COLLINS COBUILD COLLINS Birmingham University International Language Database ENGLISH GRAMMAR COLLINS PUBLISHERS THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM COLLINS London and Glasgow Collins ELT 8 Grafton Street London W1X 3LA COBUILD is a trademark of William Collins Sons & Co Ltd ©William Collins Sons & Co Ltd 1990 First published 1990 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Alt rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the Publisher. ISBN 0 00 370257 X Paperback ISBN 0 00 375025 6 Cased Printed and bound in Great Britain by Richard Clay Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk NOTE Entered words that we have reason to believe constitute trademarks have been designated as such. However, neither the presence nor absence of such designation should be lrAfyed as affecting the legal status of any trademark. Contents Contents 1 Editorial team 6 Introduction 7 Note on Examples 13 Guide to the Use of the Grammar 14 Glossary of grammatical terms 17 Cobuild Grammar Chart 28 Contents of Chapter 1 30 1 Referring to people and things 35 Introduction to the noun group 35 Identifying people and things: nouns 38 Things which can be counted: count nouns 39 Things not usually counted: uncount nouns 41 When there is only one of something: singular nouns 44 Referring to more than one thing: plural nouns 46 Referring to groups: collective nouns 49 Referring to people and things by name: proper nouns 50 Nouns which are rarely used alone 52 1 Sharing the same quality: adjectives as headwords 53 Nouns referring to males or females 54 Referring to activities and processes: '-ing' nouns 55 Specifying more exactly: compound nouns 57 Referring to people and things without naming them: pronouns 60 Referring to people and things: personal pronouns 61 Mentioning possession: possessive pronouns 64 Referring back to the subject: reflexive pronouns 65 Referring to a particular person or thing: demonstrative pronouns 67 Referring to people and things in a general way: indefinite pronouns 67 Showing that two people do the same thing: reciprocal pronouns 70 Joining clauses together: relative pronouns 71 Asking questions: interrogative pronouns 72 Other pronouns 72 Identifying what you are talking about: determiners 74 The specific way: using 'the' 74 The specific way: using 'this', 'that', 'these', and 'those' 79 The specific way: using possessive determiners 81 The general way 84 The general way: using 'a' and 'an' 85 The general way: other determiners 86 Contents of Chapter 2 91 2 Giving information about people and things 96 Introduction 96 Describing things: adjectives 97 Information focusing: adjective structures 99 Identifying qualities: qualitative adjectives 99 Identifying the class that something belongs to: classifying adjectives 101 Identifying colours: colour adjectives 102 Showing strong feelings: emphasizing adjectives 103 Making the reference more precise: postdeterminers 104 Special classes of adjectives 105 Position of adjectives in noun groups 108 Special forms: '-ing' adjectives 110 Special forms: '-ed' adjectives 112 Compound adjectives 116 Comparing things: comparatives 118 Comparing things: superlatives 120 Other ways of comparing things: saying that things are similar 123 Indicating different amounts of a quality: submodifiers 126 Indicating the degree of difference: submodifiers in comparison 130 Modifying using nouns: noun modifiers 133 Indicating possession or association: possessive structures 135 Indicating close connection: apostrophe s ('s) 136 Other structures with apostrophe s ('s) 136 Talking about quantities and amounts 137 Talking about amounts of things: quantifiers 138 Talking about amounts of things: partitives 142 Referring to an exact number of things: numbers 146 Referring to the number of things: cardinal numbers 147 Referring to things in a sequence: ordinal numbers 150 Referring to an exact part of something: fractions 152 Talking about measurements 154 Talking about age 156 Approximate amounts and measurements 158 Expanding the noun group: qualifiers 159 Nouns with prepositional phrases 160 Nouns with adjectives 164 Nouns with non-finite clauses 165 2 Contents of Chapter 3 167 3 Making a message 172 Indicating how many participants are involved: transitivity 172 Talking about events which involve only the subject: intransitive verbs 174 Involving someone or something other than the subject: transitive verbs 177 Verbs where the object refers back to the subject: reflexive verbs 180 Verbs with little meaning: delexical verbs 182 Verbs which can be used in both intransitive and transitive clauses 187 Verbs which can take an object or a prepositional phrase 189 Changing your focus by changing the subject: ergative verbs 190 Verbs which involve people doing the same thing to each other: reciprocal verbs 192 Verbs which can have two objects: ditransitive verbs 194 Extending or changing the meaning of a verb: phrasal verbs 196 Verbs which consist of two words: compound verbs 206 Describing