HOW ENGLISH BECAME AN APHONETI ((NON-PHONETIC) LANGUAGE

English spelling is the despair of many a foreign learner of English. This is because English is an aphonetic language. In other words there is no one-to-one correspondence  between letters and sounds they represent.

Old English that is English spoken at the time of King Alfred was a fairly phonetic language. But the Norman Conquest of 1066 marked a turning point in the history of English language. English language was never to be the same again!French replaced Anglo-Saxon words and several Old English words were spelt in the French way!  The influence of French is unparalled in the history of any language.Except for a few basic constructions and basic vocabulary English seems like French even at the micro level. The influence of French on English is wider and deeper than acknowledged by historians of English language It would be no exaggeration  to say that English is French differently  pronounced!

During its transition from Middle English to Modern English words changed their pronunciation, but the spelling has remained the same That is the reason for English being an aphonetic language 

THANKINGYOU

tPFOF V.P.RAJAPPAN


   AN APPEAL

As you know Kerala state was recently devastated by a catastrophic flood . Hundreds of people were killed in the flood and the homesteads of many were washed away.The victims of the flood have to build their lives from the scratch. The government is engaged  in the Herculean task of re-building 
 a ravaged state 
I  request my readers to make your contribution to the Chief Minster's Distress Relief Fund PLEASE visit   Kerala government's website for guidance in the matter 
PROF V.P.RAJAPPAN

What is vowel reduction in English speech?

English speech  in made up of 44 phonemes , of which 12 are pure vowels and 8 are diphthongs . In the word pin the letter i represents a pure vowel and in the word fine the same letter i represents a diphthong . What is a diphthong? It is a combination of two vowel sounds  In the word fine  i is a combination of two vowels - a+i . 
The most frequently heard vowel sound in English speech is the central vowel . You may hear this vowel sound as the initial sound in the word -a.bout . Why is it called the central vowel ? It occupies the central position in the vowel chart . It lies midway between back vowels and front vowels and between open vowels and close vowels . 

English is a stressed language . The various syllables in an English word receive  different degrees of stress . Foreigners who are not accustomed to stress will find it difficult to follow  English speech on account of the stress .There is no stress in French such as in English . Foreign learners of French often  find it difficult to follow French speech for other reasons . In French words seem to agglutinate . so to speak . and the learners  of French will experience considerable difficulty  in following french speech . What I mean to say is that each language presents its own difficultis  to the non- native learners . 

According to the principle of vowel reduction all vowels , whether they are pure vowels or diphthongs, are reduced to the central vowel if there is no stress  on the syllables  involving  .the vowel .

Vowel reduction is the most salient feature of English speech . and this causes a lot of difficulties to the foreign learners of English .Thus in the word tortoise  the second syllable - toise  carries the diphthong oi , but as there is no stress it is pronounced as the central vowel . 


Thanking you 
 PROF . V.P.RAJAPPAN 

how did the past tense of verb go become went ?

In English past tense of weak verbs is formed by adding -ed to the base -form of the verb and through a process called vowel-change in the case of strong verbs . Students of English are unable to understand  how the past tense of the verb go became went . .

The evolution of a language is influenced by the changing speech -rhythm of the native speakers of the language . A  language drops certain words and takes a fancy to other words in accordance with this  general trend . The Old English word wendan  (go) had the past tense form went and English preferred this word as the past tense of go . . This happened during the Middle English period and it has continued to our day! 

The old word  wendan continues as wend in present  -day English  in such expressions as to wend one's way . 

Thanking you 

PROF.V.P.RAJAPPAN 

Why is First Person Singular I always written with a Capital Letter in English ?

We may wonder   why first person singular is always written with a capital letter in English unlike  other important languages like French or German Some people believed that it showed the Englishman's  love of self-assertion and self glorification !   But  the  great savant Otto Jespersen strongly  disagrees with this view and he considers it as little short of calumny!  .  According to him this practice of using capital letter is simply an orthographic habit .

In Anglo-Saxon ic was the spelling of first person singular . During the 13 th century  c got dropped off and i was left alone. The scribes who copied manuscripts  used capital letter lest the small letter i should be easily missed by reader of the manuscripts . Thus the convention of using capital letter for I began in the 13th century which has continued to our day !

William Caxton introduced   printing in England in the 15th century and his use of capital letter for first person singular in his books  must have made the practice universal .


Thanking  you ,

PROF.V.P.RAJAPPAN

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Does English have a Future Tense?

