In this second edition of THE USES OF GRAMMAR, Judith Rodby and W.

Ross Winterowd develop their successful

RODBY
first edition with new examples, more discussion questions and exercises, and clear explanations of the grammatical
WINTEROWD
principles that teach students to understand grammar conceptually and deeply. The first edition has been completely
redesigned visually to enhance learning and retention. Rodby and Winterowd’s THE USES OF GRAMMAR 2E is an
accessible approach grounded in deep understanding of language acquisition, structure, and even the rhetoric of

THE USES OF GRAMMAR

everyday use. THE USES OF GRAMMAR 2E integrates traditional, structural, and functional concepts with ideas
from contemporary linguistics and grammatical study. Rather than simply partition the study of grammar from

THE USES OF GRAMMAR

the bottom up—from the parts to the whole—Rodby and Winterowd employ a unique structure based on the
differentiation of FORM and FUNCTION. This structure is framed around three questions: What are the forms in
the grammar of American English? How do those forms function in that grammar? How are they used in real-life
speaking and writing to achieve specific purposes? Students may learn, for example, how a variety of FORMS (in-
cluding nouns, pronouns, verbals, and clauses) can all FUNCTION as nominals. This form/function approach ensures
that students learn the uses of grammar as both an object of study and as the living text of social interaction. GLAMOUR
PURPOSE
THE USES OF GRAMMAR thus uses living language to illustrate the practical applications of grammar in our lives.
These examples are drawn from a wide variety of sources—newspapers, magazines, books, and the writings of
undergraduate students--and from such writers and speakers as Ronald Reagan, Shirley Chisholm, Groucho Marx, Mark SECOND
Twain, and Jane Addams. Class-tested and refined to be student- and instructor-friendly, THE USES OF GRAMMAR 2E
EDITION SPEAK
also features “For Discussion” sections that enhance students’ understanding of the principles covered in the text and
encourage classroom discussion. “Using Grammar” sections show students how to think about grammar’s function in
social relations. “Language Learning” sections summarize critical concepts. Chapter Previews and Chapter Reviews help
FORM
students anticipate the new principles, rules, and concepts to follow and reinforce learning. Exercises ask students to
rehearse new learning, and Challengers ask them to apply this learning to broader issues or more complex problems.
EVERYDAY
Judith Rodby joined the faculty at California State University, Chico in 1989 after finishing her PhD in the rhetoric, linguistics, and literature
WRITE USE

2E
program at the University of Southern California. She has been the composition coordinator, writing center director, and coordinator of basic
writing. She is currently working primarily in the field of English education and is coordinator for the National Writing Project’s National Reading
Initiative. She has published in composition, ESL, youth development, and English education.
FUNCTION
IDEAS
W. Ross Winterowd was the Bruce R. McElderry Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California, where he founded its PhD program in
Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Literature. He authored, coauthored, or edited many essays, reviews, poems, and books, including SEARCHING FOR FAITH: A
SKEPTIC’S JOURNEY (2004, Parlor Press), SENIOR CITIZENS WRITING (2007, Parlor Press), THE CULTURE AND POLITICS OF LITERACY (1989, Oxford),
and ATTITUDES: SELECTED PROSE AND POETRY (2010, Parlor Press). In 2010, he received the field’s highest honor, the Exemplar Award, from the
Conference on College Composition and Communication. He passed away in January, 2011, shortly after completing work on THE USES OF GRAMMAR.
JUDITH RODBY
3015 Brackenberry Drive
Anderson, South Carolina 29621
PARLOR W. ROSS WINTEROWD
http://www.parlorpress.com PRESS
S A N: 2 5 4 – 8 8 7 9
ISBN 978-1-60235-252-0
The Uses of Grammar
The Uses of Grammar
Second Edition

Judith Rodby

W. Ross Winterowd

Parlor Press
Anderson, South Carolina
www.parlorpress.com
Parlor Press LLC, Anderson, South Carolina, USA

© 2012 by Parlor Press

All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America

S A N: 2 5 4 - 8 8 7 9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rodby, Judith.
The uses of grammar / Judith Rodby, W. Ross Winterowd. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60235-250-6 (pbk. : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-251-3 (mobi) --
ISBN 978-1-60235-252-0 (Adobe eBook) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-253-7 (ePub)
1. Grammar, Comparative and general. 2. Linguistic analysis (Linguistics) I. Winterowd,
W. Ross. II. Title.
P151.R69 2011
415--dc23
2011046788

1 2 3 4 5

Interior layout by Chelsie Messenger. Cover design by David Blakesley.

