292. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 2

.

Two synonyms sometimes differ in their grammar, making confusions more likely

SIMILAR WORDS AND SIMILAR USAGE

It is probable that the way language learners use a new word or structure is greatly influenced by the way they know words or structures like it are used. This is because very often words and structures that seem somehow similar do follow similar rules, thus encouraging the idea that knowing the rule for one saves separately learning the rules for the others. The rules in question are not always of grammar – word formation, spelling and pronunciation can also be involved.

This blog provides numerous examples of similar words following the same rule. Consequence verbs like CAUSE generally allow a following noun + to verb (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive, #7). Emotion adjectives like happy can have a following verb with either to or -ing (see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it). Verbs ending in -ATE become action nouns with -ation (see 249. Action Noun Endings). And -age at the end of a multi-syllable noun is often (but not always) pronounced to rhyme with bridge rather than wage or large (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #3).

However, a problem with relying on already-learned words for information about using a new one is that in surprisingly many cases the latter follows a different rule, so that applying the familiar rule creates an error. Errors of this kind are widely documented in this blog in posts entitled Words with Unexpected Grammar, as well as in 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words and 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes (#2).

What these other posts rarely highlight, however, is words that might be incorrectly used through the influence of just a single other word. Intuitively, differing from a group seems more likely to cause error than differing from just one other word, since a group is likely to allow more opportunities for its grammar to be encountered, noticed and remembered, ready for application to the new word.

Nevertheless, I quite often come across incorrectly-used words that seem to have been bent to the differing grammatical requirements of just one or two synonyms. This suggests that awareness of synonym pairs with differing grammar might have some error-prevention value. The present post is the second in this blog to highlight a variety of such pairs (see also 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 1).

.

POTENTIALLY TROUBLESOME SYNONYM PAIRS

In the following synonym pairs, at least one of the words has the potential to be incorrectly used through the influence of the other.

1. EQUAL – CORRESPOND TO

It is a common error to add the preposition to between the verb EQUAL and its object (see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions). As with many common errors, there may be more than one cause. One that is considered elsewhere within these pages is the common use of to after the identically-spelled adjective equal (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #4). The need for to after the synonymous verb CORRESPOND could be a second factor.

.

2. WORSEN- DETERIORATE

These synonymous verbs are of different grammatical types. WORSEN is very flexible. It can be used with or without a following object noun, and it can be passive. When there is an object, it means “make worse”, and its subject noun names the cause:

(a) A poor diet can worsen a medical condition.

When WORSEN has no object, by contrast, it means “become worse”. Its subject will then name the sufferer of the worsening rather than the cause, and any mention of the cause has to be after a preposition (excluding by):

(b) A medical condition can worsen (with a poor diet).

With the passive use of WORSEN, the subject again experiences the worsening, as in (b), but the preposition before any mention of the cause must be by. The passive is a stronger cause indicator.

In technical terms, WORSEN is said to be “transitive” when it has an object or the passive form, and “intransitive” when used as in (b). English has many other verbs that allow both possibilities (see 4. Verbs that Don’t Have to be Passive). Dictionaries often indicate them with the abbreviation vt and vi.

DETERIORATE, on the other hand, is exclusively intransitive (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). This means it could directly replace worsen in (b) but not in (a) – in (a), the only possibility is cause…to deteriorate. Using DETERIORATE like WORSEN in sentences like (a) is probably the most likely error that the synonomy of the two verbs can cause.

English has a number of other verb pairs that are easily confused because of the same grammatical difference, e.g. INCREASE/ RISE, DECREASE/ FALL, CONTINUE/ LAST, DEVELOP/ EMERGE, OPERATE/ FUNCTION and ADVANCE/ PROCEED. These are different from pairs like RISE/ RAISE and LIE/ LAY, where the transitive verb (RAISE/LAY) cannot also be used intransitively (see 96. Verb Form Confusions, #3).

.

3. CELEBRATE – ENJOY

Again, one of these verbs is more flexible than the other. CELEBRATE has both transitive and intransitive uses. The former requires mention of a celebration cause, for example success, as either the subject of the passive form (success is celebrated) or the object of the active (…celebrates success). The subject of the active has to be the celebration’s performer.