It has been said that English has no future tense. What on earth does it mean? It simply means that English does not have an inflected form  of the verb to indicate future tense. In modern languages like French we can see separate forms of verbs  to indicate future tense . In French parlerai indicates future tense of the verb parler used with first person singular.There is no such inflection in English for future tense .

The Anglo-Saxons in their wisdom did not think it necessary to evolve inflected forms to indicate future .After all , future is full of uncertainties and one can look at it in different ways . An inflected form to express such a thing as future seemed untenable to the Anglo-Saxons!Simple present forms of verbs with future time reference were  enough to express future .  This way of expressing future still continues in English when we express planned future. Example: The President goes to Britain next year .

It seems that all  Germanic people think alike  In Modern German,too, simple present is used with future time reference to indicate future tense in the informal style . Modern English has only  a made-up future  tense  will+base form of the main verb . In German ,too,future is expressed with the help of the auxiliary werden followed by the infinitive of the main verb . . Look at the following examples


I will  play tennis(English)
Ich werde  Tennis spielen (German)

This shows that English is basically a Germanic language , though it often seems to shine in borrowed French feathers!

THANKING YOU
PROF. V.P.RAJAPPAN

Why were is used with singular subjects in subjunctive mood ?

Question Why do we use were with singular subjects in the subjunctive mood?
 

Answer The use of were with singularsubjects has puzzled  many a foreign learner of English.They may understand  the use of past tense was in subjunctive mood  because that is the way of the English language  !But why were?

There was a time when two words existed side by side in English - was and were .  They were derived from the root word wesan which means to be in Anglo-Saxon.The  word was became were due to the operation of Verner's Law.

In course of time were came to be associated with subjunctive mood and was with indicative mood . This  practice has survived to our days , at least in formal style!

In my next blogs I will try to answer some commonly asked questions about the English language.   thanking you

Prof V.P.Rajappan

Mystery of the Grammatical Gender

A student of primitive languages is often baffled when he or she  is  confronted with the phenomenon of grammatical gender . Why did the ancients ascribe sex to inanimate objects? What made the Anglo-Saxons consider stone as masculine and gift (giefu) as feminine? The purpose of this post is to demystify as  far as possible grammatical gender and clarify matters for the benefit of students of primitive and ancient languages .
The practice of using labels like masculine and feminine  to designate classes of nouns was started by Panini who wrote Ashtadhyayi 2500 years ago . Grammarians since Panini have followed his example,  and this has caused a lot of confusion  to students . Panini could have used labels like Class A  Nouns  and Class B nouns nstead of masculine and feminine . He used the labels masculine and feminine most probably  because . the two lists of  nouns were dominated by nouns with identifiable natural gender   Besides, masculine and feminine are the universal criteria of classification . The basis for classification was , of course, their identical grammatical behaviour ( which may not be noticeable to modern students ) .  You may not fault the ancients with bungling sex anymore! The  fault lies in later grammarians and not the founding fathers of the ancient languages !

How  did these nouns which fall under two separate heads behave in an identical manner ? If you look at the list of Old English masculine nouns . you won't see anything common  which should make them members of a class . Then how come these disparate nouns behaved in an identical fashion ? We should credit the ancients with some reason ! They could not have done anything without valid reason . , particularly because they were free from the compulsion of prescriptive grammar . and prescriptive phonetics .   The only compulsion they worked under  must have been clarity and ease of pronunciation . 

Why did the primitive people find it expedient to make their nouns  terminate  in easily articulated vowel sounds like  a: , i: and o? Rhyme and rhythm must have  fascinated  these men  in the infancy of their languages . A clue is provided by modern languages like Spanish ( which descended from Latin) and Hindi which descended from Sanskrit, a member of the Indo- European family of languages . 
Look at the following Spanish sentences 

La puerta está cerrada

Las puertas están cerradas 

Nobody can read these sentences without being struck by their internal rhyme . This internal rhyme must have ensured greater ease of articulation  and better clarity in communication of thoughts . Even a casual listener could get the message right thanks to the internal rhyme .  As man's cognitive powers increased his language no longer needed internal rhyme and  so it became  more and more restricted to the language of poetry .