The first edition of this book was published by Oxford University Press.
Printed on acid-free paper.

Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publisher of scholarly and trade titles in print and mul-
timedia formats. This book is available in paper and digital formats from Parlor Press on the
World Wide Web at http://www.parlorpress.com or through online and brick-and-mortar
bookstores. For submission information or to find out about Parlor Press publications, write
to Parlor Press, 3015 Brackenberry Drive, Anderson, South Carolina, 29621, or e-mail edi-
[email protected].
 Contents
Preface  vii
Forms, Functions, Uses   vii
Features  vii
Language Learning and English as a Second Language   viii
The Flexibility of This Book   viii
An Attitude Toward Grammar   ix
The Ongoing Process   ix
Acknowledgments  ix
1 The Uses of Grammar   3
Chapter Preview   3
What Is Grammar?   3
Why Study Grammar?   4
History of the Uses of Grammar   4
The Greeks and the Romans   5
The Latin Influence on English Grammar   6
Noah Webster: Grammar as a Description of Language   7
Structuralism  8
Behaviorism  9
Transformational or Universal Grammar   10
Three Views of Grammar   11
Using Grammar: Usage   11
Constitutive Rules   12
Regulative Rules   12
Regulative Rules and Prescriptive Grammar   13

v
Contents

Using Grammar: Language Learning   15

Chapter Review   18
2 Getting Started: Some Important Concepts   19
Chapter Preview   19
Grammaticality: Why Is This a Very Important Concept?   21
Grammaticality, Appropriateness, and Formality   23
Grammatical Judgments   24
Form and Function   26
Sentences: Subject and Predicate   26
Phrases  28
The Parts of Speech   30
Form-Class Words   31
Function Words (Structure-Class Words)   32
Substitution, Addition, Deletion, Movement   34
Chapter Review   36
3 The Forms of Words: Morphology   37
Chapter Preview   37
The Lexicon   38
Sources of Words in the English Lexicon   38
Old English (Anglo-Saxon)   38
Languages Other than English   39
Compounds  39
Acronyms  40
Blends  40
Abbreviations  40
Back-Formations  40
Morphemes  41
Bound and Free Morphemes   41
Prefixes and Suffixes   41
Morphemes and Parts of Speech (Derivational Morphemes)   41
Inflectional Morphemes   43
Chapter Review   43

vi
 Contents

4 Basic Sentence Types   45

Chapter Preview   45
An Illustrative List of the Sentence Types   45
Structure of the Basic Sentence Types   46
Transitive  46
Intransitive  47
Linking  48
Basic Sentence Types’ Relationship to Other Structures   49
Chapter Review   53
5 Verbs: Tense, Auxiliary Verbs, and Modals   55
Chapter Preview   55
Verbs  56
Definition of Verbs    56
Notional Definition   56
Formal Definition   57
Present Tense   59
Past Tense   59
Functional Definition   60
More Functional Tests for Verbs   63
The Verb and the Conjunction And   66
Tense  67
Traditional Names for Tenses   67
Tense and Time   67
Auxiliary Verbs and Modals   70
Do  71
Modals  72
Irregular and Periphrastic Modals   73
Modals and Tense   74
Recapitulation  74
Chapter Review   77

vii
Contents

6 Verbs: Perfect and Progressive Aspect   79

Chapter Preview   79
Aspect  79
Perfect Aspect (HAVE + EN)   80
The Rule for Perfect Aspect with Either Tense or Modal    83
Progressive Aspect (BE + ING)   85
Perfect Progressive Aspect   87
The AUX Rule   89
Verb Groups and the Sentence   91
Finite and Nonfinite Verb Forms   92
Chapter Review   93
7 Negative, Interrogative, Imperative, Passive   95
Chapter Preview   95
Review of Chapters 4 and 5   96
Negative    97
With Auxiliaries   97
Without Auxiliaries: Transitive and Nontransitive Verbs   97
Without Auxiliaries: Be   97
Interrogative  100
Yes/No Questions   100
Sentences with Auxiliaries Do, Modal, Have, Be  100
Sentences in Which Aux Is Only TN   100
Sentences with Be as Main Verb   101
Wh- Questions   101
Imperatives  105
Passive Voice   105
Stative Passive   111
Chapter Review   112
8 Nominals: Nouns and Noun Phrases, NonfiniteVerbs   113
Chapter Preview   113
Nominals and Noun Phrases   114

