what is grammatically right or wrong without really backing up their claims. While we agree that the examples in (1) do not conform to the standard grammar of English used by educated speakers, other ‘mistakes’ which are targeted by prescriptivists are part and parcel of ordinary, educated English and are instances of variation that is unmarked. So, whereas a prescriptive approach might consider the (b) versions of (3) below to be more correct than the (a) versions, we do not consider variants of this kind to be incorrect:

(3)	(a)	My stepbrother is eight years older than me.
		It sounds like you had a great time at the party.
		Who do you think we should invite?
		What do you attribute her success to?
	(b)	My stepbrother is eight years older than I.
		It sounds as though (= as if) you had a great time at the party.
		Whom do you think we should invite?
		To what do you attribute her success?

Linguists are generally not interested in prescriptive grammar. Rather, they approach language as any scientist would investigate naturally occurring phenomena: by observing, taking note and ultimately trying to understand what’s going on. Nowadays, most grammars of English written for non-native speakers are committed to describing rather than prescribing usage. The book you’re reading now is a pedagogical grammar. We are first and foremost committed to describing English as it is actually used ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents 
• Introduction to Second Edition
• Introduction to First Edition and Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations and Symbols
• 1. Getting started: Forms and functions
• 2. The verb and its complements
• 3. The noun and the noun phrase
• 4. Aspect and tense
• 5. Modals and modality
• 6. Discourse
• List of sources of examples
• Appendix: Irregular verbs
• Bibliography
• Lexical index
• Subject index
• Imprint