Grammar Book

A Student's Introduction to English Grammar
Thi s groundbreaking undergraduate textbook on modem Standard English grammar is the first to be based on the revolutionary advances of the authors' previous work, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002), winner of the 2004 Leonard Bloomfield Book Award of the Linguistic Society of America. The analyses defended there are out­ lined heremore briefly, in an engagingly accessible and informal style. Errors of the older tradition of English grammar are noted and corrected, and the excesses of prescriptive usage manuals are firmly rebutted in spe­ cially highlighted notes that explain what older authorities have called 'incorrect' and show why those authorities are mistaken. This book is intended for students in colleges oruniversities who have little or no previous background i n grammar, and presupposes no linguis­ tics. It contains exercises and a wealth of other features, and will provide a basis for introductions to grammar and courses on the structure of English not only in linguistics departments but also in English language and literature departments and schools of education. Students will achieve an accurateunderstanding of grammar that will both enhance their lan­ guage skills and provide a solid grounding for further linguistic study.

Student's Introduction to English Grammar
A

RODNEY HUDDLESTON
Ullil'ersity of Queensland

GEOFFREY K. PULLUM
Ulliversity ()f Caliji)mia, Santa Cru�

"CAMBRIDGE
:> UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, CapeTown, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780S21612883

© Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum 2005
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions ofrelevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2005 Reprinted with corrections 2006 Third printing 2007 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A

catalogue recordfor this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN-13 978-0-521-84837-4hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-61288-3 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

Notational conventions Preface
Introduction A rapid overviewVerbs, tense, aspect, and mood Clause structure, complements, and adjuncts Nouns and noun phrases Adjectives and adverbs Prepositions and preposition phrases Negation and related phenomena Clause type: asking, exclaiming, and directing Subordination and content clauses Relative clauses Grade and comparison Non-finite clauses and clauses without verbs Coordination and more Information packaging i nthe clause Morphology : words and lexemes

page vi vii

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

11 29 63 82 1 12 1 27 1 49 1 59 1 74 1 83 1 95 204 225 238 264 29 1 295 309

Further reading Glossary Index

v

Notational conventions

Abbreviations of grammatical terms
Adj AdjP AdvP C, Comp DP N Nom NP 0 Od Adjective Adjective Phrase Adverb Phrase Complement Determinative Phrase NounNominal Noun Phrase Object Direct Object

0; P PC PP Pred Comp Prep S, Subj V VP

Indirect Object Predicator Predicative Complement Preposition Phrase Predicative Complement Preposition Subject Verb Verb Phrase

Presentation of examples
Italics are always used for citing examples (and for no other purpose).
Bold italics are used for lexemes (as explained on p. 15). "Double quotation marks"...