viii
 Contents

Defining Nouns   115

Notional Definition   115
Formal Definition   115
Functional Definition   117
Common and Proper Nouns   126
Proper Nouns  126
Common Nouns   129
Singular and Plural (Number)   130
The -(e)s Plural   130
Irregular (Mutation) Plurals   131
The -(e)n Plural  131
Plurals from Languages Other than English   131
Count and Noncount Nouns   133
Determiner  134
Nominals—Nonfinite Verbs: Present Participles, Gerunds, and
Infinitives  138
Gerunds  138
Infinitives  139
Chapter Review   141
9 Nominals: Pronouns   143
Chapter Preview   143
Cases  144
Compound Personal Pronouns   149
Reciprocal Pronouns   153
Demonstrative Pronouns   154
Interrogative Pronouns   156
Indefinite Pronouns   157
It as Slot Filler   158
Relative Pronouns   160
Personal Pronouns   162
Compound Personal Pronouns   162

ix
Contents

Reciprocal Pronouns   162

Demonstrative Pronouns   162
Interrogative Pronouns   162
Indefinite Pronouns   162
Relative Pronouns   163
Chapter Review   163
10 Nominals: Noun Clauses   165
Chapter Preview   165
Clauses  166
Noun Clauses   166
Subject  167
Direct Object   167
Indirect Object   167
Object of Preposition   167
Subjective Complement   167
Objective Complement   167
Appositive  168
Vocative  168
Indefinite Relatives   168
Indefinite Relative Adjectives   174
Indefinite Relative Adverbs   175
Words Used to Introduce Noun Clauses   177
That  177
Uses of That  178
Whether and If  178
Clauses Within Clauses   179
Chapter Review   183
11 Adjectivals: Adjectives, Nouns, Prepositional Phrases   185
Chapter Preview   185
Definition of Adjectives    186
Notional Definition   186

x
 Contents

Formal Definition   186

Functional Definition   188
Adjectives in Sentences   191
The Attributive Position   191
The Appositive Position   192
The Predicate Position   192
Attributive  192
Appositive  192
Predicate  192
Other Adjectivals   194
Nouns  194
Nonfinite Verb Forms   194
Prepositional Phrases   196
Interrogative Adjectives   199
Chapter Review   200
12 Adjectivals: Clauses   201
Chapter Preview   201
Definite Relative Pronouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs   202
Definite Relative Pronouns   202
Functions of Definite Relative Pronouns   204
205
Definite Relative Adjectives  
Definite Relative Adverbs   207
Pronouns  207
Adjectives    208
Adverbs  208
Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Adjective Clauses   210
Close Apposition of Nominal  211
Restrictive Adjective Clauses  211
Loose Apposition of Nominal  211
Nonrestrictive Adjective Clauses  211
Clauses Within Clauses   214

xi
Contents

Deleting the Relative Pronoun   214

Reduced Clauses and Nonfinite Verbal Phrases   216
Chapter Review   219
13 Adverbials: Adverbs, Prepositional Phrases, Nouns   221
Chapter Preview   221
Definition of Adverbs   222
Notional Definition   222
Formal Definition   223
Functional Definition   223
Meaning  225
Form  225
Syntax  225
Test Sentence   226
Qualifiers (Intensifiers)   226
Interrogative Adverbs   227
Not  228
Adverbials  229
Nouns  229
Prepositional Phrases   230
Prepositions and Adverbs   232
Categories of Adverbs   232
Single Words   232
Qualifiers (Intensifiers)   233
Interrogatives  233
Not  233
Nouns  233
Prepositional Phrases   233
Prepositions as Adverbs    233
Chapter Review   236
14 Adverbials: Clauses and Adverbial Conjunctions   237
Chapter Preview   237

