English Grammar For Dummies, UK Edition E-Book

Lesley J. Ward

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 557

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

If you're confused by commas, perplexed by pronouns, and plain terrified by tenses, English Grammar For Dummies will put your fears to rest. Packed with expert guidance, it covers everything from sentence basics to rules even your English teacher didn't know - if you want to brush up on your grammar, this is the only guide you'll ever need.

Discover how to: avoid common grammatical errors; get to grips with apostrophes; structure sentences correctly; use verbs and find the right tense; and decide when to use slang or formal English.

Leseprobe

English Grammar For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

How to Use This Book

What You Are Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: The Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence

Part II: Avoiding Common Errors

Part III: No Garage, But Plenty of Mechanics

Part IV: Polishing Without Wax – the Finer Points of Grammar

Part V: Rules Even Your Great-Aunt’s Grammar Teacher Didn’t Know

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: The Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence

Chapter 1: I Already Know How to Talk. Why Should I Study Grammar?

Living Better with Better Grammar

Deciding Which Grammar to Learn

Distinguishing between the Three Englishes

Wanna get something to eat? Friendspeak

Do you feel like getting a sandwich? Conversational English

Will you accompany me to the dining room? Formal English

Using the Right English at the Right Time

Chapter 2: Verbs: The Heart of the Sentence

Linking Verbs: The Giant Equals Sign

More linking verbs

Savouring sensory verbs

Completing Linking Verb Sentences Correctly

Placing the Proper Pronoun in the Proper Place

Lights! Camera! Action Verb!

Getting by with a Little Help from My Verbs

Pop the Question: Locating the Verb

To Be or Not To Be: Infinitives

Chapter 3: Relax! Understanding Verb Tense

Simplifying Matters: The Simple Tenses

Present tense

Past tense

Future tense

Using the Tenses Correctly

Present and present progressive

Past and past progressive

Future and future progressive

Perfecting Grammar: The Perfect Tenses

Present perfect and present perfect progressive

Past perfect and past perfect progressive

Future perfect and future perfect progressive

Using the Present Perfect Tense Correctly

Present Participles

It’s All Highly Irregular

To be

Irregular past tenses and past participles

Chapter 4: Who’s Doing What? Finding the Subject

Who’s Driving? or Why the Subject Is Important

Teaming up: subject–verb pairs

Two for the price of one

Pop the Question: Locating the Subject–Verb Pair

What’s a Nice Subject Like You Doing in a Place Like This? Unusual Word Order

Find That Subject! Detecting an Implied You

Striking Out on Their Own: Non-finite Verbs

Masquerading as Subjects: Here and There

Subjects Aren’t Just a Singular Sensation: Forming the Plural of Nouns

Regular plurals

The IES and YS have it

No knifes here: irregular plurals

The brother-in-law rule: hyphenated plurals

When the Subject Is a Number

Chapter 5: Having It All: The Complete Sentence

Completing Sentences: The Essential Subjects and Verbs

Complete Thoughts, Complete Sentences

Taking an Incomplete: Fragment Sentences

Could This Really Be the End? Understanding Endmarks

Chapter 6: Handling Complements

Being on the Receiving End: Direct Objects

One Step Removed: Indirect Objects

No Bias Here: Objective Complements

Finishing the Equation: Linking-Verb Complements

Pop the Question: Locating the Complement

Pop the Question: Finding the Indirect Object

Pronouns as Objects and Subject Complements

Part II: Avoiding Common Errors

Chapter 7: Getting Hitched: Marrying Sentences

Matchmaking: Combining Sentences Legally

Connecting with co-ordinate conjunctions

Pausing to place commas

Attaching thoughts: semicolons

Boss and Employee: Joining Ideas of Unequal Ranks

Choosing subordinate conjunctions

Steering clear of fragments

Employing Pronouns to Combine Sentences

Chapter 8: Do You Feel Bad or Badly? The Lowdown on Adjectives and Adverbs

Adding Adjectives

Adjectives describing nouns

Adjectives describing pronouns

Attaching adjectives to linking verbs

Pop the question: identifying adjectives

Stalking the Common Adverb

Pop the question: finding the adverb

Adverbs describing adjectives and other adverbs

Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs

Sorting adjectives from adverbs: the –ly test

Sorting out adjective/adverb pairs

Avoiding Common Mistakes with Adjectives and Adverbs

Placing even

Placing almost

Placing only

Chapter 9: Prepositions, Interjections and Articles

Proposing Relationships: Prepositions

The objects of my affection: prepositional phrases and their objects

Are you talking to I? Prepositions and pronouns

A good part of speech to end a sentence with?

