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THE ART OF EDITING SEMINAR 2 PAINLESS TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR Editing seminar series for HDR candidates and advisors 2014 Dr Liz Tynan Co-ordinator Research Student Academic Support JCU Graduate Research School Starting thought • Like everything metaphysical, the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language. Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein Why grammar? • Editing to a high standard requires some technical knowledge. • You have to be able to identify a problem with subject-verb agreement or preposition use or sentence structure. • Knowledge is power. • When you can name the grammatical problems, you can fix them (in most cases). Traditional Grammar • Traditional grammar is old grammar – the grammatical systems formulated in ancient Greece and later in Rome. • The Greeks (specifically the Stoics in the third century BC) formulated grammar as an intellectual system for the first time. They set the foundation for today’s session. Editing for good grammar • Subject-verb agreement • Sentence structure, including parallel structure, comma splices, etc. • Pronoun use • Verb use • Preposition use • Conjunction use Communication obstacles • Symbolic language is a uniquely human attribute. • Language has evolved as the main way by which we project from our internal, subjective world to the wider external world. • The obstacles in the way of translating our ideas into words that others can understand are many. • The rules of grammar help ensure a common understanding of correctness. Know your terminology: parts of speech • Noun • Adjective • Verb • Adverb • Preposition • Pronoun • Conjunction and • Interjection Other trad grammar elements • Two “numbers”: singular and plural; • Five “cases”: including subject (nominative), object (accusative) and possessive (genitive); • Three “persons”: first, second and third; • Two “voices”: active and passive; and • Up to five “moods”: including declarative, subjunctive, imperative, interrogative and infinitive. Elements continued • 15 verbal “tenses”: 5 x 3: various forms of past, present and future. • The large number of verbal tenses in English helps ensure that nuanced action can be reported in sentences. Elements continued • True traditional grammar has only four “units”: word, phrase, clause, sentence. • Grammar does not extend beyond the full-stop; traditional grammar is not concerned with paragraph structure (that topic is for another day…) Nouns and “cases” • All the cases relate to nouns and their relative position in a sentence. • When a noun is in the nominative case it is the subject (or topic) of the sentence. • Placing the grammatical subject at the start of a sentence ensures the most efficient delivery system for written information in English. Pronouns • Pronouns usually stand in for nouns and can be the subject or object of sentences. • Pronouns include: “I”, “we”, “it”, “him”, “her”, “their”, “this” and many others. • Useful for making the language flow more smoothly: Anne is going overseas though she doesn’t yet know exactly where. • It would be odd to say Anne is going overseas though Anne doesn’t yet know exactly where. Pronouns inflect • Pronouns change their form depending upon their grammatical role in the sentence. Consider these two sentences: • My husband and I will open this fete. • This fete will be opened by my husband and I. • The second one here is wrong. The “I” must be inflected to “me”. Pronoun antecedents • The noun to which a pronoun refers is known as its antecedent. • Problems arise when pronouns float around without an obvious antecedent. • In academic writing using pronouns to start a sentence may be unwise. Floating pronouns • “A decision was taken not to physically test the new design but instead use computer modelling to examine the strength of the foundation works and to ensure that all current algorithms were taken into account. This has meant that the client will need a full report upon completion. We need to talk about prepositions • These useful but sometimes confusing words help draw relationships between the content words. • The word preposition simply means something placed before or in front. • In general, they govern what nouns do. For example: • “(available) to participants” • “(borrowed) by Ken” Prepositions continued • Prepositions may define relationships in a spatial sense: • “on ice” • “in tanks” • or a temporal sense: • “before breakfast” • “between seasons” • They can also show causal relationships: • “by perseverance” • “through effort” • And a range of other interconnections: • “despite hardships” • “against odds” • “among friends” Do not disrupt • Because of the close relationship between prepositions and the nouns