308. Complexities of “Whole”

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“Whole” can be confusing because of its similarity to “all” and its variable noun/adjective status

TOPIC OVERVIEW

Whole is a familiar word with surprising complexities, some of which cause error among inexperienced users of English. As it is also common in professional writing, I wish here to examine it in detail. Key points include its pronunciation, grammatical class variation, meaning subtleties, usage after a(n) and the, usage before of, and its occurrence within fixed phrases. The post finishes with a practice exercise.

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PRONUNCIATION AND BASIC MEANING

I expect most readers will know that the “w” at the start of whole is not pronounced (see 155. Silent Consonants, #8). Perhaps less well known is the closeness of the pronunciation of whole to that of all. Apart from the /h/ at the start of whole, both have a similar-sounding vowel before a final /l/. In Southern British English, the vowel in whole is variably pronounced /ɒ/ or /əυ/, while that in all is /ɔ/ – a difference mainly of length.

This pronunciation similarity can be a particular problem for speakers of languages, such as French, that do not usually allow the /h/ sound at the start of words. In listening especially, the /h/ of whole is not likely to be very noticeable, leaving similarities of pronunciation that, combined with the meaning similarity, may easily cause whole and all to be confused. One common resultant error is a belief that *the all is possible (instead of all the), this having been the way the whole was interpreted in listening (see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly).

Meaning-wise, whole carries, of course, the idea of completeness or totality. On top of that, and distinguishing it from all (see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”), it usually conveys one of three possible messages. One is a very strong indication that all rather than some of something is being talked about:

(a) The whole enterprise took three days.

This very clearly associates three days with all of the enterprise rather than any part of it. Quite often, there will be preceding information about some or all of the parts (for example, a description of the first day’s activity above), so that whole is making a contrast with it, and hence even more clearly indicating a change of focus.

Whole could be called “emphatic” in this use because the same meaning would actually be still understandable without it. However, in speech, whole would not normally be pronounced in an emphatic way.

The second main use of whole is to suggest in an emphatic way the idea of “more than expected”:

(b) The awful noise went on for a whole day.

This says that a day was a very long time to suffer from the awful noise. Normally in such sentences, the pronunciation of both whole and its partner noun (day above) would be emphatic (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

Thirdly, whole can mean “over-arching” or “covering all other possibilities”. Used like this, it typically goes between the… and, most often, either idea (= proposal), plan, point, purpose or reason. There is often a suggestion that the addressee has failed to recognise the idea (etc.) as the key one (But that’s the whole idea!).

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GRAMMATICAL FEATURES

1. Word Class Variation

Whole is mostly used as a noun or adjective. It is a noun when not directly followed by a noun or noun phrase e.g.:

(c) A whole is often greater than its parts.

By far the most common noun use is before of, e.g. the whole of the world.

As an adjective, whole usually describes a directly-following noun or noun phrase (e.g. the whole world, a whole new science), or the pronoun one (a whole one), or a noun located before and separated by a link verb like BE (e.g. the fossil was whole).

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2. Combination with a Following Noun

Most noun types can follow the whole of:

*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH a(n): the whole of an afternoon
*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoon
*PLURAL COUNTABLE: the whole of afternoons
*PLURAL COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoons
PROPER: the whole of France
*PROPER WITH the: the whole of the United States
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE A: the whole of childhood
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE B: all luggage
*UNCOUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the childhood/luggage

For information about which proper nouns usually follow the, see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns.

Uncountable nouns that I call “type A” seem usually to represent something with a fairly clear boundary. Childhood, for example, is bounded by a quite definite number of years. “Type B” nouns lack this feature. This difference is important above only where uncountable nouns lack the (through having “generic” meaning), since it leads to type B nouns typically following all rather than the whole of.

Other examples of type A uncountable nouns – easily usable like childhood after the whole of – are humanity and business. Other examples of type B uncountable nouns are love and air. Practice in recognising the two types of uncountable noun, and hence where the whole of is possible, is offered in an exercise below.

The combinations marked * above can alternatively drop the whole of and place just whole directly before the final noun:

the whole of an afternoon → a whole afternoon
the whole of the afternoon → the whole afternoon
the whole of afternoons → whole afternoons
the whole of the afternoons → the whole afternoons
the whole of the United States → the whole United States
the whole of the luggage → the whole luggage

Note the absence from this list of proper nouns that normally lack the, such as France.  They must keep the whole of. Usage with just the whole (e.g. *the whole France) is a common error. One other noun with this requirement is humanity – *the whole humanity should be avoided.

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FIXED EXPRESSIONS AND DERIVATIVES

Two important preposition phrases are on the whole and as a whole. Each is unusual in not allowing a choice between adverbial and adjectival use (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). On the whole is always adverbial. It might be expected to mean “wholly” (see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs), but it in fact means “generally”. As a whole is purely adjectival, needing a noun just before it to link with:

(d) Fuel price changes affect economies as a whole.

Elsewhere, whole has special meanings associated with one or more particular expressions. In whole milk and wholemeal, it suggests that nothing has been removed from a commodity that very often does have something removed from it: fat in the former case, wheat germ in the latter. In the whole story, where the meaning of story is “explanation” rather than “narrative”, whole suggests inclusion of everything regardless of inconvenience, so that not the whole story implies omission of information, often in order to deceive.

A whole before various singular “collective” nouns (suggesting multiplicity), such as collection, crowd, group, myriad, range, variety and informal lot, makes the multiplicity sound greater. These nouns are often followed by of – e.g. a whole range of objections – while a whole lot is also possible before comparative adjectives or adverbs, e.g. a whole lot better, a whole lot more quickly (see 194 Adverbs that Say How Much, #4).

Another common combination is the whole (of the) time used to show that an extended event or situation is happening throughout the occurrence of another one (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence, #3). It may or may not be combined with a following subject + verb linked by a visible or understood when:

(e) Solar panels produce electricity the whole time (when) the sun is shining.

Also notable is a whole new before a noun to emphasise that the noun idea is not just a replacement of an old one but also completely different from it. Common partner nouns include approach, ball game (= situation), meaning, method, set, understanding and way.

Finally, whole occurs within a small number of compound words like wholemeal above. Food described as wholesome is health-promoting. Whole-hearted describing a person or behaviour suggests total, unreserved belief or commitment. Wholesale is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb referring to goods sold in large quantities to other sellers, usually very cheaply.

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PRACTICE USING “the whole of”

Some of the uncountable nouns in the list below can follow the whole of and some cannot (usually needing all instead). Can you separate the two groups? Answers are given after.

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

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Answers

Nouns allowing the whole of are underlined:

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

Note that logic after the whole of refers to the subject known as logic, not logic itself; while nature means “the natural world”, not “type”.

297. Types of Response to a Question

 

Some types of question require an unusual or challenging type of response

DEFINITION OF A QUESTION RESPONSE

Defining a question response first requires clarification of what is meant by a question. I see questions as spoken or written utterances that have the linguistic form of a direct or indirect question, as in these descriptions:

DIRECT FORMS: question-indicating intonation and/or grammar (the position of a subject noun relative to its verb) and/or punctuation (a question mark).

INDIRECT FORMS: a starting question word or equivalent noun and, typically, location within a longer sentence alongside an expression of asking, explaining or knowing (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

A response to a question is not necessarily an answer. Answers supply information requested by a question, but questions only sometimes request information. For example, direct questions beginning What about…? commonly act as a reminder, to which a positive response is typically Thank you (see 274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning, #1). The word “response” is a much more inclusive name for a statement or deed elicited by a question.

Yet although responses to questions are more numerous than answers, they are still not inevitable with every question: some questions have no response at all. These are usually of the kind called “rhetorical”. An example is How about that? uttered in appreciation of the successful execution of a difficult manoeuvre (see 274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning, #21).

On the other hand, some rhetorical questions do have a response. These are questions responded to by the person posing them. Their responses are considered here along with those of ordinary questions.

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RESPONSES TO SPOKEN QUESTIONS

Different types of spoken question require different types of response. Here, the focus is on types whose response is quite often formulated incorrectly by less-experienced English users.

1. Simple Yes/No Questions

This elementary question type, typically indicated by question intonation added to either an ordinary statement or one whose subject + verb has been placed after an additional (“auxiliary”) verb, is so named because, of course, its response is usually either yes or no. What is less often appreciated, however, is that one of these words by itself can sound abrupt or even rude, so that it often needs to be mitigated by a following auxiliary verb with a pronoun subject:

(a)    – Do computers have feelings?

– No, they don’t

Errors are common here because the choice of both the pronoun (they) and the auxiliary verb (do) depends on the wording of the question. Usually, the pronoun must correspond to the subject of the question verb, and the auxiliary must be the same as the one there. It would be incorrect above to repeat the main verb (*No, they haven’t). This is an error that seems especially likely when the main verb is HAVE, probably because of the usability of HAVE elsewhere as an auxiliary. Indeed, No, they haven’t would be correct above if do…have… in the question were replaced by its less formal alternative have…got….

As implied earlier, the type of response illustrated in (a) is not the only possibility. Sometimes, for example, yes or no is followed by an adverb (e.g. No, never). Sometimes, yes/no is dropped, leaving just a pronoun + auxiliary, or something altogether different (Well, this is a complicated question).

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2. Negative Yes/No Questions

Questions of this kind can be confusing because they have two very different uses. Compare:

(b) Aren’t diamonds an expensive gift?

(c) Aren’t diamonds as valued as they used to be?

Sentence (b) expects the addressee to agree that “diamonds are an expensive gift”. The expected agreement would normally be indicated with the words Yes (they are). Disagreement, though unexpected, would be possible with No (they aren’t).

Sentence (c) could also be seeking agreement (with the belief that the value of diamonds has not changed), but it might instead be asking the addressee to confirm or deny a negative (that diamonds are less valuable than before), without indicating any expectation about the answer. Confirmation would be with No (they aren’t), denial with Yes (they are).

In both sentences, an alternative to the negative -n’t is the independent word not in the same place or after diamonds. Note how, regardless of the meaning, yes responses always accompany a positive auxiliary (are above), and no ones need a negative (aren’t): *Yes, they aren’t is usually incorrect.

I think the reason why sentence (b) is more likely than (c) to be soliciting agreement is that it involves a more universally-known fact. Most people know that diamonds are expensive, so that a question seeking information about their cost level would be surprising. Sentence (c), by contrast, involves information of a much less universally-known kind (the value of diamonds today compared to in the past), making its purpose less easy to interpret.

