Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers (Springer Texts in Education)

Updated and revised with more examples and expanded discussions, this second edition continues the aim of providing teachers with a solid understanding of the use and function of grammatical structures in American English. The book avoids jargon and presents essential grammatical structures clearly and concisely. Dr. DeCapua approaches grammar from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive standpoint, discussing differences between formal and informal language, and spoken and written English. The text draws examples from a wide variety of authentic materials to illustrate grammatical concepts. The many activities throughout the book engage users in exploring the different elements of grammar and in considering how these elements work together to form meaning. Users are encouraged to tap into their own, often subconscious, knowledge of grammar to consciously apply their knowledge to their own varied teaching settings. The text also emphasizes the importance of understanding grammar from the perspective of English language learners, an approach that allows teachers to better appreciate the difficulties these learners face. Specific areas of difficulties for learners of English are highlighted throughout. Preface to the Second Edition Acknowledgments Contents 1 What Is Grammar? Abstract 1.1 Section 1: Grammarians and Grammar 1.2 Section 2: Language and Change 1.3 Section 3: Linguists and Grammar 1.3.1 Language Is Rule-Governed 1.4 Section 4: Prescriptive Grammar and Descriptive Grammar 1.4.1 Prescriptive Grammar 1.4.1.1 Who Versus Whom 1.4.2 Descriptive Grammar 1.5 Summary 1.6 Practice Activities 1.7 Answer Key 2 Morphology: Words and Their Parts Abstract 2.1 Section 1: Word Classes 2.1.1 Context and Function 2.1.1.1 Word Plays and Context: An Additional Illustration 2.1.2 Parts of Speech or Lexical Categories 2.1.2.1 Open Word Classes 2.1.2.2 Closed Word Classes 2.1.3 Major Parts of Speech 2.1.3.1 Nouns 2.1.3.2 Adjectives 2.1.3.3 Verbs 2.1.3.4 Adverbs 2.2 Section 2: Morphology 2.2.1 Bound and Free Morphemes 2.2.2 Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes 2.2.2.1 Derivational Morphemes 2.2.2.2 Inflectional Morphemes 2.3 Summary 2.4 Practice Activities 2.5 Answer Key 3 The Noun Phrase Abstract 3.1 Section 1: Identifying Nouns 3.1.1 Semantic Clues 3.1.2 Structural Clues 3.1.3 Morphological Clues 3.1.3.1 Derivational Clues 3.1.3.2 Inflectional Clues 3.1.3.3 Possessive ’s 3.2 Section 2: Count, Non-Count, and Crossover Nouns 3.2.1 Count Nouns 3.2.2 Non-Count Nouns 3.2.2.1 Subcategories of Non-Count Nouns 3.2.2.2 Structure Words and Non-Count Nouns 3.2.3 Crossover Nouns 3.3 Section 3: Structure Words that Signal Nouns 3.3.1 Noun Signals 3.3.1.1 Articles: the, a, an 3.3.1.2 Demonstratives: this, that, these, those 3.3.1.3 Quantifiers 3.4 Section 4: Pronouns 3.4.1 Types of Pronouns 3.4.1.1 Subject Pronouns 3.4.1.2 Object Pronouns 3.4.1.3 Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives 3.4.1.4 Reflexive Pronouns 3.4.1.5 Indefinite Pronouns 3.5 Summary 3.6 Practice Activities 3.7 Answer Key 4 Adjectives and Adverbs Abstract 4.1 Section 1: Adjectives 4.1.1 Semantic Clues 4.1.2 Morphological Clues 4.1.2.1 Derivational Clues 4.1.2.2 Inflectional Clues 4.1.3 Structural Clues 4.1.4 Order of Adjectives 4.1.5 Special Types of Adjectives 4.1.5.1 Nouns Functioning as Adjectives 4.1.5.2 Participial Adjectives 4.2 Section 2: Adverbs 4.2.1 –ly Adverbs 4.2.2 Subclasses of Adverbs 4.2.2.1 Frequency Adverbs 4.2.2.2 Time and Place Adverbs 4.2.2.3 The “Other” Adverbs 4.2.2.3.1 Degree Adverbs 4.2.2.3.2 Attitude Adverbs 4.2.2.3.3 Focus Adverbs 4.3 Summary 4.4 Practice