5: Grammar and Usage
- Grammar
- Introduction
- 5.1The field of grammar
- 5.2Schools of grammatical thought
- 5.3Prescriptive versus descriptive grammar
- 5.4“Standard” English
- 5.5Parts of speech
- Nouns
- Traditional Classifications
- 5.6Nouns generally
- 5.7Common nouns
- 5.8Proper nouns
- 5.9Mass nouns
- Properties of Nouns
- 5.10Properties of nouns
- 5.11Noun case
- 5.12Noun number
- 5.13Noun gender
- 5.14Noun person
- Plurals
- 5.15Plurals generally
- 5.16Plural form with singular sense
- 5.17Plural-form proper nouns
- 5.18Anomalies of the plural
- Case
- 5.19Function of case
- 5.20Common case, nominative function
- 5.21Common case, objective function
- 5.22Genitive case
- 5.23The “of”-genitive
- 5.24Joint and separate genitives
- 5.25Distributive possessives
- Appositives
- 5.26Appositives—definition and use
- Functional Variations
- 5.27Nouns as adjectives
- 5.28Nouns as verbs
- 5.29Adverbial functions
- Pronouns
- Definition and Uses
- 5.30Pronouns defined
- 5.31Antecedents of pronouns
- 5.32Adjective as antecedent
- 5.33Pronouns without antecedents
- Properties of Pronouns
- 5.34Four properties of pronouns
- 5.35Pronoun number and antecedent
- 5.36Exceptions regarding pronoun number and antecedent
- 5.37Pronoun with multiple antecedents
- 5.38Pronoun case
- 5.39Pronouns in apposition
- 5.40Nominative case misused for objective
- Classes of Pronouns
- 5.41Seven classes of pronouns
- Personal Pronouns
- 5.42Form of personal pronouns
- 5.43Identification of personal pronouns
- 5.44Changes in form of personal pronouns
- 5.45Agreement of personal pronoun with noun
- 5.46Personal pronouns and gender
- 5.47Personal pronoun case
- 5.48Personal pronoun after linking verb
- 5.49Personal pronoun after “than” or “as–as”
- 5.50Special uses of personal pronouns
- 5.51Generic singular “they”
- 5.52Referential singular “they”
- Possessive Pronouns
- 5.53Uses and forms of possessive pronouns
- 5.54Possessive pronouns versus contractions
- Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
- 5.55Basic uses of reflexive and intensive pronouns
- Demonstrative Pronouns
- 5.56Demonstrative pronouns defined
- Reciprocal Pronouns
- 5.57Reciprocal pronouns generally
- Interrogative Pronouns
- 5.58Interrogative pronouns defined
- 5.59Referent of interrogative pronouns
- Relative Pronouns
- 5.60Relative pronouns defined
- 5.61Relative pronouns with personal pronouns
- 5.62Positional nuances of relative pronouns
- 5.63Antecedent of relative pronouns
- 5.64Remote relative clauses
- 5.65Omitted antecedent of relative pronoun
- 5.66Relative pronoun and the antecedent “one”
- 5.67Genitive forms for relative pronouns
- 5.68“Whose” and “of which”
- 5.69Compound relative pronouns
- 5.70“Who” versus “whom”
- Indefinite Pronouns
- 5.71Indefinite pronouns generally
- Adjectives
- Types of Adjectives
- 5.72Adjectives defined
- 5.73Proper adjectives
- Articles as Limiting Adjectives
- 5.74Articles defined
- 5.75Definite article
- 5.76Indefinite article
- 5.77Indefinite article in specific reference
- 5.78Choosing “a” or “an”
- 5.79Articles with coordinate nouns
- 5.80Effect of article on meaning
- 5.81Omitted article and zero article
- 5.82Article as pronoun substitute
- Position of Adjectives
- 5.83Basic rules for position of adjectives
- 5.84Adjective after possessive
- 5.85Adjective modifying pronoun
- 5.86Predicate adjective
- 5.87Date as adjective
- Degrees of Adjectives
- 5.88Three degrees of adjectives
- 5.89Comparative adjectives
- 5.90Superlative adjectives
- 5.91Forming comparatives and superlatives
- 5.92Equal and unequal comparisons
- 5.93Noncomparable adjectives
- Special Types of Adjectives
- 5.94Participial adjectives
- 5.95Coordinate adjectives
- 5.96Phrasal adjectives
- 5.97Exceptions for hyphenating phrasal adjectives
- 5.98Adjectives as nouns
- 5.99Adjectives as verbs
- 5.100Other parts of speech functioning as adjectives
- Verbs
- Definitions
- 5.101Verbs generally
- 5.102Transitive and intransitive verbs
- 5.103Ergative verbs
- 5.104Regular and irregular verbs
- 5.105Linking verbs
- 5.106Phrasal verbs
- 5.107Principal and auxiliary verbs
- 5.108Verb phrases
- 5.109Contractions
- Infinitives
- 5.110Infinitives defined
- 5.111Uses of the infinitive
- 5.112Split infinitive
- 5.113Dangling infinitive
- Participles and Gerunds
- 5.114Participles generally
- 5.115Participial phrases
- 5.116Gerunds
- 5.117Distinguishing between participles and gerunds
- 5.118Fused participles
- 5.119Dangling participles
- 5.120Dangling gerunds
- Voice, Mood, Tense, Person, and Number
- 5.121Five properties of verbs
- 5.122Active and passive voice
- 5.123Progressive conjugation and voice
- 5.124Verb mood
- 5.125Indicative mood
- 5.126Imperative mood
- 5.127Subjunctive mood
- 5.128Subjunctive versus indicative mood
- 5.129Present subjunctive mood
- 5.130Past subjunctive mood
- 5.131Past-perfect subjunctive mood
- 5.132Verb tense
- 5.133Present tense
- 5.134Past-indicative tense
- 5.135Future tense
