Grammar in context - Geoff Barton 1999
Section 1 Grammar foundations
Student Q& A
What's grammar?
Grammar is the way we organize language - putting words, phrases and sentences into an order that makes sense to our audience.
Almost as soon as we are born, we begin to learn that words have to go together in a certain order to make sense.
The cot on the sick is carpet has been
doesn't make sense. It is ungrammatical.
The cat has been sick on the carpet
does make sense. It is grammatical.
From around the age of one, children begin putting words together to say what they mean - for example:
my cat big dog
It would be unusual for a child to say:
cat my
The child has begun to learn about grammar patterns - that words can't just go in any order.
(The child might learn that you could say:
dog big
Think of a situation where a child might say this. How is 'dog big' different in meaning from 'big dog'?)
Why do I need to know about grammar?
You already do know a lot about it: from around five years old you've been using it highly effectively. But if you want to do well in English you need to know how to apply that grammatical knowledge.
What do you mean, 'apply'?
Put it this way: the best students at 14, 16 and 18 tend to do more than read and write well. They read texts analytically, responding not just to the ideas in them, but also to the style. Their own written style tends to be lively, interesting and accurate. You can only really achieve that if you learn how to make specific grammar points based on your reading, and use a variety of styles in your writing.
So knowing about grammar will improve my English marks?
Knowing about how language works can help you to be a better reader. It enables you to say in more detail how a text has been put together by the writer. Being able to write a grammatical sentence will help you to make your meaning understood by your reader, but, beyond that, knowing about grammar will also improve your written style.
So how will this book help me?
Grammar in Context starts by showing you the essential grammar knowledge you'll need to use in English. Then it shows you how to apply this to a range of different texts. Then it gives you practice. The Answer Book even provides sample answers so that you can compare your own work with them to see how you're doing.
The result?
You should end up a better reader and writer in English because you'll be more aware of the essential skills that are required.
What grammar skills will I need?
You will need to be able to look at a text and make some detailed comments about how it works. This might mean:
• commenting on the structure of paragraphs and ideas
• commenting on the sentence structures
• commenting on the writer's choice of words.
This Grammar Foundations section will quickly teach you the essential grammar information you need. It will then show you how to apply it to your reading.
To understand grammar, you need to know that there are different levels of language use:
Whole text level
This is the way texts are organized into sections or paragraphs; the way paragraphs themselves are structured; the way openings and closings in different kinds of texts work. It is sometimes called discourse structure.
Sentence level
This involves looking at sentences, clauses and phrases; the way units of meaning are linked together with words like although or and; the use of main clauses (giving the main information in a sentence) and subordinate clauses (giving background information).
Word level
This involves looking at the specific words a writer has chosen; how the words are structured; what function they have in the sentence.
Punctuation
Running through all of this is punctuation. Punctuation is the way the writer shows a reader where different units of meaning start and end (capital letters and full stops), or where someone is speaking (direct speech or speech marks), and so on.
This section will teach you what you need to know about these different levels of grammar.
And if I need more help?
Look at our website and email me for any advice. I'll do my best to respond to you personally with answers to your questions.
Website: http://www.oup.co.uk/exam.success
Email: geoff.barton@oup.co.uk
Good luck with your English studies.
Geoff Barton
What you need to know about...
Whole texts
Key facts
Text-level grammar
When you're looking at 'the grammar of whole texts', you're looking at the way texts are organized. That might include:
• use of layout
• openings and closings
• paragraphs
Look at the newspaper story below. It is about the language some teenagers use in informal situations - language that is called slang.
As you read the article, look at the margin notes. These show you some of the main features of the text.
Practice
Now look at the next piece of text, at the foot of the page.
What do you notice about:
• the layout
• openings and closings
• paragraphs?
Hints Layout
Look at the title.
Look at the way the ingredients are listed.
Look at the way the instructions are set out in three paragraphs.
Openings and closings
Look at the first paragraph and notice how it is different from the other two - it doesn't really give instructions.
Look at the ending - does it end at a logical point, or does it feel abrupt?
Paragraphs
Notice that paragraphs seem quite short - why do you think this is?
Look at the way one paragraph links with another - for example the word 'Now' in paragraph 3.
A Quick Lamb Curry
A dry curry, delectably spicy and aromatic rather than blisteringly hot. To be scooped from your plate with any of the Indian breads on sale at the supermarket, warm from the grill or oven.
Melt the butter in a deep-sided frying-pan and add the oil; when it starts to sizzle fry the lamb till just coloured on each side. Remove with a draining spoon. Add the onion and fry till golden, scraping up any residue from the lamb at the same time. Add the garlic and fry for a minute more.
Now add the whole spices. Cook for 2 minutes or until the cardamom pods have coloured a little and then add the ground spices. Cook until their fragrance starts to rise, but make sure they do not burn. Return the lamb to the pan. Pour in 225ml/8 fl oz water — you can use meat or vegetable stock if you have some knocking around — and stir thoroughly. Turn the heat to medium and simmer gently till the sauce has thickened, about 10—15 minutes.