 That grammatical gender makes for better clarity goes without saying .   .As for the ease of pronunciation there is nothing in the modern survivals of  these nouns to suggest  that the nouns belonging to one class made for greater ease of pronunciation than the other These words have changed so muh from their original forms  In some languages like Spanish , Sanskrit and its descendants the change is not so drastic as in the case of  English and French . .  Besides,  Old English and its parent Indo-European  had some phonetic  feature or features  like voicing, nasalization, aspiration  stress etc ,  which are  now lost to us . In short, we do not know for sure how the ancients  actually pronounced the words . So we cannot say with any certainty how  ease of pronunciation and clarity of expression   were  achieved  in connected speech  except in terms of internal rhyme . . We cannot reconstruct the pronunciation of Old English  or its ancestor Proto- Germanic with as much certainty as we reconstructed the pronunciation of Elizabethan English .  We can only grope in the dark and make intelligent and informed guesses ! 

Thank you for visiting

Prof V.P.Rajappan  





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Passive Voice and Principle of End-Focus

English verbs have fixed meanings . Their transitivity or intransitivity is pre-detaermined as a result of this . For example, beat always means to give blows and not to receive blows . In other words , beat is a transitive verb which should have a performer (subject) and a sufferer (object) . In English subject always begins a sentence  and object follows the verb . This rigid word-order may sometimes create problems . For example,  in a passage about Mahatma Gandhi, sentences are expected to begin with  the subject viz. Gandhi . If I were to write a sentence like this  in the passage "Godse assassinated Gandhiji on 30 Jan, 1948" , it might sound a bit discordant . But as assassinate is a transitive verb with fixed meaning , I would be forced to begin the sentence with the inappropriate subject .. What is the way out ? The answer is passive construction !

The English language discovered as long ago as the Anglo-Saxon period that past participle of a verb had the force of an adjective . This led to the emergence of present perfect tense and later to the emergence of several perfect tenses . This characteristic of the past participle was put to excellent use for passive construction towards the end of the Middle English period .

As the past participle has a dominant adjectival quality ,the object of the transitive verb  can be shifted to the subject position ,and the relevant form of be verb  made  to  precede the past participle. .  .This  is what is happening in the passive construction . The active voice subject can be shown , if necessary, as a prepositional phrase ( by+ agent) at the end of the passive sentence .

Passive construction gained ground owing to the influence of French during the Middle English period . In French ,  the past participle behaves exactly like an adjective . It agrees with the  subject in number and gender. Hence, be is the regular auxiliary verb before past participle in French in passive construction . English followed the French practice .

In present-day English,  however,  passive construction is widely used whenever the subject is not worth mentioning . such as in scientific  writing , official documents , law etc There is no need for the past participle to have the quality of an adjective  for passive construction in present-day English . .  Passive construction is possible even when the past participle has a dominant actional aspect .

The construction get+ past participle did not find favour with English speakers""My car was repainted last year" is better than"My car got repainted last year " , at any rate , in formal English

Passive construct6ion is preferred when 1) the object  is  more important than the subject 2 )when the subject is unknown and 3)wnen the subject is too obvious to mention it The subject of an active voice sentence can be retained as a prepositional phrase by+ agent in the passive version . As the agent comes at the end of the sentence , it receives end-focus . Thus passive construction  enables us to emphasize the subject of an active sentence by changing it into passive voice .

Examples 

My son painted this picture 

( no emphasis on my son )

Who painted this picture ? 

This picture was painted by my son 

( focus on my son ) 

N.B Contrastive focus on my son is an alternative way for emphasis . ., but end-focus is generally preferred in  English 

Thank you for visiting

Prof . V.P Rajappan

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Dative-Shift and Principle of End-Focus

In  my previous post I explained the Principle of End-Focus . In this present post I propose to examine Dative- Shift or Dative - Alternation in the light of the Principle of End-Focus .

What is dative- shift? You know that there are a few verbs which are capable of taking two objects . Such verbs are called ditransitive verbs . The object which is answer to the question what? is the direct object and the object which is answer to the question to whom / for whom is the indirect object . Look at this example

I gave her a ring .

In this sentence a ring is the direct object and her is the indirect object or the personal object . The indirect  object always precedes the direct object in this type of construction :

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subject +verb+indirect object+direct object .

When we view the sentence as an information structure , a ring  is the new information and it gets end-focus .  Ring is pronounced with tonic accent . Thus ring gets prominence or emphasis by virtue of its final position .

It follows from this that in a normal English sentence with ditransitive verbs the direct object gets end-focus .

However, it is possible to re-phrase the sentence in such a way that the indirect object moves to the end of the sentence . As the indirect object  is still playing the recipient role , it is in the dative case . It is preceded by the preposition to or for , depending on the verb used .

1 I bought her a gift.

I bought a gift for her .