The same sort of logic applies to sentences that, unlike (b), involve an untrue statement:

(d) Doesn’t helium react easily with other elements?

Although someone saying this could genuinely believe helium to be very reactive, and hence be seeking confirmation, the actual non-reactive nature of helium would lead most people to conclude that the speaker just wanted to know how reactive helium is. A suitable answer would, of course, then be No (it doesn’t).

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3. Questions with “Would you Mind…?”

This type of yes/no question is tricky to ask as well as to answer. It is a polite way of naming a specific action that the speaker is either requesting the addressee to carry out or seeking permission for themself or someone else to carry out. A requested addressee action typically begins with an -ing verb:

(e) Would you mind lending me your pen?

On the other hand, an action for which permission is being sought is usually expressed with either if plus a statement containing a past tense verb, or a possessive noun/adjective plus an -ing verb:

(f) Would you mind if I borrowed (or my borrowing) your pen?

The past tense (borrowed) is needed here because the action may never happen – a usage often called “unreal” (see 118. Problems with Conditional “if”, #6).

Answering would you mind questions is problematic because it requires a decision about which of the two verbs within them a yes/no answer should relate to. With a wrong choice, an opposite message to the intended one will be conveyed. Consider sentence (e). If the response should focus on mind, then yes means “I mind” (= “I don’t want”), so that a refusal is indicated. However, if the response to (e) should focus on lending, yes means “I agree”, and hence cooperation. The correct linkage is in fact with mind – logical given that it is grammatically the “main” verb in the sentence.

Once again, a bare yes or no answer is rare. Possible alternatives include:

POSITIVE, SENTENCE (e): (No,) of course not;  Not at all
POSITIVE, SENTENCE (f): No problem;  Go ahead;  Feel free
NEGATIVE, SENTENCE (e): Sorry, I can’t
NEGATIVE, SENTENCE (f): I would actually;  Sorry, that’s not possible

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4. Questions about Alternatives

These questions typically contain or (preceded by whether when indirect: see 99. Meanings of “whether…or…”):

(g) Is it better to travel by road or train?

Two interpretations are normally possible: that the verb (travel) is the focus, implying equality of the alternatives; or that the alternatives are, implying their inequality (see 301. Structures with a Double Meaning 5, #3). The first interpretation allows a yes/no answer, but answering the second similarly would cause confusion.

To name one of the alternatives as an answer, repetition is necessary (e.g. By train). However, naming one of the alternatives is not always appropriate. Other common answers include Both, Neither, It depends, I’m not sure, Let me think and There’s no difference.

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5. Questions Answered by the Person Asking them

This type of rhetorical question is common in both speech and writing. Whereas in writing the form is likely to be indirect and the answer to follow without any special wording (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing), in speech, direct questions are much more common, and their answer is very often prefaced by well. Here is a sequence typical of oral presentations (see 186. Language in Oral Presentations, #2):

(h) Now, what is the commonest language learning aid? Well, of course it is a dictionary.

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QUESTION RESPONSES IN WRITING

There are various types of question that writers may respond to besides their own rhetorical ones.

6. Questions Only Written in Another Text

Responses under this heading include essays, examinations and other means of educational assessment, plus some business types like emails, all of which tend to be multi-sentence. For detailed advice on answering essay questions, see 94. Essay Instruction Words.

A common way of linking an extended response to an external question is by repeating part of the latter in the first sentence. Consider, for example, the following start of an essay answering the question Account for the growth of mobile telephone use and discuss its likely future:

(i) Mobile telephone use has grown phenomenally in the past ten years.

Underlining here indicates the repetition. For more about linking with repetition, see 24. Good and Bad Repetition.

Responses to external questions asked with a question word (how, where etc.) often start with a noun synonym of that word. For example, a response to a how… question might begin The way in which…, and one to a why… question might start There are many reasons … (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words).

Repetition of question wording can also appear later in written responses:

(j) Turning to the future of mobile telephones, …

(k) Given these factors, mobile telephone use is likely to keep growing for some time yet.

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7. Reported Yes/No Questions

A common context for questions of this kind is academic literature reviews:

(l) Schmidt (2021) wonders whether handwriting skills will survive.

The simplest way of answering such questions uses the standard pronoun + auxiliary (the auxiliary usually being DO if the question lacks one). A “no” answer just adds not, e.g. they will not in response to (l). A “yes” answer needs no added word but often includes a formal synonym of yes, such as indeed or certainly (see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts, #2).

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8. Reporting a Question + Response

When both a question and its response have to be reported, yes/no responses can just comprise a pronoun + auxiliary after a reporting speech/ thought word:

(m) Historians wonder whether recovery occurred. Jones (2021, p. 6) thinks IT DID (or DID not).

Sometimes, not alone directly follows the reporting word (…thinks not).

An alternative approach is to imply “yes” or “no” with an adjective or adverb:

(n) …. Jones (2021, p.6) takes a pessimistic view (or responds pessimistically).

Reported responses to questions beginning with a question word usually have a pronoun (often it) + BE + relevant information:

(o) Historians wonder why/when recovery occurred. Jones (2021, p. 6) thinks IT WAS because… (or when…).

274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning

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English has numerous formulaic questions, especially spoken, that do more than just ask for an answer

TYPES AND IMPORTANCE

Questions are very easy to misunderstand. One problem is identifying their purpose: instead of seeking information, they might be “rhetorical” – not expecting anyone to answer them – or used for social purposes like greeting or requesting. Another problem is that some questions express meanings that cannot be clearly linked to any of their words, rather as many “phrasal” verbs do (see 139. Phrasal Verbs).

Most questions with a hidden meaning are formulaic and of the direct rather than indirect kind. These features reflect the fact that they are more typical of spoken English than written (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing). Some can be converted into the indirect type, and do appear in formal writing in that guise, but many either lose their hidden meaning if converted or become incomprehensible.

Despite these characteristics, I think questions with a hidden meaning are worthy of a post in this writing-focussed blog. One reason is that the questions are very possible in the typical speech of professional contexts (in seminars, for example, or meetings, or presentations). Another is that the topic is not often given very extensive coverage despite the size of the contribution it can make to mastering idiomatic English usage.

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NON-RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

The following are interesting examples of idiomatic questions to which an answer is typically expected:

What about (noun)?
What if…?
How about…?
Why not…?
Is that all?
Are you being served?
How come?
… on earth…?

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1. What about…?

This has at least two non-rhetorical uses (as well as rhetorical ones: see below). One is to request information, but only in very particular circumstances, so that there is a great potential for misuse. There must be immediately-preceding conversation on a different topic within the same category, like this:

(a) So Venus is far too hostile a planet for human habitation. What about Mars?

Asking about Mars here continues a conversation about planets, but opens a new sub-topic. This kind of question can be reported with the verb ASK ABOUT.

An inappropriate use of information-seeking what about would be at the very start of a conversation, or directly after discussion of a completely different topic, such as types of coffee. For an alternative in such situations, see 195. Tricky Word Contrasts 7, #5.

A second non-rhetorical use of what about…? is to make a suggestion. If the next word is a verb, it needs the -ing (gerund) form:

(b) – What about meeting at 12.00?

– Yes, OK.

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2. What if…?

This is another type with both non-rhetorical and rhetorical meanings. One non-rhetorical use is a further way of making a suggestion:

(c) What if the meeting was at 12.00?

The verb was here is in the “unreal” past simple tense – typical after this use of what if…? because, of course, suggestions are not always acted on. Other “unreal” verb uses in this blog are after if (see 118. Problems with Conditional “if”, #6), after as if (see 191. Exotic Grammar Structures 3, #3), and after wish that… (see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #6).

In another non-rhetorical use, what if…? means “What would happen if…?”. The next words need to name a hypothetical future event. A present simple verb would indicate a likely possibility, a past simple verb an unlikely one. 

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3. How about…? and Why not…?

These are alternatives to what about…? and what if…? as ways of making a suggestion. Any verb after the latter must be in the base (infinitive) form without to (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #5).

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4. Is that all?

This is a not very polite way of saying “This is not enough”, or a polite way of saying “Is the delivery complete?” Note the preference for that over this (see 234. Adjective and Pronoun Uses of “that”).

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5. Are you being served?

This calls for a yes or no answer, as might be expected. The hidden aspect is a promise to arrange service if the answer is no.

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6. How come?

This requests a reason for a sudden new situation. It is perhaps an abbreviation of How has this come about?:

(d) – The exams have been cancelled.

– How come?

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7. …on earth…

This is not so much a question as an addition that can be made to questions starting with a question word (usually straight after that question word). There are two possible meanings. In the following, the speaker is implied to be struggling to think of any possible answer to the question (though believes one exists):

(e) What on earth did you say?

The other possible meaning is a suggestion of the speaker’s irritation or surprise. It is likely to be present if the answer to the question is not the speaker’s main concern. It would exist in (e) if did you say was changed to are you saying, making the question about something obvious to the speaker. The following might be addressed to someone returning from somewhere in a bad condition or after a long delay. It expresses the speaker’s disapproval rather than curiosity:

(f) Where on earth have you been?

An alternative to on earth in both (e) and (f) is ever. Most question words tend to form a single word with it (whatever, wherever etc.), exceptions being whose and why (see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #2).

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RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

Under this heading, topic-Introducing questions are of interest, along with:

What about…?
What if…?
Why not(?)
Who knows (…)?
Who cares (…)?
Who says (so)?
Who(ever) would have thought it?
Whatever next?
(Do you) see what I mean?
What can you do?
What can I say?
What do you expect?
How about that?

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8. Topic Introducing

This type of question qualifies as rhetorical because no response is expected from the addressee, but it is unusual in that the person asking it usually gives an immediate answer themself (see 297. Types of Response to a Question, #5). I call it “topic-introducing” because it resembles a heading introducing a fairly extensive piece of information.

In oral presentations, such questions are likely to be direct ones and linked to their answer by well (see 186. Language in Oral Presentations, #2):

(f) What are the main requirements for successful language acquisition? Well, …

In formal writing, by contrast, the question is likely to be indirect and immediately answered without well (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

Topic-introducing questions can start with What about…? instead of a standard question word, provided a related topic has just been considered (see #1 above).

