A way with words. : III understanding grammar for powerful communication

105 Pages·2008·3.368 MB·English

by  Michael D C Drout, Recorded Books, Inc

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A W
AY WITH
W III:
ORDS
UNDERSTANDING
GRAMMAR
FOR POWERFUL
COMMUNICATION
COURSE GUIDE
Professor Michael D.C. Drout
A Recorded Books Production
www.modernscholar.com•1-800-636-3399 WHEATONCOLLEGE
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A Way with Words III:
Understanding Grammar
for Powerful Communication
Professor Michael D.C. Drout
Wheaton College
RecordedBooks™isatrademarkof
RecordedBooks,LLC.Allrightsreserved.
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AWaywithWordsIII:
UnderstandingGrammarforPowerfulCommunication
ProfessorMichaelD.C.Drout
(cid:1)
ExecutiveProducer
JohnJ.Alexander
ExecutiveEditor
DonnaF.Carnahan
RECORDING
Producer-DavidMarkowitz
Director-MatthewCavnar
COURSEGUIDE
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Lecturecontent©2008byMichaelD.C.Drout
Courseguide©2008byRecordedBooks,LLC
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2008byRecordedBooks,LLC
#UT123 ISBN:978-1-4361-2927-5
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CourseSyllabus
AWaywithWordsIII:
UnderstandingGrammarforPowerfulCommunication
AboutYourProfessor...................................................................................................4
Introduction...................................................................................................................5
Lecture1 TheRedPandaandtheDroutWay:ASensibleApproach
toGrammar............................................................................................6
Lecture2 WhatIsGrammar?..............................................................................12
Lecture3 WhyItIstheWayItIs:TheShortHistoryofthe
EnglishLanguage................................................................................17
Lecture4 G-H-O-T-ISpellsFish..........................................................................23
Lecture5 WordClasses......................................................................................29
Lecture6 PronounsandtheNounSystem.........................................................34
Lecture7 TheVerbSystemI...............................................................................41
Lecture8 TheVerbSystemII:Infinitives,Participles,Gerunds..........................48
Lecture9 TheVerbSystemIII:TrulyIrregularVerbs..........................................55
Lecture10 SubjectsandPredicatesandObjects,Oh,My!...................................63
Lecture11 Transformations...................................................................................74
Lecture12 PhrasesandClauses,WordChoicesandPauses.............................82
Lecture13 Punctuation:PauseandEffect............................................................89
Lecture14 Fight!Fight!Fight!ForEnglish(forEnglish?)......................................96
CourseMaterials......................................................................................................103
RecordedBooksAudiobooks...................................................................................104
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About Your Professor
Michael D.C. Drout
MichaelD.C.DroutistheWilliamand
ElsiePrenticeProfessorofEnglishat
WheatonCollegeinNorton,Massachu-
m setts,wherehechairstheEnglishdepart-
mages.co mentandteachescoursesinOldand
BCCI MiddleEnglish,medievalliterature,
Collier, Chaucer,fantasy,andsciencefiction.
min ProfessorDroutreceivedhisPh.D.in
Benja medievalliteraturefromLoyolaUniversity
©
in1997.HealsoholdsM.A.degreesfrom
Stanford(journalism)andtheUniversityofMissouri-Columbia(Englishlitera-
ture)andaB.A.fromCarnegieMellon.
In2006,ProfessorDroutwaschosenasaMillicentC.McIntoshFellowby
theWoodrowWilsonFoundation.In2005,hewasawardedthePrentice
Professorshipforoutstandingteaching.TheWheatonCollegeclassof2003
presentedhimwiththeFacultyAppreciationAwardinthatyear.Heiseditor
ofJ.R.R.Tolkien’sBeowulfandtheCritics,whichwontheMythopoeic
ScholarshipAwardforInklingsStudiesfor2003.Heisalsotheauthorof
HowTraditionWorks:AMeme-BasedCulturalPoeticsoftheAnglo-Saxon
TenthCentury(ArizonaMedievalandRenaissanceStudies).Droutisone
ofthefoundingeditorsofthejournalTolkienStudiesandiseditorofThe
J.R.R.TolkienEncyclopedia(Routledge).
Drouthaspublishedextensivelyonmedievalliterature,includingarticleson
WilliamLangland’sPiersPlowman,Beowulf,theAnglo-Saxonwills,theOld
EnglishtranslationoftheRuleofChrodegang,theExeterBook“wisdom
poems,”andAnglo-Saxonmedicaltexts.Hehasalsopublishedarticles
onUrsulaK.LeGuin’sEarthseabooksandSusanCooper’sDarkIsRising
seriesofchildren’sfantasynovels.DrouthaswrittenanOldEnglishgrammar
book,KingAlfred’sGrammar,whichisavailableforfreeathiswebsite,
www.michaeldrout.com.ProfessorDrout’sotherwebsitesare
www.Beowulfaloud.comandwww.anglosaxonaloud.com.Hehasgiven
lecturesinEngland,Finland,Italy,Canada,andthroughouttheUnitedStates.
