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Exploring language is a handbook for teachers which was developed to assist with the exploring language objectives for English in the New Zealand Curriculum (1993). The book is accompanied by two videotapes on oral and visual language. The content of the handbook is reproduced online for your reference.
Published for the Ministry of Education by Learning Media Limited. Crown copyright 1996 Dewey number 428 ISBN 0 478 02993 4Item number 02993
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Standard English has nothing to do with pronunciation. It refers only to the syntax of spoken and written English.
Standard English is spoken with many different accents. New Zealanders speak standard English with a New Zealand accent.
Standard English is the variety of English that has always been accepted and taught in New Zealand schools, usually without question.
Standard English is the form of English that is used in writing, and it is the same or very similar wherever it is used, irrespective of the dialects or accents of its speakers. There are some differences between standard British English and standard American English, for example, but these are very few when compared with the vast amount that is the same.
The stability of standard English is one of its advantages: it means that it can be used, and has been used, throughout the English-speaking world.
In its origins, standard English was one of many English dialects, coming from the East Midland area. This was the dialect used at the royal court, and it was the dialect used by Caxton when he introduced printing. It was not chosen to be the standard for English because it was in any way better or more aesthetically pleasing than other dialects. If the court had been in Wales or in Cornwall, a different dialect would have prevailed, and people today would be saying that it was the best. Over the years, the East Midland dialect gained prestige, and today it is generally taken to be "correct English", with some of the other varieties seen as incorrect.
One of the features of standard languages anywhere is that they avoid variation and resist change. Writers of dictionaries and grammar books have codified the language, and people look to these books as authorities for what is right and wrong. In traditional English grammar books, much emphasis was given to defining one correct form. Children were taught, for example, that only different from was correct, even though many speakers used different to or different than. In the past, the study of the English language often presented students with a minefield of possible mistakes, no doubt contributing to the sense of linguistic insecurity some people experience in social situations where they are anxious about using incorrect English.
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Exploring Language is reproduced by permission of the publishers Learning Media Limited on behalf of Ministry of Education, P O Box 3293, Wellington, New Zealand, © Crown, 1996.
We hear of Maori children getting the strap for using Maori in the school playground. We don't hear people speaking out on behalf of those children who got the strap when I was at school because they didn't use standard English - when they said things like I ain't done nothing, or I come here last week.
Fifty-five-year-old teacher
The term "vernacular English" (like the term "standard English") refers only to syntax. It does not refer to pronunciation or vocabulary choice.
Vernacular English is associated with varieties of English that are normally spoken, not written. There are no prescribed conventions for vernacular English, and there are few dictionaries or grammars of vernacular English.
A popular but mistaken view is that vernacular English is the result of carelessness and linguistic degeneracy: that students who say I done it yesterday or What are yous doing? are hastening the decay of the English language and that teachers must stop this perceived decline. When people are asked why they object to I done it yesterday, the usual reply is that it sounds so awful or that it's just wrong. Linguists who have studied language varieties can demonstrate that there is no inherent rightness or wrongness about saying I done or I did. I done it yesterday is not wrong in the sense that 2 + 2 = 5 is wrong. Vernacular English has its own rules, which its speakers learn as they learn to talk. They say I done it yesterday, and not I it yesterday done. It is not chaotic or haphazard. The only thing that we can say about it is that it is different from standard English.
The term dialect has been used here for varieties that are not the standard form of the language. The dialects of Britain differ greatly, as do popular attitudes towards them. Among the traditional British dialects, those associated with rural areas such as Somerset, Yorkshire, or Lancashire are usually considered attractive, while those associated with large urban areas, such as Manchester, Liverpool, or Birmingham are frequently condemned and said to be ugly.
Traditional English dialects are radically different both from standard English and from each other, and they are rarely heard outside the British Isles.
Standard English can be called a mainstream dialect - it is used throughout the English speaking world. The vernacular English used in New Zealand is also a mainstream dialect, but it is a non-standard or vernacular one. It is also used in other English-speaking countries. There are English speakers in Australia, South Africa, and other countries who also say I seen it and I done it.
The following examples of vernacular English forms are based on a questionnaire by Heidi Quinn, a student at the University of Canterbury.
