One

Terminology 1

Grammar is the study of words and their function. In its

wider sense it may include phonology (pronunciation), mor-
phology (inflectional forms), syntax (the relation of words to
other words in phrases, clauses, and sentences), and semantics
(meanings of words). In its narrower sense it may deal only
with the forms and with the uses of words. Since grammar
is a science it must describe and analyze the basic facts of
speech, and explain and interpret the laws governing the be-
havior of language.
Historical grammar is a systematic study of the changes
occurring in a language or a group of languages as they vary
from generation to generation, from century to century.
Historical English grammar is a study of the nature, the ori-
gin, and the growth of the English language from its earliest
written form to the present time. It describes the charac-
teristics of Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and
New (or Modern) English, and analyzes the variations and
changes that occur in these three periods.
Descriptive grammar is a study of established facts and
usages as they exist at a given time. A modern descriptive
English grammar, as this text purports to be, deals with
words and their functions in current English. It treats the
1 The terminology and the definitions given in this chapter and in the later

chapters are the traditional ones, and no attempt has been made to expand the
definitions of terms used in this text beyond their grammatical or linguistic sig-
nificance.
11
12 GRAMMATICAL FORM

most important facts of morphology and syntax of cultivated

English of the present time. When historical facts are cited,
it is for the purpose of throwing light on the standard level of
English usage as it is spoken today in England and America.
A sentence (French, from Latin sententia, an opinion) is a
group of related words containing a subject and a predicate
and expressing a complete and independent unit of thought:
(1) Ducks swim. (2) A flock of wild ducks flew across the
river. (3) I bought the book that you wrote. The sentence
may consist of the bare subject and predicate, as in the first
of these illustrations; or of the subject and predicate with
their modifiers, as in the second and third.
The subject of a sentence is a word or a group of words de-
noting that of which something is said. The subject may be
a noun or any word or group of words substituting for a noun.
The predicate is the word or group of words denoting that
which is said of the subject. The predicate may be only a
finite verb, or it may be a finite verb with its complements
and modifiers. In John is in the Navy, John is the complete
subject, and is in the Navy is the complete predicate. In For
a man to speak of himself is a difficult and delicate matter, the
subject is the phrase For a man to speak of himself; the com-
plete predicate, is a difficult and delicate matter, consists of
the verb is plus the noun matter with its adjective modifiers.
In That the earth is round has been proved, the noun clause,
That the earth is round, is the subject; and the predicate is the
finite verb phrase has been proved.
A phrase is a group of related words without a subject or a
predicate, acting as a single part of speech. Phrases may be
classified as to their function (adverb, adjective, noun, verb)
or as to their structure (prepositional, participial, gerundial,
infinitive). The most common phrases are the verb phrases
(have come, will be seeing, might have been) and the preposi-
tional phrases (at the seashore, in Europe, across the lake, in a
bad humor, without reservation).
A clause is a subdivision of a sentence containing a subject
 TERMINOLOGY 13

and a predicate. Clauses are traditionally classified as inde-

pendent (or principal) and dependent (or subordinate),
though these terms are somewhat loosely used when applied
to noun clauses. In the sentence Sin has many tools, but a lie
is the handle which fits them all, there are three clauses. The
first two may be called independent (or principal) clauses;
the third one is an adjective clause modifying the noun han-
dle, and it may be called a dependent (or subordinate) clause,
because it is dependent upon (or subordinate to) another
clause. In Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, there
are two independent clauses, each of which might be a sen-
tence if it stood alone without the and. 2 In the sentence I
said that I would go, a noun clause is used as the object of the
verb said, and the clause is in the predicate of the full sen-
tence. I said cannot be regarded as a full clause, because
the predicate is not complete with just the verb said. The
clause that I would go is not in reality a dependent (or subordi-
nate) member of the sentence, except perhaps for its mean-
ing and function. Because the noun clause cannot stand
alone and because of its dependence upon the full sentence
for its meaning and construction, it is also generally classified
as a dependent (or subordinate) clause.
In accordance with the general purpose of a sentence, it
may be classified as declarative, interrogative, imperative, or
exclamatory. 3
A declarative sentence states a fact or makes an assertion
and closes with a period: Roger Ascham taught Queen Eliza-
beth Latin and Greek. I do not approve of wars.
An interrogative sentence asks for information. It always
closes with an interrogation mark. The question may be
introduced by the verb or by an interrogative pronoun, an
interrogative adjective, or an interrogative adverb; or it may

2 The term clause is not usually applied to a simple sentence, but to any division

of a complete sentence containing a subject and a predicate.

