298. Grammar Meanings without Grammar

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Meanings expressed by grammar can sometimes be expressed with vocabulary instead

THE IDEA OF GRAMMATICAL MEANING

Grammar has meaning just as ordinary words do. For example, the grammatical option of placing the verb BE before its subject conveys the meaning of “question”, not adding -s to a noun makes the noun represent something singular, and using the word than – a kind of word that many linguists call a “grammatical item” – helps to express the idea of “relative difference” (see 216. Indicating Differences).

An interesting observation about grammatical meanings in any particular language is that they are not all likely to keep their grammatical nature when translated into another language – some instead have to be expressed with ordinary vocabulary. This is a well-known need, for example, with translations into any form of Chinese, a language that possesses far fewer grammar-based meanings than most. In English, it is a need when translating the idea of an “indirect” object from the ancient European language Latin: where Latin gives this meaning to nouns through a special ending, English does so through to or for in front (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).

Recognising that grammatical meanings of or within words do not have to be conveyed by a grammatical form quickly leads to wondering how easily ordinary English words can replace English grammatical forms. If this is widely possible, it would be especially useful for paraphrasing for such purposes as avoiding difficult grammar in speech or reporting the content of written academic sources (see 80. How to Paraphrase).

My deliberations on this topic suggest that paraphrasing grammatical forms with ordinary words is possible sometimes in English but not always. Two paraphrasable categories are presented elsewhere within these pages in 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can” and 205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds. Here, I consider some non-paraphrasable categories, along with further paraphrasable ones.

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NON-PARAPHRASABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS

1. Verb Tenses

It is easy, in searching for words that mean the same as English tense forms, to find numerous possibilities. Because tenses tend to be time-focussed, adverbs in particular come to mind. The following are common ones corresponding to various meanings of major tenses (for more examples, see 227. Time Adverbs):

PRESENT SIMPLE: currently, now, today, always, generally, typically

PRESENT/PAST CONTINUOUS: continually, continuously, concurrently, regularly, repeatedly, simultaneously, still

FUTURE: henceforth, hereafter, imminently, shortly, soon, tomorrow

PAST SIMPLE: ago, formerly, historically, once, subsequently, then, yesterday

PRESENT PERFECT: already, before, just, lately, recently

Unfortunately, tense-related words such as these are not alternatives to a tense but reinforcements. English verbs cannot have one of them instead of their tense marker. Although there are verb forms that do not show a tense (the “non-finite” participle and infinitive forms) combining one of those with an adverb like the above does not create an alternative to tense usage: the verb remains an infinitive or participle. For more on participles versus tenses, see 52. Participles Placed Just after their Noun.

Yet tense-form replacement is not 100% impossible. Verbs like PROMISE and PREDICT, for example, often allow removal of will – e.g. I will pay can become I promise to pay or I promise payment; and X will… can become X is predicted to…. These possibilities exist because the very meaning of such verbs implies the future (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”). 

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2. Plural Meaning of Nouns

The idea of “more than one” that many English nouns express grammatically with -s is again carried by numerous ordinary words that can accompany -s, but again none of them can replace it. As well as number adjectives (except one), familiar words of this kind include no, enough, both, some, a few, several, many, numerous, these, those and all.

Although a countable noun without -s will be understood as plural after any of these words, it will also be recognized as ungrammatical (see 204. Grammatical Agreement).

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3. Comparative Adjective Forms

Seeming alternatives to -er or more added to an adjective include the adverbs comparatively, in comparison and relatively and the prepositional expressions compared to and in comparison with. The adverbs do sometimes appear able to replace their grammatical counterparts. For example, the statement Oil is heavier (with than… left unsaid through being obvious from the context) is easily paraphrased as Oil is relatively heavy. However, if the than… part has to be said, only the comparative adjective is possible.

The prepositional expressions seem more able to replace -er or more, but they still have some limitations They need the than part to be explicit, but without than:

(a) Oil is heavy compared to water.

Surprisingly, the removal of the need for a comparative + than in such sentences does not always make things easier: including a comparative alongside compared to is a fairly common error (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #5).

A further limitation of compared to is that it is probably not a true paraphrase of comparative forms. Instead, it suggests that the meaning of the relevant adjective or adverb (heavy above) is not a typical feature of the noun idea it describes (oil: see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions, #3).

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REPLACEABLE GRAMMATICAL FORMS

Grammatical forms that can fairly easily become ordinary words seem more numerous than those that cannot.

4. “Not”

The meaning of not can be expressed with either grammar or ordinary vocabulary in numerous ways (see 310. Aspects of Negation). The vocabulary includes:

OTHER ADVERBS: never, rarely, scarcely

PREFIXES: unacceptable, incompetent, dislike, non-stop, apolitical (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types)

SUFFIXES: useless, sugar-free

VERBS: AVOID, DENY, REFUSE, FAIL, NEGLECT, MISS, LACK, EXCLUDE

ADJECTIVES: absent, bogus, debatable, erroneous, exceptional, false, mythical, negative, negligible, negligible, questionable, wrong (see 7. Hidden Negatives)

NOUNS: a lie, a falsehood, an error, a mirage

OTHER: instead of

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5. Possessive Apostrophes

A well-known alternative to these is of, as in the ideas of Einstein meaning Einstein’s ideas. If this of use is still considered rather grammar-like, an occasional equivalent that is less so is a participle phrase like belonging to or originating with (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #2).

Another way to avoid a possessive apostrophe is simply to drop it. For example, blacksmiths’ tools and Sydney’s climate still express their meanings acceptably as blacksmith tools and the Sydney climate. Note, though, that such changes often bring a new article requirement, such as the added the before Sydney above. The reason is that the absence of -’s causes the second of two successive nouns instead of the first to determine the article, and climate needs the (see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns, third section).

Yet replacing a possessive apostrophe in either of the above ways is not always possible. Sometimes, a preposition other than of is necessary. For example, the equivalent of a visitors’ entrance is usually an entrance for visitors. Often, a dropped -’s is either ungrammatical or different in meaning. The former is the case with, for example, France’s wines, Fathers’ Day, women’s rights and Newton’s time. The latter is illustrated by the contrast between a weekend’s work (= “work lasting a weekend”) and weekend work (= “work done at weekends”). For an in-depth discussion, see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings.

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6. Passive Verb Forms

The most widely-mentioned way of avoiding a passive verb form is by changing its subject into the object of the verb’s active form. However, this is not an exact paraphrase because it changes the way the sentence relates to its neighbours (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).

There are various alternative strategies, though none seems possible in every case. Probably the most useful is exchanging the verb for one whose active form means the same as the unwanted passive, so that word-order changes become unnecessary. Such verbs are surprisingly numerous, e.g.:

BE FILLED WITH – CONTAIN
BE AFFLICTED BY – SUFFER
BE SENT – GO
BE LENT – BORROW
BE INFORMED BY – UNDERSTAND FROM
BE CAUSED BY – RESULT FROM
BE OWNED BY – BELONG TO

For a more in-depth survey, see the above-mentioned post.

Sometimes, a passive verb with can be (e.g. can be divided) is replaceable by BE and a related -able or -ible adjective (is divisible). In other words, non-grammatical -able/-ible means the same as grammatical can be (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds). Again, there are surprisingly many such adjectives (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #4).

Thirdly, some passive forms are paraphrasable by being converted into a related “action” noun (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #4). If there is a resultant verb vacancy in a sentence, there will occasionally be the possibility of filling it with an active verb whose meaning is more like that of passive verbs, such as EXPERIENCE, HAVE, SUFFER or UNDERGO, e.g.:

be called (telephoned) by… → have a call from…
be abused → experience abuse
be repaired → undergo repair

For more examples, see 173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”?, #6.

Alternatively, where a sentence already has a verb, a passive meaning of an action noun may be indicated by other kinds of words around it:

(b) Non-declaration of restricted goods will necessitate their confiscation by police.

The main clue that confiscation here has passive meaning is the subsequent words by police, which would be the same if the passive form of the related verb CONFISCATE was being used (see 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2).

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7. Conjunctions

Conjunction meanings – cause, consequence, condition, simultaneity etc. –indicate how the meanings of separate verbs in a sentence are related (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #2). Most conjunction meanings can also be expressed non-grammatically with a verb whose subject and/or object are action noun equivalents of the original linked verbs. Compare:

(c)  When demand expands, prices normally rise.

(d) Demand expansion normally induces price rises.

Here, expansion in (d) is the action noun equivalent of expands in (c), and the noun rises similarly equates to rise. The verb equivalent of when (induce) has expansion as its subject and rises as its object.