Yous won't win the game. What is needed is a more gentler approach. You should of done this a long time ago. That's the most nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I been over to the States a couple of times. I'm sure I seen her put her car in the garage. He come all the way just to see a soccer match. Tina and me are going to the Coast next week. Us New Zealanders must stick together. It's a hard life for we students. I hate teachers what tell you off all the time. Her car is newer than what mine is.He stands on his desk and be's a punk rocker.
Standard English is the appropriate form for the teaching of writing. It is unusual to see the vernacular written down, and when it is, it is not always written consistently. This can be seen in different spellings given to some vernacular forms, such as yous,youse, you's.
If teachers are to respect the social backgrounds of all students, they need to see the vernacular not as something harmful to be banished but rather as a variety used by parents and families in many New Zealand homes. There are many situations when it is entirely appropriate, but there are also many other situations where standard English is the appropriate form.
One of the functions of the educational system is to teach standard English. This language book does not imply that anything at all is acceptable and that standards do not matter. The teaching of standard English is very important; the acknowledgment of the vernacular is also important. By exploring language in all its diversity, we hope to move away from simply dividing varieties of language into "good language" and "bad language".
There are obvious benefits in being able to use standard English, and those who grow up in homes where this is the only form of English used have a considerable advantage in our educational system. There are also advantages in being able to use the vernacular. People who have both varieties can move in and out of different social groups easily. Variation in the vernacular can also be exploited effectively. Different social situations or audiences can be marked by subtle changes in language that are not available to those whose dialect is only standard English.
Many observers are familiar with the way some children regularly use vernacular English in an adventure playground and standard English at school, already demonstrating their ability to make language choices depending on the social situation.
Because the vernacular has not been codified as standard English has, there is no body of literature that warns of possible errors when we use the vernacular. Speakers for whom this is their only variety are not troubled with the insecurities that some prescriptive standard English rules can induce.
It is useful to remember that the terms "standard English" and "vernacular English" refer to syntax only, not to pronunciation or vocabulary choice.
The first English-speaking settlers in New Zealand came from many different areas of Britain and Ireland. With the discovery of gold, many more arrived, especially via Australia. For the first few decades, many dialects of English were heard in New Zealand but, by the turn of the century, complaints were being heard about a new and distinctive variety of speech, often dismissed as a "colonial twang". This variety of English had probably emerged earlier but was not recognised as distinctively New Zealand among the mixture of different dialects spoken at that time.
New Zealand-born children who lived in isolated areas usually grew up speaking with the same dialectal features as their parents. Others who lived in larger towns, or where there was regular communication with other places, began to develop the features of early New Zealand English. This was especially noticeable in goldmining areas, where many settlers had come via Australia. New Zealand soldiers who went away to the First World War spoke with a recognisable New Zealand accent. Since then, the accent has been slowly changing, with the result that children's speech differs from that of their grandparents. Both, however, speak recognisably New Zealand English.
When New Zealand children were first heard speaking with a New Zealand accent, many teachers and school inspectors were dismayed and put the emergence of this new variety down to the pernicious influence of the home and the street. It seems that the New Zealand accent was first associated with children and people who were lower class.
The view was strongly held in educational circles that educated people spoke with middle-class British accents - what the Professor of English at Canterbury University College, Professor Arnold Wall, called "the language of the best speakers at Home". Efforts to get New Zealand children to change their New Zealand vowel sounds for those of the British middle class continued for some years, and the Department of Education supported these efforts with manuals and with elocution lecturers in Teachers Colleges; it was also a constant concern of the school inspectors. Eventually, as complaints came that the teachers also had this New Zealand accent, it was seen to be a losing battle.
The development of the New Zealand accent was part of New Zealand's close relationship with Britain, and these links influenced teachers' attitudes towards it. For many years, the language of Britain was regarded as the standard for both speaking and writing in New Zealand. The variety promoted for speech was RP - Received Pronunciation. The word "received" in this context means "accepted" or "standard." This variety of pronunciation is associated with the British upper class and public school education. It is a social accent that gives no information about the region where a speaker comes from. In New Zealand, RP is sometimes called "BBC English" or "an Oxford accent".
