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