GRAMMAR

WORDS AFTER INFINITIVE

To avoid repeating words from a previous clause or sentence we use an auxiliary verb
(be, have, can, will, would, etc). Instead of a whole verb group (e.g. “has finished”) or
instead of a verb and what follows it (e.g. to go to Paris):

o She says she’s finished, but I don’t think she has (instead of…has finished)
o Would any of you like to go to Paris? I would (instead of I would like to go to
Paris)

If there is more than one auxiliary verb in the previous clause or sentence, we leave out
all the auxiliary verbs except the first one instead of repeating the main verb.
Alternatively, we can use two (or more) auxiliary verbs:

o Mex hadn’t been invited to the meal, although his wife had (or had been)
o They could have been delayed bu the snow. Yes, they could (or could have
been)

If there is no auxiliary verb in the previous clause or sentence, or if the auxiliary is a

form of do, we can use a form of do instead of repeating the main verb. We use do when
the main verb is a present simple form and did when it is a past simple form:

o Mónica plays golf on Saturdays, and I do too (instead of and I play golf on
Saturdays too and so do I is also possible).
o I didn’t steal the money. No-one thinks that you did (instead of thinks that you
stole it; No one thinks so is also possible).

If to be is the main verb in the previous clause or sentence, we repeat a form of the verb
to be:

o The children are noisy again. They always are

If have or have got is the main verb in the previous clause or sentence, we can usually
use a form of either do or have:

o Do you think I have a chance of winning? Yes, I think you have (or you do, yes,
I think so is also possible).
o Even if he hasn’t got a map himself, he may know someone who has (or who
does)

However, if we use have + noun in the previous clause or sentence to talk about actions
(have a shower, have a shave, have a good time, etc). we prefer do:

o I wasn’t expecting to have a good time at the party, but I did.

Notice that sometimes we can use either do, be or have with a similar meaning

o I asked Suzie to tidy her room, and she has/did (has replaces has tidied her
room, did replaces tidied her room).

If we use have as an auxiliary verb, we can often follow it with done instead of
repeating the main verb. This happens particularly in spoken English:

o She’s never made a mistake before. Well, she has done this time. however this is
usually not possible when the verb being substituted is intransitive.
o They’ve already gone. I don’t think Bob has. (not Bob has done)

Similarly, after a modal auxiliary verb (can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall,
should, will, would) we can use do particularly in spoken English:

o Will you be seeing Tony today? I might (do)

SOME UK ENGLISH VARIETIES

The UK is a rich landscape of regional accents and dialects, each evidence of our
society’ s continuity and change, our local history and our day-to-day lives. With
countless accents shaped by thousands of years of history, there are few English-
speaking nations with as many varieties of language in such a small space.

Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation is the closest to a “standard accent” that has ever existed in the
UK. Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional. You’ve
probably heard this accent countless times in Jane Austen adaptations, Merchant Ivory
films, and Oscar Wilde plays. It emerged from the 18th- and 19th-Century aristocracy,
and has remained the “gold standard” ever since.

Features:
Non-rhoticity, meaning the r at the ends of words isn’t prounounced
(mother sounds like “muhthuh”).
 Trap-bath split, meaning that certain a words, like bath, can’t, and dance are
pronounced with the broad-a in father. (This differs from most American accents, in
which these words are pronounced with the short-a in cat.
The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern
England, which have undergone significant vowel shifting over the past century.

Cockney
Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East
End of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that
region.

Features:
Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like “trep” and “cet.”
Non-rhoticity: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation, above.
Trap-bath split: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation.
London vowel shift: The vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney “day”
sounds is pronounced dæɪ (close to American “die”) and Cockney buy verges near
bɒɪ (close to American “boy”).
Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in
between vowels; hence better becomes be´ə (sounds to outsiders like “be’uh”).
L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound
Hence pal can seem to sound like “pow.”
Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more
forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes “fing,” this becomes
“dis,” and mother becomes “muhvah.”

Estuary English (Southeast British)

Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly
similar to “General American” in the US. Features of the accent can be heard around
Southeast England, East Anglia, and perhaps further afield. It is arguably creeping into
the Midlands and North.