3 Sentences are also classified by form as simple, complex, and compound.
These will be defined and analyzed in Part Two of this text.
14 GRAMMATICAL FORM

have the form of the declarative sentence, especially if an

affirmative answer is expected or inferred: Is your brother a
soldier? Which book did you choose? Who is to be invited to
your party? When did your sister leave? You saw [did you
not?] the thief go through the window?
An imperative sentence issues a command, a request, or
imprecation. It, like the declarative sentence, closes with a
period. The sentence is addressed to some person or some
group of persons. The subject is usually implied: Shut the
door at once. Let us all pray for peace. 0 Lord, give us this
day our daily bread.
The exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion: sur-
prise, relief, grief, fear, hate, delight, etc. It closes with an
exclamation mark, which often distinguishes it in the written
form from the declarative interrogative, and imperative
sentences. It is often expressed in the form of an indirect
(and sometimes a direct) question: Frailty, thy name is woman!
Long live the King! How could a father be so cruel! 4
Form (Morphology) and Syntax are the two principal
phases of grammar to be treated in this text. Form has to
do with the shape of words and the meanings and relation-
ships that may result from inflection. Child, boy, man have
singular forms; their plural forms are children, boys, men. In
early English, form was much more important than it is today
in differentiating the meanings of words. The gender, case,
and number of a noun or a pronoun could be revealed in the
form used. The noun, the adjective, and the adverb could
usually be differentiated from one another and from the other
parts of speech by their forms. But in Modern English these
inflectional markings have been leveled (reduced, simplified)
so that the form that a part of speech has in a sentence does
not reveal as much as it once did, the inflectional meanings
4 The interrogation mark may be used to close this type of sentence when the

question requests a reply. The interrogative sentence asks for information; the
exclamatory sentence exclaims the question. A question exclaimed is a rhetor-
ical question, and no answer is expected from the one addressed; as, And what is
so rare as a day in June? Is this the man who scourged or feasted kings?
 TERMINOLOGY 15

in present-day English often being determined by the posi-

tions words occupy in sentences.
Function (or Form) words are sometimes called morphemes
or empty words. They are words and phrases that have lost
their original or individual meaning and serve only to show
the relationship or the structure of full words (i.e., words
having independent meaning of their own). More and most
are function words when used to form the comparative and
superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs. That in That
the earth is round has been proved, is in The horse is a domestic
animal, there in There are two of us, it in It is raining, and of in
The Sea of Galilee is 14 miles long, are all mere function
words.
Inflection is the change, or modification, in the form of a
word to indicate a change in its meaning. Verbs change
their form (inflect) to show a change in tense (see, saw), per-
son (do, does; am, is), number (was, were), voice (give, is
given), and mode (is, be). Nouns and pronouns may change
their form to show gender (actor, actress), or number (boy,
boys; man, men), or case (boy, boy's; he, his, him). The in-
flection of a part of speech may be terminal (boy, boys; red,
redder; learn, learned), or internal (ride, rode; goose, geese), or
both terminal and internal (sell, sold; bring, brought). The
inflection of a verb is usually called conjugation; that of the
adjective and adverb, comparison; and that of nouns and
pronouns, declension. 5 Prepositions, conjunctions, and in-
terjections do not change their forms to show changes in
meaning, and hence are called uninflected parts of speech.
Syntax (Greek syn, together, and taxis, arranging) means
sentence structure: the orderly arrangement, relation, agree-
ment of parts of the sentence in accordance with usage, or
5 "The nominative was anciently held to be the primary and original form,
and was likened to a perpendicular line from which the variations, or oblique
cases, were regarded as failings away (hence called casus, cases, or failings); and
an enumerating of the various forms, being a sort of progressive descent from
the noun's upright form, was called a declension. By a later extension of mean-
ing case was applied also to the nominative."
-Webster's New International Dictionary.
16 GRAMMATICAL FORM