Interjections Are Easy!

Articles: Not Just for Magazines Any More

Chapter 10: Everyone Brought Their Homework: Pronouns

Pairing Pronouns with Nouns

Deciding between Singular and Plural Pronouns

Using Possessive Pronouns

Positioning Pronoun–Antecedent Pairs

More Pronoun Problems

Using troublesome singular pronouns properly

Sexist language

Chapter 11: Just Nod Your Head: About Agreement

Writing Singular and Plural Verbs

The unchangeables

The changeables

Easier Than Marriage Counselling: Making Subjects and Verbs Agree

Choosing Verbs for Two Subjects

The Question of Questions

Present tense questions

Past tense questions

Future tense questions

Negative Statements and Subject–Verb Agreement

The Distractions: Prepositional Phrases and Other Irrelevant Words

Can’t We All Just Get Along? Agreement with Difficult Subjects

Five puzzling pronouns as subjects

Here and there you find problems

The Ones, the Things and the Bodies

Each and every mistake is painful

I want to be alone: either and neither without their partners

Politics, statistics and other irregular subjects

Part III: No Garage, but Plenty of Mechanics

Chapter 12: Apostrophes

The Pen of My Aunt or My Aunt’s Pen? Using Apostrophes to Show Possession

Ownership for singles

Because Bill Gates doesn’t own everything: plural possessives

Possession with Company Names

Ownership with Hyphenated Words

Possessives of Nouns that End in s

Common Apostrophe Errors with Pronouns

Shortened Words for Busy People: Contractions

Common contraction mistakes

Contractions you ne’er use except in poetry and novels

Using Apostrophes with Symbols, Abbreviations and Numbers

Chapter 13: Quotations: More Rules than Revenue & Customs

Scare Quotes

Brackets

Quotations

Quotations great and small

Punctuating quotations

Speech

Indirect speech

Direct speech

Who Said That? Identifying Speaker Changes

Punctuating Titles: When to Use Quotation Marks

Chapter 14: The Pause That Refreshes: Commas

Distinguishing Items: Commas in Lists

Separating Adjectives

You Talkin’ to Me? Direct Address

Using Commas in Addresses and Dates

Addressing addresses

Punctuating dates

Flying Solo: Introductory Words

Chapter 15: Adding Information: Semicolons, Dashes and Colons

Gluing Complete Thoughts Together: Semicolons

Using semicolons with false joiners

Separating items in a list with semicolons

Creating a Stopping Point: Colons

Introducing lists

Joining explanations

Giving Additional Information – Dashes

Chapter 16: CAPITAL LETTERS

Capitalising (or Not) References to People

Addressing the chief dogcatcher and other officials

Writing about family relationships

Capitalising the deity

Capitalising Geography: Directions, Places and Languages

Directions and areas of a country

Capitalising geographic features

Tackling race and ethnicity

Marking Seasons and Other Times

Schooling: Courses, Years and Subjects

Writing Capitals in Book and Other Titles

Concerning Historical Capitals: Events and Eras

If U Cn Rd Ths, U Cn Abbreviate

Giving the Last Word to the Poet

Part IV: Polishing Without Wax—the Finer Points of Grammar

Chapter 17: Pronouns and their Cases

Me Like Tarzan: Choosing Subject Pronouns

Compounding interest: pairs of subjects

Attracting appositives

Picking pronouns for comparisons

Connecting pronouns to linking verbs

Using Pronouns as Direct and Indirect Objects

Choosing objects for prepositions

Seeing double causes problems

Pronouns of Possession: No Exorcist Needed

Dealing with Pronouns and –ing Nouns

Chapter 18: Fine-Tuning Verbs

Giving Voice to Verbs

Making the Better Choice? Active or Passive Voice

Putting It in Order: Sequence of Tenses

Case 1 – Simultaneous events: main verbs

Case 2 – Simultaneous events: @@ing participles

Case 3 – Events at two different times in the past

Case 4 – More than two past events, all at different times

Case 5 – Two events in the future

Case 6 – Different times, different verb forms

Mix and Match: Combining the past and present

Habits: using the present tense

Eternal truths: statements that are always in the present tense

News from the front

Chapter 19: Saying What You Want to Say: Descriptive Words and Phrases

Ruining a Perfectly Good Sentence: Misplaced Descriptions

Keeping Your Audience Hanging: Danglers

Avoiding Confusing Descriptions

Chapter 20: Good, Better, Best: Comparisons

Ending It with –er or Giving It More

Breaking the Rules: Irregular Comparisons

Never More Perfect: Using Words That You Can’t Compare

Leaving Your Audience in Suspense: Incomplete Comparisons