DroutlivesinDedham,Massachusetts,withhiswifeRaquelD’Oyen,their
daughterRhys,andtheirsonMitchell.
YoumayenjoytheseotherModernScholarcoursesbyProfessorDrout:
AHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage
AWaywithWordsI:Writing,Rhetoric,andtheArtofPersuasion
AWaywithWordsII:ApproachestoLiterature
BardoftheMiddleAges:TheWorksofGeoffreyChaucer
FromHeretoInfinity:AnExplorationofScienceFictionLiterature
Rings,Swords,andMonsters:ExploringFantasyLiterature
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LLC
Books,
Recorded
by
©2008
mons;
m
Si
Joie
by
coverillustrations
White;
Ed
by
design
Cover
Introduction
InAWaywithWordsIandII,ProfessorMichaelD.C.DroutofWheaton
Collegeaddressedtheroleofrhetoricinpeople’slivesandexaminedthe
manywaystoapproachliterature.Inthethirdpartofthisextraordinaryseries,
ProfessorDroutcontinuestoexplorehumanity’sintimateassociationwithlan-
guage,heredelvingintothefinerpointsofgrammar.Theintricaciesofgram-
mar,infact,shouldnotberelegatedtotherealmoffussy“guardiansofthe
language,”butareratheressentialcluesallcanemploytocommunicate
moreexactly.Insuchalight,thiscourseformsaninvaluableguideforevery-
onefromallfieldsofinterest.
ANoteonTypesettinginThisBooklet
Thereisadistincttypefontchangebetweenourstandardtypeface(Arial,a
sansseriftypeface)andJuniusModern(aseriftypeface)usedforspecial
charactersettingsforpassagessetinOldEnglish.
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Lecture1:
TheRedPandaandtheDroutWay:
ASensibleApproachtoGrammar
TheSuggestedReadingforthislectureisDavidCrystal’sTheFightfor
English:HowLanguagePunditsAte,Shot,andLeft,chapters1to16.
henpeoplefindoutthatI’manEnglishprofessor,they
oftensaythingslike,“Uh-oh,I’dbetterwatchmygram-
mar.”Thisisironic,becausealthoughIteachwritingand
OldEnglishandthereforedoteachmystudentsgrammar,
mostEnglishteachingatthecollegelevelseemstohave
nothingtodowithgrammar.Andinfactmostofthepeople
whosay“I’dbetterwatchmygrammar”arealreadycollege
educated,sotheyhavetheoreticallyalreadystudiedEnglishat
ahighlevel.Andyetit’sthefirstthingpeoplesay.Never“Uh-oh,I’dbetter
watchmyliteraryandrhetoricalanalysis”or“Uh-oh,betternotgetconfused
betweendramaticandsituationalirony”or“Uh-oh,don’twanttomixupOld
EnglishandMiddleEnglishnow.”Italwayscomesbacktogrammar.
Thisindicatestomethatthereissomerealinsecurityamongpeopleabout
grammar.Fewpeopleareembarrassedtoadmitthattheymightstrugglewith
math(Idonotthinkthatthisisagoodthing,butwewillsetitasidefornow),
butpeoplesimultaneouslyexpectthemselvestomakeerrorsingrammar,
andtheyfeelbadaboutit.Errorsingrammarare,apparently,notwhat
educatedpeopledo.
Nowatacertainlevelthisisabsolutenonsense.Theaveragepersonpro-
ducesthousandsofsentencesperdayandmillions,yes,millionsperyear.
Thevastmajorityoftheseareentirelygrammatical.Apersonwhohas“bad
grammar”isstillperfectlygrammaticalataratefarhigherthan95percentof
thetime.Sowhytheangst?Thereisasimpleanswerandamorecomplex
one.Simply,whennormalpeopletalkabout“watchingtheirgrammar”they
arethinkingaboutsomethingdifferentthanlinguistswhoaretalkingabout
“grammaticalcompetence.”Linguistsaremoreinterestedintheremarkable
numberofthingsthatgoright,butregularpeoplearemuchmoreinterested
inavoidingerrors.Theydon’twanttobe95percentright;theywanttobe
100percentright.Afterall,theerrorsarethethingsthatstandout.
Themorecomplexansweristhatthegrammarthatpeopleareworried
aboutisnotwhatlinguistsareconcernedwithwhentheylookat“grammatical
competence”orcomparethestatementsproducedbyindividualswithdiffer-
entsortsofaphasiatonormalspeech.Rather,peopleareinterestedinthe
subtletiesofgrammarthatmarkparticularsocialrelations.Theyareworried
E thatusingthe“wrong”kindofgrammarcouldputthemonthewrongsideof
N
O varioussocioculturalbarriers.
