Grammar

Grammar

1. The Clothes analogy to grammar

   • Style in both clothing and grammar is about choice, you have to choose what items are essential and which order they must go into
     • The bare necessities for a sentence include a subject (including a noun) and a verb
       • The river flows
         • Think pants and trousers, or a skirt. That basic structure can be built up using various "optional" extras
         • The River flows to the sea
           • Add a top
           • The Swollen river flows silently down to the sea, gathering debris along its path
             • Start to accessorise
   • There is a straightforward way to identify the grammatical features that function like accessories. Using the tests of insertion or deletion: to be added or removed from a sentence
     • The technical terms for the "accessories" used in the example are:
       • Adjective: Swollen
       • Adverb: Silently
       • Prepositional phrase: To the sea
       • Subordinate clause: Gathering debris along its path

2. Adverbs and Adverbials

   • Adjectives can be added or removed, but the most versatile elements of grammar are movable as well. An adverb can be used in various positions, just as a scarf can be worn in multiple different ways
     • This is the transposition test: 1. The river flows swiftly 2. The river swiftly flows 3. Swiftly flows the river
       • The adverb is more striking in a less usual place (test 3), notice the verb and subject order has changed for rhythmic effect in this line taken from a poem by William Otto.
   • The term adverbial is a useful "umbrella" form. It covers various grammatical elements, which all share these features
     • Can be added or removed
     • Can be moved to various positions
     • Express how/when/why/where
     • The positioning of adverbials creates stylistic effects, particularly in poetry, but also in drama and rhetoric. Often the choice is fronting- placing the word, or clause, right at the beginning for emphasis
       • These phrases are called prepositional because they go at the start of a sentence/main clause