The intransitive use of CELEBRATE, by contrast, is always in the active form with no object and the celebration performer as subject (…celebrates).

ENJOY is always transitive: its use is exactly like the transitive use of CELEBRATE (… enjoys success; success is enjoyed), but it cannot be used in the active form without an object. If it needs to be used without mention of an enjoyment cause, it needs a -self word as its object, e.g. …enjoyed themselves (see 268. Types of “-self” Object, #2).

The typical error (in Standard English) that could be caused by the contrasting grammar of these two synonyms is using ENJOY without an object. It is not the only possible error with this verb (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #b).

.

4. INFORM – COMMUNICATE

These verbs express the idea of information-giving in the following contrasting ways:

INFORM someone (OF something)
COMMUNICATE something (TO someone)

The brackets here indicate that the preposition part can be left unmentioned if its meaning is obvious from the context. The obvious differences between the verbs are the order in which “someone” and “something” are mentioned, and the prepositions used. These differences mean INFORM can be used without mention of the information, COMMUNICATE without mention of the information receiver.

Grammatically, both verbs are of the “prepositional” kind (see 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun). COMMUNICATE is less obviously so because it resembles verbs like GIVE which can combine their object with an “indirect” object by means of to (GIVE X to Y). What indicates that the “someone” noun after COMMUNICATE is not an indirect object is its inability to go before the object without to (*COMMUNICATE someone something). There is no problem doing this with recognised indirect-object verbs like GIVE (GIVE something to someone = GIVE someone something: see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).

TELL resembles COMMUNICATE in meaning and usability with to, but the noun after to is an indirect object, able to go earlier in its sentence without a preposition. For more about TELL, see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1, #4.

A further difference between INFORM and COMMUNICATE is the additional usability of the latter directly before with + someone – in other words as a prepositional verb with no internal noun. COMMUNICATE WITH means not “inform” but simply “have communication with”. An error to avoid is dropping the with.

.

5. NEED – REQUIRE

The problem here is to know how the use of REQUIRE differs from the familiar usage of NEED.

After NEED, four types of following wording are common: a simple noun (or equivalent, apart from an -ing verb), an infinitive verb (sometimes without to: see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #1), a noun and to infinitive together (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive, #4), or a noun + -ing. A rare further possibility is a following -ing verb with passive meaning (see the end of 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb). For the meaning of NEED, see 129. Differences between Necessity Verbs.

REQUIRE allows all of these uses except that with just a following infinitive (see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive, #1). It additionally allows a directly-following -ing verb without passive meaning (see 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can”). To illustrate the difference before infinitives, consider this:

(c) A verb with “not” usually needs to follow it.

Needs here is not replaceable by requires. However, the passive is required is possible instead. Yet there are situations where BE REQUIRED cannot replace NEED before an infinitive. With a human subject, BE REQUIRED suggests compulsion of an external kind – for example a national law – while NEED typically suggests internal compulsion.

With BE REQUIRED in sentences like (c), the subsequent infinitive verb expresses the required behaviour, and the subject of the sentence indicates the thing that the requirement applies to. However, there is another way in which these two meanings can be expressed with BE REQUIRED: with the required behaviour as the subject (often as an “action” noun) and the requirement holder after of:

(d) A brief presentation is required of every candidate.

.

6. By Far – Far and Away

These adverb phrases both correspond to very much as a means of indicating maximum strength of a following superlative adjective (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much, #5):

(e) Jet aircraft are by far (or far and away) the quickest public transport means.

By far differs from far and away in being able to follow as well as precede a superlative adjective (see 305. Wording next to Superlatives, #6). If the superlative adjective has a noun after it, like public transport means after quickest above, by far must follow the noun. Otherwise, by far directly follows the superlative (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #3).

.

7. Able – Capable

Like most adjectives, these common ones are usable both alone and inside a multi-word adjective “phrase”. The grammatical difference between them is the way they combine with a following verb within such phrases. Consider this:

(f) Most children are able to read by the age of 8.