Verbs usable like INDUCE are again surprisingly numerous. Many similarly express a consequence, common examples being RESULT IN, CREATE, ENTAIL, LEAD TO, MEAN, TRIGGER and BRING ABOUT (see 32. Expressing Consequences). Verbs related to other conjunctions include DEPEND ON (condition), ACCOMPANY (simultaneity) and FOLLOW (sequencing) (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #1).

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8. “Better” and “Best”

Better…than… and best… (of…), – common in analyses of advantages (see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages, #5) – are often replaceable by the verb prefix out- (see the end of 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Consider this:

(e) The economy performed better than expected.

The underlined words here could become outperformed expectations (with expected made into a noun because of its object role). Other common out- verbs are outdo, outlast, outplay, outrun, outsell, outsmart, outthink, outweigh and outwit. For an example with outlast, see 312. Grammar Command Test 3, #e.

Another prefix with a grammatical meaning is self- in words like self-service, where it represents “reflexive” pronouns like oneself or themselves (see the end of 268. Types of “-self” Object).

275. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 3

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Grammar-checking software is more useful if its suggestions are viewed critically

THE PROBLEM OF GRAMMAR-CHECKING SOFTWARE

Unlike spellchecking software, computer programs that try to indicate a writer’s grammar errors can be unreliable, sometimes failing to find the errors and sometimes questioning correct usage. I think the writers of these programs know this because they now talk more of “proofing” than “error-correction”, and they phrase their observations more as suggestions than as categorical statements.

The weaknesses of grammar-checking software can have some fairly serious consequences for those who use it. A program’s failure to pick up an erroneous structure can reinforce the writer’s belief that it is possible or correct, while unjustified highlighting of correct structures can create uncertainty where previously there was none, thus undermining confidence.

A legitimate question in light of such problems is whether grammar-checking software will ever be perfected. I have my doubts. First of all, I wonder how aware computers are of what I have elsewhere called “invisible” grammar errors, where a writer produces grammatically possible language but it is the wrong choice to say what is intended (see 100. What is a Grammar Error?). Computers seem to base their analyses on what is objectively visible in a text – letters and words – rather than what the writer is trying to say (they cannot, after all, read minds). This practice must surely fail sometimes to highlight mismatches between what a writer intends to say and what is actually in the text.

Secondly, computers seem to have a frequent problem with finding the right pieces of a text to analyse for errors. Many searches fail, for example, to identify what that – a word with particularly flexible usage – is combining with. There is a good illustration in the following sentence from my earlier post 68. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 1:

(a) Motivation may exist because of the possibility mentioned above that learners can enjoy reading aloud.

The computer advice here was to change that into those to match the following plural form learners – clearly nonsensical. It results from that having been incorrectly associated with the noun directly after it – often a correct association elsewhere – instead of with possibility before. The reason for the error, I suspect, is the fact that learners is positioned closer than possibility to that, the computer being programmed to look first at the closest words when seeking possible combinations. That can combine with possibility as well as learners because it can be a conjunction as well as an adjective-like “determiner” (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”).

Yet despite such problems and questions, current grammar-checking software is still useful, and could perhaps be made even more so if something could be done to reduce its undesirable side-effects. It is this possibility that the present post is about. I believe writers can be encouraged to look more critically at the software’s advice, and that the way to promote this is through extensive practice in analysing questioned wording and suggested alterations. As the title above indicates, this is not the first Guinlist post with this aim. For others, see 68. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 1.

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ANALYSIS OF SOFTWARE FAILURES

Below are some actual examples of correct English that my computer’s Microsoft Word has highlighted as possibly incorrect (their blue underlining shown in black). Readers are invited to think about why the indicated changes should be ignored.

Sentence 1

HOWEVER THE QUESTION IS POSED, THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS THE SAME.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “After an introductory word or phrase, a comma is best”

A major problem here is the vagueness of “introductory”, since any first word or phrase in a sentence can be so described. What is really meant is initial adverb-like wording that has what I have elsewhere called a “sentence-spanning” function (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs). The comma after posed above is actually showing all of the words before it to have these features. The computer advice, though, is just referring to the underlined word however.

However above is not sentence-spanning: it is instead verb-related, linking specifically with is posed and expressing the meaning “in whatever way” (see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #6). This is a use that does not allow a following comma. The use that the software has confused it with is however meaning “nevertheless”, a sentence-spanning adverb of the “connector” variety (see 20. Problem Connectors).

Many other connector spellings are similarly usable in a non-connector way (though not all: see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs, last section). Indeed, all adverb types that can precede a comma at the start a sentence tend to have this alternative use, given the right circumstances:

(b) First came the regrets.

(c) Yesterday was when it all started.

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Sentence 2

IT REFERS TO A STRONG EMOTION OF THE SPEAKER’S.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “Double-check whether a possessive is needed here”

Here, the “possessive” ending -’s is attached to a noun (speaker) located at the end of a sentence. This is, of course, not the most common position of nouns with this ending – they usually go before another noun (which sometimes names something possessed but sometimes does not: see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings).

Nevertheless, the end of a sentence is a possible position of possessive nouns. They are usually separated by of from a preceding noun with “indefinite” meaning, as shown by either the article a (before countable nouns – a…emotion above) or a “zero” article (before uncountable nouns). This combination in the above sentence means “a strong emotion possessed by the speaker” (see 247. Exotic Grammar Structures 6, #4).

I can think of two possible reasons why Word has failed to recognise this structure: either it has not been programmed to do so, or (surely more likely) it has been “confused”, perhaps by the presence between a and emotion of strong. I have argued elsewhere that such “interruption” seems to be a common cause of grammar-checking software missing links between words (see 68. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 1, #1).

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Sentence 3

THE SECOND OF THE TWO POSITIONS IS NORMAL.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “Double-check that you’re sticking to singular or plural”

The words “singular or plural” are the clue that are is being advised here instead of is. The very informal “sticking to” means “continuing with” (the programmers appear unaware that speakers of languages other than English – a major potential client group – are rarely familiar with such seemingly simple language). This idea of continuation is a clue that the plural are is being linked with an earlier plural idea, which must be the phrase two positions.

Thus, the software thinks the verb is does not “agree” with a preceding plural noun. Since verbs only agree with nouns that are their grammatical subject, two positions must have been taken by the computer to be one of these. However, it is not. The true subject is the second. Since this is singular, the verb form is is correct.

Key to this analysis is the preposition of. Verb subjects are rarely able to follow a preposition (see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices). I suspect that the software was more influenced by the fact that second is usually an adjective, so that it attributed this role to it and consequently saw positions as the only subject candidate. Second is not an adjective here but a pronoun. Adjectives cannot directly precede of + noun – they would need an intervening one(s) (see 263. Uses of “One” and “Ones”, #6).

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Sentence 4

WHAT IS NEEDED IS MORE SOUND.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “Double-check the way this adjective makes a comparison”

The software has taken the word sound here to be an adjective (meaning “in good order”), a use that would indeed necessitate revision of “the way this adjective makes a comparison” (i.e. its comparative form), since the correct comparative form is sounder.

However, in the absence of a context, an equally likely interpretation of sound is as the uncountable noun meaning “noise”. This would necessitate no change at all: the grammar would be fine. More would then be in a different grammatical class just as sound would: not the adverb that makes comparative adjectives and adverbs, but the adjective-like “determiner” associated with nouns (see 182. Structures with a Double Meaning 2, #3).

Spellings that are the same for different words belonging to different word classes are another very common cause of faulty computer analysis (see the end of 69. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 2). However, I still find it slightly surprising that the software states so categorically that sound above is an adjective when its noun use is at least as common.

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Sentence 5

ONE MEANING THAT THIS WORD CAN HAVE IS “HAPPY”.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “Double-check the verb form after the helping verb”

I would not be surprised if this advice mystified its readers. To someone unfamiliar with technical grammatical terminology, the phrase “helping verb” must be almost as unclear as “auxiliary” (for some limited explanation of what it means, see 237. Auxiliary Verbs in Professional Communication). Moreover, even with an understanding of this concept, perplexity is likely to result from the fact that the underlined verb is follows two verbs (can and have), of which only the more distant can is a “helping verb” (“helping” have). Why, one might ask, is have not underlined instead of is?

The reason for the is underlining is that the software thinks have is a “helping” verb too. Of course, HAVE is sometimes an auxiliary (showing tenses before a “past participle”), and with that use above, a following been rather than is would be necessary. However, have here carries its non-auxiliary meaning of “possess”, which does not necessitate a following past participle. There is thus no problem with is.

