Grammar
We are about to get down to the fundamental skills that you need to be a good editor.
Our topic in this module is one I especially treasure, partly because so few other people do. The very word can make people sneer. Usually the sneerers describe their distaste for grammar using grammatically correct sentences, the better for the rest of us to actually understand what’s upsetting them.
But grammar is the living, vital organising principle of our language, and that makes it pretty important. Good grammar is indispensable to the careful editor, one who is looking to convey meaning. If we disregard grammatical rules we end up with language mush that no-one can understand properly and some of us cannot even bear to read.
Why do we need to know about 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.
- When you can name the grammatical problems, you can fix them (in most cases).
- Knowledge is power.
"Like everything metaphysical, the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language."
Language has evolved as the main way by which we project from our internal, subjective world to the wider external world; a truly remarkable, though intrinsically fraught, process. The obstacles in the way of translating our ideas into words that others can understand are many. Meanings can easily be lost along the way if those obstacles prove insurmountable. The ways of overcoming obstacles include understanding of and respect for the process of word-based communication and a determination to use language as a precision instrument, not a blunt instrument.
Being armed with knowledge of traditional grammar can help you overcome communication barriers. If you can edit your own work, or the work of others, mindful of the rules and conventions of English then you stand a better chance of producing a polished piece of work that will be both comprehensible and durable.
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.
Grammar topics
So, this module will show you the most important features of grammar that you need to know to edit effectively. You will learn how to apply grammatical rules to your own work, and test that you have achieved grammatical correctness. In particular, I will cover:
- The parts of speech
- Nouns and “cases”
- Verbs and “tense”
- Identifying grammatical subjects
- Subject-verb agreement
- “Floating pronouns”
- Complex and compound sentences
- Active and passive voice
- Eliminating grammatical errors such as comma splices and dangling participles
- Correct use of prepositions
No, grammar is not everything. But it is a good start on the road to beautifully edited work. Let’s get started on making your work grammatically correct.
In this module, I will provide summaries of information you need to know, and also glossary items that provide definitions of some of the technical terminology that you will need to understand to edit effectively.
Also, you will find links to more detailed written explanations of these concepts if you want to read in greater depth, as well as links to information from outside sources.
Let's cover a few aspects of grammar
Nouns are words that name objects or ideas (such as horse, or society).
Adjectives are words that describe, limit or modify nouns (such as chestnut horse, or modern society).
Verbs are words that describer action (such as run, or write).
Adverbs are words that describe, limit or modify verbs (such as run fast, or write beautifully).
Prepositions are words that govern what nouns do (such as on water or from nowhere).
Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns (such as it, her, this).
Conjunctions are words that join clauses (such as and, but, however).
Interjections are words with little intrinsic meaning that express emotions such as surprise, fear or pain (such as ah, or oh).
Traditional grammar is old grammar – the grammatical systems formulated in ancient Greece and later in Rome. Below are some traditional grammar elements:
- 2 Numbers: singular and plural.
- 5 Cases including subject (nominative), object (accusative) and possessive (genitive).
- 3 Persons: first, second and third.
- 2 Voices: active and passive.
- 5 Moods: declarative, subjunctive, imperative, interrogative and infinitive.
- 15 Verbal Tenses: various forms of past, present and future.
- 4 Units: word, phrase, clause and sentence.
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 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.
Pronouns are 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 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”.
In academic writing using pronouns to start a sentence may be unwise.
The noun to which a pronoun refers is known as its antecedent. Problems arise when pronouns float around without an obvious antecedent. Floating pronoun example:
“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.”
Here, the reader may experience confusion when trying to work out the noun to which the demonstrative pronoun “This” refers. To fix this problem you may wish to simply add the word "decision" i.e. "This decision has meant ...".
Prepositions are 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 may define relationships in a spatial sense:
- “on land”
- “in cars”
Or a temporal sense:
- “before lunch”
- “between semesters”
They can also show causal relationships:
- “by perseverance”
- “through labour”
And a range of other interconnections:
- “despite setbacks”
- “among colleagues”
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 “Clive’s dogs sprang at him”, but not between “at” and “him”.
Prepositions are often used incorrectly. Here are some examples of incorrect use:
- “…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)
The “finite verb” of a sentence indicates whether the action is taking place in the past, present or future.
Correct declarative sentences must contain a finite verb.
