‘Also published in (Osford Handbooks for Language Teachers ‘Teaching American English Pronunciation Peser Avery and Susan Ehrich Teaching Business English ‘Mark Elis and Chrisie bron ‘Teaching English Overseas: An Introduction Sandea Lee McKay How Languages are Learned Pres Lightboun end Nina Spd ‘Communication in che Language Classcoom Tiny Lynch Explaining English Grammar George Yule Oxford University Press 1998CONTENTS Acknowledgements Preface Ineroduction Overview Basic Forms ‘Un terminology (On being ungrammatical (On good English Basie meanings “Tam more interesting in English Grammar Why can I say shor the shevf”, but nor “I smiled the sheriff” Linguistic distance Meanings in context Discusion copies and projects ‘Teaching ideas Further reading 2 Articles Overview Basic forms Anartiie machine Basic meanings Countabiley Singular or plural Individuation ‘Conceptual seructare lasifying and identifying Meaaings in context Already given: anaphoric and cataphori (the) CCealy given (270 article) Anote on a new article Discussion topics and projects Teaching ideas Further reading mn 2 16 a 20 23 24 26 28 29 30 30 33 38 40 41 3B a 4 5Contents 3 Tene and sept Oneview Baic ome The bade structure Basic meanings Tense Aspect Leni aspect Grammnatealaxpect Meanings in conte Inmagine artic In academic weking Ina nev epor In spoken dicouse Teaching der ther reading 4 Modals Overview Basic foms The simple modals Basie meanings Epistem'= modality oor modaliry Necessary and possible ‘Meanings in context ‘The potential of cen ‘The possibly of may The necesiy of mae The likelihood of will ‘The requirements of should Negation and medals Discussion topics and projects ‘Teaching ideas Farther eading 6 n 3 8 os m1 ng 120 Basic forms serial conditionals Predictive conditional Hypothetical conditior Counterfctualcondivionals Basic meanings ‘Whac happens if? Whae will happen if What woud happen if? Whar would bsve happened if? ‘Meanings in contest Resating Conteasting Listing ateznasives Giving examples ad-weight Uncestainty and politeness Exceptional and concessive conditionals Discussion topics and projects “Teaching ideas Foner eading 6 Prepositions and particle: Overview Basic forms Prepositions Basic meanings: prepositions Location in space Location in ime Locacion in meaphor Particles Basic meanings: particles Upand down Off om, ont, and awry ‘Meanings in contest End-weighe Trscussion topics sad projects “Teaching ideas Burther reading Contents 13 126 124 124 125 25 Ww a? 17 8 129 132 132 133 134 135 137 139 2 45, “7 152 156 156 158 160 16 164 166 167 1 v0 m2 14 176 Ve 180 85Contents 7 Indirect objects Overview Basic forms ‘Types of verbs Basic structures origins and pronunciation Basic meanings Humans, transfer, and having “Transfer and not having Creacing, geting, and benefiting Meanings in context End-weight Linguistic distance Discussion topics and projects “Teaching ideas Further reading 8 Lnfintives and gerunds Overview Basic forms Basic meanings Group I: verbs wich only finite (a..) complements Group 2: verbs ich only #2 non-fnite complements Group 3: verbs with only Vg non-inite complements Group 4: verbs with both #2.V and Ving complements Meanings in context ‘Nourvlike events Verb-like actions Doryand refue “Types of verbs Linguist distance Discussion topics and projects Teaching ideas Further eading 9 Relative clauses Overview Basic ferms Sabjo relives Object relatives Alter preposition relatives Possessive relives Basie seructures 188 139 190 192 193 195 196 197 199 201 203 2o7 240 240 2 2a 2a 243 m5 Meanings in context Introducing new information Connecting with given information End-veight Discussian copies and projects “Teaching ideas Further reading 10 Overview Basic forms Basic meanings ize speech a drama lndicece speech as narrative Summarized reports Reporting verbs “The teachers were saying Meanings in concext Free indirect discosrse Constructed dialogue Diseussion copies and projects “Teaching ideas Further reading Glossary Bibliography Suggested answers to exercises Index Contents 250 251 252 254 254 256 257 258 261 268 2m 272 274 274 275 25 276 276 27 280 282 289 290 295 298 308 322 329ACKNOWLEDGMENTS J would like co acknowledge the advice and consteuctive criticism of ma students ove che years who suffered through ealier versions ofthis mateti! and whose cries of anguish forced me to ty to write a better book. Spovial thanks, for sheir words of encouragement, go so Hugh Buckingham, Susy Byrd, Hac-Young Kim, Doris