JOHN EASTWOOD OXFORD GUIDE TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR

OXFORD a n d OXFORD ENGLISH

are trade marks of Oxford University Press

ISBN 0 19 431351 4 (paperback)

ISBN 0 19 431334 4 (hardback)

© Oxford University Press 1994

First published 1994

Seventh impression 2002

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Illustrated by Heather Clarke

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Printed in Hong Kong

Contents

Introduction VII

Acknowledgements VIII

Key to symbols IX

Sentence and text

1 English grammar 1

2 The simple sentence 6

3 Statements, questions, imperatives and exclamations 15

4 Questions and answers 25

5 Leaving out and replacing words 42

6 Information and emphasis 52

7 Spoken English and written English 64

Verb

forms

8 The verb phrase 75

9 Verb tenses and aspects 82

10 The future 95

11

12 Modal verbs 113

13 The passive 130

Be, have and do 104

Infinitive, gerund and participles

14 The infinitive 144

15 The gerund 159

16 Participles 167

The noun phrase

17 Nouns and noun phrases 175

18 Agreement 191

19 The articles:

20 Possessives and demonstratives 213

21 Quantifiers 219

22 Pronouns 233

23 Numbers and measurements 245

a/an and the 198

Adjectives, adverbs and prepositions

24 Adjectives 251

25 Adverbials 260

26 Comparison 278

27 Prepositions 286

28 Phrasal verbs and patterns with prepositions 302

Main clauses and sub clauses

29 Sentences with more than one clause 317

30

31 Adverbial clauses 327

32 Conditional clauses 333

33 Noun clauses 341

34 Direct and indirect speech 346

35 Relative clauses 356

Word forms

36 Word-building 367

37 Word endings: pronunciation and spelling 376

38 Irregular noun plurals 380

39 Irregular verb forms 382

Appendix

40 American English 389

Glossary 397

Index 404

Introduction

The

forms and the way they are used in standard British English today. The emphasis is

on meanings and how they govern the choice of grammatical pattern.

The book is thorough in its coverage but pays most attention to points that are of

importance to intermediate and advanced learners of English, and to their

teachers. It will be found equally suitable for quick reference to details and for the

more leisured study of broad grammar topics.

A useful feature of the book is the inclusion of example texts and conversations,

many of them authentic, to show how grammar is used in connected writing and

in speech.

Language changes all the time. Even though grammar changes more slowly than

vocabulary, it is not a set of unalterable rules. There are sometimes disagreements

about what is correct English and what is incorrect. 'Incorrect' grammar is often

used in informal speech. Does that make it acceptable? Where there is a difference

between common usage and opinions about correctness, I have pointed this out.

This information is important for learners. In some situations it may be safer for

them to use the form which is traditionally seen as correct. The use of a correct

form in an unsuitable context, however, can interfere with understanding just as

much as a mistake. To help learners to use language which is appropriate for a

given occasion, I have frequently marked usages as formal, informal, literary

and so on.

Oxford Guide to English Grammar is a systematic account of grammatical

How to use this book

Any user of a reference book of this kind will rely on a full and efficient index, as is

provided in the

the beginning of each chapter which gives a bird's eye view, with examples, of the

grammar covered in the chapter as a whole and gives references to the individual

sections which follow.

Oxford Guide (pages 404 to 446). In addition, there is a summary at

VII

VIII

Acknowledgements

The author and publisher would like to thank all the teachers in the United

Kingdom and Italy who discussed this book in the early stages of its development.

We are also grateful to John Algeo, Sharon Hilles and Thomas Lavelle for their

contributions to the chapter on American English and to Rod Bolitho, Sheila

Eastwood and Henry Widdowson for their help and advice.

In addition, we would like to thank the following, who have kindly given their

permission for the use of copyright material: Bridgwater Mercury; Cambridge

University Press; Consumers' Association, London, UK; Fodor; Ladybird Books;

The Mail on Sunday; Nicholson; Octopus Books; Rogers, Coleridge and White;

Mary Underwood and Pauline Barr.

There are instances where we have been unable to trace or contact copyright

holders before our printing deadline. If notified, the publisher will be pleased to

acknowledge the use of copyright material.

Key to symbols

Phonetic symbols

house

must

next

song

love

rest

you

will

first

van

three

this

sell

zoo

ship

pleasure

put

best

tell

day

cat

good

cheese

just

bird

away

pay

so

cry

now

boy

dear

chair

sure

tea

sit

ten

had

car

dog

ball

book

fool

cup

(r) four

four apples

four bananas

linking r, pronounced before a vowel but (in British English) not

pronounced before a consonant

stress follows, e.g.

about

falling intonation rising intonation

Other symbols

The symbol / (oblique stroke) between two words or phrases means that either is

possible.

possible:

I will be/shall be at home tomorrow means that two sentences areI will be at home tomorrow and I shall be at home tomorrow.

We also use an oblique stroke around phonetic symbols, e.g. tea

Brackets ( ) around a word or phrase in an example mean that it can be left out.

I've been here (for) ten minutes

here for ten minutes

means that two sentences are possible: I've beenand I've been here ten minutes.

The symbol means that two things are related.

that there is a relationship between the verb

Discuss discussion meansdiscuss and the noun discussion.

The symbol ~ means that there is a change of speaker.

The symbol

there is more information. For example,

is a reference to another section and/or part of a section where

(2) means part 2 of the same section;

65 means section 65; and 229(3) means part 3 of section 229.

1

English grammar

1 Summary

Grammatical units

The grammatical units of English are these: word, phrase, clause and sentence.

• 2

Word classes

The main word classes are these: verb, noun, adjective, adverb, preposition,

determiner, pronoun and conjunction.

• 3

Phrases

There are these kinds of phrase: verb phrase, noun phrase, adjective phrase,

adverb phrase and prepositional phrase.