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9. What about…?

A further rhetorical use of this expression is to remind. Although it has no obvious answer, it usually needs a response, a common one being Thanks for reminding me.

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10. What if…?

When this is not suggesting (see above), it typically names a hypothetical future that casts doubt on something under consideration:

(g) Today the water supply is reliable, but what if the climate changes?

Here, the doubt is about water reliability. The verb after if could be changes, changed or were to change, depending on degree of likelihood (see 119. BE before a “to” Verb, #7). This kind of direct what if…? question is possible in writing as well as in speech, but writing also uses a more formal indirect form, typically with ASK/WONDER + what will/would happen if… (without a question mark).

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11. Why not(?)

By itself, this is usable in conversation as a rhetorical response to another person’s hypothesis or proposal:

(h) – We could meet at 12.00.

       – Why not?

If the hypothesis or proposal is positive like this, why not? shows agreement. After a negative one, by contrast, it shows disagreement. This would be the case, for example, with could in (h) replaced by shouldn’t.

In formal writing, why not is usable as an indirect question. It typically follows a report of the hypothesis or proposal that it is commenting on, and it needs to accompany an “asking” word in a sentence with no question mark at the end. It may express the writer’s own belief or report that of others. In the first case, it seems more likely to show disagreement than agreement:

(i) Jones thinks space tourism will never be popular. One might wonder why not.

As a report of other people’s thoughts, why not seems as able to express agreement as disagreement. For example, with never in (i) replaced by soon, agreement can be reported with a second sentence like Many say why not.

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12. Who knows (…)?

Questions of this kind are found in both spoken and written contexts. What they express is uncertainty:

(j) – Will cancer ever be curable?

      – Who knows? (= nobody knows)

In speech, who knows? alone is common. In writing, a longer sentence is more typical, though still in direct question form – there is no indirect equivalent. Added words are usually an object of knows, typically in the form of an indirect question, e.g. …whether cancer will ever be curable? The question mark is necessitated by the direct who question, not the indirect whether one.

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13. Who cares (…)?

This is a slightly impolite way of saying “I am not interested in this”. It is usable in the same ways as Who knows (…)? except that in writing it can be extended by not just an indirect question but also about…?.

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14. Who says (so)?

This is an informal, slightly impolite way of responding sceptically to someone else’s spoken assertion.

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15. Who(ever) would have thought it?

This expresses surprise at an event or idea represented by it.

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16. Whatever next?

This spoken expression is a response to a sight or report of an event that the speaker considers outrageous. It makes that belief clear. For more -ever questions with hidden meaning, see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #2).

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17. (Do you) see what I mean?

Another spoken expression, this can mark an occurrence or sight as an illustration or proof of something recently pointed out. A reminder of the earlier point can be added in a following about… phrase

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18. What can you do?

The hidden meaning that this spoken expression can have is “nothing can stop this”. You means “people” (see 211. General Words for People):

(k) Crime is increasing, but what can you do?

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19. What can I say?

This indicates something that is hard to put into words. Often it refers to something outstandingly good or bad. For example, a football manager might use it when asked to comment on a brilliant performance by their team.

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20. What do you expect?

Here, you may refer to an addressee or to people in general. The meaning is that a reported or observed behaviour – often but not always undesirable – is so typical as to be inevitable. An example of such a behaviour might be traffic breaking traffic laws when no police are present.

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21. How about that?

This invites observers to appreciate a clever or successful performance by either the speaker or someone that they are watching. For example, a tennis commentator might use it as a comment on a well-executed difficult stroke.

243. Pronunciation Secrets

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Coursebooks rarely mention all of the hidden pronunciation practices in English

THE COMPLEXITY OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

To pronounce English like proficient speakers, there are surprisingly many things to know. Some are more obvious than others. Most learners of English, if asked to say what is required, would probably be very quick to highlight the way they should pronounce particular sounds that they struggle with. They are also likely to appreciate that mispronunciations can result not just from unfamiliarity of individual sounds but also from the unreliability of English spellings, as illustrated in this blog in posts like 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings and 155. Silent Consonants.

Some of the less obvious pronunciation needs are considered elsewhere within this blog. The need to do more than just convert letters into sounds is highlighted in 125. Stress and Emphasis. The important relation between word stress and vowel sounds is highlighted in 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, #3. Comprehension problems caused by weakly pronounced words like and are the focus of 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly. Various other features are listed in 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud.

This post offers further examples of less obvious pronunciation needs. I call them “secrets” because, apart from their tendency not to be obvious, they are not always highlighted in English coursebooks. Some depend on surrounding context, some are linked to the grammar and/or meaning of the word(s) they apply to.

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CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

1. Consonants next to Change-Inducing Sounds

There are various ways in which the normal pronunciation of a consonant can change under the influence of a sound before or after it. Three such changes detailed in 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud (#6) are (a) end consonants transferred to the start of the next word when the latter begins with a vowel (e.g. goe-s up); (b) an end consonant and the same consonant at the start of the next word combined into one long sound (e.g. ca-n n-ever); and (c) weakening of p,b,t,d,k and g before other consonants or at the end of a sentence.

Another type of change is complete transformation into a different consonant in order to become more like, or even the same as, a neighbouring one. One subtype of this tendency, often mentioned at elementary level, relates to the -s and -ed endings, which vary in their pronunciation according to the kind of sound just before them. The -s ending is only pronounced /s/ after “voiceless” consonant sounds (/p, t, k, f/), matching its own voiceless status. This happens, for example, in stops, hates, checks and laughs.

After vowel and all other consonant sounds except /s, ∫, t∫, z, dʒ/, -s is pronounced /z/. Illustrative words are knows, sides, leagues, fills, thins, comes, thrives and robs. After the exceptions, -s is pronounced like the verb is, as in tenses, sentences, sixes, wishes, fetches, amazes and impinges.

In a similar way, -ed is pronounced as voiceless /t/ after the voiceless consonant sounds /s, ∫, t∫, p, k, f/ (missed, traced, rushed, tipped, linked, stuffed). It becomes voiced /d/ after vowel sounds and all other consonant sounds except /t, d/ (judged, seemed, viewed, revised, begged). After the exceptions, –ed is pronounced as the separate syllable /id/ (treated, eroded). For further “secrets” of -ed, see 291. Subtleties of “-ed”.

The other subgroup of consonants that undergo a complete change in certain situations is not linked to a particular position within words. The consonants are found both inside words and, more commonly, at the end. The main ones are /n, t, d, k/. There are fewer other sounds that can change them, and the changes are not compulsory. However, the usual reason for making the change is the same: ease of pronunciation.

As an example, the “t” in football is often pronounced /p/. This is easier to say before the /b/ of -ball because both sounds are made with the lips, unlike /t/. In a similar but more subtle way, the “x” in example is pronounced /gz/ rather than the /ks/ common elsewhere because the next sound /ɑ:/ is “voiced” like /gz/ and unlike /ks/.

Other examples of this sort of change (technically called “assimilation”) are:

INSIDE WORDS

coNform pronounced as coMform
enviroNMent pronounced as  enviroMment (single long /m/)
whiTeboard pronounced as whiPeboard
weDnesday pronounced as WeNnsday (with a dropped “e”)
paiNkiller pronounced with /ŋ/

AT THE END OF WORDS

thaT question pronounced as thaK question
teN people pronounced as teM people
harD work pronounced as harB work
cuT price pronounced as cuP price (single long /p/)
a hundreD grams pronounced as a hundreG grams (single long /g/)
itS shape pronounced as itSH shape (single long /∫/)

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2. Adjectives in a List

I was told at school that two adjectives in a list before a noun need to be separated by a comma. However, this is not always the case: it depends on the kind of information that the second adjective is giving about the noun. Consider the combination yellow taxi. If there is no rule about the colour of taxis in an area, so that the colours vary quite randomly, then describing one as yellow would probably just be saying what it looked like, i.e. naming a characteristic. However, if there is a law saying that all taxis of a particular type have be black and all others have to be yellow, then yellow would probably be naming the type of taxi, i.e. classifying (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #4).

This difference affects the use of commas in an adjective list in that a comma should be added before a characteristic-naming adjective, but not before a classifying one. Thus, a familiar, yellow taxi means a taxi that is familiar and yellow, whereas a familiar yellow taxi means a taxi of the yellow kind that is familiar. Similarly, a visible, red giant means a giant that is red and visible, while a visible red giant means a red giant (a type of star) that is visible.

The relevance of all this to pronunciation is more than just the link between commas and pausing. Classifying adjectives are usually pronounced with slightly more emphasis than characteristic-naming ones and, at the end of an adjective list, with no slight pause after them.

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NON-CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES

Sometimes it is not a word’s context that gives it a surprising pronunciation but rather its own form or meaning.

3. Compound Words

Compounds are mostly made by joining smaller words together, as in afternoon, homework, lookalike and whiteboard. There is often a problem differentiating such combinations from common word partnerships that are not compounds, such as high rise, town hall and straight ahead (see 26. One Word or Two?). In writing, the difference is shown by the spacing between the two words. In speech, the differentiator is pronunciation.

The relevant pronunciation feature here is word stress, the variable strength with which syllables are pronounced. Syllables pronounced with maximum stress are said to be “stressed”. They are less common than other syllables, but one – no more, no less – is needed in most words (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

This means that when two syllables are written as different words, both must be stressed, but when they are written as a single word, one (usually the second) must lose its stress. Thus, the two nouns work time comprise two stressed syllables, whereas the compound noun DAYtime contains just one (capitalised).

Sometimes, two words have both a compound and a non-compound use, the meaning as well as the pronunciation changing in each case. Many phrasal verbs are like this, becoming their related noun as compounds. For example, CUT BACK, a verb with dual stress, becomes cutback, a noun with stress on cut (for more examples, see 249. Action Noun Endings). Other combination types include may + be, some + times and every + day (see 26. One Word or “Two?).

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4. “-ing” Words before a Noun

In the phrase rising sun, rising is an adjective-like participle, but in meeting room, meeting is a noun-like gerund (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). Gerunds used like meeting tend to be slightly emphasized. This can clarify the intended meaning of ambiguous combinations like growing plants (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1, #1).

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5. Multi-Use Spellings

English is full of spellings that represent more than one word. Some, known as “homonyms”, cannot be differentiated by pronunciation, but others, known as “homographs”, can (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs). Some homographs are differentiated just by their stress: for example, in-crease and up-set with their first styllable stressed are nouns (a typical correspondence), and verbs otherwise.

