18
ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR TODAY
WHAT GRAMMAR IS AND IS NOT
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Exercise lb (answers on p. 199) Classification of sentences
All of the following sentences have something 'wrong' with them. Try to work out whether each is:
A     ungrammatical in the sense that it does not folio w a rule observable in the language behaviour of native speakers of English;
B      'bad etiquette' from the point of view of prescriptive grammar (see 1.2); or
C     'bad style' in the sense that it does not communicate effectively.
1. I can recommend this candidate for the post for which he applies with complete confidence.
2. I ain't going nowhere tonight.
3. We need more comprehensive schools.
4. To was or not to was, that be the ask.
5. There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.
6. How are you, it has a long time that we don't have heared from you again.
7. I gave him the present that I had bought in the shop in which I had met the man to whose house I went yesterday.
8. Him and me are going to the beach today.
9. Eggs should be stamped with the date when they are laid by the farmer.
10.   This is the sort of English up with which I will not put. Exercise lc (answers and sources on p. 200)
Identifying categories of language use (see 1.3.3)
Identify the categories of language use in these samples of language, as follows:
Tenor       formal or informal
Mode        spoken or written
Domain     advertising, journalism, or religion
Example    After reading this, other central heating systems won't look so hot.
Tenor: informal;   Mode: written;   Domain: advertising.
1. The Senate yesterday announced the creation of a nine-man committee to investigate the relationship between Billy Carter and Colonel Qaddafi's government in Libya.
2. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving arid honour, power and might, be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.
3. Anywhere return, still only 50p.
4. Contour tiling, it looks superb, it feels marvellous.
5. So what's likely to happen now? Well the report has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, in view of er certain evidence.
Exercises
Exercise la       (answers on p. 199)
True/false questionnaire (to test your understanding of the chapter) The following statements should be labelled 'true' or 'false':
1. The study of grammar must include the study of Latin.
2. Grammar can be seen as a set of rules which we follow when we use language.'
3. We can follow the grammatical rules of our native language without knowing them consciously.
4. The study of grammar will improve your spelling.
5. Grammar only deals with the study of writing, because it originally meant 'to write' in Greek.
6. Children have to be properly tutored in their language if they are to learn to speak grammatically.
7. Studying grammar involves learning how people should speak.
8. It is incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition.
9. American English is less grammatical than British English.
10. The way we speak depends, among other things, on our personal characteristics.
11. The way we speak to friends is identical to the way we speak to strangers.
13.   Dialect is inferior to thej standard language.
13. Factory workers in,the north and south of Britain differ more in their speech than do doctors.
14. The term TENOR refers to the pitch of your voice in a given situation.
15. Whatever you can convey in speech, you can also convey in writing.
16. Medicine could be considered a language domain.
17. All languages follow the same grammatical rules.
18. A sentence which is difficult to understand must be ungrammatical.
19. The use of language in literature is the same as in conversation.
20. Poetic licence is official permission to write poetry.