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Sentence 6

THE WATER HAVING BEEN EMPTIED, THE LAKE CONTENTS WERE REVEALED.

MICROSOFT ADVICE: “Both clauses can stand alone, so a semi-colon works best”

This says the words before the comma and those after it could each be separate sentences. In such situations, a separating comma is certainly incorrect, and a semi-colon would be acceptable (see 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons) – even though full stops separate stand-alone statements much more often.

The problem is that the above two clauses cannot both stand alone: only the second one can. The rule is that two verbs accompanied by a “joining device” must be in the same sentence, with either a comma or no separating punctuation at all (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). The above sentence has the two verbs having been emptied and were revealed, and the joining device -ing (without BE) within having (see 52. Participles Placed Just after their Noun).

The Word software seems particularly likely to go astray when -ing is added to a passive form of a “perfect” tense (i.e. to HAVE before BEEN + -ed). For more about having participles, see 267. Participles and Gerunds with “Having”.

270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds

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Adjectives can be paraphrased in a wide variety of ways

REASONS FOR PARAPHRASING ADJECTIVES

The skill of paraphrase – being able to say the same thing in different ways – is not often given the recognition it deserves. It is valuable not just for reporting other writers’ ideas (see 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs), but also for facilitating aspects of one’s own writing, such as conciseness (see 265. Grammar Tools for Better Writing), repetition (see 286. Repeating in Different Words), and avoidance of unknown and undesirable wording (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, Practice Strategy #2). In fact, for many people the very act of writing probably involves constant paraphrase.

The main Guinlist post on paraphrase (80. How to Paraphrase) emphasises that it should not be thought of as simple word substitution. The recommended way of avoiding that is by writing without looking at the source text, so as to focus better on the message instead of the words.

However, this approach can still give problems with very short texts, since information there is much harder to remember without incidentally remembering its wording. It is perhaps with texts of this kind that the temptation to directly replace some of the words with a synonym from a thesaurus or dictionary will be greatest. What the above-mentioned post recommends to avoid this is to change the grammar of the source rather than just its words, a goal that might be achieved more easily by starting the paraphrase with a word that does not start the source.

It is true that this grammar-focussed approach still involves some replacement of words by their synonyms. However, the synonyms will often be words of a different kind (i.e. other “parts of speech”). This seems more acceptable because the focus when using them will be much more on grammatical restructuring than on simple like-for-like word replacement, and the use itself will probably need a better understanding of the source text.

Paraphrasing grammatical structures obviously requires a good command of grammar. It is this aspect that the present post seeks to assist. The focus is on adjectives because study restricted to a single type of source grammar may be more memorable than a more wide-ranging kind, while adjectives can still be linked to a broad variety of alternative structures. Elsewhere in this blog, there is a similar study of prepositions (see 205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds).

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NOUN-FORM PARAPHRASES

Most adjectives have a corresponding noun. Usually, it is derived from them, or they are derived from it (see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives). There are at least three situations where an adjective might be replaceable by its corresponding noun.

1. After BE and some Other Complement-Taking Verbs

In the following example, the adjective disastrous is a “complement” because it follows the noun it describes (harvests) with a link verb (are) in between:

(a) After extreme weather, harvests are often disastrous.

It is very possible here to replace disastrous with the noun a disaster without changing the meaning.

Unfortunately, only a few complement adjectives can be replaced in this way. One requirement is for the link verb to be of the right kind: able to precede either an adjective or a noun. Other verbs of this kind besides BE include SEEM and REMAIN. A link verb that can only precede nouns is COMPRISE, one only usable before adjectives is TURN (= become) (see 220. Features of Complements, #2).

Yet even with the right verb, adjective complements often cannot become nouns. This seems true, for example, of property-naming adjectives: acidic, red, nutricious, abundant etc. (see 163. Ways of Naming Properties).

Other paraphrasable adjectives include the probability ones likely (a likelihood), possible (a possibility), probable (a probability) and certain (a certainty), plus dangerous (a danger), exceptional (an exception), mysterious (a mystery), problematic (a problem) and shocking (a shock). For more, see 318. “It is” + Noun & Another Verb.

A potential problem to be aware of when choosing a noun use is creation of a double meaning (see 257. Structures with a Double Meaning 4, #3).

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2. Between “it is” and a Verb Statement

In this kind of sentence, an adjective after it is says something about a following statement containing a verb with to, -ing or that (see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”):

(b) It is beneficial to eat plenty of fresh vegetables.

The paraphrase possible here is There is benefit in eating…. Using the noun (benefit) requires there instead of it, and a preposition (here in) with the -ing form of the subsequent verb. Again, not every adjective in this situation can be similarly changed, but many can. For details, see 161. Special Uses of “there” Sentences, #6.

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3. After a Dimension Size

Some dimensions are identified by an adjective placed after their numerically represented size:

(c) The gap was 2m wide.

(d) Construction required a pit 5m deep.

In sentences like (c), noun replacement is possible with HAVE…OF instead of BE: …had a width/depth of… (see 163. Ways of Naming Properties). In sentences like (d), where the dimension size directly follows a noun, the alternative uses with (…with a depth/width of 5m).

In addition to the above three situations, adjectives placed just before their noun are worth mentioning. Although they are not normally replaceable by a related noun, there are a few exceptions, e.g. autumnal / autumn colours and grammatical / grammar rules (see 38. Nouns Used Like Adjectives, #4).

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VERB-FORM PARAPHRASE

4. After BE

An adjective after BE (or similar) is often replaceable by a single verb representing both, just as is often possible with BE + preposition. For example, is abundant can become abounds and is similar to… corresponds to resembles. Such correspondences perhaps reflect the particular similarity of adjectives to verbs (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #3).

In the first of the above examples, abounds corresponds to just the adjective and BE, while in the second resembles also incorporates a preposition (to) that is often needed after similar (see 82. Common Errors in Making Comparisons, #6). As a result, the new verb in the first case is “intransitive” (without a following object noun) while in the second is “transitive” (requiring such a noun, and using the one left by the replaced preposition).

Other verbs in the first category include:

become visible = APPEAR
be relevant = APPLY (see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #1)
be simultaneous = COINCIDE
become worse = DETERIORATE
be different = DIFFER/VARY (see 216. Indicating Differences)
be longlasting = ENDURE
be outstanding = EXCEL
become fewer = FALL
be painful = HURT
be insistent = INSIST (see 300. Adjective Indicators of Indirect Speech)
be imminent = LOOM
be important = MATTER (see 198. Indicating Importance, #3)
be the most common = PREVAIL
become more numerous = RISE
be asleep = SLEEP
be successful = SUCCEED
be enough = SUFFICE/WILL DO (see 189. Expressing Sufficiency)
be victorious = TRIUMPH/WIN
become invisible = VANISH/DISAPPEAR
be/become tearful = WEEP

Other verbs in the second category include:

be true of; be relevant to… = APPLY TO…
be more successful than… = BETTER…
be characteristic of… = CHARACTERISE…
be different from… = CONTRAST WITH…
be worthy of… = DESERVE/MERIT…
be equal/equivalent to… = EQUAL… (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #4)
be sensitive to… = FEEL…
be devoid of… = LACK… (see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions)
be fond of… = LIKE…
be reliant on… = NEED…

In addition, adjectives with certain suffixes often allow special paraphrases. Those with -able or -ible can, along with a preceding is/are, become a passive verb with can be (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs). For example, is acceptable = can be accepted, is divisible = can be divided, and is inevitable = cannot be avoided (for numerous further examples, see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb, #4). There are, however, some exceptions (see 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning, #1, #2 and #11).

Adjectives with -less can often, when used after BE, become LACK + an object noun representing the rest of the adjective: is tactless = lacks tact, and is clueless = lacks understanding. For a list of -less adjectives, see 106. Word-Like Suffixes.

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OTHER PARAPHRASE FORMS

5. Adverbs

Many adjectives have a corresponding adverb. Such adverbs are mostly spelled either the same as their corresponding adjective (e.g. early, outside: see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #6), or with an added ending (easy – easily, north – northward), and can in consequence be considered derived from it.

To paraphrase an adjective with an adverb, it is necessary also to paraphrase the noun that adjectives typically accompany with a word that adverbs typically accompany – usually a verb. Consider this use of the adjective noticeable:

(e) After 6 weeks, a noticeable improvement was evident.

To use the adverb noticeably, the noun improvement must become the verb improved. Noticeably can go either before or after it. The verb needs to be given a subject, enabling (e) to end …improved noticeably.

