Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) - Hardcover

Garner, Bryan A

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022618885X ISBN 13: 9780226188850

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2016

Synopsis

Few people can write with as much authority on the English language as Bryan A. Garner. The author of "The" "Chicago Manual of Style" s popular Grammar and Usage chapter, Garner is adept at explaining the vagaries of English with absolute precision and utmost clarity. With "The Chicago Guide to English Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation," he has written the definitive guide for writers who want their prose to be both memorable and correct. Throughout the book Garner describes standard literary English the forms that mark writers and speakers as educated users of the language. He also offers historical context for understanding the development of these forms. The section on grammar explains how the canonical parts of speech came to be identified, while the section on syntax covers the nuances of sentence patterns as well as both traditional sentence diagramming and transformational grammar. The usage section offers an unprecedented trove of empirical evidence in the form of Google Ngrams, diagrams that illustrate the changing prevalence of specific terms over decades and even centuries of English literature. The book also covers punctuation and word formation, concluding with an exhaustive glossary of grammatical terms and a bibliography of suggested further reading and references. "The Chicago Guide to English Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation "is a magisterial work, the culmination of Garner s life-long study of the English language. The result is a landmark resource that will offer clear guidelines to students, writers, and editors alike"

About this title

About the Author

Bryan A. Garner is president of LawProse Inc., and Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of the grammar and usage chapter of "The Chicago Manual of Style" and editor in chief of "Black s Law Dictionary." His many books on language and law include "Garner s Modern American Usage" and "Legal Writing in Plain English," the latter from the University of Chicago Press."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation

By Bryan A. Garner

The University of Chicago Press

Copyright © 2016 Bryan A. Garner
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-226-18885-0

Contents

Introduction, 
I. The Traditional Parts of Speech, 
II. Syntax, 
III. Word Formation, 
IV. Word Usage, 
V. Punctuation, 
Select Glossary, 
Notes, 
Sources for Inset Quotations, 
Select Bibliography, 
Acknowledgments, 
Word Index, 
General Index, 
Pronunciation Guide, 

CHAPTER 1

I. The Traditional Parts of Speech

5 How did we arrive at the canonical eight?

The traditional grammarian's approach to parts of speech is often attributed to an ancient of some renown: Dionysios Thrax, who lived in the second century B.C. In Tékne Grammatiké (or The Grammatical Art), he listed eight parts of speech: noun, verb, participle, article, pronoun, preposition, adverb, conjunction. These categories were long accepted by Greek, by Roman, and later by European grammarians — and there were scores of them (hence only some highlights here).

The Roman grammarian Aelius Donatus, who lived in the fourth century A.D., wrote Ars Grammatica — a book that gained great popularity into the Middle Ages. His eight parts of speech were slightly different from those of Dionysios:

DionysiosDonatus

noun (adjective) noun (adjective)
verb verb
participle participle
article ____
pronoun pronoun
preposition preposition
adverb (interjection) adverb
conjunction conjunction
____ interjection

Both classified nouns and adjectives together — Dionysios because the two have the same kinds of inflectional endings in Greek, Donatus presumably because he was influenced by predecessors such as Dionysios. But Donatus dropped articles (Latin has none) and separated interjections from adverbs.

The Donatus model was followed by other early influential grammarians, such as Priscian, who lived in the fifth century A.D. So influential was Priscian that he gave us the phrase to break Priscian's head, meaning "to use bad grammar." In Renaissance England, a schoolboy learning Latin might be scolded when he mistranslated a phrase from English into Latin, "No, William, you're breaking Priscian's head!"

So influential was Latin grammar in England that English grammars were sparse until the 18th century. But Shakespeare's main rival, Ben Jonson (1572–1637), wrote a grammar that was published in 1640, three years after his death. Jonson counted "in our English speech ... the same parts with the Latins" — that is, eight. His list was that of Donatus (though Jonson's direct influence was Priscian). But then he added another: articles.

