Practical English Grammar I must reacknowledge my debt to those whose help with the preparation of the first edition continues as a contribution to the second: Jonathan Blundell, Anthony Cowie, Alan Duff, Christine Forster, Michael Macfarlane, Nigel Middlemiss, Jonathan Price, Christina Ruse, Loreto Todd, Philip Tregidgo and Catherine Walter. There is not enough space to mention all the grammarians and other linguists on whose work I have drawn, even if I had a complete record of my borrowings; but I must at least pay homage to the monumental Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik (Longman 1985), whose authoritative account of the facts of English structure and usage constitutes an essential source of information for anyone writing pedagogic grammar materials today. It is with particular pleasure that I express my affectionate and deeply-felt gratitude to Stewart Melluish of Oxford University Press. Without his deployment of the many qualities that distinguish editors from authors, including heroic calm, unfailing courtesy and monumental patience, this book would still be far from finished. Finally, my thanks to Catherine, Mark and Helen for their support and tolerance during the writing of this book, which has separated me from them for too many hours over too many years. page x The purpose of this book English, like all languages, is full of problems for the foreign learner. Some of these points are easy to explain - for instance, the formation of questions, the difference between since and for, the meaning of after all. Other problems are more tricky, and cause difficulty even for advanced students and teachers. How exactly is the present perfect tense used? When do we use past tenses to be polite? What are the differences between at, on and wwith expressions of place? We can say a chair leg - why not * a girl leg7. What are the real rules for the use of like and as? When can we use the expression do so? When is the used with superlatives? Is unless the same as if not7. What are the differences between come and go, between each and every, between big, large and great, between fairly, quite, rather and pretty7 Is it correct to say There's three more bottles in the fridge7 How do you actually say 3x4= 121 And so on, and so on. This book is a practical reference guide to questions of this kind. It deals with over 600 points which regularly cause problems for foreign students of English. Most of the points treated are grammatical, but there are also explanations of a certain number of common vocabulary problems. Level The book is intended for intermediate and advanced students, and for teachers of English. Being a reference book, it contains information at various levels, ranging from relatively simple points to quite advanced problems. Organisation Problems are mostly explained in short separate entries; the book is more like a dictionary than a grammar in form. This makes it possible to give a clear complete treatment of each point, and enables the user to concentrate just on the question he or she needs information about. Entries are arranged alphabetically by title and numbered in sequence; a comprehensive index shows where each point can be found. Approach and style I have tried to make the presentation as practical as possible. Each entry contains an explanation of a problem, examples of correct usage, and (when this is useful) examples of typical mistakes. More complicated items are divided into separate entries: a general explanation first, followed by more complete information for advanced students and teachers. Explanations are, as far as possible, in simple everyday language. Where it has been necessary to use grammatical terminology, I have generally preferred to use traditional terms that are well known and easy to understand. Some of these terms (e.g. future tense) would be regarded as unsatisfactory by academic grammarians, but I am not writing for specialists. There is a dictionary of the language terminology used in the book on pages xxi-xxix. page ri Introduction The kind of English described The explanations deal mainly with standard modem British English, and the examples are as realistic as I can make them. Stylistic differences (e.g. between formal and informal usage, or spoken and written language) are mentioned where this is appropriate. A good deal of information is given about American usage, but the book is not intended as a systematic guide to American English. Correctness If we say that a form is 'incorrect', we can mean two different things. We may be referring to a form like */ have seen her yesterday, which normally only occurs in the English of foreigners; or we may be talking about a form like ain 't, which is used in speech by many British and American people, but -which does not occur in the standard dialects and is not usually