Other examples of adjective-adverb conversion are as follows. The underlining shows adverbs whose position can vary:

ready acceptance – accept readily
strong emphasis – strongly emphasise
normal departure – normally depart
upward movement – move up
frequent stops – stop frequently
hard work – work hard
early start – start early

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6. Connectors

Connectors are adverb-like expressions that show how the meaning of their sentence is related to that of one placed usually before (see 18. Relations between Sentences). Common examples are however, therefore and in other words. Certain adjectives are also able to indicate this kind of meaning link between sentences. Consider the following:

(f) Birds are shaped according to their flight needs. Aircraft design has a similar basis.

Similar here shows that its sentence and the one before are together expressing a similarity. The corresponding connector is similarly (see 149. Saying How Things are Similar). One way of using it to paraphrase the second sentence above would be:

(g) Birds … . Similarly, aircraft are designed with flying in mind.

Other adjectives that can indicate a sentence link (with their corresponding connector shown in brackets) include consequent (therefore / consequently) alternative (alternatively) and different (by contrast). For a detailed survey, see 112. Synonyms of Connectors.

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7. Preposition Phrases

Preposition phrases very typically act like adjectives (see 85. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). However, inter-changeability with an adjective is not so common (see 164. Fixed Preposition Phrases). Moreover, the greater wordiness of preposition phrases may make them less desirable than adjectives. The following are illustrative equivalences:

endangered – in danger
endless – without end
equal (to) – on a par (with)
fashionable – in fashion
leading – at the front
pressurized – under pressure
too far/high – out of reach

Adjectives in the “complement” position (describing an earlier noun with BE or similar in between, e.g. problems were endless) can be replaced directly by a preposition phrase. However, adjectives positioned just before their noun (endless problems), can only become a preposition phrase placed after it (problems without end).

222. Information Orders in Texts

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There are numerous ways of ordering written information, each depending on the kind of text it is in

THE PROBLEM OF ORDERING

Sequencing is an important feature of both words in a text and the information that they convey. Yet, whereas sequencing of words is often a matter of grammar (see 307. Word Order Variations), well-sequenced information simply makes a text coherent and readable. Without it, a text may be laborious to read, hard to understand, misleading or even illogical. Sometimes, there is a cultural dimension: a particular sequence may be preferred in English to an equally effective alternative preferred in another language. In these cases, using the alternative is perhaps like speaking good English with a non-English accent.

Unsuitable information orders are quite hard to avoid. One reason is that there is no widely-applicable guideline: there are numerous types of text, each needing to be ordered in its own particular way. Most learners of English will already know many of the possibilities, consciously or not, but there will probably be some that they are either unfamiliar with or unsure about. This likelihood is the main motivation for the present post, an attempt to survey the major possibilities.

Another cause of unsuitable sequencing is that just knowing the right way to order different types of information does not guarantee success. In addition, there is a need to manage what I would call the multi-task pressures of writing (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, Practice Strategy #1).

Information-ordering is only one of many tasks that need attention during writing, especially when the language is not our mother tongue. We must, for example, choose the information in the first place, show how it is related to other information (by such means as conjunctions, connectors and paragraph divisions), choose suitable vocabulary and grammar, avoid logical errors (see 170. Logical Errors in Written English), and record everything by manipulating a pen or keyboard. If all of these tasks are fighting for our attention at the same time, they can overwhelm our limited capabilities, so that some may fail to be dealt with.

To minimise the impact of the demands of writing on information ordering, I would recommend constant re-reading of what we are writing while we are writing it, in order to keep consciously monitoring the suitability of our text ordering.

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INFORMATION-ORDERING CONVENTIONS

1. Older in Time before Later

Presenting events in the order of their occurrence in time – chronological order – is typical of both narratives (stories, jokes, historical descriptions, news reports etc.) and general sequences (natural processes, laboratory procedures, recipes etc.). Its use is intuitive and does not present much difficulty. Two examples discussed within this blog are in 24. Good and Bad Repetition and 210. Process Descriptions.

One point to appreciate, however, is that chronological order is not compulsory in these text types, but can be broken at every level, from single actions to entire chapters: all can be presented out of order. However, the breaking of the natural order usually needs to be indicated by special language. For example, the word before and the verb tense with had can both show that an action mentioned after them is not in chronological order (see 171. Aspects of the Past Perfect Tense).

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2. Familiar before Unfamiliar

Writers do not expect everything in a text to be new to the reader (see 156. Mentioning what the Reader Knows Already). They may, for example, use a familiar idea in a comparison with a new one in order to make the latter easier to understand (see 149. Saying How Things are Similar). The reason why familiar ideas tend to be mentioned first is perhaps that this is believed to make the new information easier to appreciate. An example is:

(a) Most people know that islands are often formed by volcanic activity. The Canaries were formed in this way during the last 20 million years.

This sort of combination is not the same as example-giving, which also typically involves a class name followed by the name of a class member (see 1. Simple Example-Giving). The main difference is that in example-giving the generalization is not expected to be familiar to the reader (and hence would probably not include words like most people know).

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3. Brief before Lengthy

This tendency is common with lists whose order cannot be decided on any other basis. As the name indicates, it applies when items in the list have noticeably differing numbers of words. The preference for placing the wordier ones at the end of the list is probably related to the general preference in English to place wordy parts of a sentence last (cf. “end-weight” in 103. Commenting with “it” on a Later Verb).

There is an example of a list where “brief before lengthy” might apply in the Guinlist post 59. Paragraph Length. The list is a classification of “environmental pollutants”. A tree diagram shows four main classes of these, of which the first on the left (“airborne pollutants”) is obviously much wordier than the last two (“nuclear waste” and “rubbish”). A text that considered the wordy class first would probably sound strange.

The principle of “brief before lengthy” may apply not just to paragraph-length list items, but also to simple, sentence-based lists (see 55. Sentence Lists 2).

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4. Opinion before Evidence

An opinion is combined with supporting evidence in order make an argument, like this (opinion underlined):

(b) The Government should invest in solar energy. This does not harm the environment.

Placing the opinion first (“up front”), as shown here, is not compulsory but is common. This preference may be cultural rather than logical: conversations that I have had with speakers of other European languages than English indicate that the reverse order may be more common in many parts of Europe. For a full discussion of information ordering in arguments, see 167. Ways of Arguing 1 and 168. Ways of Arguing 2.

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5. Opposing Evidence/Argument before One’s Own

This order is generally recommended as a way of maximising the persuasiveness of one’s argument when an opposing argument also needs to be mentioned, for example in a “discuss” essay (see 94. Essay Instruction Words) or when a single opposing point is being questioned or counterbalanced (see 168. Ways of Arguing 2). It is based on the belief that people especially remember what they have seen most recently.

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6. General before Specific

There are various forms of this convention. In descriptions of simple visual phenomena like pictures, diagrams, structures and settings, it is common to start by summarising what can be seen. Typical expressions for doing this include:

The picture (etc.) shows…
This is a picture (etc.) of…
What could be seen was…
The scene resembled…

An abstract equivalent of this approach is common in the analysis of data. In interpreting values in a table, for example, one might begin with the most general possible conclusion that can be drawn. For an example of this, see 115. Surveying Numerical Data.

An alternative to summarising something visual is mentioning its most permanent aspect, as in the following example from 225. Simultaneous Occurrence:

(c) Snow lay on the ground. A wolf howled.

The snow referred to here is a background to something with a briefer existence that is described in the second sentence.

A third common type of a general-specific combination is a general class and all or some of its members. Naming all the members is “specification” (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Precisely). The members may be categories within the class, so that a classification is being given, or just individuals (see 162. Writing about Classifications). Naming only some class members is often example-giving (see 33. Complex Example-Giving), but perhaps includes combinations like (a) too.

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7. Pre-requisite Information First

Some ideas can only be understood after something else has been made clear first. A common one is solutions to a problem: you have to know what the problem is in order to fully understand the solution. Another example is exceptions to a rule: knowing the rule first makes it easier to understand how or why something is an exception (see 215. Naming Exceptions).

Sometimes, though, writers might go against this need to give pre-requisite information in order to add interest: it can be motivating, for example, to be informed of a solution and invited to guess the problem it solves.

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8. Like with Like

This order is recommended when two or more lists are being evaluated, for example arguments for and against, advantages versus disadvantages, or similarities versus differences. It means presenting each list in full without mixing its parts with those of another.

However, to recommend a choice out of three or more alternatives, listing the advantages and disadvantages of each one separately from those of the others is often preferable (see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages).

