World of English

English Grammar: Pronouns and Antecedents for Effective Communication

When using "I," "I" refers to the speaker or the author. Therefore, we do not always find an antecedent before “I,” because you can assume it is the speaker/author.  This is similar to Japanese, which after stating a subject does not require repetition of the subject before each predicate, which can form a independent clause without stating the implied subject.  You can almost always imply who "I" refers to by assuming it is the author or the speaker, and can determine the speaker by analyzing the dialog, if between two or more speakers.  In that case, I should have an antecedent, also.

With more ambiguous pronouns like “we,” you should first supply the antecedent—the noun the pronoun is standing for in the sentence. An antecedent should always proceed each pronoun except the pronoun “I.” The reader has to know who “we” is referring to--”you and them” or “you and me,” and who is the “them” if you are referring to yourself and other people. After you have made it clear to the reader who or what the pronoun stands for, you could continue to use “we” to stand for “our organization,” assuming it is made up of people!

A great site for English usage

This is a very good and very extensive site covering English usage and common errors.  I will discuss some of these errors in detail in later postings, but this Web site is a handy reference.  Because it is so overwhelming, it does not make a good study tool.  Some of the explanations are not the clearest, but it makes an excellent "reference tool" to turn to when you have a specific question concerning the usage of an English word.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html

Misplaced Modifiers

A modifier that is placed too far away from the word it modifies or describes is called a misplaced modifier. Place your modifiers as close as possible to the word or words they describe in order to ensure clarity and avoid misplaced modifiers. When you are looking at a sentence, take these three simple steps to identify any modifier errors.

STEP 1: Find the modifier.

STEP 2: Identify what word the modifier was intended to modify.

STEP 3: Place the modifier as close as possible to the word, phrase, or clause it is supposed to describe.

Misplaced, dangling and squinting modifiers are common errors on the ACT and SAT English sections, and if you are having problems finding an error in a sentence, look for any misplaced modifiers before marking “No Error.”

A Grammar Joke We All Know

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air. “Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.  “I’m a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.”  The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.  “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.” 

Prepositions: "In" and "into"

There is a difference between these two prepositions, "in" and "into." Some people will make this discrimination in their speech and writing naturally, although most people can't explain the difference in these two prepositions if pressed, although most people, if given some time to think about it, can come up with the right answer. Being a good writer means to be able to make these discriminations naturally, but also know why we make them, rather than relying on “how something sounds.” By learning the ideas behind these words, and learning how they correctly work in language, you learn about an amazing number of discriminations we make when we talk, often without even realizing it!

There are four types of prepositions: time, place, location, and movement. A word, like “in,” can be used to indicate placement within a time, a place, or a location. If you look, you can see that “into” is a combination of the locative preposition “in” and the preposition “to” which indicates movement.

This sentence, "I walked in the building," means you were inside the building walking around, NOT that you entered the building.

Use “in” to signify static placement.

“In” can be used to place something in time: In 1998 . . . .

“In” can be used to provide our location relative to a land-area: I live in Lexington.

“In” can also be used to indicated a specific location: She is in bed.

Use “into” to signify movement.

I walked into the office.

There is actually a grammatical case in some inflected languages which signify such movement: illative, which indicates movement into or towards. We use the preposition “into” to do that work for us, and it is not expressed in the nouns and pronouns in English in any obvious way.

A good writer must understand the prepositions they are using and the relationships they express. Furthermore, problems like this show up in the SAT “Improving Sentences” section and “Identifying Sentence Errors.” There are fewer questions on preposition usage on the ACT test, but sometimes one will pop up.

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Grammar wit

A Double Positive?

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. "In English," he
said, "A double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such
as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."

A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

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Grammar and Social Judgement

I just read a dirty grammar joke about two co-eds, one a “Yankee” and the other a “Southern Belle.” I am not sure if people are aware of all the sociolinguistic implications of grammar, and the assumptions that we make about people depending on their use of grammar, whether we are aware of the assumptions we are making or not. People judge us by the way we speak regardless if they mean to or not, and that is one of the important reasons for mastering good grammar.

I have been a frequent lecturer for business classes, and have run intensive workshops on business writing and communication skills, written and oral. I often tell students, “Grammar is like a business suit for your words.” If you've been in the halls of any business college when it is presentation time, you will see rows of finely clad gentleman and ladies, wearing black suits and immaculate ties, ready to put their best face forward. I think grammar is a lot like a business suit—good grammar is effective at presenting an image, and it is something you can take on and off, just like a suit. You wouldn't put on a suit to go shoot some hoops with the boys, or go to the movies with the girls. Also, you don't have to worry about ending your sentences with a preposition on the ball court or concern yourself with that dangling modifier while you are watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you are getting ready to go to a job interview or make a business presentation, then that suit is important to have on, because it projects a certain image of you. In the same way, that is the time to be sure that you are speaking in standard, grammatically correct English. You wouldn't forget to wear your suit—don't forget the suit for your words.

I am not saying this is a good thing, or a bad thing. I do think we shouldn't make assumptions about someone's ability or intelligence based solely on the way they speak, and certainly not on an accent. The world is, however, the way it is, and the fact we are judged on our ability to verbally form grammatically correct sentences is just a fact in the same way we are judged by what we wear (see how comfortable you are handing money to the bank teller who is wearing short athletic shorts, a soiled jersey, and no shoes). Just like you'd dress for success, be sure that you SPEAK FOR SUCCESS as well.

Drop back by and continue to get hints, tips, and the knowhow to do just that.

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