288. Reading Obstacles 11: Grammatical Subtleties

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Small grammatical features can add important meaning to a statement

GRAMMATICAL SUBTLETIES IN READING

It is a long time since the appearance of the last Guinlist post in the “Reading Obstacles” series (22. Reading Obstacles 10: Multiple Speakers in a Text). The primary reason for the wait has been that most of the topics I consider suitable for the series have been exhausted. Any that remain, moreover, have needed a long time for appropriate examples to be gathered. The topic of grammatical subtleties is certainly one of these, but happily its wait is now over.

What I mean by “subtleties” is very small grammatical features that convey important meanings. A rather obvious example, mentioned in this blog in the reading post 13. Hidden Negatives, is the fundamental negative word not, whose meaning changes the message of an entire utterance into its opposite. This post focuses on eight examples of a less obvious kind. Each is presented in a sentence alongside three suggested interpretations, of which only one is correct. The challenge is to find the correct interpretations, all of which are subsequently explained.

The aim of such an exercise is not primarily to highlight the grammatical points involved, but rather to enhance appreciation of the importance of trying to understand every part of a text, no matter how small its meaning contribution.

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INTERPRETATION EXERCISE

Each sentence to be interpreted is written in bold type below, and is followed immediately by the suggested interpretations, numbered (a), (b) and (c). The most correct interpretation is the truest paraphrase or implication of the bold-type sentence. It is identified and explained after the three choices.

1. Sport helps society like it does the individual.

(a) The individual is helped by both sport and society.
(b) Society and the individual are both helped by sport.
(c) Sport and the individual similarly help society.

ANSWER

The key here is the meaning of it does. It is a repetition of sport helps, the pronoun it repeating the noun sport, the verb does repeating the verb helps (see 212. Special Uses of DO 1, #1). This means sport gives help to two different things: society and the individual, as indicated by option (b).

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2. An alloy is a mixture of elements that has metallic properties.

(a) Alloys always have metallic properties.
(b) Alloy elements always have metallic properties.
(c) Element mixtures always have metallic properties.

ANSWER

The great grammatical variability of that (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”) places it firmly in the category of “multi-use” words, a common cause of misunderstanding in reading (see 3. Reading Obstacles 2). Here, that needs to be recognised as a relative pronoun (replaceable by which). It is thus repeating the meaning of a preceding noun and acting as the subject of the following verb has.

There are two preceding nouns separated by of (a mixture and elements). That refers to whichever is more grammatical and logical (see 28. Pronoun Errors, #3). Elements cannot be the noun repeated by that because its plural form would require plural have after that instead of singular has. Thus, a mixture (of elements) is what metallic properties are linked with , not elements themselves, ruling out (b) above.

Option (c) is also incorrect. It says all element mixtures have metallic properties, instead of only some. The idea of “some but not all mixtures” is conveyed in sentence 2 by that without a comma before it (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). Since an alloy (= “all alloys”) is equated by is to this subgroup of element mixtures, possessor of metallic properties, (a) must be the correct answer.

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3. Two new questions, the future and the budget, were on the agenda.

(a) The agenda comprised two items.
(b) The agenda comprised three items.
(c) The agenda comprised four items.

ANSWER

Punctuation is the clue here, in particular the comma after budget. There is a rule that a comma should not normally separate a verb from its subject, yet the comma here is separating the verb were from budget, a part of its subject. The reason why this is possible is that the rule does exceptionally allow a separating comma when the verb subject ends with a parenthesis, i.e. two commas separating some of its constituent words (see 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places). Therefore, budget must be part of a parenthesis beginning with the comma after questions.

Parentheses comprising a noun (or a word group acting like a noun) usually follow directly after another noun or noun-like word group, and give further information about it – a situation technically called “apposition” (see 77. Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns). Thus, the future and the budget is not an addition to the preceding idea of two new questions, but rather a clarification of it. Therefore, the agenda essentially comprised only two items, as stated by option (a).

For more about the confusability of parenthetical and list commas, see 233. Structures with a Double Meaning 3, #1.

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4. The army marched non-stop so that it could reach the river first.

(a) The army succeeded in reaching the river first.
(b) The army failed to reach the river first.
(c) The army may have reached the river first.

ANSWER

This is about the ability of so that to introduce either a purpose or a result. Purposes are plans for the future, with no guarantee of occurrence; results are actual occurrences. A purpose verb after so that must follow an auxiliary – can, may or will for present-time purposes; could, might or would for past-time ones. A result verb in this position will normally lack an auxiliary (see 32. Expressing Consequences).