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PRACTICE EXERCISE: INFORMATION ORDERING

The following exercise is offered to assist appreciation of the above points. In addition, a worksheet (10. How to Plan an Essay) can be downloaded from the Learning Materials page.

Exercise

Each of the following describes one or more sentences in the first two paragraphs of this post, but in the wrong order. Decide the right order without looking at the paragraphs. Then check the paragraphs and the explanations below.

Identification of learning needs
Cause of the reason for information-ordering errors
Problems caused by unsuitable information orders
The aim of this post
The common error of unsuitable information order
A culture-related problem (+ comparison with pronunciation errors)
Definition of an unsuitable order
A reason for errors with information ordering

Explanations

The order in the paragraphs is not the only logical possibility, but is as follows:

1. The common error of unsuitable information order
2. Definition of an unsuitable order
3. Problems caused by unsuitable information orders
4. A culture-related problem (+ comparison with pronunciation errors)
5. A reason for errors with information ordering
6. Cause of the reason for information-ordering errors
7. Identification of learning needs
8. The aim of this post

A. Point 1 fits the start because it has general mentions of the main paragraph content (errors + ordering).

B. Point 2 could also start (prerequisite information), but would still need 3 and 4 to follow directly.

C. Point 8 is another possible starter, but following 7 better acknowledges the close link with it.

D. Point 4 should follow 3 because it is lengthier.

E. Points 5/6 are perhaps interchangeable: 5 first on chronological grounds, but 6 first as an opinion before evidence.

F. Point 7 must come late because it logically depends on most of the rest.

205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds

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A significant number of paraphrase possibilities are alternatives to a preposition

REASONS FOR PARAPHRASING PREPOSITIONS

The skill of paraphrase – being able to say the same thing in different ways – is not often given the recognition it deserves. It is valuable not just for reporting other writers’ ideas (see 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs), but also for facilitating aspects of one’s own writing, such as conciseness (see 265. Grammar Tools for Better Writing), repetition (see 286. Repeating in Different Words), and avoidance of unknown and undesirable wording (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, Practice Strategy #2). In fact, for many people the very act of writing probably involves constant paraphrase.

A Guinlist post on paraphrase techniques (80. How to Paraphrase) distinguishes two basic types, depending on the size of the text in question. Paraphrase of longer texts tends to happen more automatically, provided they are approached in the right way. Shorter texts present more of a challenge because we are more conscious of their wording when we are looking to paraphrase them. The advice that the post gives regarding shorter texts is to avoid synonym-substitution, and to look instead for new words that are grammatically different. Reordering the meanings in a sentence is suggested to be a particularly effective means of achieving this objective.

However, a problem with this approach, useful as it is, is that it assumes a fairly strong command of English grammar and vocabulary. I can imagine that some writers who have not grown up using English will sometimes find, after thinking of a new way to say something, that it requires linguistic knowledge that they lack. Making an impact on this problem is not an easy task, given the vastness of English grammar and vocabulary. However, it is what I am attempting in the present post, in the belief that ways of paraphrasing prepositions bring together under one heading quite a wide range of English usage. For a similar study of adjectives, see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives.

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PREPOSITION REPLACEMENT WITH A VERB

Prepositions are usable in various ways: some express their own meaning, some belong to a particular grammatical structure, and some result from the choice of another word (see 111. Words with a Typical Preposition). Verbs are particularly able to paraphrase the first kind. Consider this:

(a) The Harbour Bridge goes over/across Sydney Harbour.

The same meaning is conveyed by replacing the underlined words with the verb crosses or spans. These verbs replace a preposition combined with another verb (often GO or BE). However, directly after a noun their participle -ing form may replace a preposition alone (see 320. Special Participle Uses, #1). For example, the bridge across = the bridge spanning (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #2), animals except dogs = animals excepting dogs (see 215. Naming Exceptions), and life without excitement = life lacking excitement.

Here are some common equivalences:

GO INTO = ENTER; PENETRATE
GO ALONG = PARALLEL
GO OUT OF = LEAVE; EXIT
GO PAST = OVERTAKE
GO THROUGH = PIERCE; TRANSIT
GO TOWARDS = APPROACH
LIVE IN = INHABIT
BE AROUND = SURROUND
BE/COME AFTER = FOLLOW
BE/COME BEFORE = PRECEDE
BE BESIDE = FLANK
BE/GO BETWEEN = CONNECT; LINK; SEPARATE
BE LIKE = RESEMBLE
BE NEXT TO = ADJOIN
BE IN = FILL; BELONG TO
BE ON = OCCUPY
BE/GO WITH = ACCOMPANY
BE WITHOUT = LACK

Note how the verb-preposition combinations resemble prepositional verbs, where the verb and preposition are more closely linked together (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #6). Prepositional verbs too can be paraphrased without the preposition, usually for greater formality. Common examples are:

GO INTO = INVESTIGATE
ASK FOR = REQUEST
DEAL WITH = MANAGE
LOOK FOR = SEEK
REFER TO = CONSULT
THINK ABOUT = CONSIDER

For more, see 108. Formal and Informal Words.

Other verbs are able to paraphrase some of the more grammatical uses of prepositions. Consider this:

(b) Oxygen is collected in/by a gas jar.

With passive verbs like is collected, a noun after by represents what would be the subject of the verb in the active form – it would say here that a gas jar was doing the collecting – while one after in would represent a container-like tool, implying that the verb action was performed by a background human (see 73. Prepositions for Saying How).

In both cases, the preposition can be paraphrased by exchanging the verb for a new one in the active form, e.g. fills. This would attribute the action to the subject of the sentence (oxygen), but most readers would nevertheless recognise that this is just a convention of English to play down human involvement, and would hence reach the correct interpretation.

Paraphrasing a grammatical word like by after passive verbs with a non-grammatical word like fills is surprisingly often possible in English (see 298. Grammar Meanings without Grammar). Of course, it enables not just by to be removed but also a possibly undesirable passive verb (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs).

Giving non-living things metaphorical responsibility for an action seems a common way to avoid prepositions. How could the following be reworded?

(c) In London, the weather is frequently cloudy.

Again, the noun after the preposition can become a main part of the sentence: London has frequent cloudy weather. The link shown here between is in and has is often useful – see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences, #7. Care is needed, however, to avoid the hybrid *In London has… (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #5).

To take one final example, purpose-naming is for -ing (see 60. Purpose Sentences with “For”) can be replaced by just the ordinary form of the -ing verb:

(d) The PRT SC key photographs (= is for photographing) the screen.

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REPLACEMENT WITH A CONJUNCTION

Conjunctions resemble prepositions in the grammatical structures they help to form, in the kinds of meaning that they have, and sometimes even in their spellings. The main difference is that prepositions must be followed just by a noun or noun equivalent while conjunctions usually need at least a full verb with its subject. Thus, to paraphrase a preposition with a conjunction, one usually needs to add such a verb. Consider this:

(e) Jets are especially noisy during take-off.

A conjunction that means virtually the same as the preposition during is while (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence). One could use it by replacing the noun take-off with the verb TAKE OFF: …while they are taking off.

Not all prepositions are as easily paraphrased with a conjunction. Here are some other more obvious ones. Details of the highlighted ones can be accessed by clicking on the links.

according to – as
at/on – when/if
because of/ due to/ out of – as/because/since
besides/ along with – and
despite – although
in case of – in case
instead of – rather than/ sooner than (+ “bare” infinitive)
in the event of – if
like – just as
with – while/if

In addition, there are some spellings usable as both a preposition and a conjunction. The main ones are after, as, before, since and until (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #8).

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PAIRED NOUN PARAPHRASES

Paired nouns are two (or more) nouns placed together so that the first describes the second in an adjective-like way (see 38. Nouns Used like Adjectives). Examples are a police warning, library books and The Kolkata climate. One way of telling that the first noun is not an adjective (like, for example, clear) is by observing that that is cannot sensibly be added between the two when their order is reversed (*a warning that is police), this being a usual possibility with adjectives (a warning that is clear).

More relevant here, though, is the fact that nouns, unlike adjectives, can reverse their order if a preposition is added between them, e.g. a warning by the police. In other words, paired nouns can be paraphrased with a preposition – and this means two nouns with a preposition between them can often (though not always) be paraphrased as paired nouns.

This kind of equivalence is extensively illustrated in the Guinlist post 136. Types of Description by Nouns. The main point made there is the variety of prepositions whose meaning can be expressed by noun pairing, as the following examples indicate:

books ABOUT history = history books
the sun AT midday = the midday sun
damage BY water = water damage
tools FOR learning = learning tools
rays FROM the sun = sun rays
forces IN the market = market forces
cooking LIKE that at home = home cooking
generation OF electricity = electricity generation
a tax ON sugar = a sugar tax
books WITH a hard cover = hard-cover books

A preposition particularly associated with such combinations is of: for numerous other examples, see 160. Uses of “of”.

