Guide to Good English
1. PARTS OF SPEECH
In this section the traditional names are used for parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, and preposition). Two other
terms are sometimes used in describing grammar.
One is modifier, which means any word that modifies the meaning of another word (usually a noun). It is broader in scope than ‘adjective’ and
includes, for example, table in table lamp as well as bright in a bright lamp or the lamp was bright. The other is determiner, which means any word such
as a, the, this, those, and every which you put before a noun to show how you are using the noun (as in a fire, the fire, this fire, those fires, and every
fire).
Nouns
A noun is a word that names something: a person (woman, boy, Frances), a thing (building, tree), or an idea (birth, happiness). A common noun names
things generally, whereas a proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing. Collective nouns, such as audience, family, generation, government,
team, are nouns which refer to groups of people or things. They can be treated as singular or plural: see agreement below.
Proper nouns
Proper nouns are normally spelled with a capital initial letter and refer to persons or things of which there is only one example (Asia, Ark Royal,
Dickens). The term is sometimes understood more broadly to include geographical and ethnic designations such as American and Ashanti, which
behave like common nouns, for example in allowing the forms an American and the Ashanti. Some genuinely proper names can also behave like common
nouns in certain uses, for example a fine Picasso (= a painting by Picasso), another Callas (= a singer comparable to Callas).
In these uses it is usual to retain the capital initial letter.
Verbal nouns
A verbal noun (also called
a gerund) is a form of a verb ending with -ing that acts as a noun, for example smoking in the phrase no smoking and in the sentence Smoking annoys people. It should be distinguished from smoking used as an adjective (a smoking fire) and as the present participle of
the verb (The man was smoking).
Because a verbal noun is a part of a verb as well as being a noun, it keeps some of the characteristics of verbs in its grammatical behaviour; for
example the forms They objected to me swearing (non-possessive) and They objected to my swearing (possessive) are both established in ordinary
usage, although the second, in which swearing is treated as a full noun, is often preferred in more formal writing.
Verbs
A verb is a word that describes an action (go, sit, put) or state (be, live) and is normally an essential element in a clause or sentence. A verb is classified as transitive when the action affects a person or thing called the object (We lit a fire), and as intransitive when there is no object (She smiled).
Using the correct tense
Tense is the location in time of the state or action expressed by a verb. English verbs properly have only two tenses, the present (I am) and the past (I was). The future is formed with shall or will, other forms of the past are formed with auxiliary verbs (I have been / I was being), and the past perfect
is formed with the past tense of have (I had been).
The tense used mostly corresponds to actual time, apart from conventional uses such as the so called ‘historic present’, used for dramatic effect in narratives (as in George gets up and walks over to the window), and the future used in polite requests (as in Will that be all for now?).
However, choice of tense (called ‘sequence of tenses’) becomes more complex in reported speech.
If a simple statement such as I’m afraid I haven’t finished is put into indirect speech by means of a reporting verb such as said, thought, etc., the tense of the reported action changes in accordance with the time perspective of the speaker: He said he was afraid he hadn’t finished. The tense of the reported verb can stay the same if the time relative to the speaker is the same as that relative to the person reported: She likes beans can be converted either to She said she liked beans or to She said she likes beans, and I won’t be here tomorrow can be converted either to I said I wouldn’t be here tomorrow or to I said I won’t be here tomorrow.
shall and will
With I and we, shall should be used to form the simple future tense (expressing a prediction of a future action), while will is used to express an
intention to do something:
I shall be late for work.
We will not tolerate this rudeness.
With you, he, she, it, and they, the situation is reversed; simple future action is expressed with will, while shall expresses an intention or command:
He will be late for work.
You shall join us or die!
In speech, these distinctions are often not observed.
should and would
The situation is similar with should and would. Strictly speaking, should is used with I and we, while would is used with you, he, she, it, and they:
I should be grateful if you would let me know.
You didn’t say you would be late.
In practice, however, it is normal to use would instead of should in reported speech and conditional clauses, such as I said I would be late.
Active and passive
Verbs can be either active, in which the subject is the person or thing performing the action (as in France beat Brazil in the final), or passive, in which the subject undergoes the action (Brazil were beaten
by France). In the passive voice verbs are usually formed with be, and the subject is expressed as an agent introduced by the preposition by.
The passive is also used for impersonal constructions with it:
It is believed that no action should be taken.
It is felt that your complaint arises from a misunderstanding.
Other verbs besides be can be used to form so called ‘semi-passives’ (as in He got changed, They seem bothered). Here changed and bothered are behaving almost more like adjectives.