What you need to know about...
Sentences 1: sentence lengths
Key facts
Sentences
A sentence is a unit of meaning which can stand on its own and make sense. Almost all writing is structured in sentences.
'Now add the whole spices' is a sentence.
'Now add' is not a sentence (because we're not told what to add).
'The whole spices' is not a sentence (because we aren't told what to do with the spices).
Key facts
Sentence lengths
Sentences can be different lengths, creating different effects.
Short sentences can help to build suspense:
The night was dark. The moon was hidden. The footsteps crunched on the drive.
Longer sentences can help to explain complicated ideas:
Jon Wolfert, the most successful producer of radio jingles in the USA, started with a love of radio and has never looked back, despite all the competition.
Practice
One comment you can often make about a text is the length of sentences.
Look again at this extract from the recipe for lamb curry. The margin notes show you the kinds of points you could make about the length of the sentences.
Writing about sentence length can be quite useful, but for higher marks there are other points you need to learn to make - about the different types of sentences and how they work.
There are simple sentences, compound sentences, and complex sentences. All three types of sentences are made up of clauses.
What you need to know about ...
Sentences 2: sentence types
Key facts
Clauses
A clause is a group of words built around a verb. We place them together to form sentences.
Key facts
Simple sentences
A simple sentence communicates one idea.
One thing (usually) happens in a simple sentence.
The night was dark.
Now add the spices.
A simple sentence is made up of one clause.
Simple sentences can be very dramatic, so they are ideal for creating suspense. They are also very clear so they are often used for giving instructions. In addition, they feel safe, simple, reassuring and straightforward. That's one reason you find them so often in children's books.
Key facts
Compound sentences
Compound sentences communicate more than one idea. A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences which are linked by the words and, or, or but.
This compound sentence contains two clauses:
This compound sentence contains three clauses:
Key facts
Complex sentences
Complex sentences also communicate more than one idea. A complex sentence consists of several clauses. At least one of them will be the main clause, which carries the main meaning of the sentence. But there will also be one or more subordinate clauses, which give more information about what is happening, e.g.:
Subordinate clauses often begin with the following words:
who since that
whom until in case
whose before so
which because if
that how unless
when than though
where as much as although
as so that even though
Practice
Look at the following examples of complex sentences. See if you can pick out which part is the main clause and which is the subordinate clause.
Our hamster, which had been my pet for two years, got out of his cage. И/е sat for ages in the car which was getting hotter and hotter.
The man who lives next door started shouting.
The goldfish which had been swimming around all day suddenly stopped moving.
I didn't finish the book, although I liked the storyline.
After I had finished my tea, I went outside.
However hard I try, I just don't understand this work.
Because he was in a bad mood, I just ignored him.
Looking at clauses in texts
It's useful to be able to spot the different types of sentences on their own. But you also need to be able to say something about how they work in longer texts.
Look again at the extract from the recipe for lamb curry. Look at the kinds of points you might make about the sentence and clause structure:
In an exam or test, it is useful to be able to spot language features like this, but for higher marks you need to be able to comment more on the effect of the sentence structure.
A good answer might say:
What you need to know about…
Phrases
Key facts
Phrases
Phrases are groups of words which cannot usually stand alone. Here are some examples:
the large ice cream
on the bus
sitting alone
around the corner
The most important phrase you need to know about is the noun phrase.
Key facts
The noun phrase
A noun phrase is a group of words built around a naming word, or noun. Noun phrases allow writers to add detail to their nouns, like this:
the cat
the old cat
the old fat cat
the old fat black cat
All of these are phrases, but each one has a greater fevel of detail, telling us more about the cat.
Knowing about phrases can be useful when writing about texts. They can help you to say how descriptive a text is. Look at this example, taken from Laurie Lee's account of his earliest memories:
The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight. It was knife-edged, dark, and a wicked green, thick as a forest and alive with grasshoppers that chirped and chattered and leapt through the air like monkeys.
I was lost and didn't know where to move. A tropic heat oozed up from the ground, rank with sharp odours of roots and nettles. Snow-clouds of elder-blossom banked in the sky, showering upon me the fumes and the flakes of their sweet and giddy suffocation. High overhead ran frenzied larks, screaming, as though the sky were tearing apart.
Here are some of the comments you could make about noun phrases in this extract.
As you can see, paying close attention to the writer's use of phrases allows you to comment in detail on the effect of the writing.
Watch out in newspaper articles for the way writers use phrases to label people:
All of these parts of the phrase give more detail about the subject. They allow the writer to pile up the information without using clauses, which would create a much longer opening:
Jez Nettleton, who is 45 and who is a headteacher and who is hard-hearted said today, ...
Why do you think it is especially important to journalists to keep their use of language compact, so that it takes up as little space as possible?
Key facts
Phrases and participles
Noun phrases tell us more about the noun in the sentence: they add description. But phrases can also give us more information about what is going on in a sentence. They do this by using a participle. The participle is the part of the verb that ends in '-ing':
Like a subordinate clause, the participle gives us extra information:
Eating her dinner, Aunt Mary felt rather unwell.