and identifying things: complementation 207 Describing things: adjectives as complements of link verbs 208 Saying that one thing is another thing: noun groups as complements of link verbs209 Commenting: 'to'-infinitive clauses after complements 211 Describing as well as talking about an action: other verbs with complements 213 Describing the object of a verb: object complements 214 Describing something in other ways: adjuncts instead of complements 216 Indicating what role something has or how it is perceived: the preposition 'as' 217 Talking about closely linked actions: using two verbs together in phase 218 Talking about two actions done by the same person: phase verbs together 219 Talking about two actions done by different people: phase verbs separated by an object 223 Contents of Chapter 4 226 4 Varying the message 231 Statements, questions, orders, and suggestions 231 Making statements: the declarative mood 232 Asking questions: the interrogative mood 233 'Yes/no'-questions 233 'Wh'-questions 235 Telling someone to do something: the imperative mood 239 Other uses of moods 241 Negation 243 Forming negative statements 243 Forming negative statements: negative affixes 249 Forming negative statements: broad negatives 250 Emphasizing the negative aspect of a statement 251 Using modals 252 The main uses of modals 253 Special features of modals 254 Referring to time 256 Indicating possibility 257 Indicating ability 258 Indicating likelihood 258 Indicating permission 262 Indicating unacceptability 262 Interacting with other people 263 Giving instructions and making requests 263 Making an offer or an invitation 266 Making suggestions 267 Stating an intention 268 Indicating unwillingness or refusal 268 Expressing a wish 269 Indicating importance 270 Introducing what you are going to say 271 Expressions used instead of modals 273 3 Semi-modals 276 Contents of Chapter 5 278 5 Expressing time 283 Introduction 283 The present 284 The present in general: the simple present 284 Accent on the present: the present continuous 286 Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 286 The past 287 Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 287 Accent on the past: the past continuous 288 The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 288 Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 289 Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 290 The future 292 Indicating the future using 'will' 292 Other ways of indicating the future 293 Adjuncts with future tenses 293 Other uses of tenses 294 Vivid narrative 294 Firm plans for the future 294 Forward planning from a time in the past 294 Timing by adjuncts 295 Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 297 Time expressions and prepositional phrases 299 Specific times 299 Non-specific times 303 Subordinate time clauses 305 Extended uses of time expressions 306 Frequency and duration 306 Adjuncts of frequency 307 Adjuncts of duration 310 Indicating the whole of a period 313 Indicating the start or end of a period 314 Duration expressions as modifiers 316 Contents of Chapter 6 316 6 Expressing manner and place 321 Introduction to adjuncts 321 Position of adjuncts 322 Giving information about manner: adverbs 325 Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 326 Comparative and superlative adverbs 329 Adverbs of manner 330 Adverbs of degree 332 Giving information about place: prepositions 335 Position of prepositional phrases 336 Indicating position 337 Indicating direction 340 Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 341 Other ways of giving information about place 342 Destinations and directions 344 Noun groups referring to place: place names 347 Other uses of prepositional phrases 347 Prepositions used with verbs 349 Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 350 Extended meanings of prepositions 350 Contents of Chapter 7 351 7 Reporting what people say or think 356 Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 357 4 Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 359 Reporting in your own words: report structures 361 Reporting statements and thoughts 362 Reporting questions 364 Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 366 Time reference in report structures 368 Making your reference appropriate 371 Using reporting verbs for politeness 372 Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 372 Referring to the speaker and hearer 374 Other ways of indicating what is said 376 Other ways of using reported clauses 378 Contents of Chapter 8 381 8 Combining messages 386 Adverbial clauses 387 Time clauses 388 Conditional clauses 393 Purpose clauses 397 Reason clauses 398 Result clauses 399 Concessive clauses 401 Place clauses 403 Clauses of manner 404 Relative clauses 405 Using relative pronouns in defining clauses 407 Using relative pronouns in non-defining clauses 407 Using relative pronouns with prepositions 408 Using 'whose' 409 Using other relative pronouns 409 Additional points about non-defining relative