Today, understanding of the relationship between language and social identity is increasing. Young children who arrive at school with an accent different from that used in the school change and adapt with remarkable speed. Peer group pressure is a powerful motivation for language change. Many children are able to keep two accents - one for home and one for school.
The requirement for people to change their accent is not a simple demand. Such a change can affect personal relationships. The New Zealander who drops his or her accent for RP may be regarded with suspicion and may even be seen as a poser or as selling out. It is important that students be encouraged to speak clearly and confidently using speech that is not muffled or slurred; it is not necessary for them to change their speech to an approved set of vowel sounds as people thought in the past. The way people speak identifies where they come from and the group they wish to associate with. A person's speech is an important aspect of his or her identity and must be treated with respect.
Today, New Zealand English is a distinctive variety of English, distinguished among other international varieties of English that include Australian English, Canadian English, South African English, and so on.
Formal/informal style is the term given to variation in formality of speech and writing. There is a continuum from the most formal to the most informal.
Father was fatigued. Dad was shattered.The old man was stuffed.
The three sentences above have similar meaning; they differ in the degree of formality of style. The first is written in a very formal style; the second and third are increasingly informal.
All three examples above are written in standard English. Slang is not the same as vernacular English. It is language in a very informal style of English.
I seen the old man was stuffed.
This sentence is written in a very informal style (slang), and it is in the vernacular.
Knowledge of appropriate formal/informal styles of language is an important social skill and one that teachers can help develop. The most formal style will be the most foreign to many students and will require modelling. The most formal style is also the language of academic writing; as students progress through the school, they will need to understand and use this style.
Register refers to the specialist languages that are associated with certain activities, such as trades and professions, sport, religious practices, school subject areas, and so on.
Certain registers may also coincide with formal language use. It would be peculiar for a doctor to use informal language in a written medical report. We would expect a doctor to write:
re: Albert Jones. Current test shows elevated haemoglobin and possible polycythaemia. Further test in 6 months indicated.
In an informal situation, the same doctor chatting to other doctors over a cup of coffee could combine technical terms and informal vocabulary.
That fellow Jones has a pretty hairy haemoglobin count. Have to keep an eye on him.
The use of the term haemoglobin is part of the register of medical usage. The layperson's term would be red blood cell.
Some professions seem to use their linguistic registers as a barrier to those on the outside. Doctors and lawyers, for example, in their communication with members of the public, can keep them in awe and ignorance - not necessarily deliberately - by using terms that are not generally understood by laypeople. An understanding about registers and their function in society could help students to question and challenge such language use and alert practitioners to the effects of the inappropriate use of that register.
The school curriculum will recognise and value the unique position of Maori in New Zealand society [...] The school curriculum will acknowledge the importance to all New Zealanders of both Maori and Pakeha traditions, histories, and values.The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Wellington: Ministry of Education, 1993), page 7
In the past, some dubious comments were made about Maori children and their use of English, which was often described as limited in scope and therefore limiting in its usefulness for school purposes. A bulletin, Maori Children and the Teacher(Wellington: Department of Education, 1971) expressed anxiety about how "speakers of Maori English will have increasing difficulty with their classwork" unless the school intervened.
This booklet described quite a common perception about Maori English at that time and could be seen as implying a serious indictment of Maori families. Such statements invite questions about the very narrow view of some educationalists of what was right and wrong in language, whereby anything that did not conform to a specific "standard" was seen as incorrect and deficient, a view that emphasised the inequalities that come about through social attitudes to different varieties of language.
As this book has already shown, all children have a natural ability to acquire language. It could well be that the variety being spoken by these children had not been properly studied and described. Teachers need to recognise that children will have had diverse experiences in life and language before they come to school and should certainly not assume that lack of knowledge of a particular range of vocabulary or concepts indicates lack of language ability or competence. Teachers need to know where the children are coming from and appreciate that different groups of children will have different language experiences to share.
An important development in New Zealand is the emergence of Maori English or Maori-accented English, as it is sometimes called. It is not clear how long this has been used. A broadcast of interviews made in 1958 with young Maori men and women who had left the country to work in the city had only one speaker whose accent was slightly Maori accented out of the eight recorded.