Macdonald, Terrie Mathis. Robyn Nejar, Michele Trufant, Kate Wolfe-Quintero, and Ann Yale-Milla. For detailed and extremely helpful reviews of earlier drafis of chis work, I would like to thank Maryann Overstreet, Eline Tarone, Henry Widdowson, snd the cdicors, especially Anne Conybeare, ae Oxford University Pes. The publishers and author chank che following for their kind permission to reproduce extracts and adaptations from works For which they hold the copy right ‘Addison Wesley Longiman Led. for an extract from C, Candlin, D. Larsen. Freeman, and M, Long: An Juveduction To Second Language Acquistion Research (1991) Bantam Doubleday Dell for an extrac ftom: The White Howse Transcripts (1974) edited by G. Gold Paul H. Foresell and Greg Kautiman fo: an extrac from their Hawaii ‘Hiuanplack Whales (1994) published by Island Heritage Press Harcourt Brace & Corapany and Random House UK Limited foran exact from Katherine Anne Porter: ‘Rope’ from FLOWERING JUDAS AND OTHER STORIES, published by Jonathan Cape, copyright 1930 and renewed 1958 by Katherine Anne Por Heinle & Heinle Publishers for exacts from D. Lacsen-Freeman and M. Calee-Murcias The Grammar Book (1983) oy Hinks for an extract From his poem ‘Articles! which frst appeared in Commery #97) The International Linguistic Association for an extract from Zigiang Shi ‘On the inherent aspectual properties of NPs, vatbs, sentences. from Word 4111990) Edward Klein for exeracts from Edward Klein: Thump Family Valees This atile originally appeared in Hiniey Fa Acknoedgements Newsweek for extracts from "The Letter Man’ (3 February 1997) © 1997, Newsweek, In. al rights reserved, reprinted by permission Newsweek for extracts from L. Reibstein: Whose Rigot Iii (20 February 1997) © 1997, Newsweek, Inc. all rights reserved Osfocd University Press for exeracts from: The Spectator (1968), edited by D. Bond (Oxford Universiey Pres foe an extrac fom P. Green and K. Heche: ‘Implicit and explicit grammars An empirical study’ (1992) which appeared in Applied Lingus: 13 Prentice Hall Europe for extracts ftom D. Nunan: Language Teaching Meshdolgy (1991) Random House, nc. foran extract from Ross Macdonald: The Underpound ‘Man (1971) published by Alfed A. Knop Ine Rhoda Weyr Agency: New York and William Morsow & Co. Ine. for ‘extracts from Deborsh Tannen PhD: THAT'S NOT WHAT | MEANT Copyright © 1986 by Dehorsh Tannen, PhD Sage Publications Ine, far extace fro: R. Craig, and K. Tracy: Converse tional Coherence (1983) “Teachers of English to Speakers of Orher Languages, Inc. for exeacts from K. Bardovi-Karlig and D.W. Reynolds: ‘The role of lexical aspece in the acquisition of tense and grammatical aspect’ (1995) TESOL Quarterly 29, 10-131. Copyright 1995 exacts from pp. 124 and 130 used with permis- Wecland Press, Inc for extracts fom David Yaukev: Demography: The Sredy of Hunan Pypudation Inc, 1985, ssued 1990, al rights reserved Although every effott hae been made to trace and contact copyright holders hefore publication, this has nor always been possible. We apologize for any appacent infringement of copyright and, if notified, che publisher will be plessed eo rectify any errors or omissions atthe eailiest opportunityco PREFACE ‘This book has its origins in my attemprs a responses, over the past fifteen yeats, {0 requests irom learners and teachers of English for explanations ‘concerning English grammar. The more Iwas requted to explain the more 1 found myself reading and thinking abour the questions, andthe more expe- rienced became at ofeting answers. This docst mean thatthe answers are necessarily or absolutely correct. They have turned out to be, for the most pat, pedagogically weful answers. By this description, | mean that learners and teachers have wcen able to use the information offeed in the following, chaprees asa way of thinking and talking sbour how the grammar of English works and what i is for. This approach provides answers to wh-questions. ‘The grammar is viewed as set of eonsteuctions in which differences in ores can be explained in terms of differences in conceptual meaning ar interpre- «ation in context. Te framework of analysis sone in which Frm, meaning, and use are seen as interconnected aspects of wha i is language uses how ‘when they know a grammatical construction ‘The material reflects irs pedagogical origins. The ropics covered arc those that Bie rise to the most s/y-questions. They ae the mos problematic areas of the grammar. Consequently, this isnt a