clauses 410 Nominal relative clauses 411 Non-finite clauses 412 Using non-defining clauses 413 Using defining clauses 414 Other structures used like non-finite clauses 415 Coordination 415 Linking clauses 416 Linking verbs 419 Linking noun groups 419 Linking adjectives and adverbs 421 Linking other word groups 422 Emphasizing coordinating conjunctions 423 Linking more than two clauses or word groups 424 Contents of Chapter 9 425 9 Making texts 430 Referring back 430 Referring back in a specific way 431 Referring back in a general way 434 Substituting for something already mentioned: using 'so' and 'not' 436 Comparing with something already mentioned 437 Referring forward 440 Leaving out words: ellipsis 441 Ellipsis in conversation 443 Contents of Chapter 10 445 10 The structure of information 450 Introduction 450 Focusing on the thing affected: the passive voice 451 Selecting focus: cleft sentences 457 Taking the focus off the subject: using impersonal 'it' 459 5 Describing a place or situation 459 Talking about the weather and the time 460 Commenting on an action, activity, or experience 461 Commenting on a fact that you are about to mention 462 Introducing something new: 'there' as subject 463 Focusing on clauses or clause elements using adjuncts 465 Commenting on your statement: sentence adjuncts 465 Indicating your attitude to what you are saying 465 Stating your field of reference 468 Showing connections: linking adjuncts 470 Indicating a change in a conversation 472 Emphasizing 473 Indicating the most relevant thing: focusing adverbs 474 Other information structures 476 Putting something first: fronting 476 Introducing your statement: prefacing structures 476 Doing by saying: performative verbs 477 Exclamations 478 Making a statement into a question: question tags 480 Addressing people: vocatives 481 Contents of the Reference Section 482 Reference Section 487 Pronunciation guide 487 Forming plurals of count nouns 488 Forming comparative and superlative adjectives 491 The spelling and pronunciation of possessives 493 Numbers 494 Cardinal numbers 495 Ordinal numbers 496 Fractions and percentages 497 Verb forms and the formation of verb groups 497 Finite verb groups and the formation of tenses 506 Non-finite verb groups: infinitives and participles 511 Forming adverbs 513 Forming comparative and superlative adverbs 515 Index 516 Editorial team Editor-in-Chief John Sinclair Managing Editor Gwyneth Fox Editors Stephen Bullon Ramesh Krishnamurthy Elizabeth Manning John Todd Assistant Editors Mona Baker Jane Bradbury Richard Fay Deborah Yuill Senior researcher Rosamund Moon Computer Officer Tim Lane Clerical Staff Sue Smith Jane Winn Consultants Gottfried Graustein 6 M.A.K. Halliday Collins Publishers Annette Capel, Lorna Heaslip, Douglas Williamson Many other people have been involved with the project at both research and editing stages. Patrick Hanks, who was the Editorial Director of Cobuild throughout the project, made a valuable contribution both in policy and in detail. Dominic Bree, Jane Cullen, and Clare Ramsey worked as researchers in the early stages, and Ron Hardie helped from the beginning until quite late in the editing process. David Brazil gave us great help and encouragement during the early editing of the book. Without his support, this would have been a more difficult task. Helen Liebeck and Christina Rammell were influential in the early stages of editing. Michael Hoey and Charles Owen, members of the Department of English, University of Birmingham, and PhD and MA students in the department, in particular Richard Francis, Agnes Molnar, Iria Garcia, Ramiro Restrepo, Christopher Royal-Dawson, and Bob Walter, worked on and read drafts of the text. The publishers and editorial team would also like to thank the following people who read and commented on the text John Curtin: Brazil; Henri Bejoint, John Hall, Sue Inkster, and Anne Pradeilles: France; Georgina Pearce and Herman Wekker: Germany; Marcel Lemmens: Holland; Nicholas Brownloes, Tony Buckby, Anthony Harvey, and Georgina Pert: Italy; Roger Hunt, Andy Kennedy, Christopher Pratt, and Tony Sanchez: Spain; Mary Snell-Hornby: Switzerland; Katy Shaw and Tom Stableford: UK; Adriana Bolivar: Venezuela. Teachers from many countries participated in workshops where material from the Grammar was presented. We are grateful to all of them for taking part in these workshops, especially those organized by the British Council, Singapore, the British Council, Paris, the Britannia School, Rio de Janeiro, the ENPULJ Conference, Natal, Brazil, and the JALT Conference, Okayama, Japan. Introduction This grammar is for anyone who is interested in the English language and how it works. Many people will come to this book because they are learning English and trying to master the structure of the language. As soon as they have enough practical English to master the text, they will find this grammar helpful to them although it has been written primarily for students of advanced level. The