88. Exotic Grammar Structures 1

Some English grammar structures are unlikely to be described in language coursebooks

COMMON AND NOT SO COMMON GRAMMAR STRUCTURES

Some English grammar structures are used much less commonly than others. Consider this example:

(a) Air quality is poor in large cities, there are so many motor vehicles.

This is a slightly informal variant of the familiar so/such … that … combination used to express a consequence (see 32. Expressing Consequences). With that combination, the sentence would be:

(b) There are so many motor vehicles in large cities that air quality is poor.

The essentials of the structure shown in (a) are two separate statements, each with a verb (in this case is … are), and a comma between them. In addition, the second statement must express a cause of what is said by the first, and must contain either so or such (depending on whether or not there is a following noun). Readers might like to try putting this new sentence into the same structure:

(c) Stars are such a distance away that they cannot be reached in a spaceship.

Rewritten in the less usual way, this becomes:

(d) Stars cannot be reached in a spaceship, they are such a distance away.

This post presents and analyses a number of other similarly unusual English grammar structures. For more, see 159. EGS 2,  191. EGS 3,  207. EGS 4,  228. EGS 5,  247. EGS 6,  269. EGS 7,  289. EGS8 and 311. EGS9.

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LIST OF STRUCTURES

1. “But for”

EXAMPLE

But for the river, the enemy WOULD HAVE captured the town.

This use of but is similar to that meaning “except” (see 215. Naming Exceptions). The underlined words mean “if the river had not existed”. But for thus means “if … not existed” and hence introduces a condition (see also 159. Exotic Grammar Structures 2, #6). Grammatically it is a preposition (see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions).

The verb implied by but for will be in either the past perfect had tense (as here) or the past simple, depending on whether or not the main verb contains have. Here is an example where the main verb lacks have, so that but for implies the past simple tense:

(e) Life would be impossible on earth but for the atmosphere. (= …if the atmosphere did not exist).

As a preposition, but for needs a noun or equivalent directly after. This means verbs need either to have -ing (see 70. Gerunds) or to follow the fact that (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”), e.g. …but for the fact that IT HAS the atmosphere.

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2. “Just because … does not mean”

EXAMPLE

Just because prices are high does not mean (that) sales will fall.

This combination is often preferred to the normal use of because (see 61. “Since” versus “Because”) for denying an expected consequence. It involves a highly unusual sentence subject: not a noun or noun equivalent (see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices), but a conjunction (just because) followed by its own separate subject and verb. Some speakers do add it (after high in the example above) but many do not.

Note that just because is usually made into a subject like this only when the verb is does not mean (or a synonym like does not entail/prove); other verbs require a “proper” subject to be added.

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3. Imperative Verb + “and” + Statement

EXAMPLE

Break the speed limit and a fine will have to be paid.

This sentence illustrates another alternative to conditional if: a verb in the “imperative” form, like break, linked by and to a following statement. For full details of imperative verbs, see 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing. With if, the sentence would be:

(f) If you break the speed limit, a fine will have to be paid.

Not every use of if can be replaced by an imperative verb. The if verb must usually, it seems, express an action rather than a state. An example of a state after if is If demand is constant….

For another use of and between non-parallel structures, see 289. Exotic Grammar Structures 8, #5.

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4. “there to be”

EXAMPLES

The government want there to be more taxes.

Tax rises will cause there to be more poverty.

Saying there to be instead of there is/was seems strange, but follows the ordinary English grammar rule of changing a verb into the infinitive form (with to) in situations that typically require one.

To understand the situation in the example sentences, it is first necessary to appreciate that there before BE is generally like a noun (some grammarians even say it is the grammatical subject of BE – see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences). In the example sentences, the verbs before there (want and cause) are both of the kind that can be followed by a noun + other verb, provided the other verb is in the to (infinitive) form (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive). Hence they can precede there with BE, but the latter must become to be.

Sometimes, instead of there to be, it is necessary to write there being:

(g) The need for safety involves there being a supervisor at the scene.

Of course, the reason for the -ing form here is a preceding verb (INVOLVE) which typically requires any following verb to have it.

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5. Adjective/Adverb + “though”

EXAMPLES

Difficult though it is to exercise, doing so brings benefits.