Spock was Better than any First Officer in Star Fleet: Illogical Comparisons

Two for the Price of One: Double Comparisons

Chapter 21: Keeping Your Balance

Constructing Balanced Sentences

Shifting Grammar into Gear: Avoiding Stalled Sentences

Steering clear of a tense situation

Knowing the right person

Seeing Double: Conjunction Pairs

Part V: Rules Even Your Great-Aunt’s Grammar Teacher Didn’t Know

Chapter 22: The Last Word on Verbs

Getting a Feel for Everyday Verbs: The Indicative Mood

Commanding Your Verbs: The Imperative Mood

Discovering the Possibilities: The Subjunctive Mood

Using subjunctives with ‘were’

Using subjunctives with ‘had’

Using subjunctives with commands, wishes and requests

I Can’t Help But Think This Rule Is Crazy: Deleting Double Negatives

Can’t Hardly Understand This Rule: Yet Another Double Negative

Chapter 23: The Last Word on Pronouns

Knowing the Difference Between Who/Whoever and Whom/Whomever

Trick 1: Horse and carriage

Trick 2: Getting rhythm

Studying Improper Antecedents

Matching Verbs to Pronouns in Complicated Sentences

This, That and the Other: Clarifying Vague Pronoun References

Its or Their? Selecting Pronouns for Collective Nouns

Pronouns, Inc.: Using Pronouns with Company Names

Chapter 24: The Last Word on Sentence Structure

Understanding the Basics of Clause and Effect

Getting the goods on main and subordinate clauses

Knowing the three legal jobs for subordinate clauses

Untangling main clauses and subordinate clauses

Deciding when to untangle clauses

Putting your subordinate clauses in the right place

Choosing the content for your subordinate clauses

Playing Truant

Appreciating gerunds

Working with infinitives

Participating with a participle

Spicing Up Boring Sentences

Chapter 25: The Last Word on Punctuation

Making Your Point Clear with Commas

Essential or extra? Your commas tell the tale

Do your commas have appositive influence?

Punctuating independently

Saving Time with Ellipsis

Indicating missing words in quotations

Showing hesitation

H-y-p-h-e-n-a-t-i-n-g Made Easy

Understanding the great divide

Using hyphens for compound words

Placing hyphens in numbers

The well-placed hyphen

Slashing Your Sentences

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 26: Ten Ways Two to Improve Your Proofreading

Read Like a Professional Proofreader

Read Backwards

Wait a While

Read It Aloud

Delete Half the Commas

Swap with a Friend

Let the Computer Help

Check the sentence length

The Usual Suspects

Draw up a Checklist

Chapter 27: Ten Ways to Learn Better Grammar

Read Good Books

Watch Good Television

Read the Newspaper

Flip through Magazines

Visit Nerd Hangouts

Check Out Strunk and White

Listen to Authorities

Review Manuals of Style

Surf the Internet

Build Your Own Reference Library

English Grammar For Dummies®

Lesley Ward and Geraldine Woods

English Grammar For Dummies®

Published by John Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland

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Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex

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ISBN-13: 978-0-470-05752-0

ISBN-10: 0-470-05752-1

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd. Glasgow

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About the Authors

Lesley J. Ward has worked in the publishing industry for over thirty years, editing and proofreading books and journals. She is a founder member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), and regularly leads training courses for SfEP, the Irish Book Publishers’ Association and The London College of Communication. She is also a distance-learning tutor for the Publishing Training Centre. Her favourite course is Brush up your grammar. She lives in Berkshire and is notorious for being a harmless eccentric/dangerous radical who refuses to have e-mail. She doesn’t have a cat.

Geraldine Woods’ career as a grammarian began in her elementary school, which in those days was called “grammar school” for very good reason. With the guidance of a series of nuns carrying long rulers (good for pointing at the board and slapping unruly students), she learned how to diagram every conceivable type of sentence. She has been an English teacher for 25 years and has written 40 books, give or take a few. She loves minor-league baseball, Chinese food, and the novels of Jane Austen.

Dedication

From Lesley: This book is dedicated to Oliver and Francesca, who are going to receive copies from their grammatically obsessed maiden aunt.

From Geraldine: For my husband and son, the hearts of my life.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

From Lesley: Most of the people I need to thank will have to remain nameless because I can’t remember their names. The primary school teacher who got me hooked on grammar in the first place isn’t even a nameless face to me any more, although I can still see the blackboard and remember the weather (rainy) on the day she showed me that language is fascinating. My teachers at grammar school also did a wonderful job. (A special thank-you here to all the members of successive governments who didn’t decide that I didn’t need to know grammar.) Every author who argued with me, and every publishing house that gave me feedback on the work I did for them, helped to hone my skills. And all the experts who have taken the trouble to write grammar books that I could understand. Bless them – I now have a much better idea of how much effort those books took.

Also, thank you to Alison Yates and Simon Bell at Wiley. They were incredibly patient when I missed deadlines. And to Tabby Toussaint, the technical reviewer who saved me from a gaffe or two, and the poor frustrated copy-editor. They tried. Anything that’s still wrong is my fault.

From Geraldine: I offer thanks to my students, whose intelligence and curiosity never fail to inspire me. I also thank technical editor Tom LaFarge, whose good sense of humor and knowledge of grammar vastly improved this book. I am grateful to my project editor Linda Brandon, whose thoughtful comments challenged me to clarify my explanations and whose encouragement changed many a bad day into a good one. I appreciate the hard work of copy editors Billie Williams and Ellen Considine, who constantly reminded me to focus on you, the reader. I am also grateful to acquisitions editors Joyce Pepple, Roxane Cerda, and Susan Decker, who encouraged me at every opportunity. I owe a debt of gratitude to my agent, Carolyn Krupp, who calmed my nerves and answered my e-mails with unfailing courtesy and valuable assistance. Lastly, I thank my colleagues in the English Department, whose passion for teaching and love of our subject make my time at work a pleasure.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Simon Bell

Commissioning Editor: Alison Yates

Copy Editor: Charlie Wilson

Technical Editor: Tabby Toussaint

Executive Editor: Jason Dunne

Executive Project Editor: Martin Tribe

Cover Photo: GettyImages/John Molloy

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

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Special Art:

Proofreaders:

Indexer:

Brand Reviewer: Janet Sims

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

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Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Why does grammar make so many people nervous? Many of us weren’t taught any at school. (A really great government idea that put us all out of our depth the minute we stepped out of the classroom and into the real world!) Some of us found all the terminology boring. Others have forgotten what they learned because they haven’t had much chance to practise. And we can find ourselves in circumstances where our language skills aren’t as good as they need to be – in a job interview, writing our first report in a new job, or just trying to please a teacher. This can be stressful and make us very self-conscious. And it’s worse if everyone around us seems to be better at it, or if we find to our horror that the boss is one of those people who even seems to speak proper grammar. (Were some people born knowing this stuff?)

Happily, English grammar is a lot easier than you’ve been led to believe. You don’t have to learn all those technical terms, and if you ignore the terminology you’ll find that you already know a lot of it anyway. In this book we tell you the tricks of the trade, the strategies that help you make the right decision when you’re facing such grammatical dilemmas as the choice between I and me, had gone and went, and so forth. We explain what you’re supposed to do, but also tell you why a particular word is correct or incorrect. You won’t have to memorise a list of meaningless rules (well, maybe a couple from the punctuation chapter!) because when you understand the reason for a particular choice you’ll pick the correct word automatically.

About This Book

In this book, we concentrate on the common errors. We tell you what’s what in the sentence, in logical, everyday (pardon the term) English, not in obscure terminology. You don’t have to read this book in order, though you can, and you don’t have to read the whole thing. Just browse through the table of contents and look for things that you often get wrong. For example, if you know that verbs are your downfall, check out Chapters 2 and 3 for the basics. Chapters 11 and 18 show you how to pick the correct verb in a variety of situations, and Chapter 22 gives you the equivalent of a doctorate in verbology. You decide how picky you want to be.

How to Use This Book

Each chapter in this book introduces some basic ideas and then shows you how to choose the correct sentence when faced with two or three choices. If we define a term–linking verbs, for example–we show you a practical situation in which identifying a linking verb helps you pick the right pronoun. The examples are clearly displayed in the text so that you can find them easily. One good way to determine whether or not you need to read a particular section is to check the pop quizzes that are sprinkled around every chapter. If you get the right answer, you probably don’t need to read that section. If you’re puzzled, however, backtrack and read the chapter. Also, watch for Demon icons. They identify the little things–the difference between two similar words, commonly misused words and so on–that may sabotage your writing.

What You Are Not to Read

Here and there throughout this book, you see some items marked with the Black Belt icon. No human being in the history of the world has ever needed to know those terms for any purpose connected with speaking and writing correct English. In fact, we recommend that you skip them and do something interesting instead. For those of you who actually enjoy obscure terminology for the purpose of, say, clearing a room within ten seconds, the Black Belt icons define such exciting grammatical terms as subject complement and participial phrase. Everyone else, fear not: these sections are clearly labelled and completely skippable. Look for the Black Belt icons and avoid those paragraphs like the plague.

Foolish Assumptions

We wrote English Grammar For Dummies with a specific person in mind. We assume that you, the reader, already speak English (although you may have learned it as a foreign language) and that you want to speak and write it better. We also assume that you’re a busy person with better things to do than worry about who and whom. You want to speak and write well, but you don’t want to get a doctorate in English Grammar. (Smart move. Doctorates in English probably move you up on the salary scale less than any other advanced degree, except maybe Doctorates in Philosophy.)

This book is for you if

You want to get better marks for your schoolwork.

You aspire to a better-paid or higher-status job.

You want your speech and writing to present you as an educated, intelligent person.

You want your writing and your speech to be clear and to say exactly what you mean.

You want to polish your skills in English as a second language.

You simply want to use better grammar.

How This Book Is Organised

The first two parts of this book cover the basics: the minimum for reasonably correct English. Part III addresses the nuts and bolts of writing: punctuation and capital letters. Parts IV and V hit the finer (OK, pickier) points of grammar, the ones that separate regular people from Official Grammarians. If you understand the information in this section, you’ll have fun finding mistakes in the daily paper.

Here’s a more specific guide to navigating English Grammar For Dummies.

Part I: The Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence

This part explains how to distinguish between the three Englishes: the breezy slang of friend-to-friend chat, the slightly more proper conversational language, and I’m-on-my-best-behaviour English. We explain the building blocks of a sentence (subjects and verbs) – and show you how to put them together properly. In this part, we also provide a guide to the complete sentence, telling you what’s grammatically legal and what’s not. We also define objects and complements and show you how to use each effectively.

Part II: Avoiding Common Errors

In this part, we describe the remaining members of Team Grammar – the other parts of speech that can make or break your writing. We show you how to join short, choppy sentences into longer, more fluent ones without incurring a visit from the grammar police. We also explain descriptive word and show you how the location of a description may alter the meaning of the sentence. Prepositions – the bane of many speakers of English as a second language – are in this part, too, as well as some tips for correct usage. Finally, in this part we tell you how to avoid mismatches between singular and plural words, by far the most common mistake in ordinary speech and writing. Part II also contains an explanation of pronoun gender. In addition, reading this section may help you to avoid sexist pronoun usage.

Part III: No Garage, But Plenty of Mechanics

If you’ve ever asked yourself whether you need a comma or if you’ve ever got lost in quotation marks and semicolons, Part III is for you. We explain all the rules that govern the use of the apostrophe. We also show you how to quote speech or written material and where to place the most common punctuation mark, the comma. Lastly, we outline the ins and outs of capital letters: when you need them, when you don’t, and when they’re optional.

Part IV: Polishing Without Wax – the Finer Points of Grammar

Part IV inches up on the pickiness scale – not all the way to Grammar Heaven, but at least as far as the gate. In this part, we tell you the difference between subject and object pronouns and pronouns of possession. (No, you don’t need an exorcist.) We also go into detail on verb tenses, explaining which words to use for all sorts of purposes. We show you how to distinguish between active and passive verbs and how to use each properly. We illustrate some common errors of sentence structure and tackle comparisons – both how to form them and how to ensure that your comparisons are logical and complete. Finally, we show you how to achieve balance and order in the sentence.

Part V: Rules Even Your Great-Aunt’s Grammar Teacher Didn’t Know

Anyone who masters the material in Part V has the right to wear a bun and tut-tut a lot. This part covers the moods of verbs (ranging from grouchy to just plain irritable) and explains how to avoid double negatives. Part V also gives you the last word on pronouns, those little parts of speech that make everyone’s life miserable. The dreaded who/whom section is in this part, as well as the explanation for all sorts of errors with pronouns. We explain subordinate clauses and give you the lowdown on the most obscure punctuation rules.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Part VI is the Part of Tens, which offers some quick tips for better grammar. Here we show you ten ways to fine-tune your proofreading skills. Finally, we suggest ways (apart from reading English Grammar For Dummies) to improve your ear for proper English.

Icons Used in This Book

Wherever you see this icon, you’ll find helpful strategies for understanding the structure of the sentence or for choosing the correct word form.

Not every grammar trick has a built-in trap, but some do. This icon tells you how to avoid common mistakes as you unravel a sentence.

Think you know how to find the subject in a sentence or identify a pronoun? Take the pop quizzes located throughout this book to find out what you know and what you may want to learn.

Keep your eye out for these little devils: they point out the difference between easily confused words and show you how to make your sentence say what you want it to say.

Here’s where we get a little technical. If you master this information, you’re guaranteed to impress your oldest relations and bore all of your friends.

Where to Go from Here

Now that you know what’s what and where it is, it’s time to get started. Before you do, however, one last word. Actually, two last words. Trust yourself. You already know a lot. If you’re a native speaker, you’ve communicated in English all of your life, including the years before you set foot in school and saw your first textbook. If English is an acquired language for you, you’ve probably already learned a fair amount of vocabulary and grammar, even if you don’t know the technical terms. For example, you already understand the difference between

The dog bit Agnes.

and

Agnes bit the dog.

You don’t need us to tell you which sentence puts the dog in the doghouse and which sentence puts Agnes in a padded room. So take heart. Browse through the table of contents, take a few pop quizzes and dip a toe into the Sea of Grammar. The water’s fine.

Part I

The Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence

In this part . . .

So it’s, like, communication, y’know?

Can you make a statement like that without bringing the grammar police to your door? Maybe. Read Chapter 1 for a discussion of formal and informal language and a guide to when each is appropriate. The rest of this part of the book explains the building blocks of the sentence. Chapter 2 shows you how to find the verb, and Chapter 3 tells you what to do with it once you’ve got it. Chapter 4 provides a road map to the subject of the sentence and explains the basics of matching subjects and verbs properly. Chapter 5 is all about completeness–why the sentence needs it and how to make sure that the sentence gets it. In Chapter 6, we explore the last building block of a sentence–the complement.

Chapter 1

I Already Know How to Talk. Why Should I Study Grammar?

In This Chapter

Distinguishing between formal and informal English

Understanding when following the rules is necessary

Deciding when slang is appropriate

Using computer grammar checkers properly

You may be reading this book for a number of reasons. Perhaps you’re hoping to impress your English teacher (if so, it’s a good idea to let her accidentally catch you reading it). Or maybe you’re hoping to become so eloquent that when you pluck up the courage to ask the most beautiful girl in your class out on a date she’ll say yes. Or perhaps you want to improve the letters you write at work so that your boss will give you a promotion.

Whatever your ultimate goal is, you have probably decided that learning better grammar is a good strategy. In this chapter we’ll look at how the definition of better grammar changes according to your situation, purpose and audience. We’ll also tell you what your computer can and can’t do to help you write proper English.

What is grammar anyway?

In the Middle Ages, grammar meant the study of Latin, because Latin was the language of choice for educated people. In fact, knowing Latin grammar was so closely associated with being an educated person that the word grammar was also used to refer to any kind of learning. That’s why grammar schools were called grammar schools; they were places of learning – and not just learning about how Latin and English work.

These days, grammar is the study of language – specifically, how words are put together to create meaning. Because of all those obsessive English teachers and their rules, grammar also means a set of standards that you have to follow in order to speak and write correctly. This set of standards is also called usage, as in standard and non-standardusage. Standard usage is the one that earns an A grade. It consists of the commonly accepted correct patterns of speech and writing that mark an educated person in our society. You’ll find standard usage in government documents, in newspapers and magazines, and in textbooks. Non-standard usage draws red ink from a teacher’s pen faster than a bullet cuts through butter. Non-standard usage includes slang, dialect and just plain bad grammar.

Living Better with Better Grammar

The curtain goes up and you step on stage. One deep breath and you’re ready. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s an honour to be speaking . . . to speak . . . to have spoken . . . to you this evening. You clear your throat. I offer my best efforts to whomever . . . whoever the committee decides . . . will decide should receive the nomination. You begin to sweat, but you go on. Now if everyone will rise to his . . . to his or her . . . to their . . . to your feet . . . Does this sound like you? Do your words twist around themselves until you don’t know why you ever thought to open your mouth (or turn on your computer)? If so, you have lots of company. Nearly everyone in your class or office (or book club or squadron or whatever) has the same worries.

Stuck in English class, you probably thought that grammar was invented just to give teachers something to test. But in fact grammar – or, to be more precise, formal grammar teaching – exists to help you express yourself clearly. Without a thorough knowledge of grammar, you’ll get by just fine chatting with your friends and family. But you may find yourself at a disadvantage when you’re interviewed for a job or a place at university, or when you’re trying to convince someone to publish your novel, or when you find yourself having a slight disagreement with a customs officer at the airport on your way home from your holiday . . . and heaven help you if your boss turns out to be a stickler – one of those people who knows every grammar rule that was ever invented (and thinks that you should know them too) and insists that the English language must never be allowed to change.

Rightly or wrongly, your audience or readers will judge you by the words you use and the way you put them together. Ten minutes at the cinema will show you the truth of this statement. Listen to the speech of the people on the screen. An uneducated character sounds different from someone with five diplomas on the wall. The dialogue reflects reality: educated people follow certain rules when they speak and write. If you want to present yourself as an educated person, you have to follow those rules too.

Deciding Which Grammar to Learn

I can hear the groan already. Which grammar? You mean there’s more than one? Yes, there are actually several different types of grammar, including historical (how language has changed through the centuries) and comparative (comparing languages). Don’t despair. In English Grammar For Dummies,we deal with only two – the two you have to know in order to improve your speech and writing: descriptive grammar and functional grammar.

Descriptivegrammar gives names to things – the parts of speech and parts of a sentence. When you learn descriptive grammar, you understand what every word is (its part of speech) and what every word does (its function in the sentence). There is one important reason to learn some grammar terms – to understand why a particular word or phrase is correct or incorrect (and sometimes to be able to explain to someone else why it’s wrong).

Functionalgrammar makes up the bulk of English Grammar For Dummies. Functional grammar tells you how words behave when they’re doing their jobs properly. It guides you to the right expression – the one that fits what you’re trying to say – by ensuring that the sentence is put together correctly. When you’re agonising over whether to say I or me, you’re actually solving a problem of functional grammar.

So here’s the formula for success: a little descriptive grammar plus a lot of functional grammar equals better grammar overall.

Distinguishing between the Three Englishes

Better grammar sounds like a great idea, but better is tough to pin down. Why? Because the language of choice depends on your situation. Here’s what I mean. Imagine that you’re hungry. What do you say?

Wanna get something to eat?

Do you feel like getting a sandwich?

Will you accompany me to the dining room?

These three statements illustrate the three Englishes of everyday life. We’ll call them friendspeak, conversational English and formal English.

Before you choose, you need to know where you are and what’s going on. Most important, you need to know your audience.

Wanna get something to eat? Friendspeak

Friendspeak is informal and filled with slang. Its sentence structure breaks all the rules that English teachers love. It’s the language of I know you and you know me and we can relax together. In friendspeak the speakers are on the same level. They have nothing to prove to each other, and they’re comfortable with each other’s mistakes. In fact, they make some mistakes on purpose, just to distinguish their personal conversation from what they say on other occasions. Here’s a conversation in friendspeak:

We’re gonna go to the gym. Wanna come?

He’s, like, I did 60 push-ups, and I go, like, no way.

I mean, what’s he think? We’re stupid or something? Sixty? More like one.

Yeah, I know. In his dreams he did 60.

I doubt that the preceding conversation makes perfect sense to many people, but the participants understand it quite well. Because they both know the whole situation (the guy they’re talking about gets muscle cramps after four seconds of exercise), they can talk in shorthand. It helps, of course, that they’re speaking to each other (not just reading the words). The way they say the words helps to communicate their meaning, and if that fails they can wave their hands about or shake their heads in significant ways.

We don’t deal with friendspeak in this book. You already know it. In fact, you’ve probably created a version of it with your mates.

Slang

Psst! Want to be in the in-crowd? Easy. Just create an out-crowd and you’re all set. How do you create an out-crowd? Manufacture a special language (slang) with your friends that no one else understands, at least until the media pick it up. You and your pals are on the inside, talking about a wicked song that everyone likes (wicked means good). Everyone else is on the outside, wondering what you’re talking about. Should you use slang in your writing? Probably not, unless you’re sending an e-mail or a personal note to a good friend. The goal of writing and speaking is communication (usually with as many people as possible, or your book won’t become a bestseller). Also, because slang changes so quickly, the meaning may become obscure even a short time after you’ve written something. Instead of cutting-edge, you sound dated.

When you talk or write in slang, you also risk sounding uneducated. In fact, sometimes breaking the usual rules is the point of slang. In general, you should make sure that your readers know that you understand the rules before you start breaking them (the rules, not the readers) safely.

Do you feel like getting a sandwich? Conversational English

A step up from friendspeak is conversational English. Although not quite friendspeak, conversational English includes some friendliness. Conversational English doesn’t stray too far from the rules, but it does break some. It’s the tone of most everyday speech, especially between equals. Conversational English is – no shock here – usually for conversations, not for writing. Specifically, conversational English is appropriate in these situations:

Chats with family members, neighbours and acquaintances

Informal conversations with teachers and co-workers

Friendly conversations (if there are any) with supervisors

Notes and e-mails to friends

Comments in Internet chat rooms, bulletin boards and so on

Friendly letters to relatives

Novels

Conversational English has a breezy sound. Letters are dropped in contractions (don’t, I’ll, would’ve and so forth). You also drop words (Got a match?Later.On the fridge. and so on). In written form, conversational English relaxes the punctuation rules too. Sentences run together, dashes connect all sorts of things, and half-sentences pop up regularly. I’m using conversational English to write this book because I’m pretending that I’m chatting with you, the reader, not teaching grammar in a classroom.