Today this variety of New Zealand English has become a marker of certain social groups. Those who use it do not necessarily speak Maori. Indeed, it has been suggested that whereas in the past the ability to speak the Maori language was the most important marker of Maori identity, today the use of Maori-accented English has taken over that function for many. Research on this variety of New Zealand speech is limited, and so the following comments derive only from general observation.
Most features of Maori English are shared with some varieties of Pakeha New Zealand pronunciation. Maori English differs in the production of some vowels and diphthongs and is most noticeably different in its stress and rhythm, being more syllable timed than stress timed. Connecting devices between words, such as the linking r, are frequently absent.
There is no single homogeneous variety of Maori English. It seems that there are several possible features of this variety, with some speakers having only one or two in their speech and others having a much greater number.
Some speakers are able to move in and out of this variety according to the situation. Schoolgirls were observed speaking with marked Maori English accents among themselves but changed to general New Zealand accents when a university researcher attempted to make recordings of their speech.
In some places and situations, Pakeha can also be heard speaking Maori-accented English. It functions as a strong in-group marker that is not used exclusively by Maori.
Some linguists consider Maori English to be a myth, and its existence and status is the subject of debate. We have found, however, that students can quickly recognise Maori English speakers when presented with recorded material where they have no first-hand knowledge of the speakers. The comedian, the late Billy T. James, used Maori-accented English for comic effect; recordings demonstrate some occasions when his speech was strongly Maori accented and some where there is no trace at all of Maori-accented English.
As with other varieties of pronunciation, Maori-accented English is part of its speaker's identity and should be treated with respect.
Some people claim that they can tell whether a speaker comes from Auckland or Christchurch or some other part of New Zealand. Although research has not demonstrated clear regional pronunciation differences, this does not mean that differences do not exist. The one area that is notably different from others is Southland, where remnants of the Scottish pronunciation of the early settlers can still be heard. This is sometimes called "the Southland burr". It is marked by the pronunciation of "r" after a vowel and before a consonant (in words such as card or horse) and after a vowel at the end of words (such as fur). Older Southlanders pronounce most incidents of "r" in these places. Middle-aged speakers are more varied in their usage, pronouncing the "r" after some but not all vowels and maybe only some of the time. Young speakers most commonly pronounce the "r" only in words with the /é/ phoneme (as in nurse, heard, first).
There are some regional differences in vocabulary used in New Zealand. In Otago and Southland, a bach is referred to as a crib, but on the West Coast, a crib is a miner's lunch. Names for containers for strawberries change from punnet to pottle to chip in different parts of the country. In Auckland, students might wag school; in Christchurch, they bunk school. Other examples can be found in general books on New Zealand English listed in the Useful Books.
In New Zealand, pronunciation and standard and vernacular English are not the only social class markers in language. Building up a vocabulary is a part of language acquisition that is also very closely related to society and the social background of children. In the early 1970s, some Master of Arts students at the University of Canterbury made a study comparing the vocabulary of standard 3 (year 6) students at a private school and at a state school in a lower socio-economic area of Christchurch. They found that the state school students were more likely to put the pot on the ring, whereas those from the private school put the saucepan on the element. The state school students ate lollies, and the private school students ate sweets. State school students had wash-houses, but private school students had laundries. The student researchers found that the state school students had no terms at all for some things, such as serviettes/dinner napkins and morning and afternoon tea.
When it came to words for the main living room in the house, the state school students all had lounges, but the private school students had a range of words - front room, living room, family room, drawing room. Similar results were found with names for an item the state school students called a jacket. At the private school, this was also called a parka, an anorak, a windcheater, and a windbreaker.
The student researchers responded to these results by suggesting that the state school pupils were somehow linguistically deficient, the absence of some terms and the lack of alternative terms being cited as evidence of this. Such evidence, however, only reflects the children's backgrounds. Those who live in big houses need more names for the various rooms in those houses. State school students are highly likely to have areas of expertise where their vocabulary is wider than that of private school students, but researchers are usually from the middle class themselves and may not have the social knowledge to ask questions that test other areas.