Elsewhere, stress combines with vowel pronunciation to show a difference. Present is shown as a noun rather than verb by saying pre- with both stress and /e/ rather than /i/; object is shown as a noun rather than verb by saying ob- with both stress and /ɒ/ rather than /ә/. In other cases again, vowel pronunciation is the only clue: estimate is a verb when ending /eit/ and a noun with /әt/. Animate and consummate go from verbs to adjectives (for more examples, see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #4).

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6. Phrasal versus Prepositional Verbs

Phrasal verbs, like turn on, and prepositional ones, like depend on, differ grammatically (see 139. Phrasal Verbs), but the difference is not always visible:

(a) To survive, these people turn/depend on electricity.

However, the pronunciation of the second word (here on) can be a clue: always weak in prepositional verbs, often strong (slower with stress) in phrasal verbs.

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7. Preposition-like Prefixes

Various preposition spellings are occasionally attached to the start of a longer word so as to add either their basic preposition meaning – e.g. in-form, offside, overcoat – or a more exotic one – e.g. overpopulated, outlast, update (see the end of 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Sometimes, the addition contains the main stressed syllable within the word (outfit, overheads, underpass), sometimes it does not (in-demand, outweigh, overdo). The first kind of stress is especially associated with nouns.

Sometimes, however, stress indicates other word class differences. For example, uphill is an adjective (an uphill struggle), uphill an adverb (went uphill).

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8. “-teen” versus “-ty”

Showing and recognising the difference between -teen and -ty, as in 16 versus 60, is a common problem. The main difference seems to be the presence or absence of “n”. In reality, however, this /n/ is often hard to hear (see section 2 above), and the main differentiator is the vowel before it: strong /i:/ in -teen, weak /i/ in -ty (see 67. Numbers in Spoken English, #8).

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9. Two Surprising Vowel Pronunciations

The letter “o” is very often pronounced rather illogically like “u” in cut. Indeed, this happens so frequently that it could almost be considered an alternative logical pronunciation. Common examples are other, month and comfortable. For more, see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings.

Also surprising but common is –age pronounced like -idge, as in advantage, image and village. For numerous other examples, see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #3.

238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action

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Three main kinds of verb can effect their action through being used

HOW VERBS CAN HELP THEIR ACTION TO BE PERFORMED

Most people who have studied English are likely to have encountered the traditional description of verbs as “doing words”. What this suggests is a dynamic rather than stative meaning – energy and change as opposed to undisturbed continuity (see 66. Types of Passive Verb Meaning). “Doing words” is, of course, too narrow a term to describe verbs in general, since many verbs do not represent this idea of “doing” (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings). However, it does apply to a large number of verbs.

Verbs whose use can cause their own action to be performed are a subgroup of “doing” verbs. One kind is what linguists call “performative”:

(a) I pronounce you husband and wife.

The actual utterance of this sentence by the appropriate person during a marriage ceremony causes the action centred on its verb pronounce to be carried out, so that the two addressees become married.

With verbs like PRONOUNCE, this effect usually involves a starting I or we. However, there are other verb kinds that can help their own action to be performed without these words:

(b) A bicycle can be defined as a two-wheeled vehicle propelled by human energy.

(c) There will be inter-stellar travel in the future.

In (b), the use of can combined with the passive form of DEFINE tells the reader not just that a definition is being conveyed but also that it is newly created by the writer, just as a husband and wife are newly created by the words in (a). As a result, the definition is understood not to be a standard one used by other people (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text).

In (c), another modal verb – will – enables utterance of the sentence to perform the action of a verb, but this action is indicated by will itself rather than by its partner verb (be). The action expressed by will is prediction – the same meaning that is expressed by I predict… (see 147. Types of Future Meaning, #1).

In this post I wish to explore the variety of verbs that can be used like those in the examples. I will look not just at how they perform an action but also at how they do not.

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COMMON ACTION-FACILITATING VERBS

There are numerous verbs that can enable their action to be accomplished through being used with I or we as their subject, like PRONOUNCE in (a). Common ones include the following:

ABSOLVE ADVISE AGREE ANNOUNCE APOLOGIZE APPEAL APPLAUD BEG BESEECH BLESS CALL UPON CLAIM (+ property) COMMAND DECLARE DECREE DEFINE

DISAGREE GRANT INSIST INTRODUCE (+ person) INVOKE NAME NOMINATE ORDER PRAISE PROPOSE PERMIT POINT OUT PRAY PREDICT PROMISE

PRONOUNCE QUESTION RECOGNISE RECOMMEND REJECT REPEAT REQUEST RESIGN SAY SUGGEST TERMINATE UNDERTAKE URGE VOTE VOW WISH

Among these, ANNOUNCE, DEFINE, INTRODUCE, POINT OUT and SAY (except when recommending) are unusual in needing extra words with their introductory I. Placing them after I wish (or would like) to… is always a possibility (many of the other verbs in the list can follow these words too). Alternatively, ANNNOUNCE, INTRODUCE and SAY can follow I am pleased to…. or I have the pleasure to…, while ANNOUNCE and SAY sometimes have I regret to….

I wish… has a variety of uses. It is most obviously action-performing when used by a character in a story about magic to make a wished-for situation real. There must be a following that (often left unsaid) + past tense verb, e.g. I wish (that) I could fly. This combination is also used for expressing “unreal” wishes for an impossible present or past, but the double meaning is not likely to be problematic given the rarity of opportunities to achieve a wish just by naming it! Nevertheless, unreal wishes can if necessary be expressed unambiguously with if only instead of wish that (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”, #1).

Two everyday uses of I wish are requesting. They can be thought of as action-performing if WISH is viewed as a synonym of REQUEST. With a following to verb (I wish to speak to you), the request is formal and polite, usually addressed to a subordinate. With a following you would… (I wish you would go away), a feeling of irritation is informally conveyed.

A fourth use of I wish expresses a desire for another person to avoid disaster in something. The person must be an indirect object after WISH (e.g. I wish you/the visitors…), and the anti-disaster wish follows as an object (e.g. …all success or …a safe journey or …a happy birthday). Such sentences perform not the desired outcome but an assurance of the speaker’s friendly concern.

One meaning that WISH cannot express is hope – the speaker’s belief in the future occurrence of something that is desired but outside anyone’s power to bring about, such as …you will visit again soon. For this, HOPE or LOOK FORWARD TO (-ing) are suitable (see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #6).

REJECT is often confused today with REFUTE (which cannot be used with I to perform its action). For the difference between the two verbs, see 276. Tricky Word Contrasts 11, #1.

One of the verbs in the above list – DEFINE – is shown in sentence (b) to be also able to assist the performance of its action by being made passive after can. An alternative to can is may. For a full explanation of this use, see 237. Auxiliary Verbs in Professional Communication, #4). For more about defining, see 286. Repeating in Different Words.

A few other verbs – mostly different from those in the list – are usable with can in the same way. They mostly assist naming (CALL, NAME, REFER TO AS etc.), exemplifying (EXEMPLIFY, ILLUSTRATE), describing (DESCRIBE, PORTRAY), classifying (CATEGORISE, CLASSIFY etc. – see 162. Writing about Classifications), and contending (ARGUE, CONSIDER, THINK OF, VISUALISE).

Sentence (c) shows another of the above-listed verbs – PREDICT – replaced by a modal verb (will). A few of the other verbs in the list also have a modal corresponding to their use with I:

COMMAND, ORDER = must, shall, BE TO
URGE = have to
GRANT, PERMIT = can, may
ADVISE, NOMINATE, RECOMMEND = ought to, should
PROPOSE, SUGGEST = could, might
BLESS = may (imperative)
DECREE = will, shall

The occasional correspondence of different verbs to the same modal (e.g. PREDICT/ PROMISE – will) is rarely a problem: the meanings are usually clear from contextual clues (see 147. Types of Future Meaning).

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ALTERNATIVE USE OF ACTION-FACILITATING VERBS

It is possible for some of the above uses to be understood not as helping the verb’s action to be newly performed but as informing the addressee that it has been previously performed. Thus, I predict… can mean not just “I am now predicting…” but also “My longstanding prediction is…”. This use is more a report than a creation of something new, though to avoid confusion with the idea of “reported speech” I prefer to call it a “relay”.

The contrast between action-facilitating and relaying with verbs is similar to that between the way to do…, which is telling one or more particular people how to do something, and the way of doing, which is describing what people generally do (see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts, #1).

Not every verb in the first list above has this dual use. It would be hard, for example, to understand the relay use with APOLOGIZE, COMMAND, DECREE, POINT OUT. REPEAT or PRONOUNCE. Others that definitely allow it include APPLAUD, DEFINE, PRAY, PROPOSE and RECOMMEND (see 187. Advising and Recommending). With verbs allowing both uses, the action-facilitating one can often be signalled more clearly by adding hereby.

INTRODUCE used after I have the pleasure… can have either meaning but is likely to change its form: …to introduce when performing the action; …of introducing when relaying.

The same kind of meaning variability exists with the third type of action-facilitating verbs illustrated above: certain modal verbs. Thus sentence (c) is not necessarily creating a prediction, but could instead be relaying a previously-made one.

By contrast, the second type of action-facilitating verb shown above – verbs that have to be in the passive form after can or may – cannot through the same form alternatively convey the idea of a relay. However, these verbs can be used in a slightly different way to express one: either in the passive form without a modal verb – e.g. is defined in (b) – or in the active form with a subject other than I or we, like this:

(d) Doctors call bird flu avian influenza.

(e) Columbus named the first island San Salvador.

In (d), the only possible interpretation is that doctors use a pre-existing name – they are not coining a new one. In (e), although the message is the allocation of a new name, the use is still a reporting one: the naming is not brought about by the very use of named.

Finally, it is to be noted that some modal verbs have a relay function without also being usable to perform their own action. This seems to be the case with BE TO when it describes an arrangement:

(f) The committee is to meet next week.

This could never be understood as actually arranging the meeting in question. The reason perhaps lies in the fundamental nature of arrangements, which are made cooperatively between two or more people, not by one person’s unilateral declaration. For more on arrangements with BE TO, see 119. BE before a “to” Verb, #4.