Here, able to read is an adjective phrase (describing children) made by combining able with a to (infinitive) verb. Able is replaceable by capable without much meaning change. However, the following infinitive to read would also need to change: to the preposition phrase of reading. Adding of -ing is not a possibility after able. There is no logical reason for this difference: it is just a peculiarity of English.

It is not just certain adjective pairs that make phrases in contrasting ways with words after them despite being similar in meaning: there are some adjective-noun pairs that do the same (see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns).

291. Subtleties of “-ed”

.

The “-ed” ending is more complicated than most English coursebooks indicate

COMPLEXITY OF ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL ENDINGS

English grammatical endings are not as easy to master as they seem. Most have usage rules that are more complicated and more extensive than coursebooks typically suggest. Complications of the -s and -ing endings are considered elsewhere in this blog in 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices and 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”.

The -ed ending seems to be especially affected by complexity and variety. Part of the reason, of course, is that, like -s and -ing, it is actually two different regular endings: of the past simple verb tense and of the “past” participle verb form – two verb uses that, in many irregular verbs, are not both spelt the same.

Much of what I have to say here can also be found in other Guinlist posts, though often in more or less detail. As with these other mentions, the focus is not so much on the past simple tense use as on the participle and a few other surprising uses. Limited consideration of the past simple tense is available in 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs,  171. Aspects of the Past Perfect tense and 282. Features of History Writing.

..

“-ED” SUBTLETIES

1. Pronunciation

In all of its uses, -ed varies in its pronunciation according to which sound is directly before it. Like the -s ending, it may be pronounced in one of three different ways: /d/, /t/ or /ɪd/. Many coursebooks mention these, but do not always go into detail about the rules for choosing between them, as these are fairly complicated. For a full description in these pages, see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #1.

Even less often mentioned is the fact that -ed very occasionally changes its pronunciation in the same word depending on how that word is being used (see #6 below).

.

2. Active / Passive Alternation

This feature of -ed participles is observable at elementary levels. The meaning is active directly after HAVE (in the “present perfect” and “past perfect” tenses, and in participles and gerunds made with having), but passive directly after BE.

Yet this difference is rarely given the explicit mention that it deserves. Worse, the very name that -ed participles are most commonly given – “past participles” – is misleading because it applies exclusively to the active voice uses, without recognising that passive participles often refer to the present or future rather than the past (see 52. Participles Placed Just after their Noun).

In fact, passive -ed participles are probably more widespread than past ones. This is because -ed is very often used without any preceding “auxiliary” verb at all, and in that situation is nearly always passive:

(a) An “-ed” participle used by itself has passive meaning.

In usage like this, the only way in which -ed participles can be thought of as “past” is in the sense that their action happens before that of the main verb in their sentence (has above).

.

3. Exceptional Active Meanings

In a very few instances, an -ed participle by itself or after BE has active rather than passive meaning. This happens with certain verbs of the kind that grammarians call “intransitive”. With most verbs of this kind, neither the form of the passive (-ed alone or after BE) nor its meaning is possible (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). With the verbs in question, however, the form but not the meaning of the passive, is possible. Consider the following example from 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #1:

(b) When the police arrived, the money was gone.

This pseudo-passive form of GO is very close in meaning to the active had gone. The difference between them is perhaps that was focuses attention more on the final state, had more on the action causing it. Other intransitive verbs that allow a similar usage include COME, ARRIVE, DEPART, DISAPPEAR, FALL and RISE. Their use often has a poetic feel (…were fallen in battle; …are departed from this life).

The passive-like participle of GO normally has to follow BE, as does that of COME. The others, however, are found by themselves in a few fairly fixed phrases like our departed friends, the train arrived at platform 2 and the disappeared.

.

4. Use after “Having Been”

The typical passive meaning of lone -ed participles, combined with their reference to an earlier time than that of the main verb, invites the question of how they differ from -ed participles after having been. A definite difference is that only lone -ed participles are able (sometimes) to go before their partner noun, as in a suggested alternative (see “Uses of Having Participles” in 267. Participles and Gerunds with “Having”).