The presence of could above allows a (past-time) purpose to be understood. Since purposes are not guaranteed occurrences, option (a) is not a justifiable conclusion. Option (b) is also ruled out, as non-occurrences are equally uncertain. This leaves (c) as the correct choice.

A result meaning is actually able to be understood above as well. It would involve could having not its purpose-showing meaning but its past-capability one, saying that the march of the army resulted in it having the capability of reaching the river first. Since capability is not a guarantee of achievement (see 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #2), option (c) is again the right one.

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5. The ship was in trouble, when it reached the island.

(a) Reaching the island possibly caused the ship’s trouble
(b) Reaching the island probably ended the ship’s trouble.
(c) Reaching the island was irrelevant to the ship’s trouble.

ANSWER

The comma after trouble signals that when here means and then (see 271. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 3, #4). This means the ship reached the island after it suffered trouble, so that option (a) is incorrect (its meaning only becomes possible with no comma before when). Option (c) is also incorrect, the reason being that when after a comma strongly implies a link between the two events in its sentence. Option (b) is the answer.

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6. The red triangles and circles are the smallest visible shapes.

(a) The smallest visible shapes are all red.
(b) Triangles cannot be among the largest visible shapes.
(c) Circles cannot be among the largest visible shapes.

ANSWER

The starting the here means the statement is about particular shapes, not general ones, and visible shows which ones. The main question is what red describes.

Red describes both triangles and circles, even though it is not written before circles. This can be understood because the, needed before circles for the same reason that it is needed before triangles, is also absent. In order to prevent red describing circles, it would be necessary to say the red triangles and the circles, repeating the but not red (see the third part of 36. Words Left out to Avoid Repetition). Because red describes both triangles and circles, option (a) is the correct one.

Option (b) is incorrect because triangles within it is a larger group than the red triangles, able to include triangles of other colours (see 283. Lesser-Known Facts about Adjectives, #4). The main sentence does not exclude non-red triangles from the largest visible shapes. Option (c) is incorrect because of similar logic concerning circles and the red circles.

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7. The work starting next week will be completed in two weeks’ time.

(a) The work will last two weeks.
(b) The work will last less than two weeks.
(c) The work will last more than two weeks.

ANSWER

in two weeks’ time means “two weeks from now” (see 132. Tricky Word Contrasts 4, #7). Thus, if the work starts next week (= later than “now”), and finishes two weeks from now, it must last less than two weeks – option (b). To say, like (a), that the work will last two weeks, it is necessary to end …completed in two weeks. The meaning of (c) would need … completed in over two weeks.

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8. There is a noticeable development in the region.

(a) It is easy to see that the region is developing.
(b) The region contains a noticeable new feature.
(c) The region has changed in a noticeable way.

ANSWER

The crucial feature here is a before noticeable. Its usability only with countable nouns (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”) means that development, a noun with both countable and uncountable uses, is here countable. In some contexts, a development is a new occurrence, but linked with geographical regions it is usually something physically new, typically a building (see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar 1, #1). Only option (b), with the word feature, brings out this meaning.

Options (a) and (c) are incorrect because the idea in both of “change” reflects the uncountable use of development.

287. Speech and Thought Nouns

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There are surprisingly many nouns that can replace a speech or thought verb next to indirect speech

DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE

Some speech and thought nouns indicate a way of speaking / thinking, some represent the result, and very many can mean either. The first type are relatively rare, an example being summarization. The second type are quite numerous, with such examples as advice, emphasis, praise, question, summary and view. The third type is illustrated by assertion: its uncountable use means the action of asserting, while the countable use means the resultant words (see 280. Alternative Meanings of Action Nouns).

A typical, though certainly not exclusive, way of using speech and thought nouns is alongside indirect speech (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text). Of course, this position is most commonly occupied by speech and thought verbs (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech), and sometimes even by adjectives (see 300. Adjective Indicators of Indirect Speech). Indeed, speech and thought verbs are so frequent with indirect speech that English language courses often concentrate exclusively on them.

The use of speech and thought verbs with indirect speech certainly deserves attention, given the numerous language problems that they can cause (see 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs and 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs). Yet the use of speech and thought nouns with indirect speech is common and challenging enough to deserve some attention too. Like the verbs, they function in a variety of ways, and are not all the same in their grammatical requirements. It is these aspects that the present post is about.

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VERB CORRESPONDENCES

A useful way to identify speech and thought nouns is to seek derivations from speech and thought verbs. Many, but not all, speech and thought verbs have a derived noun:

COMMON VERB-DERIVED SPEECH NOUNS

acceptance, acknowledgement, advice, agreement, allegation, analysis, appeal, appreciation, argument, assertion, assessment, assumption, call, citation, claim, clarification, command, comparison, complaint,  concern, conclusion, confirmation, contention, contrast, criticism, declaration, demand, denial, definition, description, demonstration, discussion, dismissal, distinction, emphasis, encouragement, enquiry, evaluation, explanation, focus, forecast, guess, identification, illustration, implication, indication, instruction, introduction, invitation, judgement, mention, note, observation, opposition, outline, perception, persuasion, plea, point, portrayal, praise, prediction, preference, presumption, promise, pronouncement, proof, proposal, query, quotation, recognition, recommendation, reference, refusal, refutation, rejection, repetition, report, request, speculation, speech, statement, suggestion, summary, support, survey, thanks, threat, warning, wording

Speech verbs with no apparent derived noun include ASK, BESEECH, BEG, HIGHLIGHT, HOLD, MAINTAIN, QUESTION, SAY, SHOW, TELL, URGE, WONDER and WRITE. To express their meaning in noun positions, they need to be in the gerund (-ing) form:

(a) Solar observations induced questioning of ancient astronomy.

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COMMON VERB-DERIVED THOUGHT NOUNS

acceptance, appreciation, assumption, belief, concept, conception, conclusion, conviction, determination (= discovery), discovery, doubt, feeling (= belief), guess, imagination, inference, intention, judgement, knowledge, perception, realization, recognition, study, thought, understanding, view, viewpoint, wish

The borderline between “thought” and other mental experiences like emotions and urges is sometimes hazy, but hopefully these examples give some idea of what is meant. Most of them (exceptions underlined) can also refer to speech. A thought verb with no apparent derived noun is SEE (= understand), though insight is quite similar in meaning.

In addition to the above lists, there are some speech and thought nouns that have no corresponding verb:

SPEECH / THOUGHT NOUNS WITH NO CORRESPONDING VERB

attitude, awareness, faith, insight, idea, ignorance, issue, news, purpose, question, uncertainty, words

Some of these do have a related verb, but not one with the same meaning. For example, the verb QUESTION means not “ask a question” but “interrogate” or “doubt” (see 218. Tricky Word Contrasts 8, #2); IGNORE means not “be unaware” but “refuse to acknowledge”; and WORD means not “speak” but “phrase”.

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USAGE

A place where speech/ thought nouns seem more likely than speech / thought verbs to accompany indirect speech is in sentences saying something additional to the indirect speech. Some nouns link with indirect speech in the typical way of verbs, some do not.

1. With Familiar Indirect Speech Forms

(b) Columbus was motivated by BELIEF that the world was spherical.

(c) The QUESTION of how life began is not resolved.

(d) The INSTRUCTION (for …) to reconsider is unreasonable.

Here, (b) has an indirect statement beginning with the conjunction that, (c) a question starting with how, and (d) an urging statement (“command”) involving a to verb. 

Indirect statements after a speech / thought noun cannot always start with that. This is hardly surprising, given the similar constraint on speech / thought verbs (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs). In most cases, that-allowing nouns correspond to that-allowing verbs, though a rare exception is criticism, its usability with that not being shared by CRITICISE (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #g).

Other that nouns derived like belief from a verb include acceptance, advice, agreement, argument, claim, complaint, conclusion, criticism, denial, demonstration, feeling, guess, implication, inference, insistence, judgement, knowledge, mention, observation, perception, point, prediction, preference, proposal, recognition, recommendation, speculation, statement, suggestion, understanding and warning.

In addition, that can follow a few nouns not derived from a verb, including awareness, attitude, faith, idea, issue and words.

Verb-derived nouns that cannot have that include call, citation, comparison, contrast, definition, description, discussion, dismissal, distinction, emphasis, encouragement, enquiry, introduction, invitation, opposition, outline, persuasion, portrayal, praise, query, reference, refusal, rejection, speech, support, survey, thanks and uncertainty. Other that-rejecting nouns include purpose and question. For ways of using all these nouns, see below.