xii
 Contents

Adverb Clauses   238

Subordinating Conjunctions   239
Reduced Clauses and Nonfinite Verbs   242
Conjunctive Adverbs  244
Chapter Review   250
15 Prepositions and Particles   251
Chapter Preview   251
The Functions of Prepositional Phrases: Review   251
As Adverbials   251
As Nominals   252
As Adjectivals   252
Prepositional Phrases as Complements   253
Subjective Complements   253
Objective Complements   253
Prepositions and Particles   254
Conglomerate Prepositions   258
Prepositions and Other Forms and Functions    258
Adverbs  258
Adjectives  259
As  260
Chapter Review   262
16 Sentence Types, Clauses, Conjunctions   265
Chapter Preview   265
Sentence Types According to Clause Structure   266
Simple Sentences   267
Compound Sentences   269
Complex Sentences   272
Compound-Complex Sentences   275
Conjunctions  281
Coordinating Conjunctions and Phrases   281
Correlative Conjunctions   284
Expletive It and There    287

xiii
Contents

It  287
Expletive There  290
Chapter Review   293
17 Using Grammar   295
So, What About Error?   296
What Are Other Types of Error? What Are Their Sources?   297
What Can Be Done to Help Learners with Language Acquisition and
Error?  299
Errors, Acquisition, Motivation, and Identity   301
A Last Word on Error   302
Dialect and Diversity   303
Bilingual Grammars   305
What About Education and Schooling?   306
Glossary  309
Index  323
About the Authors   331

xiv
 Preface

The Uses of Grammar is the result of a painstaking process of field-testing in the class-
room, refinement on the basis of student feedback, further testing, and further refine-
ment. The authors’ goal was to create the ultimately teachable textbook—without
sacrificing intellectual and scholarly integrity.

Forms, Functions, Uses

Three questions constitute the superstructure of this book. What are the forms in the
grammar of American English? How do those forms function in that grammar? And
how are those forms used in speaking and writing—for various audiences in diverse
situations to achieve the desired purposes?

Features
We believe these features will make The Uses of Grammar effective and interesting:

• Boxed materials, including “Challenger” and “For Discussion” items, will

stretch the students’ understanding of the principles presented in the text and
encourage classroom discussion of concepts.
• The examples illustrating principles and the items in the exercises throughout
the text reflect real-life language use: quotations from celebrities, periodicals,
literature, and a wide array of “everyday” language users.

xv
Preface

• The Instructor’s Manual accompanying The Uses of Grammar contains (1) an

alternate table of contents, enabling instructors to base their courses on the
traditional structure, moving from parts of speech to phrases, clauses, and
sentences; (2) answer keys to all of the exercises in the book; and (3) some of
the authors’ ideas about teaching grammar.
• A companion website is available online (www.parlorpress.com/grammar).
Its base consists of (1) additional exercises keyed to the sections of chapters
in the book; (2) answer keys to these exercises; (3) a “chapter” on the system
of punctuation; and (4) an extended discussion of English as a second lan-
guage. The website will grow in response to adopters’ feedback and the need
to address issues regarding language and teaching that arise on occasion (e.g.,
issues about public figures’ use of language).

Language Learning and English as a Second Language

One of the most important uses of grammar is understanding the processes whereby
people learn languages. English as a second language (ESL) is an educational, social,
and political problem. What are the most effective ways of teaching speakers of other
languages to be fluent in English? What are the social consequences, particularly in the
United States but also worldwide, of the inability to speak English? Should English be
the official language of the United States?

The problems of ESL are implicit subjects throughout the chapters of this book, and
Chapter 17 directly addresses ESL, as do materials at the companion website.

The Flexibility of This Book

The structure of The Uses of Grammar results from our many years of teaching under-
graduate grammar courses, Judith Rodby at California State University–Chico and
Ross Winterowd at University of Southern California. The traditional structure of
grammar textbooks moves from the smallest unit to the largest: parts of speech (nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.) through phrases and clauses to sentences. There are,
of course, good reasons for preferring this structure—not the least of which is what
we call “the grammarian’s dilemma” or “the grammatical circle”: you can’t understand
the whole without understanding the parts, and you can’t understand the parts with-
out understanding the whole. Our way out of this dilemma is the structure we have
chosen for this book, but there is no reason in principle why students and teachers
should not begin with an understanding of parts of speech and work upward, toward
the structure (the syntax) of sentences. For this reason, we have provided an alternate
table of contents in the Instructor’s Manual.

xvi
 Preface

An Attitude Toward Grammar

When mathematicians speak of the elegance of their subject, they are thinking about
the underlying consistency and neatness, and about the fundamental simplicity of the
field: from a handful of basic principles, mathematicians develop theories and equa-
tions that attempt to explain the nature of the universe.

