American English Grammar - An Introduction

American English Grammar introduces students to American English in detail, from parts of speech, phrases, and clauses to punctuation and explaining (and debunking) numerous "rules of correctness," integrating its discussion of Standard American grammar with thorough coverage of the past sixty years' worth of work on African American English and other ethnic and regional non-Standard varieties. The book's examples and exercises include 500 real-world sentences and longer texts, drawn from newspapers, film, song lyrics, and online media as well as from Mark Twain, Stephen King, academic texts, translations of the Bible, poetry, drama, children's literature, and transcribed conversation and TV and radio shows. Based on twenty years of classroom testing and revision, American English Grammar will serve as a classroom text or reference that teaches students how to think and talk not only about the mechanics of sentences but also about the deep and detailed soul and nuance of the most widely used language in human history.

List of contents

Contents
Introduction
Language Variety and Grammar
The Point of the Book
A Summary of the Book
Key Points
A Guide to Non-Standard American Varieties
Acknowledgements
Credits
Abbreviations and Conventions
Introduction Notes
Chapter 1: Sentences; Parts of Speech and Their Phrases

1. Sentences: Subjects, Verbs, Verb Complements, and Sentence Modifiers
1.2 Parts of Speech and Their Phrases
Key Points
1.3 Exercises: Sentences
Chapter 1: Notes
Chapter 2: Nouns (N) and Noun Phrases (NP)
2.1 Noun Features
2.2 Noun Phrases
2.3 Noun Phrase Functions
Key Points
2.4 Exercises: Noun Phrases
Chapter 2 Notes
Chapter 3: Prepositions (P) and Prepositional Phrases (PP)
3.1 Prepositions: Form and Function
3.2 Prepositional Phrases: Form and Function
3.3 Prepositions and Language Variation
Key Points
3.4 Exercises: Prepositional Phrases
Chapter 3 Notes
Chapter 4: Adjectives (Adj) and Adjective Phrases (AdjP); Determiners (D) and Determiner Phrases (DP)
4.1 Adjective Forms
4.1.1 Adjective Phrases: Forms and Functions
4.2 Determiners (D) and Determiner Phrases (DP)
4.2.1 Determiner Forms
4.2.2 Determiner Phrases: Forms and Functions
4.3 What makes determiners different from adjectives? And why are number determiners?
Key Points
4.4 Exercises
Chapter 4 Notes
Chapter 5: Pronouns (ProN) and Pronoun Phrases (ProNP)
5.1 Pronoun Forms
5.2 Pronoun Attributes: Case, Number, Person, Gender, Animateness
5.3 Pronoun Functions
5.4 Identifying Pronouns
Key Points
5.5 Exercises: Pronouns
Chapter 5 Notes
Chapter 6: Verbs (V)
6.1 Verb Forms
6.1.1 Tense
6.1.2 Modality, Aspect, and Voice
6.1.2.1 Modality
6.1.2.2 Aspect
6.1.2.3 Voice
6.1.3 Tense, Modality, Aspect, Voice: Putting Them All Together
6.1.4 Imperative Mood
6.1.5 Subjunctive Mood
6.1.6 Auxiliary dó
6.1.7 Generic Past Semi-auxiliary used to
6.1.8 Non-Standard Absent be
6.1.9 How many bes are there?
6.2 Identifying Verbs
Key Points
6.3 Exercises: Verbs: Tense, Mood, Aspect, Voice
Chapter 6 Notes
Chapter 7: Verb Phrases (VP)
7.1 Verb Complements
7.1.1 Verbs with No Complements: Intransitive Verbs
7.1.2 Verbs with One Complement
7.1.2.1 Monotransitive Verbs
7.1.2.2 Intransitive Linking Verbs and Copular be with a Nominal or Adjectival Subject Complement
7.1.2.3 Intransitive Copular be with an Adverbial Subject Complement
7.1.2.4 Intransitive Verbs with an Adverbial Complement
7.1.2.5 Intransitive Quotative Verbs
7.1.3 Verbs with Two Complements
7.1.3.1 Ditransitive Verbs
7.1.3.2 Complex Transitive Verbs with a Direct Object and a Nominal or Adjectival Object Complement
7.1.3.3 Complex Transitive Verbs with a Direct Object and an Adverbial Object Complement
7.1.3.4 Complex Transitive Verbs with a Direct Object and a Participle Phrase
7.1.3.5 Complex Transitive Verbs with Direct Object and Infinitive Phrase
7.1.3.6 Transitive Quotative Verbs
7.1.4 Phrasal Verbs (PV)
7.1.4.1 Intransitive PVs
7.1.4.2 PVs with One Particle and One Complement
7.1.4.2.1 Transitive Separable PVs
7.1.4.2.2 Transitive Inseparable PVs
7.1.4.3 Transitive PV with a Second NP Verb Complement
7.1.4.4 Transitive PV with Two Inseparable Particles
7.1.4.5 Phrasal Verbs with Two Particles and Two Complements
7.1.4.5.1 Transitive PV with Two Separable Particles and a NP:VC
7.1.4.5.2 Transitive PV with Two Inseparable Particles and a NP:VC
7.2 Summary of Verb Complement and Phrasal Verb Patterns
Key Points
7.3 Exercises: Verb Complements and Phrasal Verbs
Chapter 7 Notes
Chapter 8: Adverbs (Adv) and Adverb Phrases (AdvP)
8.1 Adverb Phrases
8.2 Identifying Adverbs
8.3 Negation
Key Points
8.4 Exercises: Adverb Phrases
Chapter 8 Notes
Chapter 9: Conjunctions (Conj)
9.1 Coordinating Conjunctions
9.2 Conjoining Punctuation
9.2.1 Commas
9.2.2 An Aside about Semicolons
9.2.3 An Aside about Dashes, Hyphens, and Parentheses
9.2.4 A Further Aside on Hyphens
9.2.5 Hey: What about Colons?
9.2.6 One More Conjunctive Punctuation Mark You Don't Think About: Virgules
9.2.7 Summary of Conjoining Punctuation "Rules"
A Brief Discussion of Interjections
Key Points
9.3 Exercises: Conjunctions and Conjoining Punctuation
Chapter 9 Notes
Chapter 10: Clauses
10.1 Independent Clauses-a.k.a. Sentences
10.1.1 Interrogative Sentences
10.1.2 Imperative Mood Sentences
10.1.3 Expletive there
10.1.4 Expletive it
10.1.5 Passive Voice
10.1.6 Inversion
10.2 Dependent Clauses
10.2.1 Adjective Clauses (AdjCl; a.k.a. Relative Clauses)
10.2.1.1 Relative Pro-words
10.2.2 Noun Clauses (NCl)
10.2.3 Adverb Clauses (AdvCl; a.k.a. Subordinate Clauses)
10.2.3.1 Subordinating Conjunctions (SConj)
Key Points
10.3 Exercises: Clauses
Chapter 10 Notes
Chapter 11: Nominals, Adjectivals, and Adverbials
11.1 Nominals
11.2 Adjectivals
11.3 Adverbials
11.3.1 Scope
11.3.2 Subjunct Adverbials
11.3.3 Adjunct Adverbials
11.3.4 Disjunct Adverbials
11.3.5 Conjunctive Adverbials
11.3.6 Sentence Modifiers and Clause Modifiers
Key Points
11.4 Exercises: Nominals, Adjectivals, and Adverbials
Chapter 11 Notes
Chapter 12: Non-Finite Verb Phrases
12.1 Participles (Part) and Participle Phrases (PartP)
12.1.1 Nominal Participle Phrases
12.1.2 Adjectival Participle Phrases
12.1.3 Adverbial Participle Phrases
12.1.4 The Agent of the Participle
12.1.5 PartPs with Auxiliary and Semi-Auxiliary Verbs
12.1.6 PartPs Preceded by a Subordinator
12.2 Infinitives (Inf) and Infinitive Phrases (InfP)
12.2.1 Nominal Infinitive Phrases
12.2.2 Adjectival Infinitive Phrases
12.2.3 Adverbial Infinitive Phrases
12.2.4 The Agent of the Infinitive
12.2.5 InfPs with Auxiliary and Semi-Auxiliary Verbs
12.2.6 InfPs Preceded by a Subordinator
Key Points
12.3 Exercises: Participle and Infinitive Phrases
Chapter 12 Notes
Chapter 13: A Grand Review Exercise
Index