This research was done over twenty-five years ago, but it still provides a useful warning to teachers. The fact that a student does not understand a particular word does not necessarily mean that that student is unintelligent or deficient. Their understanding could well be the product of their own background and experience. By enabling children to have a wide variety of different experiences, teachers are also assisting children to build up a wide and useful vocabulary.
New Zealand schools have long taught students who come from home backgrounds in which languages other than English are used. The wide range includes both historical settlers' groups and groups that have arrived more recently.
Historical settlers' groups include people from:
New settlers' groups come from:
In addition, many children also come from tangata whenua groups in which te reo Maori is a focus for home life.
Within all these groups are various degrees of bilingualism as students adopt their new language. Bilingual students often experience a diminution of skills in their first language as they develop skills in their second language. This can happen over several generations.
There is a pattern in the way in which competence in first languages often diminishes in immigrant groups. This pattern is observable in different countries and across different language groups.
First Generation of ImmigrantsThe parents and children are very fluent in their first language. However, the children are encouraged, and sometimes forced, to use the new language, which in New Zealand is English. Competence in the new language is seen as the key to success in education and employment. There is also pressure to learn the new language in order to cope with living in the new language community.
Second GenerationThe children who learned English vigorously when they arrived have become parents who have varying degrees of competence in their mother tongue. Their children (the second generation) are passively bilingual, that is, they are likely to have only receptive skills (listening and perhaps some reading) in the mother tongue.
Third GenerationWhen this second generation have children of their own, the third generation is likely to have English skills and very few, if any, skills in their parents' mother tongue. At this stage, immigrant groups often turn to the education system for assistance with instruction in the mother tongue.
All language programmes in schools have an important role in attempting to arrest first language loss by encouraging students to maintain competence in their first language, while also learning English.
Students from language backgrounds other than English can make use of the knowledge that they already have of their first language. For these students, the process of learning another language is one in which they are constantly asking the question, "In what ways is this new language the same as, or different from, the one that I already know?"
Teachers can assist this process in several ways.
They can allow opportunities for students to continue to use their first language in classroom programmes.
Some care might be needed here to avoid causing embarrassment to the new learner. However, in settings where the degree of acceptance is such that learners are willing to use their first language, this approach becomes a powerful means of relating aspects of the new language to those in their first language.
Teachers can invite students to share information about their language with the teachers and their peers.
The ESOL student brings to the classroom a valuable resource that can be harnessed to illustrate the different ways in which languages work, for instance, in names and greetings. Students who learn to respect the different language skills of other learners are building their knowledge of differences between languages and developing an understanding that there is no one correct way in which all languages work.
Teachers can use a range of student groupings in the classroom for different purposes.
Using different groupings in the classroom allows teachers to use first language skills on some occasions to stimulate groups with representatives from different language backgrounds and at other times to place ESOL learners in a linguistic setting where they are surrounded by more competent users of English. Having ESOL students in the classroom is a real cause for the class to celebrate language differences and also to affirm the new students.
When English speakers are required to speak in a setting that has particular requirements, they adopt a register and a formal/informal style appropriate to that purpose or setting. ESOL students can also adapt their language to different situations, but instead of changing styles within English, they often change languages. A student might use one language in the home setting and a different language at school. If a parent visits the school, the student may use the home language; if a teacher visits the home, the student will probably use the school language.
This mixing can mean that many bilingual speakers have "split language competence". In other words, they might be able to deal with wide and varied personal relationships in their first language but not in their second; or they might have strong language skills relating to certain occupations, skills, or academic knowledge in the second language that they do not have in their first language.
Bilingual people naturally and easily switch from one language to another. This can happen within a conversation or even within the same sentence. Sometimes they do not realise they are doing this. This behaviour is known as code-switching.
Our kohanga is striving hard and succeeding in te tautoko i te kaupapa.Kei hea nga ski bunnies?
Code-switching is also a feature of the language of bilingual speakers who are gaining strength in their language use as they bridge from one language to another.
In the past, people who used words or phrases from certain European languages such as Latin, French, or German were thought to be very well educated. This is sometimes called "elitist code-switching". Those who code-switched between less prestigious languages were thought to be lazy or careless, mixing languages in a thoughtless or stupid way.