When English grammars began to proliferate in the 18th and 19th centuries, there was great variability in grammarians' counts of parts of speech. In 1711, James Greenwood repeated Donatus's fourth-century roster. Others of the time replicated it. Still other grammarians, however, counted only four — among these being John Entick, Thomas Dyche, Anne Fisher, and James Harris. Some had the number swell to nine (by adding articles, as Ben Jonson had done in 1640) or ten (by adding adjectives). There was simply no consensus.

Not until 1761 did any grammarian settle on the eight that became the canonical parts of speech in English. He was the same man who discovered oxygen: Joseph Priestley (1733–1804). In his Rudiments of English Grammar, he listed these:

• noun

• adjective

• pronoun

• verb

• adverb

• preposition

• conjunction

• interjection

Even so, it took another 80 years or so for those eight to be firmly accepted — perhaps because the categories fluidly relate to form and function. That is, some words are called nouns because they usually function that way, but of course they can often function as adjectives and verbs as well. And any part of speech can function as an interjection. So it's not a perfect taxonomy.

The influential Robert Lowth counted nine in 1762 by adding articles; John Fell followed those nine in 1784; so did George Neville Ussher in 1785 and the highly influential Lindley Murray in 1795. But more grammarians of that period counted ten by adding participles to the mix: Rowland Jones in 1771, Ellin Devis in 1775, Ralph Harrison in 1777, Caleb Bingham in 1785, E. Harrold in 1804, Lady Eleanor Fenn in 1790, John Hutchins in 1791, Caleb Alexander in 1792, Thomas Coar in 1796, Duncan Mackintosh (with his two daughters) in 1797, Daniel Staniford in 1797, Jane Gardiner in 1799, David Gurney in 1801, Alexander Crombie in 1802, and John Comly in 1803. These grammarians were doubtless aware of one another's work to one degree or another.

Some Americans were mavericks. In 1782, Robert Ross wrote The American Grammar with the help of Aaron Burr (the president of Yale College and father to the future vice president and killer of Alexander Hamilton). They counted eight parts of speech in both English and Latin but then speculated: "Since all Discourse must be about Things, their Properties, Actions, and Relations; were it not for long established Custom, we might divide Speech into four Parts, viz. Noun, Adnoun [i.e., adjective], Verb, and Participle." Two years later, Noah Webster, more famous as a lexicographer than as a grammarian, counted six parts of speech. But he was long-lived, and in his final grammar nearly 50 years later, he counted seven — the conventional eight minus interjections. The most extreme examples were James Brown, who in his 1820 American Grammar counted thirty-three, and William S. Balch, who in 1838 counted only two (nouns and verbs).

This little survey only skims the surface. By 1801 there were 297 different listings of English parts of speech accounting for a total of 58 varieties. By the 1840s, however, a consensus was gradually emerging for Priestley's eight:

• noun

• pronoun

• adjective

• verb

• adverb

• preposition

• conjunction

• interjection

The variants gradually became outliers among mainstay school grammars.

Even in recent years, though, the categories aren't fully settled: modern grammarians have set the number at three, four, six, seven, eight (the traditional number), nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and nineteen. One says there is "no definitive answer." In this way, parts of speech are rather like the biologist's species and genera: they are human constructs that aren't immutable.

In the discussion that follows, we examine the canonical eight with full knowledge that the classifications aren't airtight.

Nouns

Traditional Classifications

6 Nouns generally.

A noun is a word that names something, whether abstract (intangible) or concrete (tangible). It may be a common noun (the name of a generic class or type of person, place, thing, process, activity, or condition) or a proper noun (the name of a specific person, place, or thing — hence capitalized). A concrete noun may be a count noun (if what it names can be counted — as with horses or cars) or a mass noun (if what it names is uncountable or collective — as with information or salt). A noun-equivalent is a phrase or clause that serves the function of a noun in a sentence {to serve your country is honorable} {bring anyone you like}. Nouns and noun-equivalents are collectively called substantives or (especially throughout this book) noun elements.