comprehensive reatmenc ofthe eype so be found in a standard reference grammar of English cis a pedagogicaly ‘oriented grammar. tis organized in such a way thatthe chapters ean be read individually or in a differen sequence from the ane presented. The sequence presented isthe one that [have come couse and reflects the fact that cereain basic concepes seem to be more easily illustrated in the early chapters and some connections seem 10 tlw better fom ane topic to another in the sequence presented her, Each chapter begins wich a description and exemplifation of the basic forms and steuctures. In describing these forms and presenting informacion ‘on che frequency of one form eather than another, | have benefited a preat deal fiom the published result of many different corpus studies of contem- porary English, These studies have provided a much cleaser picture of where and how offen a particular grammatical form is actually used in texts and hhence how likely we ae to encounter i, Mare information on those studies ‘ean be found in the references included in the Further Reading section atthe end of every chapter Following the de:ctip:ion of basic Form, exch chapter moves on 10 cover basic meaning dstincions conveyed by particular forms and structutes In this type of analysis, Ihave been helped by published research in semantics, Prface the study of meaning. From a semantic perspective, each grammatical construction can be viewed as a segular and conventionally recognized means of expressing conceprual meaning. This discussion of concepral ‘meaning establishes counections beeween language sructates and the epre- senation of situations, with participants and acrion, in the organization of ‘experience. Additional informacion on this ropic can aso be found in the references in the Further Reading sections. Aer basic forms and basic meanings ech chapter includes a section on how ‘meaning can be shaped by context and communicative purpose. In prepar ing this section ofeach chapter, have included a lot of insights from sudics in pragmatics and discourse analysis. For many people, pragmatics is che sudy of a speaker’ (or writers) meaning in cones: and thar perspective is often invoked ie the explanations of structures offered here, Work in dlscourse analysis has also helped us understand how structures ate syically used in the presentation of information in text, both spoken and writen Throughout this book, the effects of information structure are often presented asa way of explaining choices of grammatical structure in texts, References to relevant studies in these areas ae also included inthe Further Read Within this general onan fcch hater, spec poblem as of ioc Kn oe Me nd apa or Ar a ‘eto, he main po ar proeaed in Summary Bones, co Gieson tho pits Aner thr Esercesat ofl nan Append Attend of ich hae heres one econ cong Daca Topi tnd rjc for fret investigation and anh scion fering Teco Mess for clasoorn exerci aces, and tats The Farther Reading secon concludes cach hap Whether used as a course book, a sclFstudy text, or supplementary reading, this material will, hope, prove to have some value asa resource, or simply 2 useful companion, for those learners and teachers who ate prompted (0 ask why certain aspects of English grammar are the way they are But mostly hope they will elize that Explaining English Granymar ise a8 diffcule iesoundsINTRODUCTION 1 Which is correct: Mary runt fster than or Mary rans fster than me? 2 Wecan say a womanand her,but what about "a her! Why is Fewagrammatical 3. How can we explain why i’sodd when learners say: am boring oday? 4 LF shot che sherifis okay, what's wrong with *Jmiled the sheriff? 5. Howdo we explain che problems in “Lady go supermarket meet find? “The greater part ofthis world’s roubles ae due to questions of grammar” ‘Theauthor ofthese words, Michel de Montaigne, was not an English language teacher, but he sounds like he deseribing one of those difficult teaching days ‘While we will or solve any of che world’ troubles in the chapters that follow we will acempt co offer explanations for some of the major problem areas of English grammar. In this inttoducrary chapuce, we consider some basi terns pice, Overview Aer ry rvevngome bie gamma ening sch 2 OU, vous snusse aa eronDUR, uy tdci te ae of Couriers Eng sad cniat seni ah bese ‘wr of he lngges We the lek sane be main inne ‘Ethen loka sme dnns asad th iene Resosngleeferver ender nromuaron SeconInoraduction different expressions (e.g. « woman, the