Students should explore and develop an understanding of grammar, or the way words and phrases are formed and combined. See also morphology and syntax.
English in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 17
This section provides a guide to understanding the internal structure of sentences and words, and the related terminology. The main purpose is to provide a useful reference for teachers. It is important that they have a secure knowledge of the structure of English so that they can understand and describe the language they and their students use and develop. This book has not been written for use as a classroom text but rather for teachers to draw on as they need.
The planning and writing of this section has involved making certain decisions. An eclectic approach has been used rather than the approach of any one linguistic school. The material here has been adapted from a number of sources, which are listed in Useful Books. The two major works by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik have been general references, along with Katharine Perera's book Children's Writing and Reading: Analysing classroom language. Wherever possible in this section, traditional terms have been chosen because they are familiar to many teachers and are widely used. Sometimes the definitions here will differ from those in the older traditional grammar books.
It is customary for people who write grammar books to work through the differentcategories in an orderly manner, either beginning with the word and ending with the sentence or beginning with the sentence and finishing with the word. In this book, however, we have developed an approach that might seem less tidily organised. We have ordered and presented the information so that teachers can begin with terms and concepts that are familiar, such as noun, verb, subject, and object, and move from these to those that are less familiar. The text is written as a form of narrative, introducing new elements as they are needed and building on what has gone before.
Because this book is designed for use by teachers from years 1 to 13, it has to accommodate many different requirements. There are certain basic elements of grammar that everyone needs to know. There is extra information that might be needed by teachers of senior classes or by teachers who have second-language learners in their classes. Where this extension or additional information occurs, it is separately identified.
Additional material that we hope will be useful to teachers has also been included in this section. We have linked some material in The Grammar Toolbox to information about children's language development. We have also provided some examples from other languages, especially Màori, in order to show contrasts, to explain why second language learners might have difficulties, and to demonstrate that the way the English language does things is not necessarily the only possible or logical way. Some relevant references are included about language and gender and about the historical development of English.
The writers of The Grammar Toolbox consulted widely. This consultation was important because the terminology set out here is to be used in all New Zealand schools, and it is essential that it is not only useful and appropriate but also accurately defined and illustrated. Some university linguists were especially helpful with their advice, and some of their recommendations were adopted. However, because the book is primarily for teachers, it was necessary to find a balance between relevance and completeness. Sometimes the full, carefully explained accounts of some aspects of grammar, as provided by linguists, were more detailed or complex than teachers needed for their everyday use. Therefore on some occasions we have taken the risk of presenting a simpler account, at the same time hoping that those who are interested and curious will go beyond this book to the more comprehensive and detailed descriptions available from other sources. Recognising the many demands on teachers' time, we have sometimes opted for short and simple accounts of complex subjects, necessarily making some compromises for the sake of comprehension and accessibility.
For some, The Grammar Toolbox will be introducing new content and concepts. It is important, therefore, that teachers take the time and effort to become familiar with its contents in order to make it useful both for them and for their students.
It is a fundamental assumption in modern linguistics that all language is governed by rules. Whether we put the word the in front of or after the word dog in English is not a matter of choice. Native English speakers - those who learned English as their first language - know that the always precedes the noun; in other words, they know the rule.
However, the word "rule" has different meanings for different people, and it is important to make a distinction between prescriptive rules and descriptive rules. It is also important to state at the outset that The Grammar Toolbox is not a compendium of prescriptive rules.
Prescriptive rules are edicts about what we should do and what we should not do when we use language. These are the "rules" that were commonly taught in schools in the past. The following are typical prescriptive rules.
When we look for the origins of these rules, we find that usually they are not based on actual usage. The first example is a rule first stated by the poet Dryden and is based on a rule of style in Latin. The second example is also based on Latin - the meaning of the first syllable dis- in Latin is "from". The third example first appeared in a seventeenth century grammar book written by John Wallis and was copied by later grammarians. The last example assumes that "none" equals "no one", even though it can be argued that none of the books has a plural meaning: They have not been returned.
