PDF Grammar Grab-bag: 4 Common Grammar Rules You Need to Know

Grammar Grab-bag: 4 Common Grammar Rules

You Need to Know

THE CHALLENGE IN WRITING a book on English usage is not trying to think up topics to include, but deciding where to stop. There are hundreds of candidate subjects, and it seems almost a shame to omit discussion of grammatical constructs with names as alluring as accusative case, copular verb, and free morph. In the interest of keeping this volume under a thousand pages, however, the areas selected for review have been limited to ones that most often pose problems.

This last section addresses a motley group of grammar sticking points that do not individually require a chapter's worth of discussion, but are worth at least a mention.

ADVERB-ADJECTIVE DISTINCTION

Much could be written on adverbs, but the most needful point to make about them is simply, USE THE DAMN THINGS WHEN THEY'RE CALLED FOR! (Note: Primers on e-mail etiquette advise that all-caps text can be interpreted as shouting. Yes, this text is shouting.) Far too many people use an adjective when an adverb is the correct choice.

What is wrong with the following sentences?

I was shaking so bad I could hardly make out what the letter said.

I can't walk as quick as you--please slow down.

It was real nice of you to come.

The roads are slippery, so do drive careful.

The kids are being awful quiet--should we check on them?

Adverbs are not a difficult concept. Like adjectives, they are modifiers, but while adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. Most (though not all) adverbs are formed by adding ly to an adjective. In

the sentences above, shaking, walk, and drive are verbs. Nice and quiet are adjectives. Accordingly, their modifiers are NOT the adjectives bad, quick, real, careful, and awful, but the adverbs badly, quickly, really, carefully, and awfully.

INTRANSITIVE AND

TRANSITIVE VERBS

Verbs can be categorized in a number of ways: regular versus irregular, dynamic versus stative, main versus auxiliary, and more. Yet another distinction is intransitive versus transitive. While both types describe something done by a subject, the meaning of an intransitive verb is complete in itself, while a transitive verb acts directly on an object and its meaning is complete only if the object is named.

Examples of intransitive verbs are arrive, sneeze, smile, and exist. These all describe actions or states of the subject, but not something that the subject is doing to something else. You could create complete (if brief) sentences such as they arrived, she sneezed, he's smiling, it exists. But you can't arrive something, perform a smile on something, do a sneeze with something, exist something.

Examples of transitive verbs are like, bring, congratulate, avoid. All of these act on an object. You can't create sentences that contain nothing more than we like, you bring, I congratulated, he avoids. (Congratulated whom? Avoids what?) When an object follows, these become grammatically complete: we like travelling, you bring dessert, I congratulated both of them, he avoids hard work.

Many verbs can play both roles. You can walk, put one foot in front of the other (intransitive), or walk the dog (transitive); grow, as in get taller (intransitive) or grow asparagus (transitive); move, as in change homes (intransitive) or move furniture around (transitive).

There are a few common errors involving confusion of transitive and intransitive verbs. By far the most frequent is lay/lie. Briefly, lie is intransitive, describing the action of a subject without reference to an object (go lie down), while lay is transitive, describing an action done to an object (would you lay those packages by the door). Others are sit/set and rise/ raise. Sit is intransitive (relax, sit for a bit), set is transitive (next, set the party favors beside the plates). Rise is intransitive (what time do you usually rise), raise is transitive (can you raise that up a little).

SPLITTING INFINITIVES

An infinitive is the "to" form of a verb: to bellow, to whine, to connive, to go. To split an infinitive means to put some word (usually an adverb) between the to and the verb: to furiously bellow, to peevishly whine, to cleverly connive, to boldly go.

Just as the spellings and meanings of individual words evolve, so do the rules governing how they should be strung together. When it comes to language, very little is carved in stone: attitudes change, rules become more flexible, authorities eventually bow to common usage and adjust their dictums. There is often not a consensus on the changes, so some writers will choose to bypass conventions they view as cobwebby while others continue to uphold them. Those conventions that are seen as having the least to contribute to clarity are the likeliest to fall by the wayside. For reasons inscrutable to many today, early grammarians decided that some of the rules of English grammar should conform to those of Latin. In Latin, the infinitive is not split; ergo, in English the infinitive should not be split. (The fact that in Latin the infinitive is one word and therefore can't be split didn't seem to trouble the rule makers.) The result is a decree that presents the modern writer with a dilemma: should one ignore it, since breaking it usually does no harm, or follow it, since failure to do so may be taken as ignorance?

