A Course Book in English Grammar Standard English and the Dialects
The study of language in written texts and transcripts of speech is greatly helped by a student's abilityBB to identify and describe those prominent features of the grammar which make one variety of English different from another. A Course Book in English
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Titles in the Studies in English Language series A Course Book in English Grammar - Dennis Freeborn From Old English to Standard English - Dennis Freeborn Varieties of English, Second Edition - Dennis Freeborn with Peter French and David Langford English Language Project Work - Christine McDonald Analysing Talk - David Langford
A COURSE BOOK IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR STANDARD ENGUSH AND THE DIALECTS Second Edition Dennis Freeborn
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MACMIllAN
© Dennis Freeborn 1987, 1995 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1987 Reprinted 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994 Second edition 1995 Published by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-62493-7 ISBN 978-1-349-24079-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24079-1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95
Mark Tapley: 'but a Werb is a word as signifies to be, to do, or to suffer (which is all the grammar, and enough too, as ever as I wos taught)' Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts; therefore it is dumb. Umberto Bco, The Name of the Rose (1983) A child speaks his mother tongue properly, though he could never write out its grammar. But the grammarian is not the only one who knows the rules of the language; they are well known, albeit unconsciously, also to the child. The grammarian is merely the one who knows how and why the child knows the language. Umberto Bco, Reflections on The Name of the Rose' (1985)
Contents
Symbols
xvi
Acknowledgements
xix
Introduction to the second edition
xx
I
STANDARD ENGLISH AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1.1 The meanings of grammar and English 1.1.1 'Grammar is "correct" English' 1.1.2 'Standard English is the English language' 1.1.3 'The English language consists of all its dialects' 1.1.4 Descriptive and prescriptive grammar 1.2 Shibboleths 1.2.1 Shibboleths in pronunciation 1.2.2 Shibboleths in vocabulary and grammar
I I I I 2 3 4 5 7
U
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1.3.1 1.3.2
1.4 2
Rules in descriptive grammar Proscriptive rules - 'what you may not do' 1.3.2.1 'You may not split the infinitive' 1.3.2.2 'You may not begin a sentence with hopefUlly' 1.3.2.3 'You may not begin a sentence with and or