A declarative sentence always has at least one noun and one verb, in direct relationship to each other.
Simple finite verbs may be in the past, present or future tense:
- wrote [past]
- writes [present]
- will write [future]
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)
The subject-verb (SV) sentence has a noun and a verb.
For example, we can say “Maxine writes.” This is grammatically correct (although not particularly informative) and contains a subject, “Maxine”, and a verb, “writes”, which describes the action.
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”.
The subject part of a sentence 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…”
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.
The subject of a sentence must “agree” with the finite verb of the sentence, which means that a singular subject has a singular verb and a plural subject has a plural verb. 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.
However, SV agreement is not always so obvious:
Our office, as well as all our company records, were destroyed by the fire.
or
Our office, as well as all our company records, was destroyed by the fire.
The correct sentence has to be the second example, even if it does not seem right. Words that intervene between subject and verb do not affect the number (i.e. singular or plural) of the verb.
Note the rules regarding “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.”
This sentence is in active voice because it follows the SVO construction:
"Maxine writes the report."
Here is the same information presented in passive voice:
"The report is written by Maxine."
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 unavoidable, for example if the active subject is unknown or not easily stated:
“Cecil’s father was killed in the Second World War”.
We don’t know who or what actually killed Cecil’s father. There can be no “agent” because we don’t have enough information to say who carried out the action of the sentence.
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 clauses.
- Compound sentences: containing clauses of equal grammatical status.
- Compound-complex sentences: containing two or more main clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.
These different kinds of structures 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.
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.
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).
This sentence has elements of both compound and complex 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, though our budget will be more limited this year.
Note the co-ordinating conjunction “and” and the subordinating conjunction “though”.
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.
Some common sentence structure problems
This sentence is ungrammatical because it does not display parallel structure:
People are always impressed by her intelligent conversation, extensive experience and being witty.
Here are the grammatical elements of the list in the above sentence:
- Intelligent conversation = adjective + noun
- Extensive experience = 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 intelligent conversation, extensive experience and sharp wit.
The following sentence is ungrammatical because it is incorrectly structured and is an example of a run-on sentence:
Drugs 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 it like this:
Drugs 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.
The following sentence is ungrammatical because it contains a comma splice:
The hand is a common site of rheumatoid arthritis and osteo-arthritis, another common problem is carpel tunnel syndrome.
Correct it like this:
The hand is a common site of rheumatoid arthritis and osteo-arthritis. Another common problem is carpel tunnel syndrome.
Or like this:
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.
"I will not go down to posterity talking bad grammar."
Below is an example sentence which needs editing
Can you think of what do to here?
"Much ink had been spilled on the literature and many research works have been conducted on the intractable conflict of Incognita, however there are rarely empirical works, which substantially analyse and addresses the burning issues of the Incognita conflict as a whole but at the same time, verifies and examines the authenticity and reality of the issues by focusing terrorism and conflict as two different challenges." [66 words]
Diagnosis and correction
Think about these factors in your own editing
- 66 words is too long, so we must shorten it.
- Should we divide it into two or more sentences, or remove words but retain the single thought of the original sentence?
- This sentence contains many clauses, and is an example of a compound/complex sentence.
- Grammatical errors include incorrect use of the preposition ‘on’ in the first line and ‘of’ in the second – they should both be ‘in’.
- The clause ‘and many research works have been conducted…’ is awkwardly expressed.
- Problem with S-V agreement in the clause ‘which substantially analyse and addresses the burning issues…”
- The overall effect: the sentence is confused and hard to follow.
Here is a potential rewrite
Note that the first sentence has 23 words and the second has 21 words.
"The intractable conflict in Incognita has been subject to considerable research, though most literature on the subject has not provided a complete analysis. Terrorism and conflict in Incognita are two separate issues demanding empirical research to verify and examine the underlying causes of each."
QUIZ
Mark the subjects in these sentences
Yesterday the Mayor led the debate in the Council chambers.
The *United Nations* will send peacekeepers.
The *security guard* in the foyer checked our passes carefully.
He and I will operate the gear today.
After holding atomic bomb tests in Australia, *the British* left Maralinga contaminated
In your head identify verbs as well as whether the sentence is past, present or future tense and then turn the card to see if you are correct.
Quizzes
Mark the subjects and objects in these sentences
Identify the verbs, and if they are past, present or future tense, in the following sentences.