English Grammar Essentials For Dummies

Introduction

Chances are you’re reading this book because you’re not confident about what constitutes ‘proper grammar’. Perhaps you went to school in an era when teachers didn’t believe in worrying kids about pedantic things like correct spelling and complete sentences. Or, maybe you did study grammar but you found it boring, switched off and have forgotten most of the rules. Now, you may feel that your language skills aren’t as good as they need to be. Feeling that you are being judged on your communication can be stressful and make you feel self-conscious. And it’s worse if everyone else seems to understand, or if you find to your horror that the boss or tutor is one of those people who even uses perfect grammar in text messages.

English grammar is not that scary. You don’t have to memorise all of the technical terms and, once you get started, you’ll find that most of it is pretty logical. In this book we present you with strategies and tips that help you make the right decision when you’re tossing up whether to use who or whom, or trying to remember if you should put the apostrophe in its. We explain what you’re supposed to do when, tell you why a particular way of doing things is correct or incorrect, and even show you how to revise your sentences if your grammar checker puts a squiggly green line under some part of your sentence. Once you understand the reason for a particular grammar choice, you’ll pick the correct option automatically.

About This Book

In this book, we concentrate on common errors and tell you what’s what in the sentence, in logical, everyday English, not in obscure terminology. When we do use a key term, you’ll generally find it in italics with a definition or example (or both) close by. You don’t have to read the chapters in order, but you can. And you don’t have to read the whole book. Just browse through the table of contents and look for things that have always troubled you.

Foolish Assumptions

We assume that you, the reader, already speak English (although you may have learned it as a foreign language) and that you want to speak and write it better. We also assume that you’re a busy person with better things to do than worry about what a relative clause looks like. You want to speak and write well, but you don’t want to get a doctorate in English grammar. (Smart move. Doctorates in English don’t move you very far up the salary scale.)

This book is for you if you aspire to

achieving better marks for your essays

landing a job with better pay or a higher status

having your speech and writing present you as an educated, intelligent person

being able to write and say exactly what you mean

developing a sound understanding of good grammar.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book you can find useful icons to help you note specific types of information. Here’s what each icon means:

Grammar check Have you ever been confused by the message your grammar checker gives you when it puts a wiggly line under a possible problem and asks you to ‘consider revising’ some part of your sentence? Your days of confusion end here. This little fellow appears at the same points that a wiggly line would appear, and the information alongside it tells you exactly how to revise those troublesome sentences.

Tip Wherever you see this icon, you’ll find helpful strategies for understanding the structure of the sentence or for choosing the correct word form.

Warning Not every grammar trick has a built-in trap, but some do. This icon tells you how to avoid common mistakes as you unravel a sentence.

Where to Go from Here

Before you get started, one last word. Actually, two last words. Trust yourself. You already know a lot. You’d be amazed how much grammar can be absorbed by osmosis from day-to-day language, even if you don’t know the technical terms. So be brave. Dip a toe into the sea of grammar. The water’s fine.

Chapter 1

Grappling with Grammar

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Defining good grammar

Bullet Identifying features of accepted Australian English

Bullet Understanding the main word classes: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, verbals, determiners, prepositions and conjunctions

Good communication and good grammar go hand in hand. The very point of using language is to express and exchange ideas in a way that conveys them clearly, with as few misunderstandings as possible. Sure, an occasional ‘Oh, you know what I mean’ is not going to stop the world from turning or upset your friends and family, but if you need to impress somebody, you need your communication to be accurate. If you want your job application to shine, your presentation to captivate or your documents to be precise, using good grammar will help you to achieve these things.

Of course, you probably already have pretty good grammar. Most people learn the basics of language use as if by osmosis, picking it up without necessarily understanding the rules. After all, you’re likely to have been talking almost all of your life and have probably forgotten when and how you first learned to read and write. But the fact that you have this book in your hands means that you have decided that learning better grammar is a valuable strategy. Yay you! This book will help you become a better communicator.

In this chapter, we look closely at what constitutes proper grammar and consider what makes Australian English unique. We also take a trip back in time to revisit probably the first thing you were taught about grammar as we consider the very basic unit of communication: the word.

Grasping Grammar: Good and Proper

Rightly or wrongly, your audience or readers judge you by the words you use and the way you string them together. Listen to the speech of the people in movies. An uneducated character sounds different from someone with five diplomas on the wall. The dialogue reflects reality: educated people follow certain rules when they speak and write. In fact, people who use language according to formal grammar rules are said to be speaking properly. If you want to present yourself as an educated person, you have to follow those rules too.

Actually, several different types of grammar exist, including historical (how language has changed through the centuries) and comparative (comparing languages). Vintage grammar-geeks and gurus loved to complicate things. But don’t worry; we love to keep things simple. In this book, we use the best bits of the two easiest, most familiar ways of presenting the rules of grammar to come up with what’s proper.

Descriptive grammar gives names to things — the parts of speech, or word groups, and parts of a sentence. When you learn descriptive grammar, you understand what every word is (its part of speech) and what every word does (its function in the sentence). Learning some grammar terms has a couple of important advantages — to be clear about why a particular word or phrase is correct or incorrect, and to be able to understand the explanations and advice given by your computer’s grammar checker or in a dictionary or style guide.

Functional grammar tells you how words behave when they’re doing their jobs properly. It guides you to the right expression — the one that fits what you’re trying to say — by ensuring that the sentence is put together correctly. When you’re agonising over whether to say I or me, you’re solving a problem of functional grammar. Most of the grammar we use in this book is functional grammar.