Consider the elegance of grammar. The articles you read in the newspaper this morn-
ing, the novel by Dickens you enjoyed last week, the speech delivered by your senator
on the Fourth of July, the instructions for operating your new computer—underlying
these and all other uses of the English language are just eight basic patterns that make
up sentences and the structures derived from sentences. One of our main goals in this
book is to change attitudes toward grammar. It is not a dull, nit-picking subject; it is
as elegant as mathematics or music.

The Ongoing Process

Some wise person said, “No piece of writing is ever finished. It’s just abandoned.” Or,
to state the idea as a cliché, there’s always room for improvement. We urge users of
this book to contact us through the companion website with suggestions for revision.
What should we delete? What should we add? What should we change to make the
explanations clearer? What should we rearrange?

Acknowledgments
The suggestions of reviewers were a significant factor in our revisions and refine-
ments of this book, and we express our sincere appreciation to Douglas Biber,
Northern Arizona University; Daniel R. Davis, University of Michigan–Dearborn;
William Gustafson, Southern Connecticut State University; Charles Hill, University
of Wisconsin–Oshkosh; Paul Justice, San Diego State University; William Provost,
University of Georgia; William Roberts, University of Massachusetts–Lowell; Lois
Spitzer, University of Nebraska; and Beth Rapp Young, University of Central Florida.

We were particularly fortunate in working with the editor of the first edition pub-
lished by Oxford University Press, Janet M. Beatty, whose commitment to the project
was invaluable. Jan is a member of a professional group that is growing appreciably
smaller: editors who are book people, committed to the art, ethics, and responsibilities
of publishing.

xvii
Preface

We are indebted to David Blakesley at Parlor Press, who patiently and efficiently guid-
ed us in preparing this second edition for publication. We also want to thank Chelsie
Messenger at Clemson University, who designed the interior of this edition, and Terra
Williams, who proofed the final manuscript. Finally, we are delighted to have our
book appear under the Parlor Press colophon.

Judith Rodby
W. Ross Winterowd

xviii
The Uses of Grammar
 CHAPTER ONE
The Uses of Grammar

Chapter Preview
• Grammar describes a language in use. Grammars are made of rules that con-
stitute the language (constitutive rules) and rules that attempt to regulate the
language (prescriptive rules).
• The history of English grammar shows us how grammars have developed and
how they have been used. In the eighteenth century, for example, grammars
were used to try to purify and preserve English.
• Knowing grammar may help you to use English effectively. Grammar helps
you to understand how language forms are used and why people think some
language forms are right and others wrong.

What Is Grammar?
For the moment, we ask that you set aside all of your previous conceptions about
grammar and follow our explanation of what “grammar” means in terms of this book.
A grammar of a language (in this case, English) is a description of that language. This
description does not make value judgments. For instance, grammar as a description
of English would not state that the word gentleman is better or more elegant or more
polite than the word geezer. Both gentleman and geezer are part of the grammar of
English. The description would include both Me and him ain’t going to the game and

3
The Uses of Grammar

He and I are not going to the game because both these sentences are part of the English
language. In other words, grammar describes the forms of a language that are actually
used by native speakers.

Grammar also explains how the forms of language function in units we call sentences.
For example, in the sentence The teacher was unhappy about the test, the words the and
teacher form a noun phrase that functions as a subject in the sentence.

Grammar (as usage) is to language as sociology is to any society it studies. Through

sociology you learn the norms and customs of a given society and what is acceptable
and unacceptable in behavior. Through grammar as usage, you learn what language is
appropriate in given situations and what is inappropriate (or even taboo). Grammar as
usage helps explain why sometimes the word gentleman is preferable to the word guy,
why sometimes the sentence I must leave immediately is preferable to the sentence I’ve
got to go right now, and why sometimes the reverse is the case.

Why Study Grammar?

There is at least one good reason for studying grammar. Knowledge of grammar can
help one use language effectively. Grammar helps one to think about how language
structures are used to get meaning across (and use of language is a major factor in an
individual’s success or failure in a career and in society).

For Discussion
As you work through this book, take time periodically to respond to this question: Are
you aware of using grammar as you write? If so, what do you use, and when in your
writing process do you apply any such tool? Does grammar help or hinder you? Does
it get in the way because you are anxious about correctness or structure? As you write
in a variety of contexts, take notes on what you actually do with and without grammar
knowledge. Pay very close attention and note the specifics. You may be surprised by
what you find.