they govern, they should not be disrupted. • For example, you can put the adverb “suddenly” in various places in the sentence “Ruth’s dogs sprang at him”, but not between “at” and “him”. Murdering prepositions • Incorrect: • “…what do you think to that?” • “…we pride ourselves in having.” • “…scientists believe of their existence.” • “…I was bored of that.” • • They should be corrected as follows: • “…what do you think about that?” (not to) • “…we pride ourselves on having” (not in) • “…scientists believe in their existence.” (not of) • “…I was bored with that.” (not of) Verbs and “tense” • The finite verb indicates whether the action is taking place in the past, present or future. • Correct declarative sentences can only be animated by finite verbs. • A declarative sentence always has at least one noun and one verb, in direct relationship to each other. Simple finite verbs • Simple finite verbs may be in the past, present or future tense. For example: • wrote [past] • writes [present] • will write [future] Other verbal tenses • Verbs take different forms depending on their function in the sentence: • he had written (past perfect) • he is writing (present continuous) • he will be writing (future continuous) SV sentence • The subject-verb (SV) sentence has a noun and a verb. • For example, we can say “Maxine writes.” • This is grammatically correct and contains a subject, “Maxine”, and a verb, “writes”, which describes the action. SVO sentence • In the SVO structure, the verb connects the topic (subject) of sentence, Maxine, to the thing being acted upon, the object. • For example: Maxine writes a report. In this sentence, the object is “a report”. Information delivery system • The SVO sentence is the most efficient way to convey information. • The logical simplicity of the SVO sentence assists both writers and editors. • As an editor, look for the SVO structure and make sure it is implemented correctly. Understanding the dynamics of this structure will help you simplify prose and give it greater explanatory power. Identifying the grammatical subject • Subjects can have more than one element. For example in this sentence: • The conference and associated workshops will be held in October. • …the subject is “The conference and associated workshops…” • Also note that the subject is not necessarily the first thing you read in a sentence. For example in this sentence: • “After visiting her suppliers, the managing director returned to the showroom.” • …the subject is “the managing director…” Identify the SVO structure here…. • Yesterday the Mayor led the debate in the Council chambers. • After eating at the restaurant, we went to see a movie. • The United Nations will send in peacekeepers. • The security guard in the foyer checked our passes. • He and I will operate the gear. • After holding atomic bomb tests in Australia, the British left Maralinga contaminated. Sentence structures • English has a variety of grammatically correct sentence structures, many of which contain more than one clause. • A clause is a group of words containing a subject and verb that forms part of a sentence. • Complex sentences: a main clause and attached sub- ordinate clause/s. • Compound sentences: containing clauses of equal grammatical status. • Compound-complex sentences: containing two or more main clauses and one or more subordinate clauses. Why does English have these different kinds of sentences? • They enable conceptual connections between the information or ideas we wish to convey to be made coherent in a single sentence. • A single-clause sentence does not always enable these connections, so we need to select a suitable structure to make these relationships clear. • Editors are interested in meaning, so they need to ensure that relationships are established in grammatical sentences. Complex sentences • Subordinate clauses are joined to the main clause either by a conjunction or, in certain cases, by a semi-colon: Smith and Jones Scientific in Sydney will supply the test kits, though not before 30 June. • Here the conjunction is “though”. Note that a comma is usually needed before a subordinate clause. Compound sentences Smith and Jones Scientific in Sydney will supply our project’s test kits and we expect to source fieldwork gear from this company as well. • In this case both clauses can stand alone grammatically, once you remove the “and”. • Compound sentences usually have “and”, “but” and “or” as conjunctions (known as co-ordinating conjunctions). Compound-complex sentences • This sentence has elements of both compound and complex sentences. For example: • Smith and Jones Scientific in Sydney will supply our project’s test kits and we expect to source fieldwork gear from this company as well, though our budget will be more limited this year. • Note