French Grammar in Context FOURTH EDITION French Grammar in Context presents a unique and exciting approach to learning grammar. Authentic texts from a rich variety of sources, literary and journalistic, are used as the starting point for the illustration and explanation of key areas of French grammar. Each point is consolidated with a wide range of written and spoken exercises. Grammar is presented not as an end in itself, but as a tool essential to enjoying French, understanding native speakers and communicating effectively with them.
Literary texts and poems are taken from renowned French authors such as Albert Camus, Zola, André Malraux, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Stendhal and Jacques Prévert. News sources include Libération, Le Point, Marianne, and Le Monde Diplomatique, in addition to articles from regional papers such as Ouest-France and La Voix du Nord. Lifestyle articles are included from magazines such as Elle. This fourth edition has been updated to include new extracts from writers such as Christiane Rochefort, Raymond Queneau and Roch Carrier.
In addition to extra exercises within the book, this new edition is supported by a companion website that offers a wealth of additional interactive exercises to practise and reinforce the material covered. French Grammar in Context is aimed at intermediate and advanced students and is ideal for both independent and class-based study. Margaret Jubb is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Aberdeen. Annie Rouxeville was previously Senior Lecturer in French and Tutor at TILL, University of Sheffield.
LANGUAGES IN CONTEXT The Languages in Context series presents students with an engaging way of learning grammar while also acquiring cultural and topical knowledge. Each book in the series uses authentic texts, drawn from a generous variety of sources, as the starting point for the explanation of key areas of grammar. Grammar points are then consolidated with a wide range of exercises to test students’ understanding. Aimed at intermediate to advanced students, The Languages in Context series is suitable for both class use and independent study.
The following books are available in this series: French Grammar in Context Spanish Grammar in Context German Grammar in Context French Grammar in Context FOURTH EDITION MARGARET JUBB and ANNIE ROUXEVILLE Dedicated to the memory of Geneviève Wilkinson Fourth edition published in 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2014 Margaret Jubb and Annie Rouxeville The right of Margaret Jubb and Annie Rouxeville to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First published in Great Britain in 1998, Second Edition published in 2003, Third Edition published in 2008 by Hodder Education, part of Hachette UK, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-415-70669-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-70668-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-87992-5 (ebk) Typeset in 10/14pt Minion by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire Contents Acknowledgements vii Preface to the first edition ix Preface to the second edition xi Preface to the third edition xii Preface to the fourth edition xiii 1 The present tense 1 2 The passé composé 6 3 The imperfect 12 4 The pluperfect 17 5 The past historic and past anterior 20 6 The future and future perfect 28 7 The conditional (present and past) 36 8 The negative 42 9 Interrogatives 48 10 Personal pronouns 55 11 Relative pronouns 65 12 Nouns 71 13 Articles and quantifiers 80 14 Demonstratives 88 15 Possessives 94 16 Adjectives 100 17 Adverbs and adverbial phrases 108 18 Comparatives and superlatives 116 19 The imperative 123 20 Pronominal verbs 128 21 The passive 133 vi French Grammar in Context 22 The infinitive and present participle 140 23 Verbs with à and de 150 24 Devoir, pouvoir, vouloir, savoir 156 25 Impersonal verbs 163 26 The subjunctive (present and perfect) 169 27 The subjunctive (imperfect and pluperfect) 180 28 Prepositions 186 29 Conjunctions 195 30 Word order 201 31 Highlighting and emphasis 209 Revision text 1 216 Revision text 2 218 Revision text 3 221 Revision text 4 223 Revision text 5 226 Revision text 6 230 Keys 233 Bibliography 259 Index 260 Acknowledgements This book developed from collaborative work undertaken some years ago under the auspices of the Association for French Language Studies Grammar Initiative. We gratefully acknowledge the impetus and support given to our work by AFLS. We are also grateful to Lesley Riddle of Edward Arnold for helping us to refocus and extend our earlier work with a view to publication, and to an unidentified reader selected by Edward Arnold for commenting on a first draft of the present work. In producing the original three AFLS Brochures Grammaire, we worked with two colleagues, Carol Chapman of the University of Liverpool, and the late Geneviève Wilkinson of the University of Hull.