In sentences (c) and (d), an important feature is the need for a preposition before the indirect question / command. The question in (c) follows the preposition of meaning “which is” (see 160. Uses of “of”, #4); other indirect questions may follow an object-indicating of (e.g. explanation of…: see 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1). Exceptionally, the preposition may be a different one altogether. The main clue that a pre-question preposition is object-indicating seems to be derivation of the speech / thought noun from a verb (for numerous examples, see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions, #2).

Nouns that can, like question in (c), introduce a familiar-type indirect question usually indicate asking, explaining or knowing, as verbs do before indirect questions. Further examples (exceptional prepositions in brackets) are clarification, discovery, enquiry (into), examination, explanation, ignorance, investigation (of/into), issue, matter, proof, recognition and study.

Before the indirect command in (d), the added preposition is for. This is the standard for with nouns that are the subject of a to (infinitive) verb (to reconsider above). However, exceptions sometimes occur, e.g. instructions to (someone) to do (something).

Nouns that can, like instruction in (d), introduce a familiar-type urging statement include advice, call, command, directive, plea and request (see the end of 239. Noun Phrases Made with a “to” Verb).

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2. With a Preposition Statement

When a speech / thought noun cannot introduce an indirect statement with that, a preposition is likely to be the alternative:

(e)  DEFINITIONS of poverty can be controversial.

(f) The FOCUS in this chapter is on poverty.

The preposition of seems to be the normal statement-reporting alternative to that. The reason for on in (f) is that the noun focus is derived from a prepositional verb (FOCUS ON), the rule being that nouns made from such verbs keep the same preposition (see 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1, #1). Other nouns with an unusual preposition for this reason are commitment (to), reference (to) and speech (about). Because to is a preposition here, any following verb needs -ing (see 35. Verbs Followed by “to -ing”).

Noun-form reports like those after the prepositions above are often not fully informative. In (e), for example, poverty after definitions of… indicates that the definitions involve poverty but not what they say about it. Yet suc h reports do not have to give only partial information. Very often there will be some way of saying more. There are various possibilities. After definition(s), an addition can start with as or in terms of:

(g) Definitions of poverty in terms of relative wealth are controversial.

This reports the definitions in more detail, yet still incompletely. As enables complete reporting after definition(s).

Usually, the of…as… combination is only able to report BE statements – a typical form taken by definitions (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #1). An example of a speech noun that would probably not report a BE statement, and hence not allow as, is discussion. The lengthy, complicated nature of discussions means that in terms of would be a more practical means than as of giving extra detail about a noun-form report.

Preposition reporting, besides being the main option with speech / thought nouns that do not allow that, is often found with nouns that do allow it:

(h) Sim’s ACCEPTANCE of the need to change is welcome.

With that, this would probably be …acceptance that things need to change….

Some that-allowing nouns have of as their preposition alternative to that, others have about, concerning or regarding, and a few can have either depending on meaning. Other nouns that, like acceptance, tend to have of include awareness, criticism, denial, mention, perception, recognition, recommendation, refusal and suggestion.

Nouns that usually have about or similar as their preposition alternative to that include advice, agreement, argument, belief (= “credence”), claim, concern, feeling, information, point and speculation.

Nouns that allow either option, but with different meanings include complaint, idea, knowledge, ignorance, news, proposal, report, statement, suggestion, thoughts, understanding and view (see 134. Words with a Variable Preposition, #2).

Occasionally, an altogether different preposition is possible or necessary after a that-allowing speech / thought noun. Insistence needs on. Emphasis allows either on or of (this perhaps being part of the reason why on is so often incorrectly added after the verb EMPHASISE – see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions). Preference and support need for, praise allows of or for, while attitude and claim need to (e.g. attitude to books, claim to the throne).

Note the difference between belief about… and belief in…: the former means “credence”, the latter “faith” (like the prepositional verb BELIEVE IN).

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3. With a “to” Verb

Although linkage to a following to (infinitive) verb is most associated with urging nouns, as illustrated above in sentence (d), some statement ones allow it too, often as an alternative to that:

(i) Caesar’s PROMISE to maintain peace was not kept.

Here, to maintain equates to that he would maintain. Other statement nouns that allow to include claim, desire, determination, hope, pledge, proposal, threat, undertaking, vow and wish. Usually, a following to verb represents an action by the person making the statement, while that… introduces some other action (though see 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4, #f).

Mirroring these statement nouns, there are some urging nouns that sometimes have that instead of to. The choice seems a fairly free one (see the end of 239. Noun Phrases Made with a “to” Verb).