Linguistics Girl

Although grammatical relationships among forms of lexemes are expressed through either inflection or periphrasis, English is a highly periphrastic language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2008), periphrasis is defined as “a phrase of two or more words used to express a grammatical relationship which would otherwise be expressed by the inflection of a single word.” Examples of periphrasis include [Read Full Article...]

“Prepositions are not words to end sentences with” reads the joke commenting on a prescriptive grammar rule for prepositions. According to scholar G.O. Curme in his Parts of Speech and Accidence published in 1935, the traditional definition of a preposition is “a word that indicates a relation between the noun or pronoun it governs and another word, which may be [Read Full Article...]

Particles Particles in English grammar are function words that express grammatical relationships with other words. Function words perform definite grammatical functions but lack definite lexical meaning. Particle is a grammatical function. The grammatical form that can function as the particle in English grammar is the preposition. The prepositions of phrasal verbs, quasi-modal verbs, and some determiners function as particles. References [Read Full Article...]

Prescriptive Grammar Rule for Prepositions What is up with the English grammar rule “do not end sentences with prepositions”? I clearly remember my grade school grammar teachers drilling this rule into my head. Marooned prepositions, stranded prepositions, whatever term you use, prepositions without complements were expressly forbidden. However, as all native English speakers know, prepositions are perfectly acceptable words to [Read Full Article...]

Verb Phrase Forms The article The Internal Structure of Verb Phrases in English explains and exemplifies the five grammatical forms that appear with verbs to form English verb phrases. The article The Functions of Prepositions in Verb Phrases: Infinitive Markers, Particles, and Verb Phrase Complements explains the three functions of prepositions within English verb phrases. Verb Phrase Functions The article [Read Full Article...]