- 5.136Present-perfect tense
- 5.137Past-perfect tense
- 5.138Future-perfect tense
- 5.139Progressive tenses
- 5.140Mixing different tenses
- 5.141Verb person
- 5.142Verb number
- 5.143Agreement in person and number
- 5.144Agreement of indefinite pronouns
- 5.145Relative pronouns as subjects
- 5.146False attraction to predicate noun
- 5.147Misleading connectives—“as well as,” “along with,” “together with,” and the like
- 5.148Agreement in first and second person
- Auxiliary Verbs
- 5.149Auxiliary verbs generally
- 5.150Modal auxiliaries
- 5.151“Can” and “could”
- 5.152“May” and “might”
- 5.153“Must”
- 5.154“Ought”
- 5.155“Should”
- 5.156“Will” and “would”
- 5.157“Do”
- 5.158“Have”
- “Be”-Verbs
- 5.159Forms of “be”-verbs
- 5.160Conjugation of “be”-verbs
- Adverbs
- Definition and Formation
- 5.161Adverbs generally
- 5.162Sentence adverbs
- 5.163Adverbial suffixes
- 5.164Adverbs without suffixes
- Simple Versus Compound Adverbs
- 5.165Simple and flat adverbs
- 5.166Phrasal and compound adverbs
- Adverbial Degrees
- 5.167Positive adverbs
- 5.168Comparative adverbs
- 5.169Superlative adverbs
- 5.170Irregular adverbs
- 5.171Noncomparable adverbs
- Position of Adverbs
- 5.172Placement of adverbs
- 5.173Adverbs that modify words other than verbs
- 5.174Adverbs that modify intransitive verbs
- 5.175Adverbs and linking verbs
- 5.176Adverb within a verb phrase or infinitive
- 5.177Use and misuse of “only.”
- Prepositions
- Definition and Types
- 5.178Prepositions generally
- 5.179Simple and compound prepositions
- 5.180Phrasal prepositions
- 5.181Participial prepositions
- Prepositional Phrases
- 5.182Prepositional phrases generally
- 5.183Prepositional function
- 5.184Placement of prepositional phrases
- 5.185Refinements on placement
- 5.186Ending a sentence with a preposition
- 5.187Clashing prepositions
- 5.188Elliptical prepositional phrases
- 5.189Pronoun case in prepositional phrases
- Other Prepositional Issues
- 5.190Prepositions and functional variation
- 5.191Use and misuse of “like”
- 5.192“Of” phrase and verb agreement
- Limiting Prepositional Phrases
- 5.193Avoiding overuse of prepositions
- 5.194Cutting prepositional phrases
- 5.195Cutting unnecessary prepositions
- 5.196Replacing prepositional phrases with adverbs
- 5.197Replacing prepositional phrases with genitives
- 5.198Using active voice to eliminate prepositions
- Prepositional Idioms
- 5.199Idiomatic uses of prepositions
- 5.200Shifts in prepositional idiom
- 5.201List of words and the prepositions construed with them
- Conjunctions
- 5.202Conjunctions defined
- 5.203Simple versus compound conjunctions
- 5.204Coordinating conjunctions
- 5.205Correlative conjunctions
- 5.206Subordinating conjunctions
- 5.207Special uses of subordinating conjunctions
- 5.208Adverbial conjunctions
- 5.209Beginning a sentence with a conjunction
- 5.210Beginning a sentence with “however”
- 5.211Conjunctions and the number of a verb
- 5.212Omitting “that”
- Interjections
- 5.213Interjections defined
- 5.214Use of interjections
- 5.215Interjections and functional variation
- 5.216Words that are exclusively interjections
- Syntax
- 5.217Syntax defined
- 5.218Statements
- 5.219Questions
- 5.220Some exceptional types of questions
- 5.221Directives
- 5.222Exceptional directives
- 5.223Exclamations
- The Four Traditional Types of Sentence Structures
- 5.224Simple sentence
- 5.225Compound sentence
- 5.226Complex sentence
- 5.227Compound-complex sentence
- English Sentence Patterns
- 5.228Importance of word order
- 5.229The basic SVO pattern
- 5.230All seven syntactic patterns
- 5.231Variations on syntactic order
- Clauses
- 5.232Clauses
- 5.233Relative clauses
- 5.234Appositive clauses
- 5.235Conditional clauses
- Ellipsis
- 5.236Ellipsis generally
- Negation
- 5.237Negation generally
- 5.238The word “not”
- 5.239The word “no”
- 5.240Using pronouns and adverbs for negation
- 5.241Using “neither” and “nor”
- 5.242Negative interrogative and imperative statements
- 5.243Double negatives
- 5.244Other forms of negation
- 5.245“Any” and “some” in negative statements
- Expletives
- 5.246Expletives generally
- 5.247Expletive “it”
- 5.248Expletive “there”
- Parallel Structure
- 5.249Parallel structure generally
- 5.250Prepositions and parallel structure
- 5.251Paired joining terms and parallel structure
- 5.252Auxiliary verbs and parallel structure
- Word Usage
- 5.253Grammar versus usage
- Good Usage Versus Common Usage
- 5.254Glossary of problematic words and phrases
- Inclusive Language and Minimizing Bias
- 5.255Making conscious choices
- 5.256Maintaining credibility
- 5.257Evolving standards
- 5.258Common areas of biased language
- 5.259Labels
- 5.260Person, not characteristic
- 5.261Person-first versus identity-first
- 5.262Ableism
- 5.263Gender-neutral nouns
- 5.264Gender-specific labels as adjectives
- 5.265Options for gender neutrality in pronoun use
- 5.266Uses of singular “they”
- A Summing Up
- 5.267Stability and renewal