the co-ordinating conjunction “and” and the subordinating conjunction “though”. Do not go mad with clauses • Complex and compound sentences are most useful when they form strong bonds between several important facts. • They are less effective when they are used as an opportunity to string together large amounts of barely related information. Avoid this: • Smith and Jones Scientific in Sydney will supply our project’s test kits and we expect to source fieldwork gear from this company as well, though our budget will be more limited this year and we will have to restrict travel for the next 12 months, although no plans have been finalised and won’t be until the new project leader completes her funding proposal, which we expect in February next year. Ugly and disjointed • Sentences don’t have to extremely long to have bad structure: • X: In a study by Bloggs (1955), on the roots of Kiwi fruit, it was found that upon prolonged micronutrient shortage, shoot and roots dry weight accumulation was impaired. • √: Prolonged micronutrient shortage in Kiwi fruit roots was found by Bloggs (1955) to impair shoot and dry weight accumulation. SV agreement • The subject of a sentence must “agree” with the finite verb of the sentence. Singular-singular, plural-plural. This means that we write: • The lawyer discusses her strategy. …and not: • The lawyer discuss her strategy. • Most people with a reasonable grasp of English will understand SV agreement here. Less obvious SV agreement • Our house, as well as all our personal effects, were destroyed by the fire. • OR • Our house, as well as all our personal effects, was destroyed by the fire. • The correct sentence has to be the second example, even if it doesn’t seem right. • Words that intervene between subject and verb do not affect the number (i.e. singular or plural) of the verb. SV agreement and collective nouns • An organisation, group or company is treated grammatically as a collective noun, and collective nouns always take singular verbs (and pronouns): The ABC broadcasts from its studios in the city. • The finite verb in this sentence is “broadcasts”, and it is singular. Do not write “The ABC broadcast from their studios in the city.” Active and passive voice • “Maxine writes the report” = active voice, because it follows the SVO construction. • “The report is written by Maxine” = passive voice. • The subject (Maxine) is now called the agent – “by Maxine”. • The verb has undergone a change, known as the passive transformation. Passive voice may be needed • …if the active subject is unknown or not easily stated: • “Walter’s father was killed in the Second World War”. • We don’t know who or what actually killed Walter’s father. • There can be no “agent” because we don’t have enough information to say who carried out the action of the sentence. • (More on this is the sentence and style seminars.) Problems to watch for when editing: Parallel structure People are always impressed by her smooth manner, elegant clothes and being witty. • Smooth manner = adjective + noun • Elegant clothes = adjective + noun • Being witty = participle + adjective • When editing for parallel structure, you would probably alter this sentence like this: • People are always impressed by her smooth manner, elegant clothes and sharp wit. Problems to watch for when editing: Fused or run-on sentences • Drugs such as salbutamol and turbutaline may be given orally or by injection to open up the breathing tube occasionally it is necessary to hospitalise the patient so that intravenous fluids can be provided. • Correct like this: • Drugs such as salbutamol and turbutaline may be given orally or by injection to open up the breathing tube. Occasionally it is necessary to hospitalise the patient so that intravenous fluids can be provided. Problems to watch for when editing: Comma splices • The wrist is a common site of rheumatoid arthritis and osteo- arthritis, another common problem is carpel tunnel syndrome. • Correct like this: • The wrist is a common site of rheumatoid arthritis and osteo- arthritis. Another common problem is carpel tunnel syndrome. • Or • The wrist is a common site of rheumatoid arthritis and osteo- arthritis; another common problem is carpel tunnel syndrome. Summing up grammar • Grammar is not everything, but the rules of grammar do form part of good communication. • An editor should be able to analyse words, phrases, clauses and sentences to a certain extent, because technical knowledge gives control. • Look for common problems such as lack of subject- verb agreement or incorrect preposition use or poor sentence structure. • An edited document is a grammatically correct document. A parting thought •I will not go down to posterity talking bad grammar. Benjamin Disraeli, Victorian era British Prime Minister