    

2  She made him tea .

She made tea for him . 

3  I gave her a gift .

I gave a gift to her 

When indirect object is shifted to the end of sentences (as in the examples given above), the focus is on the indirect object as it carries new information . 

For whom did you buy a gift? 

I bought a gift for her .

Look at the following examples 

The whole sentence as new information 

What happened at the party/ 

John gave Jane a gift . 

(Here focus is on gift  by virtue of its final position)

To whom did John give  the gift? 

John gave the gift to Jane. 

(jane  gets focus through dative-shifting )

Thus it is possible to emphasize the indirect object by placing it at the end of sentences . 

Thank you for visiting!

Prof .V.P.Rajappan

 

    

The Principle of End-Focus in English Sentences

What is the Principle of End-Focus in English sentences? This elusive principle is the despair of most ESL learners of English . Simply put, it denotes the tendency of the English language to reserve to the end of the sentence the most important piece of information . It may sound a bit paradoxical to most ESL learners of English They may wonder how any sentence element can get prominence by being "relegated" to the end ! Last is the least in their way of perceiving things .

An English sentence conveys a message . A message may comprise an expected or assumed piece of information together with a piece of new information .  Surely, the new information should be given some degree of prominence . The best way to ensure this is by putting it to the end of the sentence where the tone-group  also ends . The last lexical word in the sentence which co-extends  with the tone-group of the sentence receives the tonic accent .The tonic accent  thus highlights the last lexical word . The new information , by being placed at the end of the sentence ,,  will receive more prominence than  it would in any other position in the sentence .

Now take a look at the syntax of a typical English sentence :

subject+verb+object+adverbial

As the sentence co-extends withe the tone-group , adverb receives tonic accent . It follows from this that adverb receives prominence in a typical English sentence . as it receives end -focus by virtue of its final position .

However, the English language has resources which permit it to highlight any  sentence element by shifting it to the end where it can receive end- focus . Take thisexample

There is a temple on top of the hill

The lexical element hill receive focus by virtue of its final  position which coincides with the end of the tone-group . If you wish to highlight temple  you need only to turn around the elements in such a way that temple comes at the end of the sentence .

What is on top of the hill?

On top of the hill , there is a temple

In its new position temple gets end-focus , doesn't it?

In my next posts I will explain passivization and dative -shift in the light of the Principle of End-Focu.

Thank you for visiting !

Prof V.P.Rajappan

Omission of Auxiliary do in Wh-Questions

The omission  of the auxiliary verb do in wh- questions  will  often confuse English language learners . The general structure of a wh- question involving do is 

Wh -word + Auxiliary do  + subject + main verb++adverbial

When the wh-word  is the object of the verb , do is obligatory .It has been obligatory  in Modern English since the 18 th century 

Look at the following sentence:

You saw somebody. . 

Somebody is the object of the verb saw.  If we ask a question based on somebody , it would be

Whom did you see?

Whom is the object of the verb see and , therefore, did  is used as an auxiliary .

Look at another example :

You wrote something

Something is the object of the verb wrote . If we ask a question based on something , it would be 

What did you write ?

Please remember that the question-words whom , what  which and who are interrogative pronouns When they  are the subject of the verb,  the auxiliary do is not used in questions .  Look at this sentence :

Somebody called you on the phone ..

Somebody is the subject of the sentence , isn't it ?

If we ask a question based on somebody  it would be 

Who called you on the phone? 

Who is the subject of the verb called and , therefore, do is omitted in the question.  

What frightened you ? 

Here, do is omitted because what is the subject of the verb frightened . Something frightened you and the question is based on something which is the subject of the verb .

The English language omits do- support only  when the question  word is the subject of the verb
The question-word itself is the subject  , though. in an interrogative form . Subject-operator inversion is an invariable syntactic feature of an English  interrogative sentence. But as there is no subject   in the body of the  question ,  there is no need to bring in the dummy auxiliary do .for subject-operator inversion .



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Thank you for visiting 

Prof . V.P.Rajappan

Why English doesn't have Future Tense

It is indeed an intriguing fact that English does not have future tense . The Anglo-Saxons of yore did not bequeath future tense to the English language . While other languages have separate verb-forms to indicate future tense English is left with none !

We must bear in mind the fact that the early shapers of the English language the Anglo-Saxons ,  lived in an atmosphere with no constraints like prescriptive grammar . The only thing they cared for as far as their language was concerned was communicative effiency and ease of pronunciation -the two forces that shaped  all primitive languages in their infancy . 