information the book contains, however, will also engage the attention of a different sort of student—those who make a study of English because they are simply interested in language and languages. They include teachers, examiners, syllabus planners and materials writers. The grammar has several unique features which will give them very useful information. The information in this book is taken from a long and careful study of present-day English. Many millions of words from speech and writing have been gathered together in a computer and analyzed, partly by the computer and partly by a team of expert compilers. It is the first grammar of its kind, and it is deferent in many respects from other kinds of grammar. This grammar attempts to make accurate statements about English, as seen in the 7 huge Birmingham Collection of English Texts. The main patterns of English are picked out and described, and the typical words and phrases found in each pattern are listed. This is what a grammar ought to do, but only very recently has it been possible. For a long time there has been a credibility gap between a grammar and the language that it is supposed to describe. Many of the rules seem too abstract to apply to actual examples. There is no room to show how the strong structural patterns can be varied and developed to allow users great freedom of expression. A Grammar of Functions People who study and use a language are mainly interested in how they can do things with the language—how they can make meanings, get attention to their problems and interests, influence their friends and colleagues and create a rich social life for themselves. They are only interested in the grammatical structure of the language as a means to getting things done. A grammar which puts together the patterns of the language and the things you can do with them is called a functional grammar. This is a functional grammar: each chapter is built around a major function of language, such as 'concept building', 'making up messages', and 'reporting what someone said'. Each of these functions is regularly expressed in English by one particular structure. For example, concept building is usually expressed structures built around a noun, called noun groups; messages are very often expressed in clauses; and reports typically involve a pair of clauses, with one of them containing a reporting verb such as 'say', and the other one beginning with 'that' or having quote marks (' ') round it. This grammar is based on these important correspondences between structure and function, which are set out in the Cobuild Grammar Chart on the following pages. The skeleton of English grammar is seen in this chart. However, there are many minor features of English that cannot appear on a simple summary chart. The grammar of a language is flexible, and with the passage of time there are changes in meaning and use of grammatical forms. For example, although it is true to say that the noun group is the structure we choose for the things we want to talk about, it is not the only one. Sometimes we want to talk about an event or an idea that is not easy to express in a noun group. Instead we can use a clause as the subject of another clause. All I want is a holiday. We can also use a clause as the object or complement of another clause. That's what we've always longed for. By extending the basic grammar occasionally, speakers of English can express themselves more easily and spontaneously. The same kind of extension works in the other direction also: noun groups are not only used as subjects, objects and complements. They can function as adjuncts of time, for example, among a range of minor uses. He phoned back with the information the very next day. But there is a major area of English grammar based on prepositions (see Chapter 6), which allows noun groups to be used in all sorts of subsidiary functions in the clause. 8 I went to a village school. This has been my home for ten years now. With a click, the door opened. So it can be seen that the structural patterns can have more than one function, and that different structures can have similar functions. This may sound confusing, and it can be confusing if the grammar is not carefully organized around the major structures and functions. This grammar follows up each major statement (often called 'rule' in other grammars) with a detailed description of the usages surrounding that statement—including 'exceptions'. Other ways of achieving the same sort of effect are then presented, with cross-references to the main structural patterns involved. Later in the chapter, the various extensions of use of a structure are set out, with cross-references to places where those functions are thoroughly treated. These extensions and additions to the functions of a structure are not just random. Usually they can be presented as ways of widening the scope of the original function. For example, the basic, central function of reporting verbs (Chapter 7) is to introduce what someone has