Quickly though a gazelle can run, it cannot outpace a cheetah.

Though is a conjunction with the unusual ability to go either in the typical conjunction position at the start of its part of a sentence (Though it is difficult to exercise, …: see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors), or after a starting adjective or adverb as above. The latter use gives special focus to the adjective or adverb, highlighting the contrast with what the main part of the sentence is saying (compare difficult-brings benefits above).

Although and as (= although) are also found in the above position. The former is probably less frequent there; the latter can go nowhere else (see 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #5).

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6. “Be it/Be they … or …”

EXAMPLE

Be they young or old, everyone should be vaccinated.

In this use, be starts an adverb-like phrase saying that neither of two opposite ideas within it is relevant to the main point of the sentence. Thus, the message of the above example is that people’s age does not affect their need to be vaccinated.

This sort of be phrase is parenthetical, with punctuation before and after. It can occupy the start, middle or end of a sentence. Be is always its first word, and is always followed by a subject (they above). The subject is very often a pronoun, referring to the subject of the main verb (everyone). It is usually followed by two or-linked expressions, representing the opposite ideas. These describe the subject and as such are complements of be. Like most complements, they can be either adjectives, like young or old above, or nouns (see 220. Features of Complements, #2).

One kind of be subject that can differ from that of the main verb is it representing a situation or time:

(h) Be it summer or winter, top athletes have to train.

Be used in ordinary statements instead of is or are is an example of the rare verb category known as the “subjunctive”. There are some other subjunctive forms and uses elsewhere in this blog in 118. Problems with Conditional “if” (last paragraph), 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #4, 247. Exotic Grammar Structures 6, #5, and 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #7 For other structures resembling the above in meaning, see 199. Importance and Unimportance, #6 and #7.

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7. “With” + Noun + “-ing”

EXAMPLE

The war was waged by the army, with the air force staying at home.

The second half of this sentence means “…while the air force stayed at home”; with hence means “while” rather than “alongside”. It is one of various prepositions that can link two events or situations with the same time (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence, #4).

The words after this use of with must fit particular requirements. The noun (the air force) must be somehow related to the subject noun of the main verb (the army). The relation here is obvious. Secondly, this noun must be the subject of a participle (here staying) rather than of an ordinary tense form. For a further example, see 3. Multi-Use Words, #3.

An ordinary tense form would be needed if while was used instead of with (…while the air force stayed…), because while is a conjunction (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #1). The possibility of paraphrasing prepositions with conjunctions is common in English – see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #4.

An important aspect of this structure is its position at the end of the sentence. If the sentence begins with the with part, the meaning of “because” is created instead of “while”: that the army in the example waged the war because the air force stayed at home (see sentence #e in 72. Causal Prepositions). Here is another example, this time with an -ed participle:

(i) With their work finished, the labourers started to drift away.

This is a shorter way of saying their work having been finished (see the end of 75. How to Avoid “Dangling” Participles).
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8. “It is important” + Indirect Question

EXAMPLE

It is important which company lands the contract.

This is an unusual form of the sentence type examined in depth in 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”. The starting It represents a later statement (which company lands the contract), which we understand as the “real” subject of the main verb (is important). The reason why the represented statement is not itself placed at the start is its length.

What makes this example unusual is that the represented statement is an indirect question (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing) rather than an ordinary statement after that. The question word (which) has the same conjunction role as that, or as the -ing or to form of a verb, as in the following:

(j) It is painful seeing/to see so much suffering.

What is also unusual, as a result of the indirect question form, is that it does not correspond exactly to the words after important: you have to understand the question of before them. It is this that is being called important, rather than “the company that lands the contract”.

Note that the question word in this use of indirect questions cannot be paraphrased with a noun, as it can in other uses (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words): you cannot say the company landing the project instead of the which question above.

Instead of it is important, you can say it matters or it makes a difference (see 199. Importance and Unimportance, #1). Important by itself can also be replaced by various other adjectives, for example vital, essential, crucial, interesting, tricky, unresolved, unknown and perhaps urgent (for more, see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions, #3). Example sentences are:

(k) It is tricky where to go next.

(l) It is unknown who will be elected.