If the Anglo-Saxons did not find it necessary to evolve separate  verb- forms to indicate future , they must have had reasons to do so  . I personally  think that the versatility   of their present tense verb- form was the reason . This verb-form was capable of being put  to diverse applications . It could be used to express actions that occurred in the past , which practice  survives today in historical present . It could express action in progress .It could express universal truths and habitual actions . Ii could express

future tense with suitable future time references,  a practice that survives , though in  a limited  way .No woderthe Anglo-Saxons did not see the need for a separate verb-form to express future! 

I wish to conclude this post by expressing the view of the great savant Otto Jespersen that the Anglo-Saxon language (Old English)) had enough internal resources to become a great language in future even if there was no Norman Conquest in 1066!

Thanking you for visiting 

Prof. V.P.Rafappan

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English Subjunctive Mood--Is the Sun Setting on It ?

The term "subjunctive " refers to the form of verb used by a speaker when he says something contrary to fact  such as a wish, a possibility, a conjecture, a doubt and so on . Many English learners may not be aware of the existence of `these special verb forms . This is a hang-over from Old English period  when subjunctive verb forms were widely used . The AngloSaxons used one set of verb forms for expressing facts and another for expressing wishes , possibilities etc .They even put these forms to creative use as in reported speech when the reporter wanted to distance himself  from what he reported.All this changed during the Middle English period . Contact with French semi-auxiliaries led to the emergence of modal auxiliaries in English . The English language refined upon French auxiliaries  and put them to several uses . Thus English was no longer in need of special verb forms to express contrary-to -fact situations . The characteristic  subjunctive terminations -e and -en dropped out owing to changing stress patterns and thus subjunctive verb forms lost their identity .Scholars like Bradley and Fowler asserted that subjunctive mood would disappear from English sooner or later !

With the loss of their visual and aural identity and most of their functions being taken over by modal auxiliaries , the English subjunctive mood lost its  raison d'être , and it was firmly set on the road to extinction . But the amazing fact is that the subjunctive still survives  both in British and American English Let us examine the areas where the subjunctive survives in modern English.

1  While expressing orders , requests  recommendations etc the subjunctive mood , that is , special verb forms as distinct from those in indicative mood , is used in the that-clause in complex sentences .

Examples:

a0He demands that everyone obey him

b) Our teacher recommends that everyone learn French .

c)I request that she be more kind to the children .

Note that indicative verb form with -s ending is avoided and this signals subjunctive mood

2 While expressing wishes desires etc subjunctive mood is widely used in English

a  I wish he were my son

b Would that I were young 1! Note the use of subjunctive verb form were in the place of indicative was

Subjunctive mood is used in set expressions  like

a God save the Queen!

b God be with nyou!

c God bless you.

d So be it .

e Till death do us part .

3 In conditional sentences expressing a hypothetical situation  subjunctive mood is still used

a If I were you , I wouldn't do it .

b If he were rich , she would marry him .

4 In unreal past (the use of past tense form of verbs for expressing contrary -to- fact situations)  the verb form used is really past subjunctive , though it is not distinguishable from past indicative . This is borne out by the use of were( , past subjunctive instead  of past indicative was in sentences expressing unreal past .
Example:

 If I stole her car , I would be jailed .

In this sentence stole is really past subjunctive of steal  , though it is indistinguishable from past indicative  But when it comes to the verb be ,  were (past subjunctive ) is the preferred form as in "If I were you , I wouldn't do it"

It is clear that subjunctive mood is in not likely  to go from the English language . It has come to stay ,. now overtly , now covertly ; now obviously , now subtly . It seems the sun will never set on it . English is slowly returning to its Germanic ancestry . It is a good sign .  It has no need to shine in Gallic feathers anymore! .The loss of subjunctive mood has  already taken its toll. English has become poorer for the loss of this mood . Look at the following quotations 

'I f Pope be not a poet , where is poetry to be found ?"Dr. Johnson

"That we  may bring , if need arise
no maimed or worthless sacrifice " ( Rudyard Kipling)

The use of subjunctive in these above quotes speaks for itself . Every user of English  must have wished to use a conditional sentence using subjunctive be   instead of the indicative is to express a certain shade of meaning .Dr Johnson uses  the subjunctive be and the indicative is/are to express different shades of meaning.   But  this option  is not available in present-day English.A language becomes poor when it becomes incapable of expressing  subtle shades of meaning . No wonder , English has ceded its place to French as the most accurate of modern languages ! .
Let us hope that  English will not allow   the subjunctive mood , or what  is left of it , to  perish !