7 Common nouns.]

A common noun is the generic name of one item in a class or group {a chemical} {a river} {a pineapple}. It is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence or appears in a title. A common noun is usually used with a determiner — that is, an article or other word (e.g., some,few) that indicates the number and definiteness of the noun element {a loaf} {the day} {some person}. Common nouns are often analyzed into three subcategories: concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is solid or real; it indicates something perceptible to the physical senses {a building} {the wind} {honey}. An abstract noun denotes something you cannot physically see, touch, taste, hear, or smell {joy} {expectation} {neurosis}. A collective noun — which can be viewed as a concrete noun but is often separately categorized — refers to a group or collection of people or things {a crowd of people} {a flock of birds} {a herd of rhinos}. See § 10.

8 [Proper nouns.

A proper noun is the name of a specific person, place, or thing {John Doe} {Moscow} {the Hope Diamond}, or the title of a movie {Citizen Kane}, a play {Death of a Salesman}, a book {Oliver Twist}, a newspaper or magazine {The New Yorker}, a piece of music {U2's "All Because of You"}, a painting {Mona Lisa}, a sculpture {The Kiss}, or any other publication, performance, or work of art. Proper nouns may be singular {Mary} {London} or plural {the Great Lakes} {the Twin Cities}. A proper noun is always capitalized, regardless of how it is used — unless someone is purposely flouting the rules {k.d. lang}. A common noun may become a proper noun {Old Hickory} {the Big Easy}, and sometimes a proper noun may be used figuratively and informally, as if it were a common noun {like Moriarty, he is a Napoleon of crime}. Proper nouns may be compounded when used as a unit to name something {the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel} {Saturday Evening Post}. Over time, some proper nouns (called eponyms) have developed common-noun counterparts, such as sandwich (from the Earl of Sandwich) and china (the porcelain, from the nation China). Articles and other determiners are used with proper nouns only when the last part of the noun is a common noun or the determiner provides emphasis {the Savoy Hotel} {Sam? I knew a Sam Hill once}.

9 [Count nouns.

A count noun has singular and plural forms and expresses discrete, enumerable things {dictionary–dictionaries} {hoof–hooves} {newspaper–newspapers}. As the subject of a sentence, a singular count noun takes a singular verb {the jar is full}; a plural count noun takes a plural verb {the jars are full}.

10 Collective nouns.

A collective noun denotes an aggregate of individuals or things but is itself grammatically singular in form {group} {team} {flock} {herd}. For purposes of verb and pronoun agreement, however, collective nouns may be treated as either singular or plural, depending on whether the emphasis is on the constituent members acting as a unified whole {the committee meets on Tuesday to announce its decision} or, less commonly in American English (AmE), individually {the committee are debating their decision}. The general preference in AmE is to treat collective nouns as singular; the opposite is true in British English (BrE). But when collective nouns appear in expressions of multitude (see below), they are generally treated as plural.

11 Expressions of multitude.

In constructions such as a bunch of amateurs, a collective noun expresses multitude, rather than signifying a unified group. Grammarians call collective nouns functioning this way quantifying collectives. (But some of the most common expressions of multitude use quantifying determiners in place of collectives: number, lot, couple, and few don't function like collective nouns in other contexts.) Such constructions place the quantifying collective or determiner between an indefinite article (a or an) and a postmodifying of-phrase using a plural or mass noun {a host of problems} {a group of doctors} {a set of stemware} {a lot of questions}.

As with collective nouns generally, syntax with expressions of multitude is governed by meaning and not by strict grammar — a phenomenon known as synesis or notional concord. (See § 186.) So while lone collective nouns typically signify the group as a unit and hence are treated as singular, nouns of multitude are distributive: verbs and pronouns must agree in number with the noun following of, not the singular noun of multitude preceding it.

If the noun following of is plural (as it typically is), verbs and pronouns must be too {a number of listeners always complain whenever we bring in a guest host} {a gang of kids were riding their bikes around the neighborhood}. But if the noun is a singular mass noun, use singular verbs and pronouns {a lot of this bread has mold on it}. (If the noun of multitude is plural, however, the accompanying verbs and pronouns invariably are as well {two teams of surgeons operate on their patient} {four sets of china were on sale}.)