HAVE TO suggesting a command or instruction, rather than exhortation or advice, nearly always seems to be relaying – indeed I would go so far as to say that the idea of relaying is an inherent part of its command and instruction meanings (see 129. Differences between Necessity Verbs, #2). Consider this:

(g) You have to call the manager immediately.

You have to… here is unlikely to mean I order you to… . The order is usually someone else’s (probably the manager’s) and is merely being relayed.

237. Auxiliary Verbs in Professional Communication

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Writers of professional texts can achieve some special effects with auxiliary verbs

USES VERSUS MEANINGS OF AUXILIARY VERBS

Most readers of this blog probably know plenty already about auxiliary verbs, both “modal” like can and “non-modal” like BE. I feel no need to define or list them. Nor do I particularly wish to compare and contrast their basic meanings. What I am interested in instead is what writers do with them, especially in professional contexts. There is already much on this in other Guinlist posts, but widely scattered and incomplete. I feel it might be useful to bring it all together in one place and then to expand it where I can and where I feel the need.

The concept of “doing” something with auxiliary verbs needs clarification, since it can be understood at different levels of generality. At the lowest level, we can simply take the basic meaning of a modal verb, such as “ability” expressed by can, and combine it with a verb to make it sound like something people do (“expressing ability”). This does not seem helpful at all. At the other extreme we can be too general. For example, “giving opinions” hides a multiplicity of more interesting sub-meanings like “predicting” and “disagreeing”. Such terms are useful for bringing together widely disparate linguistic language items (see 107. The Language of Opinions), but not for understanding auxiliary verb usage. My interest is in what exists between these two levels.

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COMMON USES

1. Repeating a Verb

Just as pronouns allow repetition of a noun’s meaning without repeating the noun itself, so auxiliary verbs allow a verb to be repeated (along with any dependent words like its object, complement or adverbs). DO repeats one-word verbs (excepting BE) and multi-word ones starting with itself; other auxiliaries repeat other multi-word verbs; BE repeats itself.

Repetition with DO is slightly tricky because sometimes it must be followed by so, it or that, sometimes not (see 212. Special Uses of “Do” 1).

One common context for verb repetition is expression of a similarity or difference:

(a) The Rocky Mountains HAVE BEEN FORMED recently, as HAVE The Himalayas.

(b) Reports often HAVE subheadings whereas essays DO not.

The two relevant verbs each time here are capitalised. The second verb in (a) is the same as the start of the first because that is an auxiliary, but is different in (b) because the first is an ordinary verb (see 275. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 3, #5).

Comparison with as can be tricky. In (a), the repetition of have directly after as, before its subject The Himalayas, says readers are assumed not to know the mentioned feature of The Himalayas. As directly before the subject of the auxiliary verb, by contrast, would indicate an assumption of already-existing reader knowledge (see 159. Exotic Grammar Structures 2, #1).

Various other expressions besides as can introduce a verb-based similarity – but they have only the informing use, with the auxiliary straight after. And so is a direct alternative; and nor or and neither link two similar negative points. For more on expressing similarities, see 149. Saying How Things are Similar.

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2. Speculating and Contending

Both of these state an opinion or belief. The difference, I feel, is that speculating is not backed up by good factual evidence – it is just an idea about what might be true (see 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning) – whereas contending needs a context of evidence and reasoning (see 167. Ways of Arguing 1).

In academic writing, both statement types are often explicitly marked as non-factual (see the end of 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). Auxiliary verbs are one of various ways to do this without using informal I think (see 107. The Language of Opinions). Different verbs show different belief strengths: may well (around 70% truth likelihood), may (50%), could well (40%), might (30%) and could (10%). Two common sentence types are:

(c) Intelligent life MAY WELL (etc.) exist on other planets.

(d) It MAY WELL (etc.) be (the case) that intelligent life exists on other planets.

Sentences like (d) are often an attempted explanation of a preceding statement (see 289. Exotic Grammar Structures 8, #2).

Can is also usable with certain passive argument verbs (e.g. can be argued: see #4 below). For a discussion of which ones, see the end of 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”. No particular strength likelihood is implied.

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3. Predicting

Predictions are speculations or contentions about the future. They do not have to involve an auxiliary verb (see 147. Types of Future Meaning, #1), but if they do, a choice is again available.

The choice of auxiliary depends on how confident the speaker is that the prediction will be fulfilled. Strong confidence can be shown with will. This is unlikely to be understood as fact-indicating because everybody knows the future is hardly ever certain (see 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). Lower levels of confidence can be shown with the auxiliaries listed in the section above, plus should or ought to for around 90% likelihood.

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4. Showing Ownership of an Idea

Sometimes writers need to clearly signal that a point is their own rather than other people’s (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text). The simplest way is with I or we (or a derivative like my), but this is often felt to be stylistically inappropriate in professional writing (see 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”). A common alternative is making the verb passive, enabling its offending subject to be left unmentioned.

However, the ordinary passive form often reports rather than makes a point – suggesting “by other people” or “by me elsewhere” (exceptions seem mainly to be with thought verbs like BELIEVE, FEEL and RECOGNISE). To overcome this, can or may must be included:

(e) Verbs representing writer actions CAN BE called “writer verbs”.

This use of the naming verb CALL creates the new name “writer verbs” (see 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action). As a result, the name is attributed to the writer. Replacing can be with are would attribute the name to other people or the writer elsewhere (see 206. Ways of Conveying a Name).

Name verbs (CALL, NAME, REFER TO AS etc.) are one of various types with this possibility. Others introduce contentions (ARGUE, CONTEND, HOLD, MAINTAIN), definitions (DEFINE), descriptions (DESCRIBE, PORTRAY), examples (EXEMPLIFY, ILLUSTRATE), classifications (CLASSIFY etc. – see 162. Writing about Classifications), and perspectives (CONSIDER, THINK OF, VISUALISE).

These last also allow the more tentative could as well as can or may, perhaps because the information is more subjective.

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5. Highlighting a Graphic

Visual information in expository texts needs the reader’s attention at some point, and writers like to say when. A common way is with as + passive verb. The verb may represent a reader action like “understand” or a writer one like “show”. Passives expressing reader actions always need can, may or will, e.g. as can be understood from Fig. 2… (see 104. Naming Data Sources with “as”).

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6. Exemplifying

Might can show an example like this:

(f) Most animals can protect themselves. They MIGHT possess a sting, or be able to run fast.

Without might here, the message would be that most animals have only two means of protecting themselves (stinging or running). Might expresses the fundamental example quality of “much less than all” (see 1. Simple Example-Giving), thus showing that animals have many more than two protection means. For full details, see 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #6.

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7. Low-Level Generalising

Many generalisations are statements about a group, Some give information that is true of all members of the group, but many have to allow for exceptions, and refer instead to “most” or “many” or “some” (see the end of 95. Making Statements More Uncertain 1). They commonly do so with adjectives like most, many and some, or adverbs like usually, often and sometimes. The meaning of “some”, however, is also expressible with the modal verb can:

(g) Mammals can be found in the ocean.

Can here does not express simple ability. The sentence does not mean that all mammals have the ability to be found in the ocean!

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8. Conceding

Concessions accept an inconvenient fact. They are quite common in arguments that they do not support, such as the following criticism of new road construction:

(h) New roads MAY ease traffic congestion, BUT they increase overall traffic volumes.

This suggests traffic-easing is not a good enough reason to support new roads. May is a common way of signalling concessions, along with a later but (or equivalent) introducing a fact in support of the writer’s own belief. For a fuller analysis, see 51. Making Concessions with “May”.

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9. Pressing

This is my term for auxiliary verb uses that try to influence the way people behave. It includes commands and regulations (must, shall, BE to), advice and recommendations (need, ought to, should), suggestions (could, might), and pleas (have to, must).

It is important to distinguish between creating pressure and relaying it. For example, you must read could be the speaker’s command to read, or somebody else’s just being passed on (see 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action). HAVE TO is particularly (but not exclusively) associated with the latter. For more information about some of these auxiliaries, see 129. Differences between Necessity Verbs and 187. Advising and Recommending.

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10. Requesting

Spoken requests are common in professional contexts. They have different modal verbs according to whether the request is for action by the requesting or the requested person. Compare:

(i) CAN/MAY I ask you a question?

(j) CAN/WILL you look at this essay?

The modal in (i) precedes I (creating a permission request), that in (j) you (creating an assistance request). Both allow can, but only (i) allows may. It is a common error to use may in sentences like (j) (see 303. Confusions of Similar Structures 4, #6). Doing so actually creates not a request but a blessing (or curse).

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11. Indicating Purpose

Purpose-naming verbs after so that or in order that need can, may or will in present time, and could, might or would in the past (see 60. Purpose Sentences with “For”).

If a verb after so that has no auxiliary at all, it is probably expressing a consequence (an actual occurrence) rather than a planned purpose (see 32. Expressing Consequences). Consequence verbs after so that do actually have an auxiliary sometimes, but one with a different auxiliary meaning from that of purpose (see 288. Grammatical Subtleties, #4).

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12. Indicating Possibilities

“Possibility” can variably mean opportunity, ability, permission or choice (see 181. Expressing Possibility). All these can be shown with can, and some allow may too. Examples are:

(k) (OPPORTUNITY) Graduates CAN obtain better-paid jobs.

(l) (ABILITY) Birds CAN fly.

(m) (PERMISSION) Graduates CAN/MAY use the study room.

(n) (CHOICE) Routes CAN/MAY/COULD/SHOULD be via New York or Orlando.

For an explanation of the differences here, see the above-mentioned post. For details of “choice”, see 266. Indicating Alternatives, #2. See also the discussion of was able to in 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #2.

For further points about auxiliary verbs, see 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can” and 192. When BE can be Omitted.

213. Special Uses of “Do” 2

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“Do” may have no object noun or more than one, or appear in multi-word verbs, or become a noun

THE VARIETY OF USES OF “do”

The word do is like various other small words in possessing a wide variety of meanings and uses. Indeed, it has so many that, unlike other such words considered within these pages (cf. posts on have,  make,  go,  give, take and come), it needs more than a single post. This one is a continuation of 212. Special Uses of “do” 1.

In the earlier post, the focus is on how the verb DO refers both back and forward to another verb, and also on the kinds of noun object that DO typically has. Here, I wish to consider some other uses of the verb, along with some noun uses, some other words derived from do, and some fixed expressions containing it.