Thank you for visiting

Prof V. P. Rajappan"

Special Gerund Constructions and Their Grammar

There are certain sentence constructions in English which teachers find hard to explain to learners . Constructions like " The Police had a hard time controlling the crowd " do not lend themselves to easy explanation . Teachers often explain them away as special gerund constructions which grammar cannot explain . By the way, the -ing -form in some of these constructions are not really gerunds at all , but they are present participles .( When the -ing -form resembles a noun it is called a gerund .. Gerunds share the characteristics of a noun .Present participles , on the contrary, have the characteristics of a verb . and they resemble verbs rather than nouns ).

How can we explain the sentence construction " The Police had a hard time controlling the crowd" ? It is obvious that the preposition in is omitted in this construction. The English language has been dispensing with prepositions when they serve no useful purpose, or when their meaning is absorbed in the verbs . Gerund form is used after prepositions in English ,and this is continued after the omission of prepositions before verbs . There are a few native speakers of English who omit in after the verb succeed as in the sentence" He succeeded becoming the manager" The following sentences show omission of prepositions: in a similar manner .

* She spent the time watching TV( 9omission of by )
*I had difficulty remembering his e-mail address. (omission of in )
*He wasted his time reading cheap magazines .(omission of by )


In some gerund constructions we can see truncated adverbial clauses , that is , adverbial clauses from which subordinating conjunctions (when, while, as etc ) , subject and auxiliary are omitted , leaving behind the -ing-form of the verb and adverbs Look at the following sentences :

*The poet saw her reaping in the field . *
*I heard him singing in the garden .
*She caught him stealing her money .

In each of these sentences the -ing-form is a remnant from an adverbial clause. Such elliptic constructions are common when it comes to expressions of frequently encountered real-life situations in all natural languages


In a few cases, the gerund construction is a device to fuse together two or more closely related clauses into a single sentence . You may know that to-infinitive is sometimes used to fuse together two or more sequentially related clauses into a single sentence . , e.g. He woke up to see his wife missing from his bed . In this sentence three clauses are fused together: He woke up and then he saw that his wife was missing from his bed. The -ing construction does exactly the same job . Example

He sat in the shade of a tree , thinking of his future .
This is the fusion of two clauses , he sat in the shade of a tree and thought of his future

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THAT & WHICH as Pronouns introducing Relative Clauses

ESL learners who are not conversant with the intricacies of English speech- rhythm are often confused when it comes to a choice between that and which to introduce relative clauses . They tend to use these pronouns interchangeably ! Are that and which really different?

That as a relative pronoun appeared in English during the Middle English period . This word has phonetic features enabling it to serve as an introducer to defining relative clauses . The defining relative clause and the rest of the sentence belong to the same tone-group . So the glide from the subject Noun Phrase to the relative clause is a smooth one .For example

The book that I read yesterday is a novel by R.K.Narayan.

The clause "that I read " is a defining relative clause as it is essential for getting at the meaning of the sentence. . The relative clause defines or limits the antecedent- book . The pronoun that,by virtue of its phonetic features , ensures a smooth flow from subject NP to the relative clause. No wonder, then, that the English language accepted that as a better choice than which for introducing defining relative clauses! Which is used for defining relative clauses only in written English of very formal style.

Relative clauses may sometimes introduce parenthetical ideas , that is to say, ideas that are not an essential part of the sentence . That clause may be called a non-defining relative clause . It merely provides additional information . So it has to be signalled in some way . English speakers use a pause to signal this, and the relative clause that follows it belongs to a different intonation group . By virtue of its phonetic features which is a better choice than that to indicate the break In written English the non-defining relative clause is marked off from the rest of the sentence with commas . Look at this example

Mobile phones , which are so useful, are often misused by students .

My car , which I bought a year ago, is running well.

Non-defining relative clauses seek to squeeze a lot of information in a single sentence . It is more appropriate in formal style English than in conversational English . The sentences given above can be reworded in spoken English as follows :

Mobile phones are misused by students . It is a pity! They are so useful!

My car is running well. You know , I bought it a year ago .


Thank you for your visit!

Subject-Verb Inversion & Subject-operator Inversion--Difference Explained

There are many people who are not aware of the difference between subject-verb inversion and subject-operator inversion .They freely interchange these expression! But the difference between the two is a real one and it is worth maintaining , too.