History of the Uses of Grammar

Before we get into the detailed study of the grammar of English, it will be useful to

4
 The Uses of Grammar

provide some historical context, and so we ask why various grammars have been writ-
ten and how they have been used.

The Greeks and the Romans

Our story begins with the Greeks in the first century BCE, when the first grammars
(i.e., grammar books) were written. The most famous of the Greek grammarians was
Dionysius Thrax, who, using the works of Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey) as his
standards, wrote The Art of Grammar to aid in the study of literature and to preserve
the purity of the language. A momentous fact of history, the importance of which
will become apparent, is that the Romans adopted and adapted the Greek grammar
to their own language, Latin. We should also note that Dionysius wanted to preserve
the Greek language, to keep it from change. We will see that this motive—preserving
language—is an idea that occurs throughout history.

In their structure, Greek and Latin differed. For example, Greek had three ways to
express number: singular (only one item), dual (two items), plural (more than two
items). If this were the case in English, we would talk about one dog and several dogs,
but we would need a different form for talking about two of them (two doga?). Like
English, Latin had only singular and plural—and this is but one instance of the differ-
ences in the two languages. Clearly, then, using Greek grammar as the basis for Latin
grammatical analysis involved a good deal of adjustment—even wrenching.

For Discussion
Do you think language is decaying? What is your evidence, pro or con?

At one time disinterested and uninterested conveyed different meanings. Disinterested

meant “unbiased, without prejudice or prejudgment”; thus one would want a disin-
terested judge, but not an uninterested judge. Now many people use disinterested as a
synonym for uninterested. Does this usage represent language decay? Why or why not?

Throughout the Middle Ages the works of Latin grammarians, based on the Greek
analyses of language, were used to teach Latin in the schools. During the Middle Ages
and into the Renaissance, education to a great extent meant learning Latin and Latin
grammar.

5
The Uses of Grammar

The Latin Influence on English Grammar

Now, in this brief history, we arrive at a watershed moment—the use of Latin gram-
mar (which was based on Greek) to create grammars of English. In the eleventh cen-
tury, Aelfric, abbot of Eynsham Monastery, wrote a Latin grammar and proposed that
this work serve as the basis for a grammar of English. (Aelfric’s English was, of course,
Anglo-Saxon, which to us sounds like an utterly foreign language.) With Aelfric, the
long tradition of basing English grammar on that of Latin began. Here is just one
example.

In Latin, the form of the noun changes with the different functions in sentences, and
this change in word forms according to function allows Latin to be more flexible in
its syntax (sentence structure) than English. For example, both canis hominem mordet
and hominem canis mordet mean dog bites man because canis is the subject form of the
noun, and hominem is the object form of homo. But in English, dog bites man and man
bites dog are exact opposites. (To express man bites dog in Latin, one would say canem
mordet homo or homo mordet canem.)

In Latin, nouns have as many as six forms, depending on their use as subjects, objects,
and so on. In short, Latin showed the function of nouns by changing their forms;
English shows the function of nouns by their positions in the sentence.

Although there are many other examples of Latin influence on English grammar,
perhaps the most important is the choice of the language use on which to base the
grammar. Dionysius Thrax and other Greeks used the works of Homer as their basis;
Roman grammarians used the works of Cicero and Virgil, who wrote in Latin. English
grammars followed this tradition, basing their analyses and commentaries on the writ-
ings of established authors and the speech of educated classes.

The problem, of course, is that a grammar should analyze and describe all levels of
usage. Here is an analogy. If a sociological study of the American people were based
only on college graduates, we would have a false idea of the values and living condi-
tions of the population. A grammatical study based only on literature and the usage of
educated people gives a false picture of the English language.

In the eighteenth century, Robert Lowth and other grammarians who thought Latin
was superior to English put much of their energy into what they believed was purify-
ing and preserving the language, condemning usages like It’s me and Who is this for?
These usages, which the grammarians considered vulgar, are perfectly normal English,
but they might not be appropriate in all situations.

6
 The Uses of Grammar

The English literati had aspirations of standardizing and refining English. They also
wanted to stop the language from changing. The essayist Jonathan Swift, for example,
wrote that “it is better that a Language should not be wholly perfect than that it
should be perpetually changing.” One method of standardizing English was to try to
make it systematic and to borrow the rules for the system from Latin.

Noah Webster: Grammar as a Description of Language

And now an American hero enters the scene: Noah Webster (1758-1843).

