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Meanings expressed by grammar can sometimes be expressed with vocabulary instead
THE IDEA OF GRAMMATICAL MEANING
Grammar has meaning just as ordinary words do. For example, the grammatical option of placing the verb BE before its subject conveys the meaning of “question”, not adding -s to a noun makes the noun represent something singular, and using the word than – a kind of word that many linguists call a “grammatical item” – helps to express the idea of “relative difference” (see 216. Indicating Differences).
An interesting observation about grammatical meanings in any particular language is that they are not all likely to keep their grammatical nature when translated into another language – some instead have to be expressed with ordinary vocabulary. This is a well-known need, for example, with translations into any form of Chinese, a language that possesses far fewer grammar-based meanings than most. In English, it is a need when translating the idea of an “indirect” object from the ancient European language Latin: where Latin gives this meaning to nouns through a special ending, English does so through to or for in front (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).
Recognising that grammatical meanings of or within words do not have to be conveyed by a grammatical form quickly leads to wondering how easily ordinary English words can replace English grammatical forms. If this is widely possible, it would be especially useful for paraphrasing for such purposes as avoiding difficult grammar in speech or reporting the content of written academic sources (see 80. How to Paraphrase).
My deliberations on this topic suggest that paraphrasing grammatical forms with ordinary words is possible sometimes in English but not always. Two paraphrasable categories are presented elsewhere within these pages in 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can” and 205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds. Here, I consider some non-paraphrasable categories, along with further paraphrasable ones.
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NON-PARAPHRASABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS
1. Verb Tenses
It is easy, in searching for words that mean the same as English tense forms, to find numerous possibilities. Because tenses tend to be time-focussed, adverbs in particular come to mind. The following are common ones corresponding to various meanings of major tenses (for more examples, see 227. Time Adverbs):
PRESENT SIMPLE: currently, now, today, always, generally, typically
PRESENT/PAST CONTINUOUS: continually, continuously, concurrently, regularly, repeatedly, simultaneously, still
FUTURE: henceforth, hereafter, imminently, shortly, soon, tomorrow
PAST SIMPLE: ago, formerly, historically, once, subsequently, then, yesterday
PRESENT PERFECT: already, before, just, lately, recently
Unfortunately, tense-related words such as these are not alternatives to a tense but reinforcements. English verbs cannot have one of them instead of their tense marker. Although there are verb forms that do not show a tense (the “non-finite” participle and infinitive forms) combining one of those with an adverb like the above does not create an alternative to tense usage: the verb remains an infinitive or participle. For more on participles versus tenses, see 52. Participles Placed Just after their Noun.
Yet tense-form replacement is not 100% impossible. Verbs like PROMISE and PREDICT, for example, often allow removal of will – e.g. I will pay can become I promise to pay or I promise payment; and X will… can become X is predicted to…. These possibilities exist because the very meaning of such verbs implies the future (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”).
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2. Plural Meaning of Nouns
The idea of “more than one” that many English nouns express grammatically with -s is again carried by numerous ordinary words that can accompany -s, but again none of them can replace it. As well as number adjectives (except one), familiar words of this kind include no, enough, both, some, a few, several, many, numerous, these, those and all.
Although a countable noun without -s will be understood as plural after any of these words, it will also be recognized as ungrammatical (see 204. Grammatical Agreement).
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3. Comparative Adjective Forms
Seeming alternatives to -er or more added to an adjective include the adverbs comparatively, in comparison and relatively and the prepositional expressions compared to and in comparison with. The adverbs do sometimes appear able to replace their grammatical counterparts. For example, the statement Oil is heavier (with than… left unsaid through being obvious from the context) is easily paraphrased as Oil is relatively heavy. However, if the than… part has to be said, only the comparative adjective is possible.
The prepositional expressions seem more able to replace -er or more, but they still have some limitations They need the than part to be explicit, but without than:
(a) Oil is heavy compared to water.
Surprisingly, the removal of the need for a comparative + than in such sentences does not always make things easier: including a comparative alongside compared to is a fairly common error (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #5).
A further limitation of compared to is that it is probably not a true paraphrase of comparative forms. Instead, it suggests that the meaning of the relevant adjective or adverb (heavy above) is not a typical feature of the noun idea it describes (oil: see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions, #3).
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REPLACEABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS
Grammatical forms that can fairly easily become ordinary words seem more numerous than those that cannot.
