Commands 77 Exclamations 77 11 The apostrophe 80 Contractions 80 Possession 81 Avoiding confusion 82 12 Commas 84 The comma separates 85 A comma before the word ‘and’ 86 13 Inverted commas 89 14 Subject and predicate 92 Abbreviations 95 15 Objects – direct and indirect 97 The direct object 97 The indirect object 100 I or me? 101 The complement 103 16 More about verbs 108 Subjects matching verbs 109 Transitive and intransitive verbs 111 Active and passive voice 113 17 Participles 116 Present participles 116 Past participles 117 Adjectival participles and gerunds 118 18 Perfect tenses 122 The present perfect tense 122 The past perfect tense 122 The future perfect tense 123 19 More about adjectives and adverbs 128 Numeral adjectives 128 Indefinite adjectives 128 vii c o n t e n t s Quantitative adjectives 128 Interrogative adjectives 129 Possessive adjectives 129 Adverbs of comparison 130 Adverbs modifying other parts of speech 130 Adverbs formed from adjectives 131 20 More punctuation 132 Colons 132 Semicolons 134 Hyphens 135 Parentheses – brackets and dashes 136 Ellipsis 137 21 More pronouns 139 Interrogative pronouns 139 Possessive pronouns 140 Indefinite and distributive pronouns 140 22 Emphasis 143 23 Mood 145 Indicative mood 146 Imperative mood 146 Subjunctive or conditional mood 146 24 Case 150 Nominative 150 Accusative 150 Dative 150 Genitive 151 Vocative 151 25 Phrases 153 Adjectival phrases 154 Adverbial phrases 155 Noun phrases 155 viii c o n t e n t s 26 Clauses 160 Main clauses 162 Subordinate clauses 163 Adjectival clauses and relative pronouns 164 Adverbial clauses 167 Adverbial clause of time 168 Adverbial clause of place 168 Adverbial clause of reason 169 Adverbial clause of manner 169 Adverbial clause of condition 170 Adverbial clause of result 170 Adverbial clause of purpose 171 Adverbial clause of concession 172 Adverbial clause of comparison 172 Noun clause 174 27 Clause analysis 177 Format 1 – clause analysis chart 178 Format 2 – clause analysis table 179 Format 3 – clause analysis tree 182 28 Word building 188 29 Improve the way you speak and write 192 Confusion between words 192 Past tense and past participle 195 Double negatives 195 Double comparatives 196 Redundant adverbs 196 30 A final word 198 Bibliography 200 Glossary 202 Index 208 ix c o n t e n t s Dedication To my daughter and business partner Sarah, who is my constant supporter and critic. And to Gavin, also our business partner, supporter and friend. Acknowledgment Thank you to my husband John who suffers my long work hours and sometime distraction! and Karen Pennell, my patient and efficient typist who reads my handwriting remarkably well. Also I acknowledge all of our Quantum Literacy Tutors, supporters and friends, who have been enthusiastically awaiting the book. I Teaching grammar Part I This page intentionally left blank Grammar – background and history Grammar instruction The word ‘grammar’ often invokes a negative reaction in both teachers and students. Many teachers have come through a period in which grammar was neglected; for others, grammar has been taught in a haphazard way. What has brought about this situation? During the 1960s and 70s, many believed that traditional elements of scholarship should be updated to suit the practices of contemporary education. There followed a period of uncertainty. No one was sure whether grammar instruction should take place or not. Often, if they believed it should, the new curriculum failed to allow it. However, many in the profession believed that the absence of grammar instruction was contributing to a lowering of literacy levels. As a return to the grammar instruction courses of the past would be unacceptable, a supposed solution was devised – a system which became known as new or functional grammar. This system involved the generalisation of grammatical terms, and stressed the function that language performs, rather than the parts of speech described in traditional grammar. But before the age of 12 or 13 – long after the need for basic grammar tuition – children do not normally begin to think in abstract terms. No wonder that both parents and teachers complained that the children disliked ‘new’ grammar, while they themselves found it difficult to follow. … 3 . Participles 116 Present participles 116 Past participles 117 Adjectival participles and gerunds 118 18 Perfect tenses 122 The present perfect tense 122 The. tense 122 The past perfect tense 122 The future perfect tense 123 19 More about adjectives and adverbs 128 Numeral adjectives 128 Indefinite adjectives 128 vii c