custom. It has to do with the use (or construction) of words,

phrases, and clauses in a given sentence.
Parts of speech are the divisions into which words are
classified according to their functions in a sentence. Most
grammarians recognize eight parts of speech 6 in classifying
all the words in the language which are used in connected
discourse. Each part of speech has a special use (or part) in
the make-up of the sentence of which it is a unit. The noun
(the name of a person, place, or thing), the pronoun (a word
substituting for a noun), and the adjective (a word qualifying
a noun or pronoun) are generally associated with or thought
to belong to the subject of the sentence or to substantives
belonging to or relating to the subject. The verb (a word
asserting action, being, or state of being) and the adverb
(when a modifier of the verb) are felt to belong to the predi-
cate of the sentence. The preposition ('a word placed before'
to show relation between words) and the conjunction ('a
yoking,' or connecting, word) show relationship or connect
units within the sentence. The interjection (an ejaculation,
an exclamation) is used to show emotion.
The same word may belong to more than one part of speech,
the classification depending upon the use of the word, not
upon its form. Love may be a noun (Love rules the court), or
a verb (Love your enemies). In may be a preposition (Dun-
can is in his grave), or an adverb (Come in). For may be a
preposition (He came for the money), or a conjunction (Let
another be judge, for I wish to enter the contest).
A group of words (phrase or clause) may serve as a single
part of speech. The infinitive phrase, for example, may be
a noun (To lie is wrong), or an adverb (He came to see me),
or an adjective (I have an ax to grind). The gerund is al-
6 Some grammarians exclude the interjection from the list of tho parts of
speech; others separate the articles (the, a, an) from the adjective division and
others classify the expletive as a full part of speech. The number of parts of
speech may, therefore, vary according to these or other similar exclusions and
inclusions. School grammars generally recognize the traditional eight parts of
speech, which will be discussed in Part One of this text.
 TERMINOLOGY 17
ways a verbal noun and the entire phrase of which it is a part
is frequently used for a noun: (I enjoy playing baseball; I
cannot approve of your going away). Clauses may be used as
nouns (I know that you are my best friend), as adverbs (I go
when I am invited), or as adjectives (I like the suit that you
gave me).
One part of speech may sometimes be converted into an-
other by changing its form. An adjective by the addition
of -ness or -ty may become a noun (sweetness, purity). Some
nouns may become adjectives by adding -Jul (hopeful, cheer-
ful), or -y (milky, fishy), or -ed or -d (talented, diseased) ; or by
adding other similar suffixes. The adjective may serve as a
noun by ellipsis ( The good die young; Take the bitter with the
sweet). Some adjectives may become verbs by the addition
of -en (whiten, blacken, sweeten, thicken), or adverbs by the
addition of -ly (slowly, rapidly). The noun or pronoun in
the possessive case may have the function of an adjective
(The boy's hat; My coat). Other conversions of a similar
nature will be treated more fully in the chapters devoted to
the different parts of speech.
Usage is a term employed by linguists to classify speech
habits or language peculiarities, to show what is or has been
practiced at a given time by a stated group of users of a lan-
guage. The term is frequently qualified to give us such ex-
pressions as historical usage, Modern English usage, standard
usage, current usage, British and American usage, and so forth.
The laws and rules of grammar are not always based upon
historical facts or upon logic (as in mathematics and chem-
istry), but on current standard usage established by cultured
and educated people whose influence is considered important.
Idioms and idiomatic phrases are terms used by grammar-
ians, philologists, and lexicographers to explain or classify the
unusual, the illogical, or the peculiar expressions in a lan-
guage. Idiomatic expressions frequently defy grammatical
analysis, and are, therefore, not easily translated into other
words and phrases in the same language, or into other Ian-
18 GRAMMATICAL FORM

guages word for word without losing some of their highly

specialized meaning. Had better in You had better go at
once is an idiomatic expression. It in It is snowing, there in
There is a loaf of bread on the table, and How do you do? in a
formal salutation are all idiomatic expressions that occur
very often in American English. When the terms idiom and
idiomatic are used in this text, it is to be understood that they
describe expressions that have been accepted through custom
and usage as good English, even though these expressions
may not always be used in such a way as to conform to the
general and traditional rules of English grammar.
Solecism is a term used to describe a blunder in grammar
or a construction not sanctioned by good usage. Any word
or combination of words deviating from the idiom of the lan-
guage or from the rules of syntax may be called a solecism;
as, He don't for He doesn't, and between you and I for between
you and me.
A barbarism is a word or phrase that is not in good use.
It may be a newly coined word, a slang expression, a vul-
garism, a provincialism, or any illiterate or unauthorized
expression. Ain't, orate, aviate, complected, gym, woozy, no-
wheres, attackted, unbeknownst, and irregardless are all bar-
barisms, because these expressions are not used by cultured
writers and speakers.
Colloquialisms are expressions used in ordinary conversa-
tion. They belong to the informal (popular or common)
level of speech. Colloquial English admits words, phrases,
forms, and constructions that would be out of place in for-
mal oral or written speech. Because colloquial expressions
without the aid of gestures, facial expressions, or tone of
voice are often inexact, their use should be restricted to our
informal communications. Colloquial English may include
contractions, such as I'll, you've, won't, shouldn't, can't, and
don't; or it may include such improprieties as It is me; It is
them; You are dijf erent than me. When a colloquial expres-
 TERMINOLOGY 19

sion becomes universally used, it may be regarded as standard

English.
An obsolete expression is one that is no longer in use. An
archaic expression is one that has the characteristics of a
much earlier period and is on the way out of use. Any word
is archaic if it is too old to be generally used. Poets fre-
quently employ archaisms and thus prevent their becoming
obsolete. Here are a few examples of obsolete or archaic
English: whilom, sikerly (used by Chaucer for surely), thilke
(for that), methinks (it seems to me), hideth, wert, wast, quoth,
thou, thy, thine, thee, ye, wrought (for worked), gotten, thrice,
erstwhile, eftsoon. To determine whether a word is obsolete
or archaic, one must depend upon its classification in the
standard dictionaries.