These are not every single remaining aspect of do. In keeping with the general aims of this blog I have little to say about the numerous conversational uses of do or the basic grammar of “auxiliary” DO with other verbs to make them interrogative, negative or emphatic (for something on the latter, though, see 125. Stress and Emphasis, #2).

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ADDITIONAL VERB USES

1. Alone as an Ordinary Intransitive Verb

DO can be used without any following object words as a rather informal way of expressing two main meanings. One of these is illustrated in the familiar greeting How do you do?, which literally means “how are you managing currently with life?” It is the second do here that carries this meaning, the first being the auxiliary usage necessitated by the question form of the sentence. One other verb with more or less the same meaning is FARE, which is also typically found without an object.

This “manage” meaning of lone DO is also common in relation to specific activities, where it comes to resemble the meaning of PERFORM. It seems usually to require a following adverb meaning “well” or “badly”, except in questions, where the question word – always how – is a replacement. Thus, the question How are you doing? – typically asked of someone in the middle of a project or task – means “how are you managing with this activity?” A use in more formal contexts might look like this:

(a) The participants did well on/with small tasks.

Sometimes do well is used with would and a following to verb (…would do well to…) to express the additional meaning of advice-giving (see 187. Advising and Recommending).

The second main meaning of DO used intransitively is “suffice”. It usually needs a preceding “modal” verb like may, will or should, and again it is slightly informal in tone. In formal contexts, its subject tends to be an abstract one, such as a quantity, quality, behaviour or theory, as in these examples:

(b) To ensure retention, 30 minutes of study per day should do.

(c) It will not do to say that only motivation is needed.

Verbs meaning “suffice” can express a sufficiency of something undesirable as well as desirable, implying in the process a wish for its supply to be stopped (see 189. Expressing Sufficiency). DO is likely to have a subject with this kind of meaning in the notable conversational expression That will do (= “stop behaving like that”). The use of that instead of this is typical for referring to something disagreeable (see 234. Adjective and Pronoun Uses of “that”).

One other (less common) meaning of intransitive DO is “be finished”. It mostly needs DO to be in the present perfect or past perfect tense with the finisher as its subject, e.g. The builders have/had done. A rather illogical alternative, however, is the passive form (…are done), which is similar to the passive form given to a few never-passive verbs like RISE (e.g. is risen) in order to indicate a resultant state (see 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #1).

Note, finally, that the standard meaning of DO (= accomplish) cannot be used without an object. To avoid the common error of saying *do like this, you must either add an object like it or use ACT instead (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors).

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2. With an Indirect Object

An indirect object is an extra noun or equivalent sometimes found after a verb alongside its ordinary (“direct”) object. It usually represents a beneficiary or recipient of the action or situation expressed by the verb and its object, and may go before or after the direct object, in the latter case with to or for in front (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object). DO again has two main meanings when used in this way.

One meaning, rather informal, is “put together for someone”, as in do visitors a meal or do the clients a dossier. The indirect object (underlined in the examples) needs for if it follows the direct one.

The other meaning, more likely to occur in formal writing, is “bring”. The object noun tends to be a favour, good, justice or harm. One might say, for example, does his friends a favour, will do you good (= will bring a good effect to you), or did their prospects justice/no harm. If the indirect object follows the object, it needs for in the first case (…a favour for his friends), and to in the others (…justice to their prospects).

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3. In Multi-Word Verbs

The majority of English multi-word verbs are close combinations of a verb with either a preposition, forming “prepositional” verbs such as DEPEND ON… and COPE WITH… (see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs), or a preposition-like adverb, forming “phrasal” verbs like TURN … ON and BREAK OUT (see 139. Phrasal Verbs). In many cases there is a more formal one-word equivalent (see 108. Formal and Informal Words). DO makes a small number of multi-word verbs in each category.

The most common prepositional verb made with DO is probably DO WITHOUT… (= manage without having). Unusually, it can drop its object, thereby becoming phrasal. Also found are DO FOR… (= terminate), COULD DO WITH… (“need”), and HAVE DONE WITH… (= finish dealing with) as in this example:

(d) All departments have done with examinations by 30th June.

Also notable are the prepositional verbs containing a noun DO WORK/A JOB ON…, DO (somebody) OUT OF… (= steal…from somebody by cheating) and DO SOMETHING ABOUT… (= act to solve). The SOMETHING in the last of these is fairly fixed but can be replaced by what (either interrogative or relative) positioned before the subject (what they will do about…).

Phrasal combinations include DO…UP (= refurbish or close with buttons) and DO…IN (= greatly tire or murder). In addition, there is a phrasal-prepositional combination DO AWAY WITH (= abolish).

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4. In Longer One-Word Verbs

DO can be made into a longer single verb by adding a prefix. Examples include OUTDO, OVERDO, REDO, UNDERDO and UNDO.

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OTHER USES

5. As a Noun

There are two nouns related to the verb DO: a do and a deed. A do is an informal name for a social event. It resembles various other informal nouns that are spelt exactly as their verb, such as a go, a drink, a sleep and a think (see 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE, #6). It can also be used after HAVE, but not as something received: to have a do is to initiate one rather than attend one. Other possible preceding verbs include PUT ON, ATTEND and GO TO.

A deed is not informal. It can mean “doing” or “thing that has been done”. The former is an “action” noun (see 249. Action Noun Endings). As such, it is often the object of CARRY OUT, PERFORM or even DO (see 173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”?).

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6. In Idioms and Other Fixed Expressions

The combination to do with is often used after BE or HAVE to indicate a vague causal connection, like this:

(e) The increase in sales is/has to do with recent news events.

(f) The way clouds form is/has to do with water condensation.

The negative is usually made by placing nothing before to do. One can also place everything there to make the positive form emphatic. In conversation, BE/HAVE (or, more informally, HAVE GOT) nothing to do with (someone) often implies that the person in question should not interfere in whatever is represented by the subject of BE/HAVE.

An alternative meaning of HAVE nothing to do with is “have no social connection with”. If this is deliberate, so that the meaning is “shun” or “avoid”, a preceding must or will can say so without ambiguity.

The expression DO (someone) proud means “act in a way that makes (someone) proud”. The adjective proud is probably an object complement. Two expressions where the object of DO is an adjective without a noun are DO (one’s) best/utmost (= do everything possible) and DO the necessary (see 102. Adjectives with No Noun 2).

Other expressions include when all is said and done (introducing a basic point that is not affected by argument), …is do or die (= must be done whatever the consequences), MAKE DO (= manage with insufficient resources), and conversational that does it (= that makes remedial action necessary). In the expression take some doing (= be very difficult to do), some has the unusual meaning of “very much” (see 256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words, #1).

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7. In Longer Words

In addition to the verbs listed earlier, do also helps to make the longer words doable, a doer and a hairdo. Also notable is a misdeed, a harmful or antisocial action.

202. Some Strategies for Learning English

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Researchers have identified various measures that can be taken to maximise language learning success

STRATEGIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Much research has been carried out into requirements for successful language learning. A rather surprising result is that there is no definitive list, but rather a great multitude of possibilities that do not all exist together in any one learner but which have different subsets possessed by different learners. The reason is probably that no two learners are alike, so that what brings success for some will not do so for others. To take one good example, having a good memory is obviously useful for language learning, but many learners succeed without it, relying instead on such qualities as determination and personal organization.

Nevertheless, there are some factors that do seem to be more important than others. Encouragingly, they tend not to be natural talents – logical given the fact that learning a new language is achievable by almost everyone. Motivation, for example, is usually necessary in order to achieve the perseverance required to master complicated grammar rules and large amounts of vocabulary. Knowledge of key things to do to maximise success – commonly called “language-learning strategies” – also falls into this category.

In this post I wish to describe some language-learning strategies that can be easily related to the unique features of English. Readers wishing to read more about strategies may be interested in the communication ones suggested in 80. How to Paraphrase,  177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text and 265. Grammar Tools for Better Writing.

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ENGLISH-LEARNING STRATEGIES

To learn any new language, one basically needs to do two kinds of thing: acquire knowledge, and practise using it. Without knowledge, one is obviously constrained in what one can say and understand; without practice, the knowledge will be inaccurately applied, even if memorised with great determination. Some of the strategies that I wish to mention assist knowledge acquisition, others assist practice.

KNOWLEDGE STRATEGIES

1. Discover your Errors

Errors of all kinds (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling) are inevitable, and often necessary. However, they also need eventually to be minimised, and this can be greatly helped by discovering what they are.

One simple discovery method is observing how people react when you are communicating with them: if they fail to understand you, or you fail to understand them, then your language is probably faulty in some way. A problem with relying just on other people’s reactions, however, is that they are not reliable: people might not show any reaction at all to an error because they have anyway recognised what you are trying to say, or because they are too polite to show that they are struggling. As a result, you need to find other sources of help.

Possibilities include a tutor, friend or colleague who is willing to check the linguistic accuracy of your output; or a computerised language analysis tool (despite the imperfections noted in 275. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 3); or answers to test and practice exercises. This blog has various tests that can help weaknesses to be discovered (see 138. Grammar Command Test 1,  193. A Test of Formal Language Use and 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive).

However you discover an error tendency, you need to act to reduce it. Making a note of it will help you remember what it is. There can also be value in analysing why the error occurred. For details, see below (also 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes).

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2. Maintain Learning even when Communication is Easy

It seems logical that learning a new language can stop when one feels comfortable using it. However, that feeling of comfort does not mean that knowledge of the language is at a high level. Many adult learners of English manage to communicate successfully despite numerous errors of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Even accurate learners rarely come close to the competence of people who have spoken English from birth.

A major problem with stopping serious study of a new language is that it frequently leads to “fossilization”: conversion (through excessive repetition) of many of the errors still being made into habits so deep that they become very difficult to erase. Fossilization clearly needs to be avoided if you wish to become an expert user of English, and that means proactively continuing to identify and work on your weaknesses even after achieving a good level of communicative competence.

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3. Appreciate the Need for /ə/

Pronouncing English accurately requires mastery of much more than the individual consonant and vowel sounds of English and their possible and impossible positions and combinations. Most learners of English do know many of the extras, such as misleading spellings (extensively illustrated in this blog in posts like 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings and 155. Silent Consonants) and word stress patterns (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

However, there are numerous aspects that seem less widely known (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets). One that is rarely mastered well is the very frequent tendency of unstressed English vowels to be pronounced /ә/ (like “e” in the) despite being spelt differently, so that /ә/ is actually the most common vowel sound in English. The unstressed “u” in industry, for example, is typically pronounced /ә/, not /ʌ/ (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud, #5).