written. In this book, I am mainly concerned with the first sort of 'incorrectness' (the differences between British or American English and 'foreign' English), but I have mentioned a few examples of the second kind. Sometimes a form is used by some educated people, but considered wrong by others (e.g. mem It was me that found your keys). When this is the case, I have said so, but I have not usually tried to suggest who is right. How to use the book This is a reference book, not a systematic course in English grammar. It will be most useful to a student who has made a mistake and wants to find out why it is wrong, or to a teacher who is looking for a clear explanation of a difficult point of grammar or vocabulary. The best way to find a point is to look in the index at the back: most problems are indexed under several different names, so it is not usually difficult to locate quickly the entry you need. (For instance, if you want to know why we say I'm not used to driving on the left instead of* I'm not used to drive on the left, you can find the number of the section where this is explained by looking in the index under 'used', 'be used', 'to' or '-ing forms'.) Other reference books This book gives explanations of individual points of usage, but does not show how the separate points 'fit together'. For a systematically organised account of the whole of English grammar, students should consult a book such as A Student's Grammar of the English Language, by Greenbaum and Quirk (Longman), the Longman English Grammar, by L.G. Alexander, or the Oxford Guide to English Grammar, by John Eastwood. For a detailed treatment of English vocabulary, see the Ox ford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English or the Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. -L List of entries 1 abbreviated styles 42 2 abbreviations and acronyms 43 3 able 44 4 about and on 45 5 about to 46 6 above and over 7 accept and agree 47 8 according to 48 9 across, over and through 49 10 active verb forms 50 11 actual(ly) 51 12 adjectives: complementation 52 13 adjectives ending in -ed: 53 pronunciation 54 14 adjectives: order before nouns 55 15 adjectives: position 56 16 adjectives: position after as, how, 57 so, too 58 17 adjectives with and 59 18 adjectives without nouns 60 19 adverb particles 61 20 adverbs of manner and adjectives 62 21 adverbs or adjectives? confusing 63 cases 64 22 adverbs: position (general) 23 adverbs: position (details) 65 24 affect and effect 66 25 afraid 67 26 after (adverb) 27 after (conjunction) 68 28 after all 69 29 afternoon, evening and night 30 age 70 31 ago 71 32 alike 72 33 all (I): introduction 73 34 all (2): subject, object or complement; all, everybody and 74 everything 75 35 all (3): all (of) with nouns and 76 pronouns 77 36 all (4): with verbs 78 37 all and every 79 38 all and whole 80 39 all right and alright 81 40 allow, permit and let 82 alone, lonely, lonesome and lone along already and all ready also, as well and too also, as well, too and either in negative clauses alternate(ly) and altemative(ly) although and though altogether and all together American and British English and and after try, wait, go etc another and other(s) any any and every any and no: adverbs any more appear arise and rise (a) round and about arouse and rouse articles (I): introduction articles (2): summary of the rules articles (3): countable and uncountable nouns articles (4): the (details) articles (5): a/an (details) articles (6): the difference between some/any and no article articles (7): talking in general articles (8): special rules and exceptions as... as...; as much/many as as and though: special word order as, because, since and for as, when and while (simultaneous events) as if and as though as long as as usual as well as ask at/in and to at, on and in (place) at, on and in (time) at all 84 auxiliary verbs 85 (a)wake and (a)waken 86 back and again 87 bath and bathe 88 be: progressive forms 89 be with auxiliary do 90 be + infinitive 91 be and have 92 beat and win 93 because and because of 94 been meaning 'come' or 'gone' 95 before (adverb) 96 before (conjunction) 97 before (preposition) and in front of 98 begin and start 99 below and under 100 beside and besides 101 besides, except and apart from 102 bet 103 better 104 between and among 105 big, large and great 106 a bit 107 born and borne 108 borrow and lend 109 both (of) with nouns and pronouns 110 both with verbs 111 both... and 112 bring and take 113 bring up and educate 114 Britain, the United Kingdom, the British Isles and England 115 broad and wide 116 but = except 117 by (method, agent) and with (tools etc) 118 by: time 119 by and near 120 call 121 can and could (I): introduction 122 can and could (2): ability 123 can and could (3): possibility and pr...
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