However, placement after their noun in a longer “participle clause” is possible with both participle types, albeit with different meanings. In sentence (a), for example, used is replaceable by having been used. The difference is that lone -ed participles after a noun are like relative clauses (sentence constituents beginning with who, which, that etc.), while having been -ed participles are more like when… clauses. Reflecting this difference, clauses with a lone -ed participle may or may not be surrounded by commas, while those with having been -ed usually need them.

Another situation where both participle types are possible but slightly different is in sentence-starting clauses:

(c) Motivated by price cuts, consumers will purchase more.

(d) With the average speed identified, an arrival time can be calculated.

Motivated and identified here express states without indicating when they began. With is necessary in (d) because the subject of the participle (speed) is different from the subject of the main verb can be calculated.

By contrast, having been added before these participles would more definitely mark the state as a recently-initiated one. In sentences like (d), its use would usually be without a starting with (see 75. How to Avoid “Dangling” Participles, #4).

.

5. Inability to Act like Nouns

An occasional error with -ed participles is using them where a noun should be:

(e) *Confined to home affected people’s mental health.

The main verb here is affected, and confined to home is being used as its multi-word subject. The problem is that such subjects usually need a single noun or equivalent within them that determines whether the verb is singular or plural, and this is absent here.

Confined cannot be this word because it is a verb (although participles with -ing can be noun-like – see 70. Gerunds – -ed ones cannot). The other main word, home, is a noun, but it cannot be the key noun because it directly follows a preposition (to) – a situation that hardly ever qualifies a noun to be the central part of a verb’s subject (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #5).

One way to correct (e) is to convert CONFINE into a gerund. This cannot be done simply by changing -ed into -ing because lone -ing verbs always have active meaning rather than the typical passive meaning of lone -ed participles. To overcome this, you have to add -ing to the verb BE inserted before the -ed participle – being confined above.

An alternative correction is to change confined into a true noun, i.e. (the) confinement (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #5). It would not be usable after a because it is uncountable.

.

6. Formation of Verb-Derived Adjectives

English has numerous adjectives that end with -ed, common examples being advanced, concerned, interested, married, pointed, related, relieved and satisfied. Since most words of this kind could also be participles, a key question is how their adjective use can be recognised.

There are actually a variety of recognition criteria (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). Three are particularly worth a mention here. Firstly, dictionaries show -ed adjectives by listing them separately from their related verbs. Secondly, the meaning of -ed adjectives often differs more greatly from that of their related verb than participle meanings do. For example, the participle advanced is close to the verb ADVANCE in meaning “moved forward” or “proposed”, whereas the adjective means “sophisticated”. Thirdly, -ed in a few adjectives is pronounced differently from its participle equivalent: with /ɪd/ regardless of the sound before. This is the case, for example, with learned (participle ending = /d/), dogged (participle ending = /d/) and blessed (participle ending = /t/).

.

7. Formation of Noun-Derived Adjectives

Although words with -ed tend to be verb-derived, some like bearded, bejewelled, bespectacled, cloistered, disadvantaged, hooded, horned, skilled and timbered are made from a noun. They are typically adjectives in which -ed means “having”. Bearded, for example, means “having a beard”.

Many adjectives of this kind are made with a noun that is linked by a hyphen to an adjective before it, as in green-coloured (see 278. Colours, #1 and 223. Uses of Hyphens, #4A). Such combinations are very often property-describing, e.g. double-edged, rough-textured, open-ended and smooth-surfaced (see “Property-Naming with BE” in 163. Ways of Naming Properties). Others name a more everyday characteristic, e.g. short-sighted, long-haired, red-faced, high-walled and soft-cushioned.

Note that number-noun combinations, such as a six-page essay or a two-hour meeting, tend not to have -ed. This may be because they are actually nouns rather than adjectives (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #4). There are exceptions, however, such as combinations with -sided (a one-sided argument, a three-sided figure etc.) or with the name of a body part (-footed, -eyed, -legged, -handed etc.).

Note also that adjective-noun combinations with -ed should be distinguished from noun-verb ones like hand-operated, rear-mounted, star-shaped and emotion-packed (see the end of 106. Word-like Suffixes).