Awareness of this trend is vital for communicating in Standard English. Pronouncing every vowel in every word exactly as it is spelt not only sounds unnatural to the majority of English speakers, but can even cause misunderstandings (see, for example, the discussions of can/can’t and and eighty in 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly).

To improve awareness, you could consider how to recognise unstressed syllables needing /ә/, and practise pronouncing them. Checking a dictionary, observing the pronunciation of expert speakers, and noting typical spellings of unstressed syllables (e.g. com- or -ness) are all useful recognition strategies.
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PRACTICE STRATEGIES

1. Understand Why Errors Occur

Errors are not all the same, but can be classified into a variety of types. It is useful to know what these types are because they should not all be dealt with in the same way. Here are some common types and suggestions for dealing with them.

SLIPS OF THE PEN/TONGUE: These are not caused by linguistic weakness – anyone can suffer them. They are usually mechanical accidents, for example unintentionally pressing the wrong computer key. They are unlikely to be systematically repeated and can hence be ignored.

KNOWLEDGE ERRORS: These result from faulty knowledge, e.g. a belief that generalizing with plural nouns needs the (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”). There are various possible causes. Mother tongue rules are often behind misuse of the. Complicated rules, such as those for forming “tag” questions, are a frequent problem (see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1), as are pairs of confusingly similar rules (see 133. Confusions of Similar Structures 1). The synonyms of a word or structure can cause errors with it if they follow different rules (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1). Faulty knowledge is hard to identify by oneself: it is an error type that other people’s assistance is especially suited to.

SKILL ERRORS: These happen regularly despite the relevant rule being well known, probably because there has not yet been enough practice in applying the rule under the real-world pressures of multi-tasking in writing or reacting quickly in speaking. Further practice will sometimes eliminate skill errors, but while they persist an effort should still be made to identify and consciously avoid them. Errors with passive verb forms quite often seem of this type (see 142. Grammar Errors with Passive Verbs), as do organizational errors in writing (see 222. Information Orders in Texts).

DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS: These are a type of skill error that is especially likely to happen but to disappear by itself without needing special attention. They are a necessary step towards full mastery of a complicated rule, and are made by most language learners. They usually need academic research to be identified; they may be worth noting if the results of such research can be accessed.

AVOIDANCE ERRORS: These result from reluctance to use a complicated structure. A typical example is saying isn’t it? in all “tag” questions because the varying correct forms need so much effort. It needs to be appreciated that effort is important for language development, and that resultant errors are nothing to fear.

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2. Practise Production as well as Understanding

A famous theory of the 1980s (championed by Stephen Krashen) argued that practising understanding a new language was enough to develop speaking ability. Most experts today disagree with this, urging speaking practice as well. My own experience suggests they are right: I learned French at school with equal attention to speaking and understanding, and I speak it probably better than I understand it; but I have taught myself Spanish in the Krashen way, and my speaking of it is much worse than my understanding.

Some people wonder how they can practise speaking when they cannot think of particular words or structures. The answer is that most things we cannot say can be paraphrased with language we know (see 80. How to Paraphrase).

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3. Practise the Written Language as much as the Spoken

Learning reading and writing in a new language differs in a rather unexpected way from learning speaking and listening: it cannot be acquired just by living where the new language is the main one in use. It must additionally be studied and practised in the formal way typical, for example, of school or college. This is true even for learners who are very literate in their mother tongue and speak their new language extremely well: their literacy rarely transfers without special tuition.

I once encountered evidence for this tendency when teaching an advanced English course to university students from other European countries. One had been brought up in his country by an English mother. His spoken English was as natural as my own, but his writing was no different from that of his peers. He had been taught to read and write in their language, and had apparently not practised very much at all in English. I note also that my own 12 year-old grand-daughter, who attends school in Spain, is already much happier reading Spanish than English. Her school offers special after-hours lessons in English literacy. This kind of practice seems essential.

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4. View Tutors as Facilitators, not Gift-Bearers

Language learning success depends much more on the learner than any tutor. The main role of tutors is to provide information about the language and to arrange as much top-quality practice as time allows. What they cannot guarantee is that the learners will work hard to memorise the information and will approach the practice in a serious and honest way, whilst seeking to supplement it outside class whenever opportunities arise. Only learners can do these things, and only by doing them will they make good progress. No tutor can make language-learning effortless for the learner.

186. Language in Oral Presentations

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Oral presentation language is fairly variable, but some expressions are more likely than others

THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Oral presentations are common in both the business and academic worlds. This means there is plenty of published advice on how to do them successfully. There are normally three types of skill that tend to be considered: composition (selecting and organizing the content), delivery (voice projection, pace, eye contact, visual aids etc.), and language. It is, of course, the last of these that tends to receive especial attention in courses for speakers whose mother tongue is not English.

Given the aims of this blog, it is language skills that also feature strongly here. However, since the blog also aims to avoid simply repeating what is said elsewhere, I have sought to include linguistic points that are not often made.

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A KEY DELIVERY SKILL

Although delivery is not the primary concern here, one aspect needs to be highlighted because of its centrality and potential to affect language choice. This is the skill of remembering what to say without writing it all down and reading it to the audience. Reading aloud is an important skill in academia and business, with its own delivery and language subskills (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud), but it is often not the best method of oral presentation.

The fundamental problem with presentation by reading is that audiences can find it hard to follow. There are good reasons why. Firstly, pre-written texts for reading aloud are linguistically very different from spontaneous speech. A linguistic difference between written and spoken English has always been recognised, but it is only recently that the extent of this difference has been appreciated. It is quite new for separate grammars of spoken and written English to appear, and for the separate spoken and written vocabularies – illustrated in this blog in 108. Formal & Informal Words – to be extensively explored. These linguistic differences make extended reading aloud burdensome to audiences because they force them to listen to a kind of language that they are not used to hearing.

Secondly, pre-written texts differ from spontaneous speech in the way they package the information in them. Whereas written information tends to be given efficiently, with minimal repetition (see 24. Good and Bad Repetition), spoken information tends to be more spread out, with deliberate repetition. The probable reason is that efficient information-giving is less of a problem for readers because they can stop reading at will to re-read or reflect; but it challenges listeners because they can rarely stop the flow of speech, and hence need the information to be less dense to give them time to take it in.

Another problem with reading presentations aloud is that it reduces the speaker’s eye-contact with the audience. The value of eye-contact is said to be the way it simultaneously motivates audiences to listen and informs speakers about the effect of their words.

The most common way of remembering what to say in oral presentations without writing it all down first is by means of notes. These should be much briefer than a mere representation of the entire talk in abbreviated form. What they include should act as reminders of what they leave out. Keywords or headings, with or without a few abbreviated sentences, can be effective reminders. They might be listed all together in one place, or kept separate on cards or sequenced computer screens. It is often useful to reveal them to the audience.

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USEFUL LANGUAGE

The three main stages of a presentation – beginning, middle and end – each have some characteristic language.

1. At the Beginning

After an initial greeting and reminder of the title, it is customary to indicate the overall structure of the talk, naming its sections in the order of their occurrence. One way to do this is with I will, I shall, I am going to or even I want to, followed by a speaking or thinking verb (often like those in essay instructions), such as argue, consider, describe, examine, explain, indicate, outline, present or survey. Verbs of a more informal kind are also common, e.g. deal with, look at and touch on.

These same verbs can also have a subject referring to some or all of the presentation itself, rather than I, such as the first part, section 3 or my main argument. Will must then be used in preference to shall, and there will be becomes a further option. For more on will/shall in introductions, see 147. Types of Future Meaning, #5.

The verbs that show the structure of a presentation will often follow a connector of the time-sequence kind. Common ones are to begin with, initially, afterwards, following that, next, subsequently, then, finally and lastly, as well as number adverbs like first(ly) and secondly (see 227. Time Adverbs). This use of such expressions at the start of a presentation is not quite the same as that within the main body of a text.

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2. In the Middle

Sections in the middle of a presentation usually need their beginnings and endings clearly signalled. A major type of beginning signaller is adverb-like connectors such as next, now, well, OK and number adverbs (firstly, secondly, etc.). For more about now, see 157. Tricky Word Contrasts 5, #2. Well seems mostly to begin the very first point after the general introduction:

(a) In this talk I will be dealing with the various aids available for language learning. Well, dictionaries are an obvious starting point.

Connectors indicating the start of a section can, like most other connectors, be easily paraphrased (see 112. Synonyms of Connectors). A common paraphrase is another. As an adjective, it needs a following noun, e.g.:

(b) ANOTHER useful language learning aid is recording devices.

Using another has the special value of reminding the audience of the list that the new section topic belongs to (underlined). Moreover, it can come later in the sentence (…is/are another X), enabling the starting words to name the new topic (recording devices above).

A further connector synonym is turning to… – useful for topic naming alongside further information in a single sentence. It must go first and, like another, precede a noun or equivalent.

A topic-introducing connector can also be paraphrased in an entire sentence:

(c) Now let me turn to the third advantage.

This is a longer way of saying thirdly. The value of such sentences is that they give both speaker and audience the time to think that is so important in oral communication.

After a topic beginning has been marked with a connector, some verbs are especially common. Where the connector is number-indicating, like thirdly, the verb is likely to be there is (see 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists); after other connectors, notable verbs are COME TO, CONSIDER, EXAMINE, EXPLORE, PRESENT and TURN TO (number adverbs tend only to accompany these within the introductory description of a talk’s overall structure).

Most of these verbs typically follow I (or we) + am/are going to, need to, want to or wish to. They can also follow let me…/us… (see 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing, #7). Only COME TO is exceptional: it just follows I / we, e.g. Now we come to… (see 290. Ways of Using COME, #5).

An alternative to any of these verbs after an introductory connector is a direct question:

(d) Now, what is the most common type of language learning aid?

This is a “rhetorical” question: not inviting an answer from the audience. In writing it would often need an indirect form (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing). Topic-introducing rhetorical questions may use any of the question words, though what about…? can only introduce a topic after the first (see 274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning, #8). Spoken answers to a rhetorical question very often begin with Well, … (see 297. Types of Response to a Question, #5).