SubjunctiveThe subjunctive is a special form (or mood) of a verb expressing a wish or possibility instead of fact. It has a limited role in English:
It was suggested he wait till the next morning.
Fundamentalist Islam decrees that men and women be strictly segregated.
In these sentences, the verbs wait (in the first) and be (in the second) are in the subjunctive; the ordinary forms (called the indicative) would be
waits and are.
There are other typical uses of the subjunctive:
2 after if (or as if, as though, unless) in hypothetical conditions:
Each was required to undertake that if it were chosen it would place work here.
2 be or were at the beginning of a clause with the subject following:
Were I to get drunk, it would help me in the ight.
All books, be they fiction or non-fiction, should provide entertainment in some form or other.
2 in certain fixed expressions and phrases, e.g. be that as it may, come what may, perish the thought, so be it, and others.
Participles
There are two kinds of participle in English:
The present participle ending with -ing as in We are going
The past participle ending with -d or -ed
for many verbs and with -t or -en or some other form for others, as in
Have you decided?,
New houses are being built
It’s not broken.
Participles are often used to introduce subordinate clauses that are attached to other words in a sentence, e.g.
Her mother, opening the door quietly, came into the room.
A stylistic error occurs with so-called ‘unattached’, ‘misrelated’, or ‘dangling’ participles, when the participle does not refer to the noun to which it is
attached, normally the subject of the sentence:
Recently converted into apartments, I passed by the house where I grew up.
Certain participles, such as considering, assuming, excepting, given, provided, seeing, speaking (of), etc., have virtually become prepositions or conjunctions
in their own right, and their use in a grammatically free role is now standard:
Speaking of money, do you mind my asking
what you did with yours?
Adjectives and adverbs
An adjective is a word used to describe a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical. An adverb is typically a word used to modify a verb, adjective, or
other adverb, such as gently, lazily, or very.
Position
Most adjectives can be used in two positions: either before the noun they describe, where they are called ‘attributive’, as in a black cat and a gloomy outlook, or after a verb such as be, become, grow, look, or seem, where they are called ‘predicative’, as in the cat was black and the prospect looks gloomy.
Some adjectives are nearly always used in the predicative position and cannot stand before a noun (e.g. afraid), while others are only found in the attributive position (e.g. main).
Adjectives following a noun
In many fixed standard expressions, adjectives denoting status are placed immediately after the nouns they describe, e.g. in court martial, heir
apparent, poet laureate, president elect, situations vacant, and the village proper. In other cases, an adjective follows a noun as a matter of sentence
structure rather than peculiarity of expression:
The waiter picked up our dirty glasses in his fingertips, his eyes impassive.
Position of adverbs
Adverbs normally come between the subject and its verb, or between an auxiliary verb and a main verb:
She dutifully observes all its quaint rules.
Roosevelt’s financial policy was roundly criticized in 1933.
But for emphasis, or when the adverb belongs closely to what follows the main verb, it comes after the verb and before a following adverbial phrase:
There is little chance that the student will
function effectively after he returns home.
Sentence adverbs
Some adverbs (such as clearly, happily, hopefully, thankfully, unhappily) refer to a whole statement, and form a comment associated more closely with
the speaker or writer than with what is said. In this role they are called ‘sentence adverbs’.
Sentence adverbs often stand at the beginning of the sentence:
Clearly, we will have to think again.
Sentence adverbs are well established in English, although the use of thankfully and (in particular) hopefully can arouse controversy:
Hopefully the road should be finished.
Although objection to such use is artificial, be aware that some people may take exception to these words, especially in written or formal contexts.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word such as I, we, they, me, you, them, etc., and other forms such as the possessive hers and theirs and the reflexive myself and themselves. They are used to refer to (and take the place of) a noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned or is known, especially in order to
avoid repetition, as in the sentence
When she saw her husband again, she wanted to hit him.
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are the type formed with -self, e.g. myself, herself, and ourselves, used in sentences in which the subject of the verb and the
object are the same person or thing, as in
We enjoyed ourselves and Make yourself at home.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but, for, if, or, and when, used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. On the use of and and
but at the beginning of a sentence,
Prepositions
A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, and with, which usually stands before a noun or pronoun and establishes the way it relates to what
has gone before (The man on the platform, They came after dinner, and What did you do it for?).
It is sometimes stated that a preposition should always precede the word it governs and should not end a sentence. However, there are cases when it
is either impossible or not natural to organize the sentence in a way that avoids a final preposition:
in relative clauses and questions featuring verbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:
What did Marion think she was up to?
They must be convinced of the commitment
they are taking on.
in passive constructions:
The dress had not even been paid for.
in short sentences including an infinitive with to or a verbal noun:
It was my dancing he objected to.
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