woman, she used to tall about the seme person. Thisfirstchaprerhas also been designed ro exemplify the general ‘ype and sequence of topics tha will be presented inthe chapters tha follow: Basic forms ‘Arche beginning ofeach chaprer there isa description of the basic formsbing analyzed, In those descriptions, a general familiaticy is assumed with many ‘raitional terms for grammatical concepts, Thais terms such as SENTENCE (S), ‘vEnE op, and NOUN (9, will be illustrated and used without technical discussion. There are, however, some cerms that may need an introduction, On terminology A disinction is drawn bermeen & Now go and 4 0% eIRASE om seni the term nouns reserved fr single words. Thefovms shown 1] areall nouns ut) In speaking or writing English, however, we rey use nouns by themseres ‘etse them inphrnses When we aan an TICLE (eg. 0 tothe noun wwe reatea noun phase When ADIECTIVES (good od ae inched, we 2lsohave noun pac. The forms in 2} reall noun phrases [2] the book sme good example, an oldman tha sean, book, example, man tradition, woman Given thisdistncton, we can then se thata PRONOUN (ee her, then) isnota form that normally subsites for a noun, We don't typically use the expressions in 3b) to refer to the same things in [3a] [5] a, Inthe book there was a old manand ¢ woman b. *Acthestart of chest, sh old hewas helping the her. 6 Acthestar of i hewasielping her. AAs shouin in [3c], we use the pronouns hy themselves in place of che whole noun phrase. A pronoun in English suse in the same way asa noun phrase. Relative pronouns such as who and which, a we wil se in Chapter 9, ae also ‘used as no phrases. In discussing other important erm such assubject and agent, sew healking hou the use of noun phrases rather than just nouns On being ungrammatical “Thestarsymbol, or asterisk(*}, whichis placed in font ofthe sentence in [3b], isaconventional way of marking forms as UNtcAanentat ca. (Such formeare sometimes described as ‘tarred’ } This symbol will be used in the following Inreducion a chapters to indicate thae we are treating a form or structure, a8 used in that Context, as not grammatically accepeable, In other contexts, these seemingly “ingrammarial forms may be used ina mezningfal way. The star symbol will ‘ly be used here ro mean ungrammatical in the context indicated’. In cis Spptoach,a noun phrase sch 35" ris basically treated san ungrammatial form in roost contexcs (such as [3] where the reference is equivalent 10 a stoma, even though it is possible wo hear someone say When {beard she name (Charlie, [was expecting a im and nota heria one particular context Totakeanotherexample,thebasiform ofthe sentence presencedin [4] would normally be weated as ungrarnmatica 4 asked to explain why ci} is ungrammatical, we mighe sy chat, in terms of base forms, sta i a verb, and here ie has been puc ina slot that is mostly reserve! for nouns or noun phrases. That i, inthe grammar of English, we nnotmally have nouns, not verbs, in phrases after PREPOSITIONS (eH 0% Za), Parting a verb in aslo shat is reserved for a noun or noun phrase will tually create an ungrammatical structure. The explanation, in cms of *Sheis in stay. grammatical for, is elrively simple. However Ihave heard someone use the sentence shown in [4 and issou.sled quite appropriate and meaningfal in the context. My friend has a dos chats ‘ery well ainedand, when tld to stayin one place, the dog se) will noe move From that place. My friend can chen say [4] co explain why her dog is sitting aquntly. Sor thereisastate called saythat chs dogcan be in. We often represent fatesby using nounsaFiet prepositions (e.g, She‘ in love and that seems 0 be ‘what one speaker is doing when using [4 talk about her dog, We will have more to say about being vein Chaprer 6. Notice thatitis the function ofthe Form (i.e. whether iv ising used as aver tras anou) that determines wheter che stacture in (4) seem grammatical brungrammatical. [fone form s generally used asa verb (sin the cas of), ‘ve wll natually think char ics ungrammatical when sed 28a noun. Thus, ‘Deing ungrammatieal is using forme and steuctates in ways tha they are not generally used, and for which no special context of use can be imagined. For any people, however an discussion of whatis grammatical or ungrammatical Seem to lead tothe issue of whether structures really ‘good Englis or not On good English “TesssueoF what is andi ot, goed English’ is aretyaddssed inthis bork There willbe observations on wha: sounds