Hoping she was in time, the girl ran to school.
The bus broke down, making us all late.
The treehouse wobbled in the wind, looking fairly unsafe.
What you need to know about...
Words 1: formal and informal words
Key facts
Simple and complex words
In an exam or test, there are all kinds of things you might say about the way words are used in texts.
You might say whether the words are simple or complex. This can have a big effect on what a text feels like - whether it is easy to follow, or complicated.
Simple words may be words we use everyday. They may have just one or two syllables. Complex words may be less familiar words, with more syllables, making them seem more formal.
Look at these examples of simple and complex words:
Key facts
Word origins
Why are some words familiar and others not? One reason is that many of the words we use in everyday language are Anglo-Saxon words - they have been used in English for hundreds of years. We use them to describe the things around us in straightforward terms.
Other words are known as loan words. They are words that have passed into English from other languages, such as French, Latin or Greek. They are often used in more formal writing, rather than in everyday speech.
Practice
1 Look at these two lists of words. On the left are words of Anglo-Saxon origin. They are more straightforward words which we would expect to find in less formal texts. On the right are loan words with similar meanings, but which are more complex. We would expect to find them in more complex texts.
Try to match up words with similar meanings from the two lists. The first one is done for you as an example.
2 Look at the two extracts of text below. Knowing about the complexity of words can help you to comment on the way th, texts have been written.
These two texts are the openings of modern fairy tales. You might expect both to have simple vocabulary because they an written for children.
The Iron Man
The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.
How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows.
Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.
The wind sang through his iron fingers. His great iron head, shaped like a dustbin but as big as a bedroom, slowly turned to the right, slowly turned to the left. His iron ears turned, this way, that way. He was hearing the sea. His eyes, like headlamps, glowed white, then red, then infra-red, searching the sea. Never before had the Iron Man seen the sea.
Ted Hughes
The Good Little Girl
Her name was Priscilla Prodgers, and she was a very good little girl indeed. So good was she, in fact, that she could not help being aware of it herself, and that is a stage to which very many quite excellent persons never succeed in attaining. She was only just a child, it is true, but she had read a great many beautiful storybooks, and so she knew what a powerful reforming influence a childish and innocent remark, or a youthful example or a happy combination of both, can exert over grown-up people.
F Anstey
Although they are both fairy tales, these two texts feel very different. The Iron Man is simpler and more direct because:
The Good Little Girl feels more complex because:
The overall effect is NOT that one text is better than the other. Instead, it's that one is more direct and straightforward; the other is more complex.
What you need to know about...
Words 2: word classes
Key facts
Word classes
Word classes are the names we give to the functions of words in sentences - what the words do.
For example:
The
girl
swam
in
the
river
Look at the word swam. It tells us what the girl was doing. It comes from the word class 'verbs'. We could change it to all kinds of other words which serve the same function (i.e. other verbs):
But there are lots of words that wouldn't work:
The, table, and if don't work because they are not from the word class 'verbs'. They come from different word classes, which do different things within a sentence.
This is what a word class is - a category of words which have a particular function in a sentence.
Checklist of word classes
What you need to know about...
Words 3: word structure
Key facts
Units of meaning
Many words can be broken down into smaller units of meaning. These are not the same as syllables: e-le-phant is a three-syllable word, but it does not have three different units of meaning. Un+happi+ness does contain three units of meaning.
The key ingredients of words are the base form (or root), prefixes, suffixes, and inflections.
Key facts
The base form
The base form is the core of a word, the part that cannot be divided into smaller units of meaning - for example:
wise
dog
cycle
Key facts
Prefixes
Prefixes are elements we add to the front of the base form to change its meaning:
un+wise
under+dog
bi+cycle
Prefixes can change the meaning of words in several ways.
Some say 'not':
un+wise
dis+obey
non-smoker
Some say something about size:
market - super+market
Others tell you where something happens:
way-sub+way
...Or add information about numbers:
cycle - bi+cycle
Key facts
Suffixes
Elements added to the ends of words are suffixes.
Some change verbs into nouns:
amuse+ment fight+er
...Or adjectives into verbs:
modem+ize
simple+ify
...Or nouns into adjectives:
hero+ic
child+ish
Some make a word more abstract:
spoon+ful
race+ism
Notice that some base words lose a letter or change their spelling when they gain a suffix:
race+ism = racism
happy+ness = happiness
Key facts
Inflections
One important group of suffixes is used to tell us
• how many nouns there are
• the tense of a verb.
These are called inflections. Adding one of these suffixes is often called 'inflecting a noun' or 'inflecting a verb'.
Inflecting a noun to make a plural (more than one):
cat+s
child+ren
Inflecting a verb to change tense:
throw+ing
throw+s
Inflecting adjectives and adverbs:
hot- hotter - hottest
Practice
1 Add different prefixes to each of these words, and describe how the meaning of the word changes. The first one is done for you.
2 Add suffixes to these words and describe how their meaning changes.
3 Inflect these words to change their meaning, using the instruction to guide you:
