Part I
Teaching grammar
Grammar – background and history
3
Teaching strategies for the contemporary classroom
8
Practical suggestions
14
Part II
The parts of speech
Introduction
21
1 Nouns
22
Common nouns
22
Proper nouns
23
Collective nouns
25
Abstract nouns
27
Revision of nouns
29
Things we can say about nouns
30
Number
30
I
II
v
Gender
32
Case
34
2 Pronouns
35
Personal pronouns
35
Demonstrative pronouns
38
3 Verbs
41
Finite and non-finite verbs
41
Tense
44
Simple and continuous verbs
45
Auxiliary (helper) verbs
49
4 Adjectives
53
Adjectives formed from nouns and verbs
56
Words that can be used as several parts of speech
56
Adjectives of degree and comparison
58
5 Adverbs
62
Adverbs of time
63
Adverbs of place
63
Adverbs of manner
63
Interrogative adverbs
64
Comparative adverbs
64
Irregular adverbs of comparison
64
6 Articles
68
The indefinite article
69
The definite article
69
7 Prepositions
71
8 Conjunctions
73
Coordinating conjunctions
73
Subordinating conjunctions
73
9 Interjections
75
10 Sentence forms
76
Statements
76
Questions
76
vi
contents
Commands
77
Exclamations
77
11 The apostrophe
80
Contractions
80
Possession
81
Avoiding confusion
82
12 Commas
84
The comma separates
85
A comma before the word ‘and’
86
13 Inverted commas
89
14 Subject and predicate
92
Abbreviations
95
15 Objects – direct and indirect
97
The direct object
97
The indirect object
100
I or me?
101
The complement
103
16 More about verbs
108
Subjects matching verbs
109
Transitive and intransitive verbs
111
Active and passive voice
113
17 Participles
116
Present participles
116
Past participles
117
Adjectival participles and gerunds
118
18 Perfect tenses
122
The present perfect tense
122
The past perfect tense
122
The future perfect tense
123
19 More about adjectives and adverbs
128
Numeral adjectives
128
Indefinite adjectives
128
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contents
Quantitative adjectives
128
Interrogative adjectives
129
Possessive adjectives
129
Adverbs of comparison
130
Adverbs modifying other parts of speech
130
Adverbs formed from adjectives
131
20 More punctuation
132
Colons
132
Semicolons
134
Hyphens
135
Parentheses – brackets and dashes
136
Ellipsis
137
21 More pronouns
139
Interrogative pronouns
139
Possessive pronouns
140
Indefinite and distributive pronouns
140
22 Emphasis
143
23 Mood
145
Indicative mood
146
Imperative mood
146
Subjunctive or conditional mood
146
24 Case
150
Nominative
150
Accusative
150
Dative
150
Genitive
151
Vocative
151
25 Phrases
153
Adjectival phrases
154
Adverbial phrases
155
Noun phrases
155
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contents
26 Clauses
160
Main clauses
162
Subordinate clauses
163
Adjectival clauses and relative pronouns
164
Adverbial clauses
167
Adverbial clause of time
168
Adverbial clause of place
168
Adverbial clause of reason
169
Adverbial clause of manner
169
Adverbial clause of condition
170
Adverbial clause of result
170
Adverbial clause of purpose
171
Adverbial clause of concession
172
Adverbial clause of comparison
172
Noun clause
174
27 Clause analysis
177
Format 1 – clause analysis chart
178
Format 2 – clause analysis table
179
Format 3 – clause analysis tree
182
28 Word building
188
29 Improve the way you speak and write
192
Confusion between words
192
Past tense and past participle
195
Double negatives
195
Double comparatives
196
Redundant adverbs
196
30 A final word
198
Bibliography
200
Glossary
202
Index
208
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contents
Dedication
To my daughter and business partner Sarah,
who is my constant supporter and critic.
And to Gavin, also our business partner,
supporter and friend.
Acknowledgment
Thank you to my husband John who suffers my long
work hours and sometime distraction!
and Karen Pennell, my patient and efficient typist who
reads my handwriting remarkably well.
Also I acknowledge all of our Quantum Literacy Tutors,
supporters and friends, who have been enthusiastically
awaiting the book.
I
Teaching
grammar
Part I
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Grammar – background
and history
Grammar instruction
The word ‘grammar’ often invokes a negative reaction in both
teachers and students. Many teachers have come through a period in
which grammar was neglected; for others, grammar has been taught
in a haphazard way. What has brought about this situation?
During the 1960s and 70s, many believed that traditional
elements of scholarship should be updated to suit the practices of
contemporary education. There followed a period of uncertainty.
No one was sure whether grammar instruction should take place
or not. Often, if they believed it should, the new curriculum failed
to allow it.
However, many in the profession believed that the absence of
grammar instruction was contributing to a lowering of literacy
levels. As a return to the grammar instruction courses of the past
would be unacceptable, a supposed solution was devised – a system
which became known as new or functional grammar. This system
involved the generalisation of grammatical terms, and stressed the
function that language performs, rather than the parts of speech
described in traditional grammar.
But before the age of 12 or 13 – long after the need for basic
grammar tuition – children do not normally begin to think
in abstract terms. No wonder that both parents and teachers
complained that the children disliked ‘new’ grammar, while they
themselves found it difficult to follow.
…
3
David Crystal, author of
The
Cambridge Encyclopaedia of
the English Language
, wrote, ‘In the popular mind, grammar has
become difficult and distant, removed from real life, and practised
chiefly by a race of shadowy people (grammarians) whose tech-
nical apparatus and terminology require a lengthy novitiate
before it can be mastered … It is a shame because the fundamental
point about grammar is so very important and so very simple.’
The final statement is the significant one. We need to show that
grammar need not be dry or tedious, but can be both fascinating
and relevant.
Some of you may have received no grammar instruction at all;
others may have been offered it in a random fashion, eclipsing
its true function. Grammar provides a whole cohesive system
concerning the formation and transmission of language. The
question is, how do we pass on this knowledge? Firstly we need
to understand it ourselves and, even better, develop that passion
and enthusiasm in our students.
4
GrAMMAr for eVerYone
I trip (verb) over the rug (noun) and then you say I’m clumsy (adjective)!
What is grammar?
We all use grammar from the time that we can speak in intelligible
sentences, because grammar deals with ‘the abstract system of
rules in terms of which a person’s mastery of his native language
can be explained.’
1
We assume that it all happens naturally and
are only confronted with the need to understand and define how
English works when we learn another language or attempt to teach
English to others.
So how might we define grammar? The simplest and perhaps
the truest definition is ‘a language to talk about language’. Just as
one cannot explain how a motor engine functions (or is failing to
function) without naming words for its parts and their specific
actions, so it is impossible to explore the function of words and the
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