English Grammar Composition And Usage By J.c. Nesfield Pdf Free Download
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One of the problems involved in using corpora to investigate language change is that many corpora are synchronic, particularly spoken ones. To observe change, a combination of methods is the most fruitful approach. As well as the evidence of corpora, grammars and usage manuals of former decades and centuries reveal not only how standards of correctness and good style in relation to speaking and writing were perceived in their time, but also how some of the present-day debates relating to particular points of usage have a long history, including features of recent Americanisation. Such investigations, along with the evidence of field notes contribute to a more nuanced picture of current changes in English.
english grammar composition and usage by j.c. nesfield pdf free download
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Two other approaches offer ways into the problem of garnering longer-term evidence of changes in usage. The first is to examine reference and/or pedagogical dictionaries, grammars, usage manuals and language teaching materials written over a long period of time, preferably centuries, to see what changes appear to have taken place. This is particularly useful in the case of grammar since,
The influence of American usage on other varieties of English has long been acknowledged and is hardly surprising, given the global economic dominance of the USA, reinforced in recent decades by its predominant role in Internet technologies and popular culture. The term Americanisation is well established in the literature with regard to changes in BrE (e.g. Leech, 2003), as well as, for example, changes in Australian English (Sussex, 1989; Taylor, 2001), Nigerian English (Awonusi, 1994) and Euro English, the English spoken by Europeans (Modiano, 1996). I make no value judgement of the term Americanisation, and my field notes of recent years simply substantiate and replicate many of the observations made by the scholars cited above, with regard to the spread of its phonology, lexis and grammar.
What is considered acceptable in one era may be judged unacceptable in another, and vice-versa. An oft-cited case is the occurrence of double periphrastic comparatives for emphasis in Shakespeare's works (e.g. Blake, 2002, p. 46-47). More than 20 of these occur across the works; they include more hotter, more kinder, more rawer and others that now sound infelicitous in modern standard English but which are heard among many BrE and AmE dialect speakers. In the Renaissance era, such double comparatives seem to have been a feature of 'elevated registers and upper class speech' (González Díaz, 2003). They then dropped relatively quickly out of educated usage, so that by the 18th century, the grammarian James Greenwood (Greenwood, 1753, p. 116) declared them to be not "good English' and the grammarian Bishop Lowth described them as improper (Lowth, 1762, p. 27).
social attitudes, prescriptive approaches to usage founded in Latin models of grammar and notions of economy, logic and objection to tautology (Wlodarczyk, 2007). The point here is that nonstandard dialects often preserve ancient forms and are often unfairly stigmatised as corruptions or illogicalities when viewed through the lens of the modern educated standard. There would seem to be no inherent reason why a form such as 'more hotter' should not be available as a useful device for emphasis; it is simply a matter of current convention, and the tide that originally brought in the use of double comparatives could come in again as easily as it went out.
Continuing the theme of number, an example from a late-19th century grammar manual brings side-by-side the previous discussion of less versus fewer and the usage of there is versus there are. Nesfield (1898) presents the example sentence: 'Today there is less than eight hours of full daylight', then goes on to correct it: 'for is less, say are fewer'. One may argue that the use of 'less than eight hours of full daylight' is another example of a
The use of there is with a plural complement in speaking, as opposed to writing, was recognised by Fowler (1926), in what remains probably the most influential manual of English grammar and usage ever written. Fowler saw the problem as reflecting what we would nowadays call the realtime or 'online' nature of speaking, i.e. that the speaker launches into the clause and its verb before the message is fully planned. He is far less tolerant of writers who fail to meet the conventional standards of number concord, condemning them as 'indecently and insultingly careless' (Fowler, 1926, p. 391). For Fowler, the there is versus there are distinction is a symptom of a much wider set of problems relating to number concord, but it is clear that the there is plus plural complement question is far from new.
The tensions that emerge are the very ones that keep language moving. At some points in history, prescriptive norms gain the upper hand and are woven into education, at others, a grass-roots force for change emerges, such as we have witnessed with the advent of global social media and the emergence of English as a world lingua franca. The immediacy of social media and online discourse has naturally resulted in more voices being heard, and, although we write upon keyboards, what emerges so often is a blend of speaking and writing. Little surprise, then, that grammar and usage are on the move perhaps as never before.
grammar of English: Л comprehensive guide. Spoken and written English grammar and usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Carter, R., McCarthy, M. J., Mark, G., & O'Keeffe, A. (2011). English grammar today. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Collins. (2016). The Collins corpus. Retrieved from
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