more wpical (ina contest), whats more formal, saote stuffy, more cual, er moze frequen be we willavoid the Fue af what is beter (or even * nore bette. In language use, the concept ot“beste really dependson valves unrelated roan understanding of grammatical seruetures. Consider the following common example where one version of a steuerare i sometimes claimed to be berter chan another For one English speaker (let call him Bert), it may be extremely importane tharan example such as [5a] should be treated as the only acceptable form and thata version such a [5b] should be unacceprableas good English [5] 2. Mary can run faster than b. Mary can un faster chan me, ‘The issu hee the coreec formaf the pronoun (Zor me Bert may inss that wha is expressed in [5] isa version of Mary cn run faster than Ian ran This full version shows thar the pronoum (F) isthe subject of cam run and that me ‘woul: aot be grammatical in the structure (ie, “oe can run). Therefore, avs Bert, [5b] isungrammatical and bad English Another speaker (let call him Ernie) might respond that me sounds just fine in (5b| and seems tobe che form that most people usein his structure. Bers presenting a pRescarPTiVe argumenc (.e how it shouldbe used) and Etnie is offering Descaartive argumen® (i.e, how it generally seems 10 be used) ‘This type of discussion maybe what is often associated with che topic of English grammar, but chere will be very live of iin tis book. Ina case like this, we will be more concerned with explaining how both structures ean be used in English, Inthe particular case of example [5], itis possible to provide a reasonable explanation for both structures. To do so, we should consider 2 related strueture that English speakers ue, as shown in (6) lo} Mary cancun faster than cen miles per hour Looking at exemple [6], we ean see thar the bass of Ber’ explanation (i. “Mary ca ran fier han ten mules per hour ea” run) ie nok appropriate here ‘The expression ten miles per bouris nor che subject of cam rum, buc an object following than. The word than scems co be used in (6), and also in [Sb], asa preposition. fer prepositions, English tends ro have object pronouns (me, ‘in eather than subjecc pronouns (ie). Far Exnie, preferring [5b], the word ‘hancan be used asa preposition. However, for Bert, preferring [5a], che word than is being used as 2 CONJUNCTION, that is, «form that connects eo clauses, and the pronoun is the subjecr ofthe second clause, From this perspective, both Ernie and Bert are right. Grammatically speaking, neither form is better English than che other In the preceding discussion, we introduced ano+her two technics ters, surpecy and o#:rcr, that will bs used in some ofthe following chapters, English pronouns provide the clearest distinction beowsen subject forms (be, Introduction she, we the) and objec forms (him, ber, us, them) ln the mos pica eases, thesubject (eg, shetwoman, sh comesbefore the verb, and the abject (eg the ‘books, son) comes after the verb, as shown in [7] (7) a. Thewoman wanted the books. b. She took them ‘We will have more co say on the role of subjects and objects in the discussion of indict objects in Chapter 7 and relacive causes in Chapter 9. This inital desribe the same drawings as the speaker of {13}, one English language learner began his version as shown in [15] 13] Lado go auperinasker nicer fend ad sali boy in cae rakingborle, Introduction — 15 ‘This leamer clearly keows appropriate vocabulary, but is producing un- _gammatical English. He might appreciate some help in secognizing, perhaps ‘a naturally comparable examples such as [13], that markers of information sucture are expected in English discourse. A frst step might be some atcention tothe use of ariles in English. That will be our topicin Chapter 2. Exercise ILC ‘The ollowing description ofthe scenes in Figure I! (on page 19) sby an adult Eng langage learner from he Philpines. ist. read over the desertion 3nd tunderine the noun phrases. Then answer the questions below, the ny go 0 supermarket she wane to buy something she meet —mecsnother dy with inde boy ‘hey ae talking-—when they were hing ‘he two ladies they were king ‘eile boy a juice maybe don't know ‘he tle boy put thebole vihich ook rom selfing the bag ofthe lady | Use thenoun pases with indefinie aries 2 Wool yousay hat these are appropriate grammatial uses in English? Yetorne! entfya noun phase witha definite arte that would be more ppropriate with an indfrite article 4 Uscehe pronouns used