Activities 4.5 Answer Key 5 Overview of Verbs and Verb Phrases: The Heart of the Sentence Abstract 5.1 Section 1: Identifying Verbs 5.1.1 Semantic Clues 5.1.2 Morphological Clues 5.1.3 Structural Clues 5.2 Section 2: Main Verbs Versus Auxiliary Verbs 5.2.1 The Primary Auxiliary Verbs Have, Be, Do 5.2.1.1 Do as Verb Helper 5.3 Section 3: Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 5.3.1 Transitive Verbs 5.3.1.1 Distinguishing the Object of a Transitive Verb 5.3.1.2 Di-transitive Verbs (Transitive Verbs with More Than One Object) 5.3.2 Intransitive Verbs 5.3.2.1 Intransitive Verbs and Complements 5.3.3 Verbs that Are Transitive and Intransitive 5.3.4 Linking Verbs 5.4 Section 4: Verbs Followed by Gerunds and Infinitives 5.4.1 Verb/Gerund Variations 5.4.1.1 Verb + Preposition + Gerund 5.4.1.2 Verb + Object + Preposition + Gerund 5.5 Section 5: Phrasal Verbs 5.5.1 Phrasal Verbs Versus Verb + Preposition/Adverb 5.5.1.1 Testing for Phrasal Verbs 5.5.1.1.1 Adverb Insertion 5.5.1.1.2 Substitution 5.5.2 Types of Phrasal Verbs 5.5.2.1 Intransitive Inseparable 5.5.2.2 Transitive Inseparable 5.5.2.3 Transitive Separable 5.6 Summary 5.7 Practice Activities 5.8 Answer Key 6 Time, Tense, and Aspect of Verbs Abstract 6.1 Section 1: Verbs and Inflections 6.1.1 Time, Tense, and Aspect 6.2 Section 2: Present 6.2.1 Simple Present 6.2.1.1 Uses of Simple Present 6.2.2 Present Progressive 6.2.2.1 Verbs not Used in Present Progressive 6.3 Section 3: Past 6.3.1 Simple Past 6.3.1.1 Pronunciation of –ed 6.3.2 Past Progressive 6.4 Section 4: Future 6.4.1 Will 6.4.2 Be Going To 6.4.3 Present Progressive for Future 6.4.4 Future Progressive 6.5 Section 5: The Perfect 6.5.1 Present Perfect 6.5.1.1 Uses of the Present Perfect 6.5.1.1.1 Stable Time 6.5.1.1.2 Variable Time 6.5.2 Past Perfect 6.5.2.1 Past Perfect Versus Simple Past 6.5.3 Future Perfect 6.5.4 Present Perfect Progressive, Past Perfect Progressive, and Future Perfect Progressive 6.5.4.1 Present Perfect Progressive 6.5.4.2 Past Perfect Progressive 6.5.4.3 Future Perfect Progressive 6.6 Summary 6.7 Practice Activities 6.8 Answer Key 7 Modal Auxiliary Verbs and Related Structures Abstract 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Section 1: Meanings and Use 7.2.1 Ability 7.2.1.1 Modals 7.2.1.2 Related Structure 7.2.2 Permission and Polite Requests 7.2.3 Possibility or Probability Present Time 7.2.4 Possibility or Probability Past Time 7.2.5 Necessity or Obligation 7.2.5.1 Modal 7.2.5.2 Related Structures 7.2.5.3 Modal with Related Meaning of Necessity or Obligation 7.2.6 Prohibition 7.2.7 Advice or Suggestion 7.2.7.1 Modals 7.2.7.2 Related Structure 7.2.8 Expectation 7.2.9 Unfulfilled Expectation, Mistake 7.2.9.1 Modals 7.3 Section 2: Would and the Conditional 7.3.1 Would 7.3.2 Will 7.3.3 Would and the Conditional 7.3.3.1 Would and if Clauses 7.4 Summary 7.5 Practice Activities 7.6 Answer Key 8 Basic Sentence Patterns and Major Variations Abstract 8.1 Section 1: Types of Sentence Constituents 8.1.1 Noun Phrases 8.1.2 Prepositional Phrases 8.1.3 Verb Phrases 8.1.4 Adjective and Adverb Phrases 8.2 Section 2: Questions 8.2.1 Yes/No Questions 8.2.1.1 Negative Yes/No Questions 8.2.2 Wh-Questions 8.2.2.1 Who 8.2.2.2 Who Versus Whom 8.2.2.3 What 8.2.2.4 How 8.3 Section 3: The Passive 8.3.1 The Passive and Tense 8.3.2 The Passive Versus the Active 8.3.3 Get 8.3.4 Understanding Passive Use 8.4 Section 4: Substitution 8.4.1 Substitution and the First Auxiliary Rule 8.4.2 Substitution and Inversion 8.4.2.1 So 8.4.2.2 Neither and Either 8.4.2.3 One 8.5 Summary 8.6 Practice Activities 8.7 Answer Key 9 Compound Sentences and Introduction to Complex Sentences: Adverbial Clauses Abstract 9.1 Section 1: Compound Sentences 9.1.1 Clauses