E
R Formostpeople,masteringcertainarcanerulesofgrammarandhaving
U
T enoughtimeandconcentrationtofollowthemisawayofseparatingout
C
E
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peoplefromeachother:basedonthisparticularlytinysubsetofusage,we
cansaywhois“educated”andwhoisnot.Ofcoursetheuseofparticular
grammaticalcuesisonlyslightlycorrelatedwithactualeducationallevelor
intelligence,butmanypeoplestilldocareaboutit.Sowhenpeoplesay,“I’d
betterwatchmygrammar,”theyarereallydoingwhatIsometimesdowhen
Isaysomethinglike“IgrewupinsuburbanNewJerseyeatingCheeze-Whiz
sandwichesandDintyMoorebeefstew,soIdon’tknowwhichforkorimple-
mentgoeswithwhichdish.”Inthatsituation,besidesgettingalaugh,I’m
saying,“Iknowtherearerulesaboutthisstuff,andIwanttoshowyou
respect,butIdon’tactuallyknowwhattherulesare,sopleasedon’tthink
poorlyofmefornotfollowingthem.”Thisapproach,bytheway,doesnot
alwayswork.Butpeoplewhosay“Oh,anEnglishprofessor;I’dbetterwatch
mygrammar”arereallysaying“Iknowthatyou,ProfessorDrout,English
Professorthatyouare,mightspotdeviationsfromsomearbitrarystandard
inafewaspectsofmygrammar.Thatgrammarwon’tbepreciselyperfect,
becauseIhaven’tstudieditasmuchasyou.Sobysaying‘I’dbetterwatch
mygrammar,’Iampreventingyoufromgoing‘gotcha!’whenIdon’tobeyall
theconfusingandcomplicatedsocialcustomssurroundinggrammar.”
Sowhatdowedo?Thereareacoupleofapproaches.OneIthinkisexem-
plifiedbyLynneTruss’sexcellentbookEats,Shoots&Leaves:TheZero
ToleranceApproachtoPunctuation.Inthishystericallyfunnybook,Truss
proudlydefendsgrammatical“sticklers,”peoplewhowillcorrectyouabout
yoursplitinfinitives,danglingparticiples,andmostofallaboutyourmisplaced
apostrophes.Trussthinksthattraditional“correct”grammarandpunctuation
areworthpreservingandthatweshouldstrivetofollow“correct”usageinthe
littlethings.Then,ontheotherside,isDavidCrystal,whosebookTheFight
forEnglish:HowLanguagePunditsAte,ShotandLeftisanattackonTruss
andthe“sticklers.”Crystal,atrulydistinguishedlinguist,seesthe“sticklers”
asattemptingtousetheirattentiontogrammarasawayofmaintainingclass
boundaries,unfairlypenalizingpeoplefromdifferentsocialorculturalback-
grounds,andgenerallyreinscribingallkindsofsocial,class,andraceatti-
tudesthathethinksarebad.
InsomewaysTrussandCrystalaretalkingpasteachother,andtheyeven
acknowledgethatonoccasion.Crystalgoesoutofhiswaytosaythatheis
notan“anythinggoes”guy(thoughhedoesn’tgivemuchinthewayofguid-
anceastowhatgrammarhewouldsayis“bad”),andTruss,althoughshe
relentlesslymocksthingsliketheuseofanapostrophetomarkthesimple
pluralratherthanthepossessiveorthelackofanapostrophewhereit
belongs,alsotalksabouthavingsympathyforpeoplewhofindthatthesimple
s,withnoapostrophe,onwordsendinginavowelmightseemodd.Butreally
neitheroneisengagingwiththeother’sarguments,andevenmore,neither
onereallygiveswhatIthinkisa“sensible”approachtoone’sowngrammar.
Crystal’spointthatweshouldacceptawidervarietyofusagesasgrammati-
calisniceinsomekindofexistentialway,butitdoesnothingforpeoplewho
arenotsatisfiedwiththeirowngrammar.Youcantellthesepeopleallyou
wantthatprettymuchallutterancesbyfluentpeoplearegrammaticalasfar
asalinguistisconcerned,butthatdoesn’thelpsomeonewhoisnothappy
withhisorherowngrammaticalusage.Acomparisonwouldbeapersonal
traineratagymwhosaid,“ProfessorDrout,youaren’tactuallyunhealthy,so
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justbesatisfiedwiththewayyoulook.”Thetrainermaybeinonesense
right,buthe’snothelpingmeaccomplishwhatIwanttoaccomplish.Thatis
theproblemwithCrystal’sbook.