to idonty people. "Would you sy tha there are appropriate grammatical uses in English? Findan ample ofa zero form vod ae subject of verb 'sthisa spel grammatiea slot for ero form in English? Yes or no? Fidan exampleof a noun witoutan art \sthis2 epic grammatalsot to finda noun without amare English? Yescor no! 10. What change might you sugest in the form af the Fra noun phrase (co helpidenly the appropriate referene?F 16 Introduction Discussion topics and projects ‘Avie end of every chapte,theteatesomeropicsfor discussion, or projets for focach, chat invite further invenigation of the grammatical structures Considered. These investigations may involve aspets of second language ‘equistion or the td of English for specRe purport. In many cases, these projets invite speculation oF studies on isues that have no eablished Solutions aransver. 1 Theropicot grammatical rules, and how they should bestaed,isone that continues to challenge almost everyone who tries to teach English frammar, Hereisone opinion: Since there is nay of establishing ‘bes’ rule for any particule set ‘oflanguage phenomens, and our understanding oflinguitic structure and of psycholinguistic processesisnor such sto influence che formu- lation of pedagogical rules other chan indirectly, chece ae sound reasons, both practical and cheoretical, fr leazners and teachers to assume a cautious, if nat skeprcal,atitude towards any pedagogical treatment of language reulattes.(Westnc; 1994:72-3) (a) Isthiszuthor suggesting that we should ace as ifchere are no rule? Wald youtagree or disagree with that idea? (b) Why do you think the author used the expression language regularities? Is there a postible distinction to be made berween ‘regulated’ rales? () Fossible, read the rest of Paul Westneysarticle and ty to summarize the ‘main points of eis issue, along with your oven eeaction wo the debate 2. Wecan usually learna lor shout learners use of grammatical structures by conducting som simple reeaich projets. Heteisone possibilty. Ask one “English language learner to lookeat she drawings in Figute II and then co tell the story of whar happened (as an eyewitness), inclading an ending, Record the students spoken version. Then, afer chatcing with che learner brief aout some other topic, ask him o¢ her co perfotm a second tas, ‘This time ask the student to produce a writen version ofthe same story ‘After wanscribing the spoken version, compare the use of noun phrase in both versions. What diflerences ate noticeable? Is the learner more _grammatical in one version? Ifposible, ryt share your observations with thelearmer later. Other option: inchade comparison hetween performances ofthe same task bya lower and aigher proficiency speaket, beawecn the performance of one earner English and later in iso her frst language, or berween , Inoroducton conc leatner who gets. chance to prepare before speaking and another who does not. After completing any study of this type, ry to think of the implications for our teaching practices. Teaching ideas Actheend ofevry chapethetearesomeideasforteachersthelpthem think ofexercises and activites for das, These aesimply ofered ass way of geting suartedand shouldbe adapeedorevised (or reece accordinguothe needs of tach bea situation 1 Sandy is now a woman traditional exercise for focusing on differen forms af noun phrases involves + Ne i eee | t Ne | 4 ee 1 | ‘Yes. t Weiggut = te + Xs + at Ansmber of problems do arise when comparing text produced with the help ofcherype of article machinein Box? 2 and chose exsactualyfoundin print For example following Box 2.2 (and Box 21), no proper nouns would ever cerur with an ale. This mcs hae the grammatically accepeablesentnces shown in [3], centining « proper noun with both the iadeinze and the definite aries, would never seated [3] a. There wasa john Patk looking for you today. 