Versus Phrases 9.1.2 Compound Sentences and Coordinators 9.1.3 Transition Words or Phrases 9.1.4 Sentence Position and Punctuation 9.2 Section 2: Complex Sentences 9.2.1 Complex Sentences and Multiple Subordinate Clauses 9.2.2 Subordinate Clauses and Word Order 9.2.2.1 GLUE 9.2.3 Adverbial Clauses of Time 9.2.3.1 When and While 9.2.3.2 Whenever 9.2.3.3 Until 9.2.4 Adverbial Clauses of Contrast 9.2.4.1 Unexpected Result 9.2.4.2 Direct Opposition 9.2.5 Adverbial Clauses of Place 9.2.6 Adverbial Clauses of Cause 9.2.7 Adverbial Clauses of Result 9.2.8 Adverbial Clause of Purpose 9.2.9 Adverbial Clauses of Condition 9.2.9.1 Real Conditions 9.2.9.2 Present Unreal Conditions 9.2.9.3 Past Unreal Conditions 9.2.9.4 Conditional Sentences Without if 9.2.9.5 Pronunciation of Modals in the Conditional 9.2.9.6 Mixed Time 9.2.10 Adverbial Clauses of Manner 9.3 Section 3: Reduced Adverbial Clauses 9.3.1 Reducing Adverbial Clauses 9.3.1.1 Verb Phrase with Auxiliary Be in a Progressive Tense 9.3.1.2 Verb Phrase with Auxiliary Have in a Progressive Tense 9.3.1.3 Verb Phrases with No Auxiliary Verb 9.4 Summary 9.5 Practice Activities 9.6 Answer Key 10 Complex Sentences Continued: Relative Clauses Abstract 10.1 Section 1: Relative Clauses and Relative Pronouns 10.1.1 Essential and Nonessential Relative Clauses 10.1.1.1 Which Versus That 10.1.2 Relative Pronouns as Subjects and Objects 10.1.2.1 Who Versus Whom 10.1.2.2 Whose 10.1.3 Omission of Relative Pronouns 10.1.4 Building Longer Complex Clauses 10.2 Section 2: Relative Adverbs 10.2.1 Relative Pronouns Instead of Relative Adverbs 10.2.1.1 Where as Relative Adverb Versus Subordinator 10.2.1.2 When 10.3 Section 3: Reduced Relative Clauses 10.3.1 Reducing Relative Clauses 10.3.2 Reducing Passive Relative Clauses 10.4 Summary 10.5 Practice Activities 10.6 Answer Key 11 Complex Sentences Continued: Noun Clauses Abstract 11.1 Section 1: Noun Clauses 11.1.1 That Noun Clauses 11.1.1.1 That Noun Clause Patterns After Verbs 11.1.1.2 Verbs + Required Indirect Object 11.1.1.3 Verbs + Optional Indirect Object 11.1.1.4 Verbs + to + Optional Indirect Object 11.1.1.5 Other That Noun Clause Patterns 11.1.1.5.1 Be + Adjective + That Noun Clause 11.1.1.5.2 Noun + That Noun Clause 11.1.1.6 The Use of the Simple or Base Verb in That Noun Clauses 11.1.1.7 Omission of That 11.1.2 The Different Functions of That 11.1.2.1 Distinguishing Relative Clauses and Noun Clauses with That 11.1.3 Noun Clauses Derived from Questions 11.1.3.1 Wh-Question Word Noun Clauses 11.1.3.2 Wh + ever Question Word Noun Clauses 11.1.3.3 Yes/No Question Noun Clauses 11.2 Section 2: Reported Speech 11.2.1 Word Order in Reported Speech 11.2.1.1 Statements 11.2.1.2 Questions 11.2.2 Changes Between Direct Speech and Reported Speech 11.2.2.1 Formal Sequencing of Verb Tenses 11.2.2.2 Pronoun and Other Changes 11.2.3 Other Patterns in Reported Speech 11.2.3.1 Imperatives 11.2.3.2 Exclamations 11.2.4 Reported Speech as More Than a Mirror Image 11.3 Summary 11.4 Practice Activities 11.5 Answer Key 12 Verbal Constructions Abstract 12.1 Section 1: Gerunds and Gerund Phrases 12.1.1 Possessive Gerunds 12.2 Section 2: Participles and Participial Phrases 12.2.1 Types of Participles 12.2.2 Sentence Position of Participial Phrases 12.2.3 Functions of Participial Phrases 12.2.3.1 Participial Phrases Versus Gerund Phrases 12.2.4 Time in Participial Phrases 12.2.4.1 Perfect Participial Phrases 12.2.4.2 Passive Participial Phrases 12.3 Section 3: Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases 12.3.1 Perfect Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases 12.3.2 Sentence Patterns with Infinitive Phrases 12.3.2.1 Infinitives as Direct Objects of Verbs 12.3.2.2 Verb + Indirect Object + Infinitive 12.3.2.3 Verb + (Indirect Object) + Infinitive 12.3.2.4 Infinitives After Be + Certain Adjectives 12.3.3 Base Verbs or “Bare Infinitives” and Causative Verbs 12.4 Summary 12.5 Practice Activities 12.6 Answer Key Appendix A: Some Patterns of Common Irregular Verbs Appendix B: The Eight Functions of the Inflectional Morphemes Appendix C: Essential Spelling Rules: Inflections Appendix D: The Minor Categories: The Structure Words Appendix E: Gerunds After Verbs Appendix F: Wh-question Words Appendix G: Common Adverbial Subordinators Appendix H: Summary of Major Learner Difficulties Glossary Index Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers is a result of my frustrations over many years of teaching graduate-level structure courses and not being able to?nd an appropriate grammar text for the pre- and in-service teachers enrolled in these classes. The students in these courses have represented a variety of teaching backgrounds: ESL and EFL teachers, native and non-nativespeakersof English,and mainstreamcontent-areateacherswith ESL students in their classes, to name a few. Some of these students have had a strong knowledge of English grammar, but often have dif?culties in applying their kno- edge to real-life discourse. Other students'exposure has been limited to lessons in “correctness,” and are generally unaware of which language features are central to teaching ESL/EFL learners. Some students are resistant to taking this course, but are required to do so, whether to satisfy speci?c degree requirements, for state or professional certi?cation, or for other reasons. A few students have had some l- guistics, many not. The challenge has been?nding a way to convey the essentials of AmericanEnglishgrammarclearly,toengagestudentsactivelyin theirownlearning and understanding of grammar as applicable to ESL/EFL learners, and to motivate them to undertake perceptive analyses of grammatical elements and structures, and of ESL/EFL learner needs and dif?culties. The overall aim of Grammar for Teachers is to make grammar accessible and comprehensible. "The purpose of Grammar for Teachers is to encourage readers to develop a solid understanding of the use and function of grammatical structures in American English. It approaches grammar from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach; however, throughout Grammar for Teachers differences between formal and informal language, and spoken and written English are discussed. Grammar for Teachers avoids jargon or excessive use of technical terminology and reviews essential grammar structures clearly and concisely." "The text encourages users to tap into their own, often subconscious, knowledge of English grammar and to make it a conscious knowledge they can apply to their own varied teaching settings. Grammar for Teachers emphasizes grammar from the perspective of learners of English, an approach that allows teachers to better appreciate the language difficulties learners of English face in ESL or mainstream classrooms. Discussions of areas of difficulties for learners of English are included throughout the text."--Jacket The purpose of Grammar for Teachers is to encourage readers to develop a solid understanding of the use and function of grammatical structures in American English. It approaches grammar from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach; however, throughout the book differences between formal and informal language, and spoken and written English are discussed. The book avoids jargon or excessive use of technical terminology. It makes the study of grammar interesting and relevant by presenting grammar in context and by using authentic material from a wide variety of sources.