said. He said he would be back soon. It can easily be extended to include what someone has written: His mother wrote that he had finally arrived home. Then it can be widened to include thoughts and feelings; these do not need to be expressed in words, but the report structure is very convenient. The boys thought he was dead. From this we can see the reporting clause as a more general way of introducing another clause. The reporting clause becomes a kind of preface, commenting on the other clause, which contains the main message. It is true that some children are late talkers. The subject of the reporting clause is the pronoun 'it', which refers forward to the 'that'-clause. The verb is now a link verb (Chapter 3) and not a special reporting verb. A Grammar of Examples All the examples are taken from texts, usually with no editing at all. It is now generally accepted that it is extremely difficult to invent examples which sound realistic, and which have all the features of natural examples. I am convinced that it is essential for a learner of English to learn from actual examples, examples that can be trusted because they have been used in real communication. From a Cobuild perspective, no argument is needed. At Cobuild there are file stores bulging with examples, and we do not need to invent any. By examining these real examples closely, we are gradually finding out some of the ways they differ from made-up examples. Until we know a lot more about naturalness in language we do not think it is safe to use invented examples. There is a special note developing this point, which can be found immediately after this Introduction. A Grammar of Classes The actual words and phrases that are regularly used in each structure are printed in the grammar in a series of lists. Instead of just a few illustrative examples, this 9 grammar gives information about the grammar of a large number of words. The student can get a good idea of how large or small a grammatical class is, how many words a certain rule applies to. The teacher has the raw material for making up exercises that suit a particular group of students, and can point to general features of a grammatical class. Most of these lists, as far as we know, have never been available before. They are worth detailed investigation by student and teacher, because these lists provide the main link between the abstractions of grammar and the realities of texts. In grammar lists of this kind are called 'classes'; a class is the grouping together of words and phrases which all behave in the same way. Hence this grammar is very much a grammar of classes because it features so many lists of words and phrases. The job of preparing the lists has been one of the most interesting and challenging problems in the preparation of this book. The computer does the first stage, and produces a fist by searching out all the words that fit a pattern it is given. For example, it might be asked to pick all the words that end in '-ing' and do not have a corresponding form without the '-ing'. The first list it produces includes such words as 'overweening', and 'pettifogging', which are not very common, and which in our view can be left to a later stage of language learning. Also found are 'blithering' and 'whopping', which have a special function and are treated in a separate paragraph 2.41. A few words fit the pattern well but are only found in very restricted combinations, or collocations. 'Piping' goes with 'voice', and 'gangling' goes with 'youth' or 'boy'. Since grammar mostly deals with generalities, we feel that it could be misleading to print them in fists which are intended to encourage composition. At present the computer has difficulties in detecting similarities and differences of meaning. But in the Cobuild database notes on meaning are made by the compilers, and the computer can also report back on this information. So, for example, it will know that in the case of 'fetching', there is a verb to 'fetch', but it does not have the same meaning. In most cases we omit a word like 'fetching' from our lists, to avoid confusion; otherwise the grammar would be full of special notes. If we put it in, we give an appropriate warning. In the summer of 1989 I worked with a large number of English teachers in Europe, South East Asia and South America, to find out their reactions to our lists and to have their suggestions for revising them and editing them. The clear message was that the lists, to be teachable, should be orderly and comprehensive. Problem cases, on the whole, should be omitted rather than explained in a grammar at this level: on the other hand words which an experienced teacher would expect to find in a list should be there, or there should be an explanation. The results of aft this careful editing can be found in the lists at, for example, 2.77, 2.78, and 2.79. Wherever we can see a good reason, we put the words and phrases in a list in a meaningful arrangement. This approach was suggested in the teachers' workshops, and on that basis, for example, we put verbs with a prefix (2.79) in a different list from other verbs (2.78) which behave in the same way. Another good example of this can be found at 1.21, where in a single list we put in separate groups animals, fish, words ending in '-craft', foreign words ending in '-s', 10 [...]