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge the owners of copyright. The publishers will be glad to make suitable arrangements with any copyright holders whom it has not been possible to contact. The authors and publisher would like to thank the following for permission to use copyright material in this book: Label France : Corinne Tonarelli, ‘La Provence, terre de lumière’, no. 24, June 1996 and Mélina Gazsi, ‘Cent ans de laïcité à la française’, no.
60, 2005; Éditions Gallimard © Albert Camus, L’Étranger, ‘J’ai retourné ma chaise’, 1957, André Malraux, La Condition Humaine, ‘L’auto de Chang-Kaï-shek’, 1946, Jacques Prévert, ‘Le Dromadaire mécontent’, ‘Contes pour les enfants pas sages’ in Histoires et autres histoires, 1963, and Simone de Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée, ‘La plupart des garçons que je connaissais’, Collection Folio, 1958, Raymond Queneau, Exercises de style, 1947, www.fr; Société Nouvelle des Éditions Pauvert: Jehanne Jean- Charles, Les plumes du corbeau, ‘Cet après-midi, j’ai poussé’, 1962; Methuen Educational Ltd: R. Vailland, Un jeune homme seul, ‘Michel Favart, l’ingénieur’, 1985, Claire Etcherelli, Élise ou la vraie vie, ‘Je cherchai Arezki’, ed. Roach, 1985 and Paul Éluard, ‘Ma morte vivante’, Anthologie Éluard, ed. Scott, 1983; Libération: ‘Le temps aujourd’hui, région par région’, 28 October 1996, J.
Schmitt, ‘Un mythe composite’, 9 February 1994, Éric Jozsef, ‘Votre diplôme n’est pas valable’, 11 March 2002, © Marion Chaudru, Libération Voyages, 2 April 2013 and Libération Quotidien, Kara Walker and Sean James Rose, ‘Le besoin cathartique de faire un retour en arrière’, 31 July 2007; InfoMatin: ‘Enfant d’une secte’, 29–30 December 1995; Regards : Daniel Le Scornet, ‘Aujourd’hui, une catégorie entière de la population française’, 22 December 1995; Service M: ‘Donnez-moi un quart d’heure le soir’; Éditions de Minuit: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Djinn, ‘De nouveau, la méfiance’, ‘Ensuite Jean m’a offert’, ‘Mais non, se dit-il’, ‘Tout cela paraissait absurde’ and ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?’, 1981; Le Monde : Thomas Ferenczi, ‘Faits divers’, 17 November 1984 viii Acknowledgements and Philippe Sollers, ‘Le Diable à Florence’, 27 September 1996; Institut de Formation au Marketing: ‘Après le patron’; Le Nouvel Observateur, M., ‘Ne lisez surtout pas’, February 1995, W. Legros, ‘Nous sommes tous polyglottes’, 8–14 September 1994, C. Brizard, ‘Pollution urbaine, les vrais dangers’, 11–17 May 1995, Claude Roy, ‘L’Observatoire de la planète Terre’, 2–8 March 1995, Fabien Gruhier and Michel de Pracontal, ‘Le secret du cerveau de Mozart’, 9–15 February 1995 and Marc Ferro, ‘Un bilan globalement négatif ’, 8 December 2005; Le Monde Diplomatique: Bernard Cassen, ‘Le mur de l’anglais’, May 1995; L’Entreprise: Jean Boissonnat, ‘Tour du monde’, October 1989; Le Point: E. Saint-Martin, ‘Championnat d’échecs – Un Grand Maître de 14 ans’, 29 March 1997, Marie-Sandrine Sgherri, ‘Ces escrocs qui s’attaquent aux vieux’, 3 May 2002 and Gilles Pudlowski, ‘Nice, baie des arts’, 29 March 1997; Ouest-France: ‘Un cimetière marin au large de Tunis’, 1 August 1997 and Julien Redon, ‘Sous tension’, 23 July 2002; Elle: Sylvie Tardrow, ‘Tieb de Daurade’, 4 November 1996 and ‘News Beauté’, 4 November 1996; Éditions Atlas: ‘Toulouse’, Atlas Air France, 1989; La Voix du Nord: Denis Sénié, ‘Tintin au pays des pixels’, 12 November 1996; La Lettre du Gouvernement: ‘Préserver l’air, c’est protéger notre santé’, 24 April 1996; Le Monde de l’Éducation: Caroline Helfter, ‘Vers le bilinguisme’, July–August 1996 and Macha Séry, ‘La langue de Molière au secours de la langue de bois’, July–August 1996; L’Événement du Jeudi: Nicolas Domenach, ‘Ces réseaux qui gouvernent la France’, 25–31 July 1996; Actualquarto: ‘Biosphère II, la Terre bis’, no.
