Why Do You Need this New Edition? If you’re wondering why you should buy this new edition of English Grammar: Language as Human Behavior, here are five good reasons. You’ll find a new discussion of grammar on the Internet, an exciting development, historically speaking, that allows for wide-ranging and rich public discussion of grammar issues in ways not imagined possible in other centuries. There is a new section addressed specifically to those of you who expect to be teaching grammar in the future. Explanations and exercises have been updated with an eye toward helping those of you now using the text in an online course without the benefit of regular face-to-face interaction with classmates and instructors.
The revised chapter on negation can now be found right before the discus- sion of clauses. In this location, it better serves as a review of all the lexical categories covered in previous chapters. The final Practice Exercise in each chapter is new and written specifically to focus on review of key structures. This page intentionally left blank ENGLISH GRAMMAR Language as Human Behavior Third Edition Anita K.
Barry Professor Emeritus The University of Michigan–Flint Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Senior Sponsoring Editor: Katharine Glynn Project Coordination, Editorial Services, and Assistant Editor: Rebecca Gilpin Text Design: Electronic Publishing Associate Managing Editor: Services Inc., NYC Bayani Mendoza de Leon Art Rendering and Electronic Page Makeup: Senior Marketing Manager: Sandra McGuire Jouve Executive Digital Producer: Stefanie Snajder Manufacturing Buyer: Mary Ann Gloriande Digital Project Manager: Janell Lantana Senior Cover Design Manager/ Senior Digital Editor: Robert St. Laurent Cover Designer: Nancy Danahy Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barry, Anita K. English grammar : language as human behavior / Anita K. English language--Grammar.2--dc23 2011044297 Copyright © 2013, 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10—STP-Courier—14 13 12 11 ISBN-10: 0-205-23846-7 www.com ISBN-13: 978-0-205-23846-0 For the next language-makers, especially Benjamin, Gabriela, Noah, Gabriel, and Benjamin This page intentionally left blank Contents PREFACE xi 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 vii viii Contents 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 103 What 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 Contents ix 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 x Contents 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 231 INDEX 237 Preface This book is written for students of English grammar, who come to the task of studying the language with a variety of skills, interests, goals, and expectations, not to mention fears and anxieties. It is addressed primarily to the native speaker of English, and so it is not designed to teach English. Rather, it builds on what students already know to develop an appreciation for how the lan- guage works. The main focus of the book is on language as human behavior.
Students are encouraged to view English not as an abstract system of rules, but as an instrument of people who seek patterns and regularity, who use language to communicate their needs and wishes and to exercise power over others, and who are capable of experiencing linguistic insecurity in the face of social judg- ments about their usage. Students also come to learn that the language they use is the result of people’s use over a long period of time, not just a tool for the present, and that English, along with judgments about particular usage, shifts over time. The goal of the book is to make students feel that they are active participants in shaping their language rather than passive victims of grammar rules that someone imposes on them. They are encouraged to be curious about how others use English, and to be flexible enough to understand that there are competing descriptions of language structure, as well as compet- ing opinions about correctness.
In its discussion of English, the book largely adheres to traditional gram- matical terminology to keep continuity with our long and rich heritage of grammar studies. At the same time, the grammatical descriptions are informed by the insights gained from modern linguistic analysis. The merger of these two approaches gives students the necessary tools to think about how their language works without becoming entrenched in the mindset of a particular theory. It also provides them with the flexibility to adapt to new terminology they might encounter elsewhere.
Lastly, in keeping with the main goal of talk- ing about human behavior, discussion turns to usage and usage questions wherever they are relevant. The book is designed for a one‐semester college course. It covers the basics of English without dwelling on the exceptional or the exotic. It begins xi xii Preface with a discussion of the development of a standard English language and the origins of our present day rules of English and attitudes towards usage.
Stu- dents are invited to explore their own recognition of standard English and to appreciate that people may differ in their judgments. They learn that what is considered “correct” does not always match what sounds appropriate to them. The first chapter lays the foundation for the study of grammar, emphasizing the complex interaction between language rules and behavior. The second chapter talks about how one approaches the study of the structure of a lan- guage, including a brief discussion of how languages change over time.
It also gives an overview of language structure, explaining the essentially hierarchical as opposed to linear nature of language. From there the book works from the lowest levels of grammatical organization to the highest, starting with an analy- sis of words and working up to the level of the sentence. As students and teachers begin to work with this book, they will realize that the material is integrated in ways not apparent from the chapter headings. There is no part of language that is wholly separate from the other parts: it is an organic system in which the parts are interrelated and function together to perform the highly complex task of communicating human thought.
Natu- rally, then, a description of a language cannot consist of wholly separate parts either. In this particular description, there is a good deal of recycling of infor- mation. Topics are not necessarily explored in their entirety when they are first introduced and may resurface in other contexts to have new light shed on them. In some cases a theme is introduced early and developed gradually throughout the book.
The most commonly recurring themes have to do with the factors that influence people’s use of their language: their common needs and preferences, and their shared strategies for turning their thoughts into words. WHAT’S NEW This edition has undergone a much-needed “makeover” to render it more relevant to its current users. It includes r " EJTDVTTJPO PG HSBNNBS PO UIF *OUFSOFU BO FYDJUJOH OFX EFWFMPQ- ment, historically speaking, that allows for wide-ranging and rich public discussion of grammar issues in ways not imagined possible in other centuries. r " TFDUJPO BEESFTTFE TQFDJGJDBMMZ UP UIPTF TUVEFOUT XIP FYQFDU UP CF teaching grammar in the future.
r 6QEBUFE FYQMBOBUJPOT BOE FYFSDJTFT XJUI JODSFBTFE NJOEGVMOFTT PG the many students now using the text in an online course without the benefit of regular face-to-face interaction with classmates and instructors.PWFNFOUPGBSFWJTFEDIBQUFSPOOFHBUJPOUPQSFDFEFEJTDVTTJPOPG the clause level. In this location, it better serves as a review of all the Preface xiii lexical categories covered in previous chapters and recognizes that negation is not a property exclusive to clauses. r "DIBOHFJOUIFGJOBM1SBDUJDF&YFSDJTFPGFBDIDIBQUFS5IFQSPTF paragraph, rather than being drawn from a piece of literature, is writ- ten specifically to target certain structures for review. EXERCISES Most chapters contain three types of exercises.
First, there are short Discussion Exercises distributed throughout the chapter and designed for group or class work. These typically exemplify and reinforce a newly introduced principle. They give students a chance to check their own understanding in a nonthreat- ening forum and to spend part of every class period talking about language. On occasion these exercises are used to encourage students to extend what they have learned and to uncover new facts and principles of grammar themselves.
In this way, the exercises become an integral part of the text material and serve a teaching as well as a review function. The Instructor’s Manual provides addi- tional discussion of these exercises, which may be shared with students to the extent that the instructor finds it relevant and useful. Second, there are open‐ended questions and project suggestions at the end of each chapter, called Reflections.