Two caveats. First, not all constructions that place a noun between an indefinite article and a postmodifying of-phrase are true expressions of multitude. Constructions referring to containers or units of measurement often take this form {a jar of jellybeans} {a pound of nuts}. Here, the container or measurement noun governs meaning and therefore concord {a bushel of apples costs $60}. And a collective noun may also be followed by an of-phrase describing the group's composition {a school of minnows} {a herd of bison}. In those cases, the ordinary rules for collective nouns apply (i.e., the noun may be treated as singular, depending on emphasis) {a flock of geese makes its way south for the winter} {a flock of geese fly in a V formation}.

Second, when the (instead of a) precedes number of, the emphasis is on the number itself, not the individual things it describes, so it is treated as singular. Compare "a number of applicants were unqualified" with "the number of unqualified applicants was surprising." But not all nouns of multitude are treated this way — consider majority {the majority of senators vote along party lines}. As above, meaning and emphasis determine concord.

12 Expressions of partition.

Expressions of partition, which signify a part of the group represented by the of-phrase (in this context termed the partitive genitive), follow the same rules as expressions of multitude. In place of a noun of multitude, these expressions use a partitive noun {fraction} {part} {portion}, a fraction, or a percentage {a fraction of the students raise their hands} {one-quarter of the competitors start at 10 a.m.} {only 42% of doctors report getting annual physicals}. This category includes partitive constructions using one of those + [plural noun] + who/that, which always take plural verbs and pronouns in the relative clause {she is one of those writers who wake up before dawn to start their work}. Even a fraction that is plural in form is treated as singular if it's followed by of and a mass noun {two-thirds of Mary's garden is planted with gladioluses}. But as with the above constructions also governed by synesis, meaning sometimes necessitates exceptions to the rule {just a fraction of those nails is all you need to do the job}. See § 186.

13 Mass nouns.

A mass noun (sometimes called a noncount noun) is one that denotes something uncountable, either because it is abstract {cowardice} {evidence} or because it refers to an aggregation of people or things taken as an indeterminate whole {luggage} {the bourgeoisie}. The key difference between mass nouns and collective nouns is that unlike collective nouns (which are count nouns), mass nouns never take indefinite articles and typically do not have plural forms. (Compare a team to *an evidence, or two groups to *two luggages.) A mass noun can stand alone {music is more popular than ever} or with a determiner other than an indefinite article (some music or the music but not a music). As the subject of a sentence, a mass noun typically takes a singular verb and pronoun {the litigation is so varied that it defies simple explanation}.

Some mass nouns, however, are plural in form but are treated as grammatically singular {politics} {ethics} {physics} {news}. (See § 190.) Others are always grammatically plural {manners} {scissors} {clothes}. But just as singular mass nouns don't take an indefinite article, plural mass nouns don't combine with numbers: you'd never say *three scissors or *six manners. Some that refer to concrete objects, such as scissors or sunglasses, can be enumerated by adding pair of {a pair of scissors} {three pairs of sunglasses}. Likewise, singular concrete mass nouns can usually be enumerated by adding a unit noun such as piece and of {a piece of cutlery} {seven pieces of stationery}. Both singular and plural mass nouns can take indefinite adjectives such as any, less, much, and some that express general quantity {what you need is some courage} {he doesn't have any manners}.

Many nouns can be both mass nouns and count nouns. With concrete nouns, which tend to be countable, the countable sense refers to individual things or instances {there were white chickens beside the red wheelbarrow}; the mass sense refers to the thing viewed as a substance or material {let's have chicken for dinner}. With abstract nouns, which tend to be uncountable, the mass sense refers to the general phenomenon {the candidate's speech emphasized the importance of education}; the countable sense refers to individual instances or types {she told her son, "You'll never succeed without an education"}.

Properties of Nouns

14 Generally.

Nouns have properties of case and number. Some traditional grammarians also consider gender and person to be properties of nouns. The change in a noun or pronoun's form to indicate these properties is called declension. In English, nouns change form only for number and the genitive case (see § 35); only pronouns truly decline in the traditional sense (see § 56).

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 022618885X
• ISBN 13: 9780226188850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 552