There is no definitive answer to this, but given the widespread adherence to this convention, it's probably advisable to abide by it within reason. That is, if it's just as easy to word something in a way that avoids splitting an infinitive, do so--if for no better reason than some of your readers will fault you otherwise. For example, rather than saying Their greatest pleasure was to proudly stroll along the boardwalk with their pet armadillo, you could put the adverb after the verb: Their greatest pleasure was to stroll proudly along the boardwalk with their pet armadillo. Sometimes the adverb must go in front of the to: Instead of I wanted to never see him again, you could say I wanted never to see him again.

In fairness, an infinitive does sometimes function best as a unit, and separating its parts can weaken it by putting undue emphasis on the intervening adverb. And certainly, even if you have no problem with splitting infinitives, don't shatter them. Constructions such as the following seriously interrupt the flow, and make comprehension difficult:

She knew it would be a good idea to before the job interview grow out the green Mohawk.

Better: She knew it would be a good idea to grow out the green Mohawk before the job interview. He asked me to as soon as I was finished grooming my newts clear off the table.

Better: He asked me to clear off the table as soon as I was finished grooming my newts.

Virtually every modern style guide agrees, however, that it is better to split an infinitive if the alternative would introduce awkwardness or misinterpretation. For example:

It's difficult for us to adequately express our gratitude.

This sentence would sound considerably stiffer as It's difficult for us adequately to express our gratitude or as It's difficult for us to express adequately our gratitude. Either version would make it look as if you were more concerned with a nitpicky devotion to the rule book than with your reader's ear. A better alternative, if you are determined to avoid the split infinitive, would be to move the interrupter to the end of the sentence: It's difficult for us to express our gratitude adequately. In some cases, however, you may feel that it puts too much distance between the verb and its modifier.

Similarly,

We managed to just miss the tree.

Phrasing this as We managed to miss just the tree implies that something else was hit. We managed just to miss the tree, while better, seems to imply that a failed attempt was made to do something else to the tree. In this case, splitting the infinitive is the most accurate way of expressing what happened.

In sum, use your ear when dealing with this type of construction, and make your decisions on a case-by-case basis. If you feel uncomfortable either splitting an infinitive or putting a modifier in what feels like an unnatural place, recast the sentence.

ENDING WITH A PREPOSITION

Prepositions are the words that define the relationships between other words: Please put the skeleton in the closet; I'll meet you at the drugstore after the concert; we went across the country; she likes her salad with hot sauce on it. Many prepositions have to do with time, space, or position.

A persistent myth is that a preposition may never come at the end of a sentence. For example, many students are taught that sentences such as It's a subject I haven't thought about and You have to remember where he's coming from should be worded as It's a subject about which I haven't thought and You have to remember from where he's coming. Again, the origins of this custom lie in Latin, in which a preposition cannot come after its target word. In English, however, the effect of ordering words this way is often to turn a phrasing that sounds natural and spontaneous into something tortured.

As with splitting infinitives, you may, as a general rule, prefer to avoid ending sentences in prepositions simply because of your readers' expectations. And indeed, sentences that follow the stricture sometimes do sound more elegant. For example:

There are a couple of issues I'm willing to be more flexible on. Revised: There are a couple of issues on which I'm willing to be more flexible.

It's astonishing that there are people this news comes as a surprise to. Revised: It's astonishing that there are people to whom this news comes as a surprise.

There are some questions there are no easy answers for. Revised: There are some questions for which there are no easy answers.

This is a matter I'd urge you to make your own decision on. Revised: This is a matter on which I'd urge you to make your own decision.

If the rewording would sound awkward, however, definitely leave the preposition at the end. Moving it would not "correct" your sentence; it would worsen it.

Want More?

Whether you are looking for a comprehensive guide to grammar or are struggling with specific parts of speech, you'll find exercises and information you're looking for to strengthen your writing in the book Grammatically Correct, 2nd Edition by Anne Stilman. Become a better writer & download Grammatically Correct today!

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