Unfortunately,Trussisn’tparticularlyhelpful,either.Althoughshedoesgive
youmanyrulesforpunctuation,andevengetssomeofthehistorybehindit
right,herrulesdon’treallyhangtogetherintoageneralapproachthatis
easytounderstand(Istillrecommendherbookstrongly).Mystudents
alwayslovereadingTruss,buttheycomeawayfromitthewaytheycame
awayfromeighth-gradegrammar:withsomepartiallyunderstoodrulesand
alotofconfusion.
TheDroutWay
Ioffer,insteadofeitherTruss’s“stickler’s”approachorCrystal’s“almostany-
thinggoesandjusttrytobemoreopen-minded”approach,somethingfar
morereasonableandeffective,“TheDroutWay,”amiddlegroundbetween
Crystal’s“let’scelebrategrammaticaldifferences”andTruss’s“zerotolerance”
approach.Forontheonehand,Crystalisright:itisanobnoxiouspowerplay
tocorrectsomeone’ssplitinfinitiveasawayoftryingtoshowsocialsuperiori-
ty.Ontheotherhand,lifeiswhatitis.Thereareenoughpeoplewhoareprej-
udicedagainstnonstandardgrammarthatit’sworthdevelopingyourown
grammaticalknowledgesothat,whenyourunupagainstthesepeople,orif
youjustmightrunupagainstthesepeople,youcanfollowtheconvention.
SotheDroutWayisthis:learnaboutthedetailsofgrammar,andpickup
“goodgrammar”becauseitissomethingincrediblyinterestingrelatingto
otherhumanbeings.Butalsoknow,deepdowninside,thatagrammar
“error”justmeansthatyoupickedupthewrongfork;ithasnothingtodowith
yourintelligenceorinnategoodnessasaperson,butissimplyamostlyarbi-
trarycustomyouhavenotyetentirelymastered,likeadancesteportheuse
ofanewpieceoftechnology.Thenyoucanlearnaboutgrammarforthe
sheerjoyofit.Andreally,learningaboutgrammarisjoyful.Itisawonderful
feelingtounderstandwhytherulesarethewaytheyareandseehowmod-
erngrammar—thekindlinguistsdo—explainsthoseseeminglyarbitraryrules.
AndthatisthesecondpartoftheDroutWay.Althoughwedonotimmediate-
lydelveintowhatIamcallingmoderngrammar,whichtechnicallyshouldbe
calledtransformationalgenerativegrammar,wedousetheinsightsthatmod-
ernlinguisticshavegained.Butatthesametimewedon’tignorealltheold
rulesandterminology.Ratherweusemodern,transformationalgenerative
grammartoexplaintheold-schoolrules.
TheRedPanda
Irepresent“TheDroutWay”withtheredpanda,whichwillbe
ourtotemanimalfortherestofthiscourse.Bizarrely,regular,
blackandwhitepandas,ailuropodamelanoleuca(which
means“blackandwhitecat-foot”),havebecomethemas-
E cotsofgrammar.ItgoesbacktoTruss’sbookaboutpunc-
N
O tuation.Shetellsthefollowingjoke:
E
R Apandawalksintoacafé.Heordersasandwich,eatsit,
U
T thendrawsagunandfirestwoshotsintheair. ©Clipart.com
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E
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“Why?”askstheconfusedwaiter,asthepandamakestowardsthe
exit.Thepandaproducesabadlypunctuatedwildlifemanualandtoss-
esitoverhisshoulder.
“I’mapanda,”hesaysatthedoor.“Lookitup.”
Thewaiterturnstotherelevantentryand,sureenough,finds
anexplanation.
“Panda.Largeblack-and-whitebear-likemammal,nativetoChina.
Eats,shootsandleaves.”
NowI’llbeapedanticprofessorbyexplainingthejoke:thepandainterpreted
“eats,shootsandleaves”as“eats,thenshoots,thenleaves”insteadof“eats:
shoots—suchasbambooshoots—andleaves.”Thepointisthatthepunctua-
tionmatters.
DavidCrystal’sbookalsohasapandaonthecover,thoughhedoesn’thave
apandajoke.HejustsaysthatthecriticsofEnglishusage,the“language
pundits,”justate,shot,andleft.Sonowthepandaistheofficialmascotof
grammarbooks.Trussuseditoneway,andCrystalistryingtoreappropriate
it.Butalthoughthisisagrammarcourse,Iamnotgoingtolowermyselfto
engaginginpanda-squabbling.Theycankeeptheirordinaryblack-and-white
panda.Iwillusetheredpanda.
Alongtimeago,rightwhenIgraduatedfromcollegein1990,Iwentona
triptotheBronxZoowithmybestfriendfromcollege,theBroadwayactress
ChristianeNoll.Wesawasignforthe“redpanda”intheHimalayanpartof
thezoo.Christiewasreallyexcitedtoseethis“redpanda,”sowegotonthe
monorailthatyouhadtorideontoseethepanda.Weendedupsittingright
©JoieSimmons/RecordedBooks,LLC
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