The fact that paired nouns cannot always paraphrase a preposition can be a problem. Sometimes the preposition is the only possibility (e.g. the time of day; a book with answers), sometimes an apostrophe construction is the only alternative (e.g. the density of iron/iron’s density – see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings), and sometimes the noun after the preposition can become an adjective (e.g. pollution of the atmosphere / atmospheric pollution; vacancies for managers / managerial vacancies).

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ADVERB PARAPHRASES

Preposition phrases are either adjective-like (describing a preceding noun, as in the previous section) or adverb-like (describing a verb, adjective or entire sentence). The adverb-like kind can, when made with particular types of noun, be paraphrased by a simple adverb. For example, with ease, in haste and without doubt are very similar to easily, hastily and undoubtedly. For numerous further examples, see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs.

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PRACTICE EXERCISE: PARAPHRASING PREPOSITIONS

To assist appreciation of the above points, try paraphrasing the given sentences so that they contain no prepositions. Possible answers are given after.

1. The use of social media has exploded since the start of the century.

2. Temperatures across the world are affected by moving currents in the ocean.

3. In academic writing, one must paraphrase or quote the words of other writers.

4. A full stop must go between two verbs without a joining device.

5. The march on Rome by Caesar led to him becoming dictator.

6. A poor diet leads in general to problems with health.

7. With demand curves economists can find optimum prices of commodities.

8. A message of great urgency was sent by headquarters three hours ago.

9. With illiteracy eradicated, great benefit will be brought to the country.

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Suggested Answers (avoided prepositions in brackets)

1. (of, since, of) Social media use has exploded since (= conjunction) the century started.

2. (across, by, in) World temperatures reflect moving ocean currents.

3. (in, of) Academic writing requires one to paraphrase or quote other writers’ words.

4. (between, without) A full stop must separate two verbs lacking (if they lack) a joining device.

5. (on, by, to) Caesar’s Rome march meant that he became (caused him to become) dictator.

6. (in, to, with) A poor diet generally brings health problems.

7. (with, of) Demand curves enable economists to find optimum commodity prices.

8. (of, by) A highly urgent message left headquarters three hours ago.

9. (with, to) If (When) illiteracy is eradicated, great benefit will embrace the country (or Eradicating illiteracy will greatly benefit the country).

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.

197. The Language of Bibliographies

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Bibliographies are associated with a special vocabulary that can at times be confusing

THE NATURE OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES

A bibliography is a written list of sources relevant to a particular topic or text. The name has Greek roots: “biblos” (= book) and “graphy” (= name-writing). The kind of bibliography that I am primarily concerned with here typically accompanies a written text that is usually positioned before it. Sometimes it just names sources that have been consulted during the writing of the text, but more often it is a list of sources that the text has explicitly mentioned.

One well-known way of matching source mentions in a text with those in a bibliography is the “Harvard System”. This requires the mentions within the text to be abbreviated and located next to the information that has come from the source, and the mentions in the bibliography to be in an expanded, much fuller form. The typical form of the abbreviated references in this system is described elsewhere in this blog in 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs.

Here, I am not planning to describe how to write a bibliography, since practices vary quite considerably in different disciplines and cultures, and can easily be read about in some depth across the Internet. Instead, I wish to focus on various confusions that less experienced English speakers can encounter regarding the language associated with bibliographies.

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ASSOCIATED LANGUAGE

1. Bibliography

The confusion that this word can cause is rather like that with the noun an elite (see 175. Tricky Word Contrasts 6, #7). The singular form refers to all of the sources listed in a bibliography. Its plural means not this but multiple lists of works. The name for a single work in a bibliography is either a reference or an entry. The first is perhaps a clearer description, but it can be confusing because it can also refer to an abbreviated in-text source mention.

Some bibliographies have the word Bibliography as their title, though many have the plural References instead. The two words often seem interchangeable. However, some university students say they are told to use the latter if they are just listing the sources that they consulted during their writing, rather than providing fuller information about abbreviated in-text references. This kind of referencing seems to be particularly expected in shorter types of writing like essays. Professional writing of a more formal kind, such as research papers, needs the more conventional matching of in-text and bibliographical references.

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2. Editor

Bibliographies sometimes include this word in abbreviated form (ed. or plural eds.). It is not to be confused with publisher (see 81. Tricky Word Contrasts 2, #11). Publishers are mostly commercial companies. Their usual role is to process and sell other people’s written texts. This makes them responsible for such areas as the format, printing, advertising, distribution and legal recognition of texts. Editors are often hired by them.

Editors, on the other hand, deal with the content of texts that authors are hoping or expecting to have published. Some examine what is said, while others, known as copy editors, check how it is said (spelling, grammar, vocabulary, etc.). Others again have a special role when a planned publication is going to contain works by different authors: they have to decide how many works to include, which ones, and in what order, and they may add some commentary.

It is this kind of editor that is sometimes mentioned in a bibliography. Where it is not mentioned, perhaps surprisingly, is in references to the most obvious kind of multi-author publication, namely repeatedly-published periodicals, such as newspapers, magazines, blogs and academic journals. Rather, it is references to an article in a multi-author book – which are fairly unusual – that need to include an editor’s name.

To put an article from a multi-author book into a bibliography, it is normal to begin with the surname of the article’s author, followed by their forename or its initial and then the article title. Next, details of the book itself are given, usually after the word in. First there is the editor’s (or editors’) name(s) – forename often first – and then the crucial bracketed abbreviation (ed.) or (eds.). The rest gives the standard information for book entries (book title, place of publication, publisher), along with the relevant page number(s).

Note finally that publisher’s names are mentioned in bibliographies only for books or articles within them, not for the content of periodicals and many websites.

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3. Edition

Confusingly, this word is as much about publishing as editing. It is mostly used of books that have been revised and published for a second or subsequent time, where it refers to a particular one of the various published forms. In bibliographies it tends to follow a number adjective (first or 1^st, second or 2^nd, etc.), but elsewhere it may follow an adjective like earlier, previous, older, later, new, recent, last, or the + publication year, e.g. the 2015 edition (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #3).

Despite the -tion ending, edition cannot be used as an “action” noun: it is only a countable noun expressing an “action outcome” (see 280. Alternative Meanings of “Action” Nouns). The main means of referring in a noun-like way to the process of editing a book is with the gerund editing: either the editing of the book or simply editing the book (see 70. Gerunds). The action noun that means “creating an edition” is publication.

To include a book with multiple editions in a bibliography, it is customary to highlight the one that was actually consulted, writing a phrase like third (or 3^rd) edition immediately after the title (the abbreviation ed. may be allowed too). This is done even though the publication date in a reference is already a clue to which edition is being referred to.

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4. Copy, Issue, Number and Volume

Academic and professional journals are a type of periodical: their title refers not to a single publication, but to a multiplicity with different content but the same overall title, editor(s) and general format, published repeatedly after time intervals of the same length. The interval may be as long as one or two years, or as short as a week, but is typically two to four months. A common name for a version of a journal that has been published at one particular time is an issue. A physical form of an issue, as kept for example in a library, is a copy.

Most journals give each new issue a new number in a sequence, and this number generally needs to be mentioned in a bibliography. The numbering system is not always the same. Issues with a year or more in between are likely to be simply marked with a single number that increases by one each time. In a bibliography, this number is very often written by itself near the end of an entry, just after the journal title.

On the other hand, when there are multiple issues of a journal in a single year, two numbers are often used. The first increases by one whenever an issue is the first of a new calendar year, but stays the same otherwise; the second increases by one with every issue in the same calendar year, but starts again at one in a new year. Thus, in year A, the issue numbers might run from 25, 1 to 25, 4 and those in year A+1 might start at 26, 1. The first of these numbers is usually called the volume, the second the number, words that a bibliography will sometimes include in abbreviated form: vol. 25, no. 2. Bibliographies do not use the word issue.

It is not just in bibliographies that knowledge of such terminology is useful. Here is a text that was not fully comprehended by participants in one of my past reading seminars:

(a) (The debate) came to a head during the 1994 UN international conference on population and development in Cairo, but the debate there tended to center on urban issues. In this number of Ceres, contributors broaden the focus, examining the courses and causes of fertility decline through history.