... examples they used to work with This book, along with the Cobuild Dictionaries and the Cobuild English Course, gives a first glimpse of what it is like to have access to real examples John Sinclair Editor-in-Chief Cobuild Professor of Modern English Language University of Birmingham Guide to the Use of the Grammar The Collins Cobuild English Grammar is designed to be used both for quick reference and... Introduction sets out the principles from which the grammar has been developed It explains the close relationship which exists between function and structure, which is the basis of this Grammar, and it explains the type of functional approach that is taken Cobuild Grammar Chart The Cobuild Grammar Chart sets out in schematic form the contents of the grammar It shows the progression from word to group... her whether she'd seen him 'wh'-question a question which expects an answer giving a particular person, place, thing, amount, and so on, rather than just 'yes' or 'no' 'wh'-word one of a group of words starting with 'wh-', such as 'what', 'when' or 'who', which are used in 'wh'-questions 'How' is also called a 'wh'-word because it behaves like the other 'wh'-words 'yes/no'-question a question which can... 'that'-clause On the rare occasions when it has a noun group as object, the noun will be something like 'problem', 'point', or 'position'—nouns describing messages A Grammar for Access When using a grammar, it is often difficult to find the information that you want This is often the biggest single problem for users of grammars, and a good reason why grammars are often unpopular with students This grammar. .. that you are using newly-learned English words correctly There is also a book of Cobuild Grammar Exercises, in which the lists are used as the basis of many exercises, for those students who want more practice in a particular area of grammar Additional contents In addition to the main text, there are various other sections which are included to help you to get the most out of this Grammar These additional... productive features, in this grammar we have only introduced the main and most obvious ones If we find that this approach is popular with teachers and learners, it may be possible gradually to shift the whole perspective away from grammar as a list of arbitrary problems, and towards grammar as a means of free expression We have tried to produce a grammar of real English the English that people speak and... of current English, including The Times newspaper I believe this to be a sound basis for a grammar, and I think that it is very important for learners and other users to examine and study only reel instances of a language This is particularly important when they are using the examples as models for their own usage Some great grammars of English for example Otto Jespersen's A Modern English Grammar support... for '-ing' noun verb group a main verb, or a main verb preceded by one or more auxiliaries, which combines with a subject to say what someone does, or what happens to them; EG I'll show them She's been sick vocative a word used when speaking to someone, just as if it were their name; EG darling, madam 'WH'-CLAUSE a clause starting with a 'wh'-word 'whether'-clause a clause used to report a 'yes/no'-question;... explains the meaning of grammatical terms It features the terms that are systematically used in this grammar, and also includes terms that are used in other grammars, with a cross-reference to the term used in this book, where appropriate For example, this grammar talks about 'noun groups', whereas some other grammars call them 'noun phrases' or 'nominal groups' All three of these terms are mentioned in... clauses 407 Using relative pronouns in non-defining clauses 407 Using relative pronouns with prepositions 408 Using 'whose' 409 Using other relative pronouns 409 Additional points about non-defining relative clauses 410 Nominal relative clauses 411 Non-finite clauses 412 Using non-defining clauses 413 Using defining clauses 414 Other structures used like non-finite clauses 415 Coordination 415 Linking . COLLINS COBUILD COLLINS Birmingham University International Language Database ENGLISH GRAMMAR COLLINS PUBLISHERS THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM COLLINS London and Glasgow Collins ELT 8. the Cobuild Dictionaries and the Cobuild English Course, gives a first glimpse of what it is like to have access to real examples. John Sinclair Editor-in-Chief Cobuild Professor of Modern English. perspective away from grammar as a list of arbitrary problems, and towards grammar as a means of free expression. We have tried to produce a grammar of real English the English that people speak