Features:
Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers do not front th words or
raise the vowel in trap. There are few hard-and-fast rules, however.
 Glottal stopping of ‘t’ and l-vocalization (see above) are markers of this accent,
but there is some debate about their frequency.

West Country (Southwest British)

West Country refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England, starting
about fifty miles West of London and extending to the Welsh border.

Features:
Rhoticity, meaning that the letter r is pronounced after vowels. So, for example,
whereas somebody from London would pronounce mother as “muthah,” somebody
from Bristol would say “mutherrr“. (i.e. the way people pronounce the word in
America or Ireland).
Otherwise, this is a huge dialect area, so there’s tons of variation.

Midlands English
Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. Technically, this can be
divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, but I won’t get into the differences
between the two just now. The most famous of these dialects
is Brummie (Birmingham English).
Features:
The foot-strut merger, meaning that the syllable in foot and could is pronounced
with the same syllable as strut and fudge. (ʊ).
A system of vowels otherwise vaguely reminiscent of Australian accents, with
short i in kit sometimes verging toward kit (“keet”) and extremely open “loose”
dipthongs.
A variety of unusual vocabulary: some East Midlands dialects still feature a
variant of the word “thou!”

Northern England English

These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like
Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in rural Yorkshire,
although there are some unique dialect features there that I won’t get into now.

Features:
The foot-stut merger: (see the Midlands description above).
Non-rhoticity, except in some rural areas.
The dipthong in words like kite and ride is lengthened so that kite can become
something like ka:ɪt (i.e. it sounds a bit like “kaaaait”)
 Unique vocab includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish
English.

Geordie
Geordie usually refers to both the people and dialect of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in
Northeast England. The word may also refer to accents and dialects in Northeast
England in general. I would classify this as a separate region from the rest of Northern
England because it’s so radically different from the language spoken in nearby cities.

Features
The foot-stut merger (see the Midlands description above).
Non-rhoticity (in the cities at least)
The /ai/ dipthong in kite is raised to ɛɪ, so it sounds a bit more like American or
Standard British “kate.”
The /au/ dipthong in “about” is pronounced u: (that is, “oo”) in strong dialects.
Hence bout can sound like “boot.”

Welsh English
This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. The speech of
this region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remained more widely
spoken in modern times than the other Celtic languages.

Features:
Usually non-rhotic.
English is generally modelled after Received Pronunciation or related accents,
but with many holdovers from the Welsh language.
Syllables tend to be very evenly stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often
very “musical”.
The letter r is often trilled or tapped.
Some dialect words imported from the Welsh language.

Scottish English
This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of
Scotland. Note that Scottish English is different than Scots, a language derived from
Northumbrian Old English that is spoken in Scotland as well. That being said, Scots
have a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken.
Features:
Rhotic, with trilled or tapped r’s.
Glottal stopping of the letter t when in between vowels (similar to Cockney and
related accents).
Monopthongal pronounciations of the /ei/ and /ou/ dipthongs, so that
that face becomes fe:s and goat becomes go:t.

OTHER SPOKEN FEATURES

The main features of spoken English grammar:

Spoken language often involves false starts, incomplete utterances, ellipsis and
reformulation. Where communication is achieved, such features are not penalised.

Ellipsis
Omission of one or more words in clause.

Any luck? Instead of “Did you have any luck?”

Repetition
Spoken language is produced spontaneously, in real time, and we do not have time to
plan what we are going to say. This often results in repetition and additions. For
example, a quantifier is often placed after its noun or pronoun:

Parisians, most of them speak some English.

Or we often add a "tail” at the end:
It’s a funny place, this town.

Vagueness
Vague language is more likely to be the sign of a skilled and sensitive speaker than a
lazy one. Some examples of vagueness in spoken English include:

-ish, kind of / kinda, .., or something, … and things like that

Historical present
The use of present tenses to narrate past events in order to achieve a more dramatic and
vivid effect.

I get to my car and then I realise that I’ve left my car keys at home so I go back home
and guess what?…
Discourse markers
Discourse markers used in Spoken English are quite different than those in written
English

Well…, anyway…I mean… You know

NB. "You know" is the most frequent word combination in English

Formulaic language
Exchanges in a conversation often consist of formulaic expressions rather than full
sentences.

That’s fine. What time? What about…?