It is a matter of debate whether time and effort should be spent teaching and learning prescriptive rules and whether failure to observe them still carries the social sanctions that it once did. It has been suggested that knowing some of these prescriptive rules is like knowing some fine points of etiquette. In certain formal situations, the knowledge might be useful.
Descriptive rules are statements about what is normal in language use. Language is rule governed; it is not haphazard or chaotic. As children learn to talk and use language, they are learning the rules of that language. Psycholinguists who study children’s language acquisition all agree that the language of very young children is clearly rule governed, even though it might differ from adult language. At every stage, the child has his or her own grammar with rules of its own. The child who says *gooses or *mans is observing a regular rule for creating plural forms in English. Later, the child will learn the rule for irregular forms, and this will replace the earlier rule. The ability to speak a language involves an internal knowledge of hundreds of rules. (Note: In this handbook, the asterisk indicates error in language use.)
These are rules that do not need to be taught in school because children have learned them as they learned the language. The fact that we know immediately when a non-native speaker makes a mistake shows that we know the underlying rules. We recognise error in:
Yet most English speakers would find it very difficult to explain these rules to the non-native speaker. Study of the structure of the English language is necessary to understand the rules involved in its production. The purpose of The Grammar Toolbox is to make explicit some of these rules that underlie the native speaker's knowledge of syntax and morphology.
Some important definitions
The study of the elements within words is called morphology.
The study of the elements within sentences is called syntax.
Syntax and morphology together are referred to as grammar.
The word "grammar" derives from Greek gramma, meaning "letter" or "writing".
The term convention is used where there is a generally accepted usage or practice. The conventions of written English include such aspects as punctuation, the layout of a letter or a curriculum vitae, the format of a book. In oral language, there are conventions for formal debates or sermons or speeches of welcome. Children need to learn the conventions of their language - when it is appropriate or inappropriate to use certain words, how to use politeness forms, and so on. The rules of a language are highly resistant to change over time, but conventions can and do change, both over time and from one audience to another.
Think of the tools in the toolbox [...] a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screwdriver, a rule, a glue-pot, glue, nails and screws. The functions of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.
Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations
Human language has different parts that were traditionally called "parts of speech". Today these are called word classes. Like the tools in the toolbox, the members of each word class behave differently.
Plato recognised a class of words in Greek that he called onoma or "name". This was translated into Latin as nomen, which is the origin of our word noun.
Nouns enable us to name things that exist in the world.
The familiar traditional definition of a noun is "a naming word": it refers to a thing, a person, or a substance.
This is a good starting point.
There are more precise ways of defining nouns.
She liked chocolate.
She liked the chocolate.
The technical name for "the" is the definite article.
Some English nouns have irregular plurals.
Some English nouns have slightly different spellings in the plural.
These are called proper nouns, and they always have a capital letter. (The word "proper" comes from French propre meaning "one's own".) Most proper nouns do not have the in front of them.
Proper nouns include:
Some nouns are the names of things or people that you can point to, see, or touch: chair, house, book, train, frog, astronaut.
These are called concrete nouns.
These are called abstract nouns.
Nouns can be further classified as to whether they are countable or uncountable (or mass).
Most common nouns in English are countable. These are nouns that have a singular and a plural form, such as book/s, frog/s, woman/women.
Some nouns name things that cannot be counted, like honesty, furniture, heat, mud, calcium, anger. These are called uncountable or mass nouns. Many of them are also abstract nouns because they refer to things you cannot see, hear, or touch.
In special circumstances, uncountable nouns for food and drink can be used as countable nouns. By convention, this means "servings of".
I had a beer with my lunch. (a glass of beer)
I'll have two sugars, thanks. (two spoonfuls or lumps of sugar)
One roast beef and two cottage pies coming up. (one serving of roast beef and two servings of cottage pie)
Which one of the following do you say?
The committee is meeting this afternoon. The committee are meeting this afternoon.
The decision depends on whether you think of a committee as a unit or a complete group:
The committee is ...
Or as a number of individuals:
The committee are ...
Both versions are now generally considered acceptable, depending on the meaning.
As far as we know, verbs are a word class found in all languages. In Latin, the word verbum means "word", which shows the importance of verbs. Verbs have traditionally been called "doing words".
