Teaching the Grammar of Involved Speech/Writing: A Resource Module
Matthew Williams
Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL
Georgia State University
December 1996
amplifiers (express degree of certainty, boost the force of a verb; e.g. absolutely, totally, very)
analytic negation (NOT and all its contractions; e.g. "He doesn't wash windows." or "She is not a
painter.")
causative subordination (gives justification for beliefs/actions; i.e. because, since, as)
conditional subordination (gives conditions for beliefs/actions; i.e. if/unless + CLAUSE)
demonstrative pronouns (this, that, those, these)
discourse particles (used to maintain conversational coherence; i.e. well, now, anyway, anyhow,
anyhoo, anyways)
'do' as pro-verb (substitutes for an entire clause; i.e. "The cat did it.")
final prepositions ("Who are you going with?" or "Where is the library at?")
general emphatics (show certainty but not degree of certainty; e.g. most, more)
general hedges (informal markers of probability or uncertainty; e.g. maybe, almost at about,
something like, more or less, sort of, kind of)
indefinite pronouns (anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, none,
nothing, nowhere, somebody, somewhere, something)
non-phrasal coordination (Used to string clauses together in a lose logically unspecified manner;
e.g. CLAUSE and CLAUSE)
private verbs (e.g. know, remember, suppose, feel, realize; see Quirk, et. Al. [1985: 1181-2] for
a more complete list)
possibility modals (show possibility, permission, or ability; i.e. can/may, might/could)
pronoun 'it' (the most generalized pronoun, since it can stand for concepts, things or people)
sentence relatives (add comments to what comes immediately before; i.e. "Bob likes fried
mangoes, which is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of ")
tag questions (e.g. "This is fun, isn't it?"; Biber excluded these from the study because they could
not be identified by automatic analysis. They can be found in many involved texts.)
'that' deletion (i.e. "He says [that] he will do it.")
'Wh' clauses (e.g. "I believed what he told me.")
'Wh' questions (beginning with which, why, where, when, how, who, whom)
yes/no questions (Biber also excluded these from the study because they could not be identified
by automatic analysis; However, they, too, can be found in many involved texts)
Background and 10-Week Plan | Glossary | Appendix: Authentic Materials | References
Table of Contents for Issue 1 | Front Cover of the Journal of English Grammar on the Web