After a new section has been signalled and named, the discussion of each part within it should clearly indicate how that part is related to the part before and/or after it. Connectors are obviously useful again here, but mostly of the non-listing kind, such as therefore and for example. Sentence-form connector synonyms are again likely:

(e) Now what can we infer from this? (= “therefore”)

(f) Here’s an example that might make this clearer. (= “for example”)

Another notable kind of language in the central part of presentations accompanies the use of visual information. A visual display can be introduced with a phrase like look at this or here is a slide/ diagram/ table (etc.) showing… . Once the information is displayed, it can be referred to with SEE, e.g. see how…; here we see…; as you can see, … (preferable to the written equivalent as can be seen: see 104. Naming Data Sources with “As”), or with SHOW, e.g. as this shows; as shown here.

The end of each section within a presentation also needs a clear signal. Referring to the information in the section with that or those is especially common (see 234. Adjective and Pronoun Uses of “that”, #2). For example, a speaker might say that is (or those are) the… or that is the end of…. A verb in the present perfect tense can also be a signal, e.g. Right, this section has described…. (see 309. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 5, #2).

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3. At the End

The main things to do at the end of a presentation are to briefly answer the main question being addressed, indicate the arrival of the end, and invite questions.

Sometimes the first of these will be a consequence indicated by preceding arguments and/or evidence. It can be signalled with in conclusion or similar (see 168. Ways of Arguing 2), and will often need to be followed by a reminder of the main contributory points. At other times, the main question will already have been answered by means of a simple list, so that a summary is the only requirement at the end. This can be introduced by to conclude, as a conclusion, to finish or to sum up.

Possible phrases for signalling the end of a presentation are:

(g) Thank you (for listening/for your attention).

(h) That is all I have to say.

(i) And that brings this presentation to an end.

To invite questions, one might say:

(j) Now I’d like to invite questions.

(k) Now I will try to answer any questions you might have.

(l) If you wish to ask about anything, please do (so).

In (l), where do repeats an earlier verb (ask), leaving out so is more emphatic, almost urging (see 212. Special Uses of “Do” 1, #1).

166. Appropriacy in Professional English

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Grammar and vocabulary in professional contexts must meet requirements of style and tone

THE NATURE OF APPROPRIACY

The grammar and vocabulary that enable a particular thing to be said correctly in English is generally quite flexible (see 80. How to Paraphrase). However, some choices fit particular situations more suitably than others. For example, it is suitable in everyday conversation to speak of lions, but in technical zoological writing to speak of Felis leo. And in a letter demanding payment of unpaid bills it may be more suitable to speak of an outstanding sum, in order not to upset the addressee. It is choices like these that are commonly called “appropriacy”.

The first of the above examples illustrates a type of appropriacy known as “style”. The second illustrates “tone”. In this post I wish to explore these two different types of appropriacy in more depth. In the process, I hope to present and illustrate a wide range of potentially useful vocabulary and grammar.

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STYLISTIC APPROPRIACY

Wording that is stylistically appropriate is typical of the style (or type, or “register”) of writing where it is located (see 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words, #1). Styles are defined by such features as their subject matter, purpose and medium of communication. In the other parts of this blog where style features, the focus is mainly on the particular kind known as “academic”. Most of the language that is mentioned as appropriate to this style is vocabulary, such as obtain rather than get, large for big, numerous for a lot of, and encounter for come across (see 108. Formal and Informal Words).

Academic writing also makes stylistically appropriate grammatical choices. Some verb forms, such as the passive voice, enable unwanted pronouns like we to be avoided (see 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”). Indirect questions are generally preferred to direct ones for introducing a topic (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing). Coordinating conjunctions like and, but and so are not normally found at the start of a sentence (see 25. Conjunction Positioning).

Other styles of writing include literary, legal, journalistic, advisory and marketing. One characteristic of literary writing is its freedom to report historical speech in direct rather than indirect form (see 282. Features of History Writing, ‘#13). Another is a greater likelihood of poetic words like host (= crowd), mortals (= humans) and smite (= hit).

Legal writing has numerous specialized words, such as persons (= people), parties (= people who have made an agreement) and offence/felony (= crime). Journalistic writing likes short words like pay (= wages), mar (= spoil), ban (= prohibit) and woo (= try to persuade with promises). A grammatical feature is dropped the before people-describing nouns (e.g. … singer Bob Marley – see 77. Apposition).

Advisory writing is common in government leaflets and product instructions. You and your are common, as are imperative verbs and modals like should (see 128 Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing). There are often headings with a question word and infinitive verb, e.g. What to Do Next (see below).

Marketing texts, which seek to promote a good image, present products and services in the most positive possible way. As a result, positive-sounding words are much more common than negative-sounding ones. The messages cannot usually be called untruthful, but sometimes they are so close to it that they can mislead.

Examples of typical but possibly dubious marketing language include break to describe a broadcasting interruption for advertisements (see 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words, #2), new for products that have merely been changed (often for the worse), and price changes or adjustments instead of the more precise increases. London Transport notices refer to a good service when they mean normal and to track improvement instead of maintenance. A problem with this last is ambiguity: it is easily understood as improvement of the nature of the track when in fact it might only mean restoration of its optimum condition.

Marketing language of a less controversial kind includes imperative verbs that highlight an advantage of a product (Travel free of charge), and positive-sounding adjectives in restaurant menus (a delicious combination of exotic flavours).

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TONAL APPROPRIACY

While style is a consequence of the type of writing that one is engaged in, merely distinguishing one type from another, tone is a consequence of a writer thinking about emotions that need to be aroused or avoided in the reader. A particular point may be makeable with different tones within a single style, though some tones may help a particular style to be identified. Tonal choices may reflect the culture of the speakers of the language (just like some words – see 137. Words that Reflect English Culture).

The following tone types are important:

1. Polite

Polite language seeks to prevent the reader being offended. Various ways of communicating politely are mentioned elsewhere within these pages. In spoken interactions, polite requests often begin I would appreciate it if… (see 190. Special Uses of “it“, #4) or I would be grateful if… . Questions aimed at gaining information – which run the risk of irritating the addressee – will sound politer if asked indirectly rather than directly. The following, for example, are politer equivalents of What is your name? and Where is the library?:

(a) Could you tell me (what) your name (is)?

(b) I would like to know where the library is.

For more about this kind of question, see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing.

In professional writing, a common situation where polite language is likely to be necessary is discussion of controversial ideas, for example within academic literature reviews. What especially requires politeness here is expressing disagreement with another writer’s opinion – an obvious potential cause of hurt feelings. The Guinlist post 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts suggests that it is more polite to disagree with words than with people. Thus, instead of writing that Jones (2016) is simplistic or unconvincing, one can say that the argument or opinion is.

Moreover, the language expressing the actual disagreement is typically restrained. Cannot agree is more likely than disagree (because it suggests some effort has been made to agree). Unconvincing sounds politer than simplistic because it is vaguer about the reason for rejection. Similarly useful are debatable and questionable.

Another strategy, often mentioned in Business English coursebooks, is to put not very before the positive equivalent of a negative word. Thus, instead of useless, it sounds politer to say not very useful (see 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning, #6), and difficult can become not very easy.

For more examples of negative words, see 13. Hidden Negatives,  106. Word-like Suffixes and 146. Some Important Prefix Types. For some other ways of sounding polite, see 156. Mentioning What the Reader Knows Already, #4 and #5.

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2. Image-Conscious

Sometimes one has to say something negative about oneself. Writers who are worried about this causing their reader to judge them unfavourably have various ways of presenting the negative point in the best possible light. Not very is again useful. Negative verbs like have not received can be put into the to form after APPEAR (We appear not to have received…). Blunt words like late, lost and debt can be replaced by words that sound somehow less accusing, such as delayed, mislaid and outstanding sum.

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3. Friendly

Sounding friendly is a particular goal of marketing language. One of the most ubiquitous means of achieving it is “personal” words like my and your. Most computer users will be familiar with the name My Computer that Microsoft used to give to its file-exploring program (along with folder names like My Music).

Your is very commonly linked with consumer products. Who has not encountered phrases like your new phone or your smart TV, even when these have been purchased for somebody else? Your is also increasingly popular with information documents like bank statements and bills. Even in academic writing, there are some advocates of using you more than is traditional – for example in laboratory instructions – in order to sound friendlier.

One problem with such words is that they do not always ring true. My computer assumes that the user of the computer is always its owner. The much more neutral this, which I personally always used to overwrite my with, leaves the ownership open. Thankfully, Microsoft too now seem to have stopped using my. However, expressions like your bill continue to proliferate. I find this particular one irksome because I see the bill as the sender’s not mine!

The problem is further illustrated by an experience I had some years ago, when I sent a short piece about a degree course I was involved in to my university’s marketing department. I wrote that students would do various things, but when the piece was published, this word had become you. I phoned to complain that you referred to the reader, who might be a parent or teacher of students rather than the students themselves, but was told that using you was “corporate policy”. Sounding friendly, it seemed, was more important than being accurate.

Not all ways of sounding friendly, however, are problematic. For example, much marketing literature these days uses questions as topic headings instead of the nouns that are typical of headings elsewhere (see 178. How to Write a Heading). Some are direct questions (e.g. Who should I contact? What to do?) but many drop their question mark to become indirect (see the end of 105. Questions with a to Verb). Questions reflect the reader’s point of view rather than the writer’s. In most cases they are not isolated but located within lists of so-called “FAQs” (frequently asked questions).

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4. Status-Influenced

Language changes according to whether it is addressed to somebody in a superior, equal or inferior position. For example, if you are seeking to have an action performed by a superior, you are likely to use a request, whereas one needing to be performed by an inferior is likely to result in a command. Consider these words uttered by a student to a lecturer:

(c) Would you mind looking again at what I have written?

A lecturer wanting a student to do the same thing could easily begin I want you to look or please look (please seems to be becoming more associated in English with commands than requests!). A student speaking to another student, on the other hand, might prefer a suggestion (why don’t you look).

Status-influenced variation is also seen with accusations and complaints. Superiors can generally be more negative in their language than inferiors. Consider these words uttered by an employer to an employee:

(d) You are failing to act in an appropriate fashion.

An employee making the same point to their employer would need to avoid the negative failing, a possible solution being:

(e) We wonder whether a different approach might be possible.