While he was teaching school in Goshen, New York, Webster became dissatisfied with
available textbooks on language; he wanted instruction to reflect both the American
version of English and American values. Thus, he set out to write A Grammatical
Institute of the English Language, the three parts of which were a spelling book, a gram-
mar book, and a collection of readings. (One indication of Webster’s influence is the
estimate that one hundred million copies of his spelling book were sold!)

Webster is most famous for his dictionary (indeed, “Webster” and “dictionary” are
almost synonymous), in which he enunciated the then revolutionary principle that
“grammar is formed on language, and not language on grammar.” In other words,
Webster was saying that a grammar should describe the language used, not dictate
what should be used.

For Discussion: Political Correctness and Language Change

You know that some words and phrases are taboo. For example, in my vocabulary are
words that I could not include in this discussion, for if I listed them, they would of-
fend many readers and would adversely affect the sales of the book. Usually such taboo
words have to do with sex or excretory functions, or they are blasphemous (showing
lack of respect for God and other holies). Then there are other words that out of
context seem perfectly acceptable—for instance, fairy. Editors of such publications
as newspapers, magazines, and textbooks ban the use of this term because it connotes
homosexuality in a derogatory way and thus might offend a group of readers. Editors
suggest “elf ” as a synonym. Hence the “tooth fairy,” so common among children of an
earlier generation, must become the “tooth elf,” and “fairy tale” would, presumably,
be replaced by “elf tale.”

Scholar Diane Ravitch has compiled a list of terms that some people think are poten-
tially offensive to groups of readers. Among these are

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The Uses of Grammar

• Adam and Eve, to be replaced by “Eve and Adam,” to demonstrate that males
do not have precedence.
• Chief Sitting Bull, a relic of domination of Native Americans, should be re-
placed by the chief ’s actual name, Tatanka Iyotake.
• Egghead, to be replaced by “intellectual.”
• Insane, to be replaced with “a person who has an emotional disorder or psy-
chiatric illness.”
• Snowman is sexist and should be replaced with “snowperson.”

What do you think about this policing of language? Is it justified, or is it silly? Explain
your attitude. Can you think of other words and phrases that have become politically
incorrect?

During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, a strange situation pre-
vailed. While scholars were studying the evolution and actual use of languages, stu-
dents in classrooms throughout America were being given a simplified version of
grammar that evolved from the attitudes of the Latin grammarians.

Now in this brief history, we move forward from the nineteenth century to the twen-
tieth and the coming of modern language studies.

Structuralism
Of great importance in the history of grammar was the coming of structuralism, start-
ing with the publication in 1916 of Course in General Linguistics, by the Swiss scholar
Ferdinand de Saussure, who made the important distinction between the language
itself (langue) as a system and the individual use of that system (parole). Analogically,
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a complete “system” with its own unvarying struc-
ture. Performances of the symphony differ, however, according to the interpretations
of various conductors—but they are, nonetheless, still “Beethoven’s Ninth.” You and
I speak the same language (langue), English, but your individual use of that language
(parole) is different from mine. The task of the structural linguist was to describe la
langue. Here is the important point: native-born Americans speak the language (la
langue), but each person has his or her own version of it (parole).

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 The Uses of Grammar

Compare la langue to the range and variety of foods available in a supermarket—ev-

erything from asparagus to zucchini. You and I shop in this supermarket, but each
of us brings a personal assortment to the checkstand. Your basket contains tofu, but
mine doesn’t; mine contains a can of mackerel, but yours doesn’t. We can compare
parole to the array of items that each of us has chosen from the large selection in the
supermarket.

The next momentous development was the adaptation of the theories of behavioral
psychology for the study of grammar.

Behaviorism
Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) incorporated behavioral (stimulus-response) psy-
chology into his theory of language. Trying for empirical rigor, he excluded men-
tal and conceptual categories from his work, considering only language phenomena
that could be observed, thus eliminating from grammar the science of meaning, or
semantics.