About the author

Seth R. Katz is Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of English at Bradley University, USA.


Summary

This book introduces students to American English in detail, from parts-of-speech, phrases, clauses to punctuation, and explaining numerous "rules of correctness," integrating discussion of Standard American grammar with thorough coverage of the past sixty years' work on African American English and ethnic and regional non-Standard varieties.

Additional text

"Notwithstanding the abundance of grammar books, we have a critical need for a unique text on American English that treats diversity as natural and is based on sentences and texts representing a full range of uses—from well-known, expert writers to online media and song lyrics. This is such a text as it guides students to see the language soul beyond the structure of sentences."
—Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University, USA
"I took Dr. Katz’s grammar course while he was developing American English Grammar, and his training proved revolutionary for my teaching, my students, and my own personal understanding of grammar. Dr. Katz’s common-sense approach to describing how language comes together, rather than the traditional defining of rules, has helped me give my students the freedom to explore language with joy and delight. Instead of requiring students to memorize lists and rules, AEG scaffolds the skills necessary to truly study the inner workings of our nuanced language."

—Erik Czerwin, English Language Arts teacher, Rockford, Illinois, USA

"I approach American English Grammar having had the benefit of learning from an earlier version of this textbook as an undergraduate. The foundation in analytical grammar that AEG provides equips the diligent student with the tools needed to understand not just what we write, but how and why we do so. The true strength of AEG is in its extensive examples and in how it encourages discussion and argumentation in classification. In my own educational career, while I was rarely called upon to diagram a sentence, I have often fallen back on the analytical training this text provides while in both the EFL and the college composition classroom."
—Christopher Douglas, Jacksonville State University, USA
"Many grammar textbooks relegate discussion of nonstandard varieties to a single chapter; however, American English Grammar discusses nonstandard variation in each chapter and provides examples of variation within each subcategory of discussion. This is important because students see variation in all areas of grammar, which means as they learn grammatical analysis they learn that different varieties demonstrate different features. The significant result is that variation is not error and that Standard English is not 'correct' English. A second key aspect of AEG for me is the use of examples that demonstrate the concepts being discussed, drawn from existing texts and almost always working with sources and language in use. That helps both students and instructors. … I appreciate Katz’s sense that the goal is to become an analyst, not to analyze in one particular way, encouraging students to think in terms of interpretation and evidence rather than correct and incorrect."
—John M. Ware, Wofford College, USA

Product details

• Authors: Seth R. Katz
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9780367219352
• ISBN: 978-0-367-21935-2
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, American English, Grammar, syntax & morphology, Grammar, syntax and morphology