So here’s the formula for better grammar: a little descriptive grammar plus a lot of functional grammar. Better grammar equals better self-expression. And better self-expression equals improved self-confidence. And with improved self-confidence, anything is possible. The news is all good!

Using Aussie English

In the Middle Ages, grammar meant the study of Latin, because Latin was the language of choice for educated people. In fact, knowing Latin grammar was so closely associated with being an educated person that the word grammar was also used to refer to any kind of learning. That’s why grammar schools were called grammar schools; they were places of learning — and not just learning about how Latin and English work.

These days, grammar is the study of language — specifically, how words are put together to create meaning. Through time, grammar has also come to mean a set of standards that you have to follow in order to speak and write correctly. No doubt in your career as a student, you discovered that different teachers have different pet hates — English teachers included. The emphasis placed on the importance of certain points of grammar differs from classroom to classroom. Don’t worry; we’re consistent.

The accepted way that English is spoken is called usage, and this includes both standard and non-standard usage. Standard usage is the one that is regarded as proper. It consists of the commonly accepted correct patterns of speech and writing that mark an educated person in our society. You can find standard usage in government documents, in formal newspapers and magazines, and in textbooks. Non-standard usage includes slang and just plain bad grammar. It’s common in everyday conversations, but should be avoided in formal situations.

Furthermore, the way the rules and patterns of grammar are applied varies in different English-speaking countries. Standard Australian English isn’t the same as either standard American English or standard British English. Certainly, we choose different standard spellings for the same word (such as –ise endings in Australia versus –ize endings in America) or different words for the same thing (for example, a sidewalk in America is a pavement in England and a footpath in Australia). More than this, the way we use certain punctuation marks varies, and sometimes we even put words in a different order to express the same meaning.

Examples of non-standard Australian English include using verse as a verb meaning ‘to compete against’ (Our team is versing yours next week) and choosing youse as a plural form of you (Youse can all come too). Using non-standard Australian English isn’t likely to get you that promotion you wanted. (But using plain English, where you keep your language clear, might — for more on this, see Chapter 10.)

So how do we decide what is standard Australian English? We refer to authorities. We use Australian dictionaries and Australian style guides. We follow the advice provided by the Australian National Dictionary Centre at the Australian National University, and scour the bulletins on English in Australia published by the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University. Relax. In this book, all the research has been done for you. That’s a promise.

Having a Quick Squiz at Aussie Words

Today, just as your average Australian dunny is indoors, your average Australian neighbour is not a bush cocky. Uniquely Australian language is alive and well and living in the suburbs. (All italicised terms in this section are defined in the list at the end of the section.)

Naturally, the earliest examples of true blue Australian language come from the convict days. Early Australian vocabulary was borrowed from various forms of British English. The crims sent here by Her Maj were not well educated, and spoke a kind of street language that set them apart from the wealthy and privileged. Lagging on your mates has always been un-Australian, and dobbing continues to be a social crime in classrooms today — only big-noting or being a wowser are worse. Australia’s convict heritage has even been blamed for the all-too-prevalent tall poppy syndrome that characterises the culture.

Australians took other words that we claim as Australian English from the languages of our indigenous peoples. Let’s face it, what would anyone who’d never been within cooee of one before call a wallaby or a wobbegong? And in households all over the nation, high-tech equipment regularly goes bung.

Making fun of others and being irreverent has always been a feature of Australian language. Bananabenders and Sandgropers argue about who has the best beaches. We affectionately refer to each other as dags or ratbags. Even our first female prime minister is regularly referred to as a ranga.

Even our pollies themselves help keep Australian English healthy. John Howard gave us economic rationalism when he was prime minister. And where else in the world would there be anti-hoon legislation?

anti-hoon legislation: laws to curb anti-social driving

Bananabender: person from Queensland

big-noting: bragging about oneself

bush cocky: farmer

crim: criminal

dag: a likeable person who is unconcerned about fashion

dinky-di: genuine

dobbing: informing on another

dunny: toilet

economic rationalism: market- and money-oriented economic policy

goes bung: breaks down (from the Yagara language, originally meaning dead)

Her Maj: Her Majesty the Queen of England

lagging: informing on another

pollie: politicians

ranga: person with red hair

ratbag: an amusing troublemaker

Sandgroper: person from West Australia

squiz: look or glance

tall poppy syndrome: the systematic criticism of high achievers

true blue: patriotic Australian

wallaby: small pouched marsupial like a kangaroo

within cooee: in close proximity to

wobbegong: A species of shark

wowser: Person who tries to impose their own strict moral code on others

Choosing Levels of English

So, using good grammar clearly sounds like a great idea, but you may not always need to use standard English because the language of choice depends on your situation. Here’s what we mean. Imagine that you’re hungry. How would you invite someone to join you for lunch?

Would you care to accompany me to lunch?

Wanna go grab a bite?

Different levels of English are used in everyday life. We call the first example formal English, and the second example informal English. If you’re like most people, you switch between levels of English dozens of times each day without even thinking about it. You choose the most suitable level of language depending on where you are, what’s going on and who your audience is.

Impressing with formal English

Formal English shows that you’ve trotted out your best behaviour in someone’s honour. You may use formal English when you have less power, importance and/or status than the other person in the conversation. You may also use it when you have more power, importance or status than the other person (to maintain the distance between you). Think of formal English as English on its best behaviour and wearing a business suit. If you’re in a situation where you want to look your best, or in which you’re being judged, use formal English.

Situations and types of writing that call for formal English include

authoritative reference books

business letters and emails (from individuals to businesses, as well as from or between businesses)

homework

important conversations such as job interviews, university interviews, parole hearings, sessions with teachers in which you explain that it wasn’t you who did what they think