I will first explain subject- operator inversion .What is an operator? It is a term used in modern grammar to denote the auxiliary verb , or if there is more than one auxiliary, the first auxiliary verb . Thus in the sentence :

Rama is reading a book .

is is the operator

In the sentence:

Rama will have been learning English for five years by 2012.

will is the operator as it is the first auxiliary in a row of three auxiliaries .

The different forms of the lexical verb be like is , are , am ,was, were etc come under the grammatical category of operators .

The dummy auxiliary do is used as an operator in interrogative and negative sentences when the tense of the verb is simple present tense or simple past tense .

What is Subject- Operator Inversion?

When subject and operator are switched in a sentence , it is called subject-operator inversion . You may have noticed it in interrogative sentences like :

Do you speak English?
Is he still sleeping?
Are you going to bed so early?

What a convenient method to change statements into questions!

There is another use of bubject-operator inversion which often puzzles foreign learners of English . This use of inversion is seen when a sentence element , usually an adverb of frequency is fronted . The fronted element carries tonic stress ,and this gives a peculiar rhythmic twist to the sentence . The operator that follows the fronted word ( like often, rarely never , seldom etc) carries very light stress, being an auxiliary verb , and the subject that follows it carries a much higher degree of stress .

Of course , one could give prominence to a frequency adverb by giving it tonic stress in its normal position in the sentence . But then, the coming together of two stressed words would disrupt the smooth flow of the sentence . Fronting , followed by subject-operator inversion solves this problem! Remember, rhythm is the fundamental feature of any natural language and the syntax of Enflish ( the arrangement of sentence elements) is best explained in terms of English speech thythm which is stress- based and not quantity- based as Latin languages .

Look at the following examples

He has never come late for work .
Never has he come late for work .

I have often seen him accompanying her to the temple .
Often have I seen him accompanying her to the temple .

We rarely see good films these days
Rarely do we see good films these days .

What is Subject -Verb Inversion?

Subject - verb inversion happens when the speaker wants to give thematic-fronting to a phrase in the sentence This results in the subject taking a position after the verb .

Examples

An ancient temple stands on the top of this hill

On the top of this hill stands an ancient temple .

The enemy force marched into the town .

Into the town marched the enemy force .

Remember, the phrase which is given thematic-fronting is often an adverbial realized as a prepositional phrase .

Sentences with the structure subject+ verb+ complement undergo subject- verb inversion when the complement is given thematic-fronting

Example

The ways of God are strange .
Strange are the ways of God .

NB:Subject-verb inversion happens not in all cases of thematic- fronting .It is often seen in sentences with the structure SVA and SVC. Thematic- fronting occurs when the speaker fronts a phrase or word that is uppermost in his or her mind .


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Relative Pronouns and Relative Adverbs - Difference Explained

Look at the following sentences :

1 The book which I read yesterday is a novel by R.K.Narayan.
2 The man who helped me most is my teacher.
3 This is the song which I like most.
4 This is the house where he lived .
5 The morning when we arrived at the hotel was a lovely one .

In these sentences the italicized part is the relative clause . It is called so because it is introduced by a relative pronoun or relative adverb . The words in bold type are either relative pronouns or relative adverbs .

How will you distinguish relative pronouns from relative adverbs? Well, it is as simple as that! Words like which, who whom and that are preceded by nouns , and these nouns are subjects or objects of the verbs in relative clauses . Thus in Sentence No 1 book is the object of the verb read. and which is a relative pronoun . It stands for the noun book . and so it is a pronoun . At the same time it relates to the noun book and so it is rightly called a relative pronoun

Now, have a look at Sentence No 4:The noun house is neither the subject nor the object of the verb lived .It answers the question "at what place?" ansd so the word that follows it , where. , is called relative adverb . It modifies the verb lived by stating the place .

In Sentence No 5 the noun morning answers the question " at what time ? " . It is , therefore, followed by the adverb when which relates to the noun morning .

The way how and the reason why

The relative adverbs in these expressions sound repetitive, don't they? These expressions have practically disappeared from English .

1This is the way how they treated prisoners.
2 I don't know the reason why they have denied me a promotion
.
In the following sentences how and why should be treated as conjunctions ,as they have no antecedents to relate to .
1 This is how they treated prisoners .
2I don't know why they deny me a promotion .

Relative adverbs like where and when cannot be used as conjunctions because their antecedents keep changing from context to context . and so they have to be stated for clarity .
In the case of the reason why and the way how their antecedents (reason and way) are fixed and so they got dropped out .