1b. Do you know ift' the John Park who was here before? Wencodan analysisofatcle use that inches the sentences [3] andexplsns thedifferent Fanetins of ev, theand awith proper nouns. ‘Other aspects of the atile machine can be problematic. As we have already noted, che question about ‘unique efereneis not always easy to answer The following rwo sentences [42 b] appeared together in the instructions for replacing ink caeridges in one ype of printer If she aticies ar removed, con sweuse the article machine in Box 2.2 identify che missing items? [4] a. Dropping prinecarridgecan cause seructural damage resuhingin ink leakage b. damaged cartridge should nor he wed,28 Articles In the printed text, the was used in (4a and a in (4b). The article machine predic shein both cases ifeach carcidge isteated asa unique eferent. Yeeche English speaker that I asked were much moc likey o put ain both [4x] and. [4b]. Wharwe need to know are che kinds of dilferences in meaning signalled by choosing differene artces. Inthe following sections, we consider several distinctions, including the choice berween classifying and idencifying, an ‘object (such a the print cartridge in [4]), chat may provide a berer way of thinking about how articles are used in English. Exercise 2.8 (a) Trytouse he artile machine n Box22 t= ehoose the correct arefor each sentence blow and write those forms m he spaces provided (even you thine they are inappropriate). 1 Goodmorning, Sam 2 Iklookstke nice day. 3 Haveyounsd coffee yet? 4 No.thadroleave homer 5 Here's cup. Take anyhing with et 6 use sgarityouhave one 7 Therewas John or Jn Smith ooking fr you. B Not jimsmih 9 whowscesal betters? 10 mnocaure secretary eked chin, (0) Whatproblems id young? Protocpiabie Ovo nner ress Basic meanings trod totkaboct the meaingsf te aries wt hasetolckastow Sl eae eal ee iepees red Or be Soe of te ad eeaeg ct cas be decd coneeps lke counabe for noncoumabe. singular forplual) and indian (orn individu) Aricles Countability “Therype of analytic framework presentedin Box2.2dependson a secognition ‘of nouns as countabe (or non-countable! and singlat (or plural), This may seo lke a simple eask with nouns ike dg countable singular) and applr tcouncable, plural). Indeed. the expresion a bap of apples could. be remembered asa useful est phrase for COUNTARLE Nous because the indefinite aril (ith the fst noun) and the pal form (ofthe second noun) arethetraditional grammatical markersofcountabiltin English, Other ways af identifying countably involve combination with words like ea and ‘uy ilicizd in [a], as well as plural vet forms and plural pronouns, aiid i (5) [5] a: How many apples ace therein eacbbag? bs, People arealways asking strange questions, are? Traditional descriptions tend to teat councabilty (or non-countabil) asa fixed property of English nouns thar has ro be learned as an inherent grammatical feature ofeach noun. This doesnt scem ta bean accurate picture ffhow English nounsare used, Indeed, it may be very misleading co think of| outs s bing fixed in terms ofthe properties, countable or non-countable Nouns that are traditionally listed a countablewillincludewordssuch as apple and deg yes these words an easily be used in cantexs that are asaciated wich ron-countabe forms, in (6) [6} 2 Sheed the baby a teaspoon of apple bi. He said thar dag castes bese when iis cooked with ginger, Notice hata change inthe ype af caneanesfioen bg (of apples) o expoor {of apple) in (6a) can change ce staus of the noun (appa from countable to 1non-countable. The enity seems to change from a thing to a substance. Ieis aisoacommon observation that nouns usuallylisted as on-countble, suchas Snazerand suger, can be Found in contexts that ae elerly countable, as shown, int?) (7). a, There are several new buters being produced without mil, b. Can Thavecwo sugars, please? ‘Wecan see that. in [7].cwo entries tha te often reared as substances (butter, sugar) are actually being counted (several buatrs, 00 137). [Rather than say chat nouns are ether countable ot non-countable, i may be more useful to note thatthe kind of hing being tallied abour changes in a countuble concert versus a nourcountable sontext. We van them say that certain concepts are more often mentioned in ane ype of context rather than another. We shall return to this point.30 Aries Singular or plural? With respect co che apparently simple choice between singular and plural thee aa poesia problems, Thete ae nouns that fk pial with + endings), butareeted a singular [8b] 2nd nouns tha leok singular, but can be eared plural [8d (8] | Physics is fun andso islingwisis. 