4. “Not”
The meaning of not can be expressed with either grammar or ordinary vocabulary in numerous ways (see 310. Aspects of Negation). The vocabulary includes:
OTHER ADVERBS: never, rarely, scarcely
PREFIXES: unacceptable, incompetent, dislike, non-stop, apolitical (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types)
SUFFIXES: useless, sugar-free
VERBS: AVOID, DENY, REFUSE, FAIL, NEGLECT, MISS, LACK, EXCLUDE
ADJECTIVES: absent, bogus, debatable, erroneous, exceptional, false, mythical, negative, negligible, negligible, questionable, wrong (see 7. Hidden Negatives)
NOUNS: a lie, a falsehood, an error, a mirage
OTHER: instead of
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5. Possessive Apostrophes
A well-known alternative to these is of, as in the ideas of Einstein meaning Einstein’s ideas. If this of use is still considered rather grammar-like, an occasional equivalent that is less so is a participle phrase like belonging to or originating with (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #2).
Another way to avoid a possessive apostrophe is simply to drop it. For example, blacksmiths’ tools and Sydney’s climate still express their meanings acceptably as blacksmith tools and the Sydney climate. Note, though, that such changes often bring a new article requirement, such as the added the before Sydney above. The reason is that the absence of -’s causes the second of two successive nouns instead of the first to determine the article, and climate needs the (see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns, third section).
Yet replacing a possessive apostrophe in either of the above ways is not always possible. Sometimes, a preposition other than of is necessary. For example, the equivalent of a visitors’ entrance is usually an entrance for visitors. Often, a dropped -’s is either ungrammatical or different in meaning. The former is the case with, for example, France’s wines, Fathers’ Day, women’s rights and Newton’s time. The latter is illustrated by the contrast between a weekend’s work (= “work lasting a weekend”) and weekend work (= “work done at weekends”). For an in-depth discussion, see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings.
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6. Passive Verb Forms
The most widely-mentioned way of avoiding a passive verb form is by changing its subject into the object of the verb’s active form. However, this is not an exact paraphrase because it changes the way the sentence relates to its neighbours (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).
There are various alternative strategies, though none seems possible in every case. Probably the most useful is exchanging the verb for one whose active form means the same as the unwanted passive, so that word-order changes become unnecessary. Such verbs are surprisingly numerous, e.g.:
BE FILLED WITH – CONTAIN
BE AFFLICTED BY – SUFFER
BE SENT – GO
BE LENT – BORROW
BE INFORMED BY – UNDERSTAND FROM
BE CAUSED BY – RESULT FROM
BE OWNED BY – BELONG TO
For a more in-depth survey, see the above-mentioned post.
Sometimes, a passive verb with can be (e.g. can be divided) is replaceable by BE and a related -able or -ible adjective (is divisible). In other words, non-grammatical -able/-ible means the same as grammatical can be (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds). Again, there are surprisingly many such adjectives (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #4).
Thirdly, some passive forms are paraphrasable by being converted into a related “action” noun (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #4). If there is a resultant verb vacancy in a sentence, there will occasionally be the possibility of filling it with an active verb whose meaning is more like that of passive verbs, such as EXPERIENCE, HAVE, SUFFER or UNDERGO, e.g.:
be called (telephoned) by… → have a call from…
be abused → experience abuse
be repaired → undergo repair
For more examples, see 173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”?, #6.
Alternatively, where a sentence already has a verb, a passive meaning of an action noun may be indicated by other kinds of words around it:
(b) Non-declaration of restricted goods will necessitate their confiscation by police.
The main clue that confiscation here has passive meaning is the subsequent words by police, which would be the same if the passive form of the related verb CONFISCATE was being used (see 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2).
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7. Conjunctions
Conjunction meanings – cause, consequence, condition, simultaneity etc. –indicate how the meanings of separate verbs in a sentence are related (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #2). Most conjunction meanings can also be expressed non-grammatically with a verb whose subject and/or object are action noun equivalents of the original linked verbs. Compare:
(c) When demand expands, prices normally rise.
(d) Demand expansion normally induces price rises.
Here, expansion in (d) is the action noun equivalent of expands in (c), and the noun rises similarly equates to rise. The verb equivalent of when (induce) has expansion as its subject and rises as its object.
Verbs usable like INDUCE are again surprisingly numerous. Many similarly express a consequence, common examples being RESULT IN, CREATE, ENTAIL, LEAD TO, MEAN, TRIGGER and BRING ABOUT (see 32. Expressing Consequences). Verbs related to other conjunctions include DEPEND ON (condition), ACCOMPANY (simultaneity) and FOLLOW (sequencing) (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #1).
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8. “Better” and “Best”
Better…than… and best… (of…), – common in analyses of advantages (see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages, #5) – are often replaceable by the verb prefix out- (see the end of 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Consider this:
(e) The economy performed better than expected.
The underlined words here could become outperformed expectations (with expected made into a noun because of its object role). Other common out- verbs are outdo, outlast, outplay, outrun, outsell, outsmart, outthink, outweigh and outwit. For an example with outlast, see 312. Grammar Command Test 3, #e.
Another prefix with a grammatical meaning is self- in words like self-service, where it represents “reflexive” pronouns like oneself or themselves (see the end of 268. Types of “-self” Object).
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