Will you accompany me to the dining room? Formal English

You’re now at the pickiest end of the language spectrum: formal, grammatically correct speech and writing. Formal English displays the fact that you have an advanced vocabulary and a knowledge of etiquette. You may use formal English when you have less power, importance and/or status than the other person in the conversation. Formal English shows that you’ve trotted out your best behaviour in someone’s honour. You may also speak or write in formal English when you have more power, importance or status than the other person (to maintain the distance between you). The goal of using formal English is to impress, to create a tone of dignity, or to provide a suitable role model for someone who is still learning. Situations that call for formal English include:

Business letters and e-mails (from individuals to businesses as well as from or between businesses)

Letters to government officials

Office memos

Reports

Homework

Notes or letters to teachers

Speeches, presentations and formal oral reports

Important conversations (for example, job interviews, college interviews, parole hearings, sessions with teachers in which you explain that it wasn’t you that did what they think you did, and so on)

Authoritative reference books

Think of formal English as a business suit. If you’re in a situation where you want to look your best, you’re also in a situation where your words matter. In business, homework or any situation in which you’re being judged, use formal English.

Using the Right English at the Right Time

Which type of English do you speak? Friendspeak, conversational English or formal English? Probably all of them. (See the preceding section for more information.) If you’re like most people, you switch from one to another without thinking, dozens of times each day. Chances are, the third type of English – formal English – is the one that gives you the most trouble. In fact, it’s probably why you bought this book. (OK, there is one more possibility. Maybe your old maiden aunt gave you your copy of English Grammar For Dummies and you’re stuck with it. But right now you’re obviously reading the book instead of playing computer games, so you’ve at least acknowledged that you may be able to get something useful from it, and we’re betting that it’s formal English.) All the grammar lessons in this book deal with formal English, because that’s where the problems are fiercest and the rewards for knowledge are greatest.

Which is correct?

A. Hi, Ms Stakes! What’s up? Here’s the thing. I didn’t do no homework last night – too much goin’ on. See ya! Love, Lucinda

B. Dear Ms Stakes,Just a note to let you know that I’m not handing in my homework today. I didn’t manage to get it done last night! I’ll explain later!

Your friend,

Lucinda

C. Dear Ms Stakes,

I was not able to do my homework last night. . I will speak to you about this matter later.

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Robinson

Answer: The correct answer depends upon a few factors. How willing are you to get a failing grade for this piece of work (assuming you do get round to handing it in eventually)? If your answer is very willing, send note A. It’s written in friendspeak. Does your teacher come to school in jeans and trainers and have the self-image of a 1960s hippie? If so, note B is acceptable. Note B is written in conversational English. Is your teacher prim and proper, expecting you to follow the rules? If so, note C (which is written in formal English) is your best bet.

Relying on grammar checkers is not enough

Your best friend – the one who’s surfing the Internet and talking to you while you’re trying to read English Grammar For Dummies – may tell you that learning proper grammar in the third millennium is irrelevant because computer grammar checkers make human knowledge obsolete. Your friend is wrong about the grammar programs.

It’s comforting to think that a little green or red line will tell you when you’ve made an error and that a quick mouse-click will show you the path to perfection. Comforting, but unreal. English has half a million words, and you can arrange those words a couple of gazillion ways. No program can catch all your mistakes, and most programs identify errors that aren’t actually wrong.

Every time I type I don’t think this matters, the computer objects. It wants me to change this matters to this matter or these matters because it doesn’t recognise that matters can be a verb.

Spelling is also a problem. The computer can’t tell the difference between homonyms (words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings) and doesn’t know whether the words I type are the ones I mean. For example, if my fingers type

He walk son he edges like than ever day. I’ve told him it he does if and moor and fall sin I’m not polling his out. He’s such a pane! I’m going too complain formerly.

(I’m not much good at typing!) the computer underlines nothing. However, I was actually trying to say

He walks on the edge like that every day. I’ve told him if he does it any more and falls in I’m not pulling him out. He’s such a pain! I’m going to complain formally.

In short, the computer knows some grammar and spelling, but you have to know the rest.