The readers’ unfamiliarity with academic journals meant that they did not recognise the bibliographical meaning of number, and hence could not deduce that Ceres was the name of a journal. For more about deduction in reading, see 177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text.

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5. Title

In itself the word title is not very problematic (though see 178. How to Write a Heading). In the context of bibliographies, however, confusion can be caused by the fact that a reference to an article in a book or journal needs to mention two titles: the article title and the book/journal title.

The difference between these two title types is usually highlighted by their format: article titles in ordinary lettering (often without any capital letters except at the very start), book/journal titles in italics (with capital letters starting the main words, as in headings).

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6. Bibliography-Related Abbreviations

The following abbreviations commonly refer to or appear within bibliographies. For an explanation of those marked *, see 130. Formal Abbreviations.

ed. = editor / edition

eds. = editors

*ff.

*et. al.

*ibid.

no. = number

*op. cit.

p. or pg. = page

pp. = pages

*qv.

vol. = volume

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).

178. How to Write a Heading

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Headings in a text have some important physical and grammatical features

HEADINGS IN PROFESSIONAL WRITING

Headings introduce subsections of a text. They are thus different from titles and newspaper headlines, which introduce entire texts – and very different from subtitles, the name for on-screen translations of film and TV dialogue. For something about newspaper headlines within these pages, see 158. Abbreviated Sentences.

The value of headings is, of course, that they help clarify the organization of long texts. This is useful for professional writers because they often have to deal with long texts like business reports and academic dissertations. One kind of professional text where headings are not normally used, however, is essays: these mostly use “signpost language” instead (see 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists).

Headings are similar in some ways to bullet points (which also are uncommon in essays – see 74. Sentence Lists 3). They tend to have special formatting to enhance their visibility, they often belong to a group (though they do not have to), and these groups are usually introduced with the same kind of language as bullet points. However, there are also some major differences, such as a greater restriction of their linguistic form, and a close association with the text directly after them. This post seeks to provide as full a description as possible of the nature of headings.

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NON-LINGUISTIC HEADING CHARACTERISTICS

Perhaps the most fundamental visual feature of headings is their separation from the text above and below them. Sometimes that is considered enough, but more often the lettering is modified in some way too. Options include one or more of capitalisation, italicisation, bold type, central alignment, underlining and some form of numbering.

Visual modifications of this kind become essential when a text contains subheadings as well as headings. Subheadings – again not to be confused with subtitles – introduce subdivisions of text covered by a heading. If they have the same visual characteristics as the heading that they come under, readers might think they are new headings beginning a new section rather than continuations of an existing one. To distinguish them, they alone might be visually modified, or both they and their heading might have different visual modifications, for example one being in capital letters and the other in bold lower case.

In many cases, a particular heading or subheading will be part of a widely-separated list of headings or subheadings. When this happens, it is vital to ensure that all members of the same list have the same formatting. Notice, for example, how the heading of the next section in this post resembles the one above, but differs from the subheadings after it.

Numbering only makes sense when a (sub)heading is one of a group, but even then it is not compulsory. If both headings and subheadings have it, the numbers must look different. They might be a mixture of different number types – the possibilities include ordinary numbers (1,2,3…), large Roman numerals (I,II,III…), small Roman numerals (i,ii,iii…), capital letters (A,B,C…), and small letters (a,b,c…). One possibility to avoid, however, is number words written out in full (One, Two, etc.). Alternatively, subheadings might use the same number type that their heading has, but add a full stop and a second number, e.g. 2.3. Or they may combine two different systems, e.g. 2(c).

In most cases, a “number” is separated from the subsequent words by either a full stop or a bracket.

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LINGUISTIC HEADING CHARACTERISTICS

1. Grammatical Form

Headings cannot usually be sentences. Most lack a verb and are just nouns or noun-like phrases. Often, a verb meaning can be expressed with an “action” noun, e.g. The Destruction of Forests instead of Forests were destroyed (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns, #5 and #6). BE by itself, as in Languages are a problem to learn, cannot just be replaced by a colon. Usually you have to drop BE and start with the subsequent noun (The Problem of Learning Languages). If there is a following adjective rather than noun, e.g. difficult instead of a problem, it must generally be changed into a noun (The Difficulty of…). For ways of making such nouns, see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives.

Headings that do contain a verb are often questions. In formal writing, they will usually be indirect (e.g. How Hurricanes are Formed) – again not a complete sentence. For a full description, see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing and 105. Questions with a “to” Verb. In many cases, the question word will be replaced by a noun, sometimes causing the verb to disappear too, e.g. Formation of Hurricanes (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words). Outside formal writing, direct questions are possible, especially so as to sound friendly (see 166. Appropriacy in Professional English).

Another way of having a verb in a heading is by putting it among describing words after the central noun (so-called “postmodification”). This is usually done with “relative” words like who, which, that, where and why, as in Reasons WHY Children Fail (see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns, #3), or with the conjunction that, as in The Possibility THAT Aliens Exist (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”).

The noun-like nature of headings means a decision must be made about the articles a(n), the and “zero”. The rules seem to be mostly the same as in ordinary sentences, though perhaps the is more frequently dropped before plural and uncountable nouns. For example, Reasons for… may well be more common than The Reasons for…. A possible explanation is “hedging” – keeping things vague in the interests of factual accuracy (see 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). Plural and uncountable nouns with the emphasise that all of a specific group is being referred to, while an absent the leaves it unclear whether every possibility is meant.

The rareness of headings in sentence form is shared by titles. However, the two are not exactly the same. Some titles, instead of being noun-like, have a preposition at the start, especially on or concerning. A famous title with the former is Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. This usage is perhaps influenced by the tendency of titles in Latin, a now generally-abandoned language of academic communication in Europe, to use the Latin equivalent de. It is less common in contemporary English, and has a slightly old-fashioned feel.

Another form that titles but not headings sometimes have is that of direct rather than indirect questions. My intuition, though, is that indirect questions are more common even in titles than direct ones. One further observation about headings and titles is that on average headings are probably shorter in length. This is because some of the meaning of headings can often be obtained from what is written before them – something that titles by definition rule out.

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2. Lettering

As mentioned above, some headings might be written entirely in capital letters. More often, however, lower case letters are used, except at the start of some of the words. The places where a starting capital is needed usually have the following characteristics (also possessed by book and journal titles – see 197. English in Bibliographies).

The first word in a heading normally starts with a capital, just as in ordinary sentences. Other heading words that do so are likely to be nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The main kinds of words that do not normally begin with a capital in headings include the articles (a, the) and words like them, prepositions, pronouns (who, which, that, it, they etc.), auxiliary verbs (will, should, must, BE, DO, HAVE etc.), not, other uses of BE, and conjunctions (especially and, but, or, when and that). In fact, words with no starting capital tend to be the same ones that are usually left out in notes (see 158. Abbreviated Sentences).

For more advice on capital letters, see 62. Choices with Capital Letters.

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3. Preceding Words

It is usually a good idea to write an introductory sentence before the first of a list of headings. It should be a complete sentence with a full stop at the end, rather than a partial/complete one ending with a colon. In other words, it should resemble the kind of sentence that is common before an ordinary paragraph list (see 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists), not that before bullet points. This is because headings are not bullet points, but are themselves introductory, and in combination with the sentences after them they are very like items in a multi-sentence list.

The wording of a sentence introducing headings will be similar to that of other list-introducing sentences. Mention will be made of the general idea binding all of the headings together – what I have elsewhere called a “list name” – and there will also be an indication that a list is about to follow. In the following, words combining to express a list name are underlined, while those suggesting a subsequent list are in capitals:

(a) Schools are currently experiencing A NUMBER/VARIETY OF problems.

(b) Schools are currently experiencing THE FOLLOWING problems.

(c) The problems of schools today are AS FOLLOWS.

(d) There are VARIOUS problems afflicting schools today.

Some of these imply that the list name has not been mentioned earlier, others that it has. Sentence (a) has the first effect: the existence of the problems to be listed has as much focus as the indication of a subsequent list. This effect is probably a result of at least some of the list name being at the end. One could add as follows there after a comma without changing the focus.

Sentence (b), despite its substantial similarity to (a), has the opposite suggestion, thanks entirely to the words the following. This is thus the kind of sentence that should be used if the reader has already been told about the existence of the problems in question. If a sentence like (a) is used in such a context instead, the writer risks being accused of “bad” repetition (see 24. Good and Bad Repetition).

Sentence (c) also suggests a previous mention of the list name. The linguistic clue this time is the status of the entire list name as a noun phrase at the start (see 37. Subordination).

Sentence (d) could be understood either way. There are could be an assertion of existence, but it could also merely be list-signalling (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences). Perhaps this flexibility explains the frequency of this kind of sentence before a list of headings.

177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text

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Meanings of unfamiliar words can often be guessed by using spelling, grammar or logic

RATIONALE FOR THIS TOPIC

Meeting unfamiliar words in listening and reading is normal at all levels of language competence, even in our mother tongue. Beginners in a language obviously struggle with large numbers of words, while at higher levels most people have gaps in their knowledge because reaching the ability to successfully communicate slows down further vocabulary acquisition. Trying to guess the meanings of unknown words is also normal – indeed, it is how we acquire most of the vocabulary of our mother tongue.

Most language teachers and coursebooks encourage word-guessing as a means of promoting vocabulary acquisition. They urge learners to read intensively and extensively, and they often supplement “comprehension” texts with vocabulary-study exercises involving guessing. Very rarely, however, is detailed advice given on exactly what needs to be done to guess word meanings successfully. My own experience as a language teacher suggests that at least some learners need this advice because the guessing is done with variable success.

The desirability of helping learners to guess word meanings has for me been confirmed by what becomes apparent when the word-guessing process is closely examined. It turns out to be multi-faceted. In this post I wish to show the truth of that. My ideas are not particularly informed by the mass of academic research in this area, but are mainly based on extensive experience trying to help students who are less familiar with English to hypothesise about word meanings. For more advice on improving language learning, see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English.

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PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

It is important first to appreciate that exact meanings of unfamiliar words are rarely able to be guessed – multiple encounters with the words are needed to enable a broad meaning picture to be built up (and to strengthen them in memory). Some meanings, indeed, cannot be guessed with any certainty at all. If one is lucky, one can ignore these without it greatly diminishing overall understanding of the text – otherwise help must be sought from a dictionary or elsewhere.

Also to be noted is the fact that some unfamiliar words in texts are actually accompanied by an explanation of their meaning, so that guessing is unnecessary. I have known language students who have not realised this and struggled as a result with the word! Consider these:

(a) The stomach walls secrete gastric juices, a combination of several enzymes and hydrochloric acid.

(b) Manuscripts would be mass produced in schools called scriptoriums

In (a), gastric juices is explained by the words after it. This is clear from the comma and immediate use of another noun expression – a common means of linking a word with its explanation (see 77. Apposition). Sometimes, there is helpful wording showing the relation between the two nouns, such as in other words. If the word or is used, however, there is a problem of double meanings (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #4).

In (b), scriptoriums is shown by called to be the name of special schools for mass-producing manuscripts (see 206. Ways of Conveying a Name).

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WORD-GUESSING STRATEGIES

The main kinds of clue that might help word-guessing are spelling, grammar and logic.

1. Spelling Clues

In a few cases, the entirety of a new word may look familiar. One reason why this can happen without the word having previously been encountered in English is the existence of the spelling in another language. Another is the spelling having an alternative English meaning, whether related to the familiar one (see 7. Metaphorical Meanings) or completely different (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs).

Care is always needed with spellings also found in other languages because they so often mean something slightly different there. Ancient, for example, which means “very far in the past” in English, resembles spellings meaning “former” in most of Southern Europe. Safari, meaning “wildlife-viewing vacation” in English, is just a journey in Swahili (see also security in 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #1). The name often given to such misleading words is “false friends”.

More often, a familiar spelling is a part of a new word. Not all words have such parts, and if they do the resemblance may just be a coincidence, without any meaning connection. However, a connection will often exist. Take the word respiratory. If you know that respire means “breathe”, then you can guess that this idea is involved. Knowing that -tory usually signals either a noun or adjective (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #9), you may be able to work out which it is here by examining the sentence position of the word in the text. Respiratory is actually an adjective meaning “associated with breathing”.

A need for care with this approach may be illustrated by a mistake I once made in analysing the origins of the word helicopter. Using my knowledge of Ancient Greek, I reasoned that heli- referred to the sun, and -copter meant “beating”, “sun-beating” being a reasonable description of the action of helicopter blades. Later, I realised I should have recognised helico- as “revolving” and -pter as “wing” (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary).

Meaningful word parts are divided by linguists into two kinds: roots and affixes. Roots are mostly spellings that also exist as individual words, while affixes only modify the meaning and/or grammatical category of a root. Respir- is thus a root, and -atory is an affix (of the “suffix” – word ending – variety). Some multi-part words mix a root with one or more affixes, while others (known as “compounds”) have two or more roots, with or without affixes, e.g. household and anywhere (see 26. One Word or Two?).

The total number of affixes is much more finite than that of roots, and many individual ones, such as in- and -ness, are found on large numbers of words. This makes it worth learning them for the purpose of recognising them in unfamiliar words. Posts within these pages that aim to assist this include 106. Word-Like Suffixes,  146. Some Important Prefix Types and 249. Action Noun Endings.

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2. Grammar Clues

Knowing the grammatical class (“part of speech”) of an unfamiliar word can greatly help its meaning to be guessed. One kind of clue is affixes, since many are found only in words of a single grammar class. For example, en- generally indicates a verb, -ness a noun (see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives, #9), and -ive an adjective (see 304 Adjectives Made from a Verb, #2). A problem, though, is that many others show different word classes more or less equally: -ing and -s indicate nouns as well as verbs, -ly adjectives as well as adverbs, and un- verbs, nouns or adjectives.

A perhaps more reliable grammatical indicator of word class is particular surrounding words. Will, may, can etc. are likely to precede a verb, very usually signals an adjective or adverb, and after a preposition we expect to find a noun. Consider this:

(c) Greek philosophers were not bound in the fetters of orthodoxy.

It is clear here that fetters is a noun: the clues are the preceding preposition in and article the, and the subsequent -s and adjective-like of phrase (see 160. Uses of “of”).

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3. Logic Clues

Once the grammatical class of a word is recognised, logic becomes easier to use to discover more. In many cases, the basis of logical deduction is the meaning of the surrounding words. One very helpful kind of such words is lists, since their parts tend to be clearly similar in some way – indeed the similarity is sometimes even stated as a “list name” (see 55. Sentence Lists 2). The new word is then understood to possess this similarity too. For example, in a list of foods we will know that it must be a food. This is not a complete deduction of the meaning, but it is often enough.

Perhaps the commonest kind of clue from surrounding words comes when their meaning can be combined with our own general knowledge. Consider again fetters in (c) above. Its occurrence after bound in suggests that it means something used for binding or restraining people. General knowledge can then indicate that binding normally involves hands or feet, leading to the conclusion that fetters somehow restrain those parts of the body. The similarity of the word to feet, indeed, strongly suggests those parts in particular (though my dictionary makes no such link).

To take another example:

(d) Food travels from the mouth to the stomach via the oesophagus.

It is immediately clear here that the oesophagus is a food-carrier. If we are generally familiar with the human body, we will readily understand a tube-like structure. Yet even without this familiarity, logic will indicate such a shape. For a further example of this kind of deduction, see 197. The Language of Bibliographies, example sentence (a).

Another kind of contextual clue is a synonym used nearby not deliberately to explain the word’s meaning but to avoid sounding repetitious – a very common writing practice (see 5. Repetition-Reducing Synonyms). In the following, such a clue can assist understanding of vexed:

(e) The problem of God knowing our future has vexed philosophers since at least the third century. In related forms it has bothered philosophers longer than that.

Vexed corresponds here, of course, to bothered. The only problem with this kind of clue is that the reader has to recognise the relatedness of the two words in the first place! The parallel structures of the two above sentences are a help. In the next example, help in understanding scapegoat comes from the fact that it is part of a typical structure for repeating something from the preceding sentence, namely a starting preposition phrase (see 37. Subordination):

(f) Worsening poverty and hunger, loss of agricultural land, migration, shanty towns, pollution, even war have all been blamed on the “population explosion”. AS a general SCAPEGOAT for the world’s troubles, it allows difficult policy questions to be avoided.

The word in the first sentence that corresponds to scapegoat is blamed – a verb instead of noun, but that makes no difference. A scapegoat is actually an object of unjustified blame, but recognising the idea of blame is a good start – later sentences might clarify it further.

Finally, it is sometimes oppositeness of two words rather than equivalence that helps guessing. Consider this:

(g) The defining mark of a species is that its members can breed with other members to produce offspring of the same species. Unions between members of different species, on the other hand, are often sterile.

The indicator of oppositeness here is the connector on the other hand (see 20. Problem Connectors, # 1). It helps the meaning of sterile to be recognised as the opposite of produce offspring: “unable to reproduce”.