1, The news is chat measles isnt fun a al The press were predicting problems. dd. The public were ignoring them, ‘Those lst ewo examples (Be, d) contain forms that are somesimes called contcrive wouns, Words like ela club, committe, crowed, ener, garg, government, aff eam, and others that identify a group are aso collective ‘nouns This typeof label collective’ is a recognition of the fact tari is the way in which an entity is perceived thar determinesitssingula or plural status Insomecases itis possible to find a group treated as both singular and plural inthe same sentence. Asillstated in [9s,b], a group ean be conceived 2s single uni (with singular vers, wa, ba) or as several individual members (sith plural pronouns, he she) [9] & Theaudiencs wascheering and clapping zheirhands. b. Her mil iardecided tha shgycan afford abig wedding Iris posible to continue listing « wide range of problems with recognizing Aiferenerypes of nouns in English. Ics cereinly important for teachers to recognize that some English nouns, novmally used as non-councable (eg. ‘advice, education, furniture, homework, information, litre, volened), have translation equivalents in other languages tha are treated as counrable, Yet, helping tademtsco learn all the special characterises of English nouns seems tw bea lage ask and one cha takes native speakers many years to accomplish, would seem to be possible to make sense of te function of contrasting uses of the articles lang before a large vacabulary of different sypes af nouns is acquired. Individuation Underlying concep like countable or non-councable and singular or plurals the more general notion of whether an envy isbeing treated asa single unit or not. The process of clasifying asa single unic, oc NDIVIDUATION, isthe hey to the use of the indefinite arucle in English. The basic concest is rally bheeween a(n) for individuation and efor non-individuation Tiae distinctive concepts properties ofan individual unit are that tas clear ‘boundaries and chat no par of the unit equals che whole. When you think of «chair, youtend to seea distinct individual entity, separae from other entities. Article Ifyou take that chair apart, you tend not to refer to each ofthe disconnected parts 38a chai. In conteast, you start with ster and splash ie in differen paces. each of theparescan sil becalled water. Notice chat we're talking about tater with 2r0 article In arestaurant, you may heara waiter mention & water (Table 3 wantsan iced tea anda wate. Tn chiscase the indefinite atile signals tharan individual unc is being raked abour. In [10a}, che noun coffeis being used to eefer co an individual unit of some kind and in (10] itis not. [10] 2. Iwancto gerscofe bs, Lwancro get coffe, Lf the cbjeces treated as n individual uni, chen more than one individual of the same type will typically be possible (.e. ne coffe. Thus, the process of individuation prediets plural forms. Also notice thac the boundaries ofthe cmtty in (103) will be pereeprually clear whereas there may be indistinct ‘boundaries to the substance in (106). This type of conceptual difference is recognized in taditional grammars as 2 contrast berween COUNTABLE and ‘ass. The substance in [10b} can be epic into many differen pars and each parecan be described inthe same way'as the whole, If = bag of coffee and souspll tin the kitchen, there may be different partsofiton the abe, on he ‘hair, and on your shoe. Bur each partis sil cafe. Thisis nox crue ofthe unit described in (10a IF ir uni sever spit of broken up, ie can no longer be ‘weated aa single unit, IFyou break whatyouhave in [10s], younolongerhave aff ‘The tendency ro teat concepts (and hence nouns) as cither countable or mass Jshased on Requency effect inexperience. [Fan entity is mostly experienced asa distince Form (eg. « fork. a cup, a chai), then ic wil be easily counced However if certain type of entity is rarely experienced as any kind of individual unit, twill not normally be refereed to sift ean be counted. In many grammar texts, this idea is presented in cerms ofa special clas of mass nouns, of words exclusively for substances (eg. ber, bread, cafe, gla, gold, ice oi, paper, soap, ea water win) and abstract concepts eg, advice, courage, dest far, help, bape, knowledge, progres, sinceriey, suspicion. Icis seul Ihave tis conceptual information about substances and abstractions, hit is risleadingto suggest that they eannotbe erated as individual vite, When we need ra tall about these substances and abstractions as siage, separate ingances, we use the indefinice article eg. a Beer ace a beet ola cheap sap, sudden death terrible for. The wndinte article i signal that the followizgcwn-cptisbeing iceaiedaca single insteneecfitsind. Some ofthese observations ae summarized in Box 2.3. Having used the concept of individuation to explain thedliflerence between 3 and # with singular nouns, we shall explore another crucial conceptual discincion, inthe nex section, co explain te difference berween gan she BI