Verbs give information about whether they are happening in the present, past, or future.
The different forms of the verb - smiles, smiled - can tell us whether something is happening in the present or in the past.
The technical name for this information is tense.
In English, all verbs show tense.
This makes tense a useful clue for recognising verbs.
In the sentence "Harry looks cheerful today", the verb look is in the present tense.
In the sentence "Harry looked cheerful yesterday", the verb look is in the past tense.
The regular way to show the past tense is by adding -ed.
Benny yelled, Sarah sniffed, Megan packed her backpack, Joseph laughed, Mum iced the cake.
Some English verbs have irregular forms of the past tense.
The following verb is referred to as the verb BE. Its different forms are highly irregular.
Verbs can have more than one element:
The main verb in these groups is jump.
In the above examples, am, have, will, was are auxiliary verbs. Their task is to "help" other verbs. (The Latin word auxilium means "help".)
Auxiliary verbs carry information about tense: the time of the event.
The auxiliary verb can be followed by not or the shortened form -n't:
Verbs can have more than one auxiliary.
Verb forms that show tense are called finite verbs.
These are finite verb forms:
By itself, the verb form walking is called a non-finite verb. The sentence "He was walking" uses he + was (aux.) + walking (non-finite verb).
When the auxiliary was and the non-finite verb form walking are put together, they make up a finite verb form was walking.
There are three kinds of non-finite verb form:Verbs ending in -ing. These are called present participles.
Verbs that follow the auxiliary verb HAVE. In regular verbs, this non-finite verb form ends in -ed; many also end in -en. These are called past participles.
The infinitive. This non-finite verb form also does not show tense.The infinitive does not have a special ending, and it can be thought of as the base form of the verb.It can appear in two different forms:The infinitive in a base form with to in front of it.
The infinitive without the word to. In this form, it can come after verbs like can, will, let, and so on.
It used to be seen as a grammatical crime to split an infinitive, although the rationale for this view is not clear.
Henry Fowler, in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, refers to Those who do not know but do care [about a split infinitive] would as soon be caught putting their knives in their mouths as splitting an infinitive, but have only hazy notions of what constitutes that deplorable breach of etiquette ...
A split infinitive has another word placed between the to and the base verb, such as to sometimes fight and to never yield or to boldly go where no man has ever gone before.
This ban on the split infinitive was misguided. There are many adverbs that need to be placed immediately before the verb.
I ought to flatly refuse. We have to always be careful.
If you put the adverb somewhere else, you change the emphasis, and the sentence is awkward.
I ought flatly to refuse. I ought to refuse flatly.
You have always to be careful. You have to be careful always.
Whether you put an adverb between the to and the verb is a matter of style and meaning. We have to sometimes revise old grammatical terminology.
Summary of Terms
Traditionally, adjectives were called "describing words". Adjectives are words that modify nouns.
In English, the adjective normally goes in front of the noun.
In some languages, the adjective comes after the noun.
Adjectives can allow us to compare things and to show degrees of comparison. In this construction, the adjective may follow the noun.
This is usually done by adding -er, -est.If the adjective is fairly long, we use more and most.
Adjectives with one syllable usually take -er/-est; those with two syllables can usually have either. Adjectives with three syllables or more take more/most.
The technical names for these adjective forms are:
comparative adjective - shorter, older, more beautiful, more sensible;
superlative adjective - shortest, oldest, most beautiful, most sensible.
The comparative and superlative forms are useful tests for recognising adjectives, but they don't work for all adjectives. Another useful test is that an adjective can go in the gap below:
This test helps with some words that don't look like adjectives. Utter is an adjective in "the utter fool", and next is an adjective in "the next trick". This is the only test that works for strange adjectives like these. Utter and next don't seem to be describing words, and they don't have comparative and superlative forms.
It is common to hear young children use forms like *gooder, *baddest, *bestest, *worser. They have learned the regular way of making comparatives and superlatives and are using these with an irregular form. This is a sign of language development. The irregular forms will be learned with experience in the language.
As children develop their language, they usually produce superlatives before they can produce comparative forms.
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