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Participial Construction & Absolute Construction : Difference Explained

Every learner of English ought to know the difference between participial construction and absolute construction . These two constructions are the source of many an error often committed by English - users .

What is participial construction? It is a common type of sentence construction in English . It consists of a participial phrase or clause followed by the main clause. The participle may be present participle ( - ing) or past participle ( -ed or -en) . Look at these sentences :

*Singing loudly , Rama entered the room .
*Being popular , he will win the election hands down .
*Tired from work, Sita went to bed early.
*Having read the book , she returned it to the library.
*Disappointed in love he, decided to commit suicide .

The first part of the sentence is called a participial phrase . The verbs in participial phrases are in the participle forms , present or past, and their subjects (not mentioned) are always the same as the subjects in the main clauses . So , remember that if you put a noun or pronoun other than the real subject( that is, subject of the participial phrase) at the beginning of the main clause , it may result in confusion ! Look at this sentence :

Walking in the grass , a snake bit her .

What impression do you get? Was the snake walking? If you re-write the sentence as

Walking in the grass, she was bitten by a snake

the sentence would make sense .

Now, let me discuss Absolute Construction . This type of sentence construction makes use of absolute phrases . What is an absolute phrase? Well, it is different from participial phrases in that it explicitly mentions the subject. The subject is never mentioned in participial phrases . For example, "being rich" is a participial phrase , "he being rich" is an absolute phrase . Another difference between participial construction and absolute construction is that the subjects of absolute phrases are always different from those of their main clauses . For this reason the syntactic relation between the absolute phrase and the main clause is always a fragile one . Hence the name absolute construction . You know absolute means "independent" or "not related " etc . The absolute phrases serves to give additional details in a hurried manner, so to speak . Nonetheless, there is a strong semantic relation between the absolute phrase and the main clause . Look at these sentences :

*The party being over, the guests began to depart .
*Her husband being away, she felt lonely and miserable .
*All government offices will remain closed tomorrow, tomorrow being a holiday .
*The doctor having arrived, she looked happy and cheerful .

I hope you have understood the difference between absolute construction and participial construction . ,This will help you to avoid errors in future . .

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I thank the readers for their comments .
A reader from Korea wants me to comment on the sentence :
While Caruso drinking the fresh apple cider, the farmer asked the famous singer his name
This sentence is not an example for absolute construction. Nor is it an example for participial construction. The omission of was before drinking is the cause of the error.The omission must have been due to oversight .

Prof. V.P.Rajappan

Adjectives : Degrees of Comparison

Adjectives have three degrees of comparison. They are:

1. positive degree
2. comparative degree , and
3. superlative degree

When an adjective is used without making any comparison , it is said to be in the positive degree

* Rama is clever.
* Sita is pretty.

In these sentences clever and pretty are in the positive degree. No comparison is made in these sentences . But look at the following sentences :

* Rama is cleverer than his brother
* Sita is prettier than her sister.

In these sentences Rama is compared with his brother and Sita is compared with her sister. So the adjectives are in the comparative degree. The comparative degree of adjectives is followed by the conjunction than .

Please note that than is used as a conjunction in grammatically correct English. However, in conversational English than is often treated as a preposition . When pronouns are used ,the learner should treat than as a conjunction and use the subject-form of the pronoun. , like I, he, she they etc.

When more than two persons or things are compared , we use the superlative degree of adjectives .

* Rama is the cleverest boy in the class.
* Sita is the prettiest girl in the school.

Please note that the definite article the precedes an adjective in the superlative degree.

Formation of Comparative and Superlative Degrees

We get comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives by adding -er and -est to their form in the positive degree.Such adjectives are usually monosyllabic or disyllabic words of Anglo-Saxon origin . When the adjectives are polysyllabic words like beautiful, intelligent etc their comparative and superlative degrees are obtained by placing more and most before them., like more beautiful. most beautiful etc.

Changing the Degrees of Comparison without Changing the Meaning

Can you change the degree of comparison of an adjective without changing the meaning the sentence? .Yes, you can . Look at the following examples :

1 Sita is the prettiest girl in the school. (superlative degree)
2 Sita is prettier than any other girl in the school. . (comparative degree)
3 No other girl in the school is as pretty as Sita. (positive degree)

Note the following examples:

1 Sita is one of the prettiest girls in the school. (superlative degree)
2 Sita is prettier than most other girls in the school. (comparative degree)
3 Only very few girls in the school are as pretty as Sita . (positive degree)


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