• 4

Sentence elements

The sentence elements are these: subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial.

• 5

English compared with other languages

English words do nor have a lot of different endings for number and gender.

Word order is very important in English.

The verb phrase can have a complex structure.

There are many idioms with prepositions.

• 6

2 Grammatical units

A FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT

'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of British Island Airways, Captain

Massey and his crew welcome you on board the Start Herald Flight to

Southampton. Our flight time will be approximately forty-five minutes, and we

shall be climbing to an altitude of eight thousand feet and cruising at a speed of

two hundred and fifty miles per hour.'

(from M. Underwood and P. Barr

Listeners)

The grammatical units of English are words, phrases, clauses and sentences.

1 Words

The words in the announcement are

good, evening, ladies, and, gentlemen, on etc.

NOTE For word-building, e.g.

air + ways= airways, • 282.

PAGE 1

1 ENGLISH GRAMMAR

2 Phrases and clauses

We use phrases to build a clause. Here is an example.

Subject Verb Complement

(noun phrase) (verb phrase) (noun phrase)

Our flight time will be approximately forty-five minutes.

Here the noun phrase

subject and a verb. There can be other phrases, too. In this next example we use a

prepositional phrase as an adverbial.

Adverbial Subject Verb Object Object

(prepositional phrase) (noun phrase) (verb phrase) (noun phrase) (noun phrase)

our flight time is the subject of the clause. A clause has a

On behalf of the airline we wish you a pleasant flight.

For more about the different kinds of phrases, • 4.

For subject, object, complement and adverbial, • 5.

For finite and non-finite clauses, • 239 (3).

3 Sentences

A sentence can be a single clause.

On behalf of British Island Airways, Captain Massey and his crew welcome you on

board the Start Herald flight to Southampton.

A

full stop.

We can also combine two or more clauses in one sentence. For example, we can

use

written sentence begins with a capital letter (On) and ends with a mark such as aand to link the clauses.

Our flight time will be approximately forty-five minutes,

to an altitude of eight thousand feet

fifty miles an hour.

and we shall be climbingand cruising at a speed of two hundred and

For details about sentences with more than one clause, • 238.

3 Word classes

1 There are different classes of word, sometimes called 'parts of speech'. The word

come is

a verb, letter is a noun and great is an adjective.

NOTE

Some words belong to more than one word class. For example,

test can be a noun or a verb.

He passed the

test. (noun)He had to

PAGE 3

2 There are eight main word classes in English.

Verb:

climb, eat, welcome, be

Noun:

aircraft, country, lady, hour

Adjective:

good, British, cold, quick

Adverb:

quickly, always, approximately

Preposition:

to, of, at, on

Determiner:

the, his, some, forty-five

Pronoun:

we, you, them, myself

Conjunction:

and, but, so

4 Phrases

NOTE There is also a small class of words called 'interjections'. They include

oh, ah and mhm.

3 Verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs are 'vocabulary words'. Learning vocabulary

means learning verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs.

Prepositions, determiners, pronouns and conjunctions belong to much smaller

classes. These words are sometimes called 'grammatical words'.

4 Most word classes can be divided into sub-classes. For example:

Verb Ordinary verb:

go, like, think, apply

Auxiliary verb:

is, had, can, must

Adverb Adverb of manner:

suddenly, quickly

Adverb of frequency:

always, often

Adverb of place:

there, nearby

Linking adverb:

too, also

etc

Determiner Article:

a, the

Possessive:

my, his

Demonstrative:

this, that

Quantifier:

all, three

4 Phrases

There are five kinds of phrase.

1 Verb phrase:

A

have an auxiliary

come, had thought, was left, will be climbingverb phrase has an ordinary verb (come, thought, left, climbing) and may also(had, was, will).

2 Noun phrase:

A

adjective

a good flight, his crew, wenoun phrase has a noun (flight), which usually has a determiner (a) and/or(good) in front of it. A noun phrase can also be a pronoun (we).

3 Adjective phrase:

pleasant, very late

An adjective phrase has an adjective, sometimes with an adverb of degree

(very).

4 Adverb phrase:

quickly, almost certainly

An adverb phrase has an adverb, sometimes with an adverb of degree

(almost).

5 Prepositional phrase:

A

1 ENGLISH GRAMMAR PAGE 4

5 Sentence elements

1 Each phrase plays a part in the clause or sentence. Here are some examples.

Subject Verb Adverbial

The flight is leaving shortly.

Subject Verb Complement

The weather is very good.

My father was a pilot.

Subject Verb Object

I was reading a newspaper.

Two stewards served lunch.

Subject Verb Object Adverbial

The aircraft left London at three o'clock.

We must book the tickets next week.

2 These are the elements of an English sentence and the kinds of phrase that we can

use for each element.

Subject Noun phrase:

the flight, I, two stewards

Verb Verb phrase:

is, served, must book

Object Noun phrase:

a newspaper, lunch

Complement Adjective phrase:

very good

Noun phrase:

a pilot

Adverbial Adverb phrase:

shortly

Prepositional phrase:

at three o'clock

Noun phrase:

next week

NOTE

a The verb is central to the sentence and we use the word 'verb' for both the sentence

element - 'The verb follows the subject' - and for the word class -

For more details about sentence patterns, • 7.

b The word

'Leave is a verb.'there can be the subject. • 50

There

was a letter for you.

6 English compared with other languages

1 Endings

Unlike words in some other languages, English words do not have a lot of different

endings. Nouns take

whether they are subject or object.s in the plural (miles), but they do not have endings to showafter lunch, on the aircraftprepositional phrase is a preposition + noun phrase. test the machine. (verb)And, or, but, so etc 323

OXFORD GUIDE TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR

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