3, 1990–91; Okapi: ‘Le Tabloïd’, 11–24 March 1995, ‘Les grands débats’ and ‘Les aventuriers sous la mer’, 1–15 September 1994; Éditions Bernard Grasset: Colette, La Chatte, 1933, ‘Il aimait ses songes’, Christiane Rochefort, Les Petits Enfants du siècle, 1961; Bien- Dire: ‘Sur les quais’, no. 2, Winter 1997; Le Figaro: Anne Muratori-Philip, ‘Napoléon: le testament que l’on croyait perdu’, 2 May 1996; Sciences et Avenir: B., ‘Quand les cathédrales étaient peintes’, 26 July 2002; Présence Africaine: Joseph Zobel, La Rue Cases-Nègres, 1974; Éditions Caribéennes: Joseph Zobel, Et si la mer n’était pas bleue ., ‘Le Retour de Mamzelle Annette’, 1982; Ça m’intéresse, © F. Karpyta, ‘Pourquoi les filles parlent plus tôt que les garçons’, no. 295, September 2005 and © Vincent Nouyrigat, ‘Ces poussières qui font le tour du monde’ no.
318, August 2007; La Pèlerine, ‘Randonnées accompagnées, l’hébergement’, 2007; Willy et Colette, Claudine à l’école, Livre de Poche, 1961, with the kind permission of Éditions Albin Michel; Frantz Fanon, Peau noire, Masques blancs, © Éditions du Seuil, 1952, Collection Points Essais, 1971 and Ahmadou Kourouma, Les Soleils des Indépendances, © Éditions du Seuil, 1970, Collection Points, 1995; Marianne, Pierre Feydel et Erwan Seznec, ‘Les Parasites, les Profiteurs’, no. 536, July 2007; Éditions Stanké, Roch Carrier, Les Enfants du bonhomme dans la Lune, 1979 Preface to the first edition This book is intended for intermediate and more advanced students of French, both those approaching the end of high-school or secondary education and those in their first or second year at university, who need to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French grammar and to develop their ability to use this knowledge in speech and writing. Unlike a reference grammar, it does not aim to be exhaustive in its coverage. Instead, it focuses on key areas of grammar, selected both for their perceived usefulness and for the difficulties which they often cause the Anglophone student.
The starting point is always an authentic text, chosen for its intrinsic interest no less than for its richness as a source of examples of grammar in context. In the analysis which follows the text, the function and form of the relevant grammar topic are first explored as seen in the text, before a development section headed ‘Discover more about X’ amplifies the coverage with illustrated commentary on further important points, including any significant divergences of practice between different registers both in writing and in speech. Page references to the relevant sections of five standard reference grammars are provided, so that students may seek further information as they require. Cross-references are also made to relevant sections of other grammar units within the book itself.
It is essential that both sections of analysis, ‘X in the text’ and ‘Discover more about X’, should be studied before the student attempts any of the exercises which follow.