Behavioral psychology, now abandoned, had severe limitations as an explanation for

human motives and actions, and the same limitations made the behavioral study of
language less than satisfactory. For example, according to the behavioral model, chil-
dren learn language through imitation. Little Jane hears Mama say, “Eat your spinach,”
and Jane tries to imitate that sentence. However, studies of language development
clearly demonstrate that Jane is not merely imitating; she is developing a “grammar”
in her brain and is using it to make sense of language and to begin to work with it.
Mama says, “Eat your spinach,” and Jane responds, “I eated my spinach.” Jane has
never heard Mama or anyone else use eated as the past form of eat, so something other
than imitation is clearly going on in Jane’s development of language. As we will several
times point out in this book, it is obvious that humans have a genetically endowed
“grammar” in their brains, just as they have a genetically endowed sense of sight.

In spite of the limitations of the theoretical framework he applied to language,

Bloomfield did further the rigorous study of the structure of language.

The next development in our history has been the attempt to account for the “gram-
mar in the brain,” of which we just spoke. Thus, in the next section of this chapter, we
turn to universal grammar.

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The Uses of Grammar

For Discussion: Language as Stimulus-Response

Pause for just a moment to consider what it means to view language as mere stimulus-
response. I utter the stimulus “Stop!” and you respond by stopping. So far, so good.
Then I point to a building on the corner and say “apartment house.” You observe the
building: you see people coming and going, and you conclude that several families
must live in this building and that, hence, a multifamily dwelling is an apartment
house. However, overnight a transformation takes place. All of the residents of the
building sign a document and pay money, and now the building is no longer an apart-
ment house; it is a condominium. In other words, language has changed the nature of
the building. How can one explain this change except through meanings? The build-
ing is constructed not only of steel and bricks, but also of words.

Can you think of other examples of ways language is far more than a matter of stimu-
lus and response?

Transformational or Universal Grammar

A momentous revolution in the study of grammar came in 1957, when Noam Chomsky
published Syntactic Structures—the beginning of transformational grammar,1 which
was a reaction against the structuralism represented by Bloomfield.

Chomsky’s goal was to study linguistic competence, not individual performance.

What is meant by “competence”? In transformational grammar, competence is really
the grammar that you and I have in our heads. We are able to produce and understand
language; therefore, we must have some kind of mental system for that language abil-
ity. A useful analogy (if not pushed too far) is the computer. To develop a computer
that uses language as humans do, scientists must devise a set of rules (a program) that
will allow the computer to do what HAL did in 2001: A Space Odyssey, use language in
the same way a human would. Anyone who has used a telephone knows that comput-
ers now can give canned, standard responses but cannot carry on conversations about
the weather or the World Series. It must be the case that we humans have a built-in
and inborn set of “rules” that allow us to use language. Discovering these rules is the

1 Several terms denote the grammatical revolution begun by Chomsky: transformational grammar, generative gram-
mar, transformational-generative grammar, and universal grammar. We will use the term universal grammar, without
attempting to sort out the distinctions implied by all four terms.

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 The Uses of Grammar

ultimate goal of transformational grammar. Chomsky and his followers are attempt-
ing to explain and describe human language ability.

Currently, linguists are working on “universal grammar,” writing rules that represent
language “principles” that seem to be innate and universal. For example, it would seem
to be a principle that all languages have verbs. Linguists are also working on writing
grammar rules that describe the “parameters” or particular rules for specific human
languages such as English. Word order in sentences is an example of a parameter be-
cause word order differs from one language to another.

Three Views of Grammar

From this brief excursion, three views of grammar and its uses will become obvious:

1. Until about the mid-nineteenth century, the main concern of most grammar-
ians was preserving and purifying the language. (The residue of this move-
ment, still evident in some textbooks, was what might be called “traditional
grammar.”)
2. During the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century,
linguists (actually, a fancy term for scholars of grammar and other aspects of
language) began to provide descriptions of languages as people used them.
(The result was descriptive grammar or, to use the jargon of the trade, “struc-
tural linguistics.”)
3. By the mid-twentieth century, linguists had begun to focus on the mind’s
ability to produce language. (The result was the set of terms listed in footnote
1. All of these terms refer to an evolving body of theory.)

As you go through the chapters of The Uses of Grammar, you will find that they in-
corporate the insights gained from traditional grammar, from structural linguistics,
and from transformational grammar. We think that you will make significant gains in
both your understanding of the English language and your ability to use it effectively.

Using Grammar: Usage

Knowing grammar can help you use language more effectively: you will have words
and terms, a metalanguage, that will help you talk about and analyze your own gram-
mar use; you will have knowledge that will help you make choices about your use of
language.

Grammar books (such as this one) usually contain two types of statements about the
language. One type sets forth or describes what is—for example:

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