Grammar

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Early Modern English Grammar & The Language Mavens
TESL 351
Feb. 28
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EME Grammar - adjectives
Normally, adjective precedes the noun
A big house, an old man
But in EME some French-influenced exceptions
proof positive, the light fantastic, others?
Order of adjectives is fixed, but difficult for ESL learners
How to order: big those glass antique two green bowls ?
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EME Grammar - prepositions
OE had few prepositions because…?
Those that existed in OE had a wide range of meanings, e.g. of in these examples that survive
What do you want of me?
It is quarter of eight
He rode of(f).
EME saw the addition of new prepositions
Earlier function of by taken over by near, in accordance with, about, concerning, by reason of, owing to
Examples from Shakespeare (p. 66) illustrate changes
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EME Grammar - prepositions
EME grammarians (and modern language mavens!) deplore dangling prepositions such as these
Why did you bring that book that I didn’t want to be read to out of back up?
Here is the little girl you were talking about.
That is something I would like be more aware of.
That is the sort of English I will not put up with.
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EME Grammar - verbs
3rd person -s
Of the many OE verb inflections, 3rd person -s survives
In EME, both older (loveth) and newer forms (loves) were used side by side
A late-acquired feature in ESL learners
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EME Grammar - verbs
Split infinitives
EME rule: no other word may come between to and the infinitive verb
As in “…to boldly go…”
Rule is widely ignored!
Sometimes observing the rule makes the meaning unclear
He failed completely to convince me.
He failed to completely convince me.
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EME Grammar - verbs
Modals -- meanings of these became more fixed during EME period
Difference between will and shall?
Advice to ESL learners?
Difference between can and may?
Advice to ESL learners?
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EME Grammar - verbs
Verb to be
In EME these contracted forms existed
‘tis
‘twill
‘twas
The forms an’t and ain’t were also acceptable (contraction of am + not)
Problem: I am on time, …. I?
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EME Grammar - verbs
Negation
OE negation with ne
Ic neom freo. (neom = ne + am)
Ic ne cume
In EME
Negative with do came into use
Both I do not know and I know not were acceptable
Double negatives were also acceptable; they added emphasis
Shakespeare: I cannot go no further.
Also occur in ‘substandard’ varieties: I can’t get no satisfaction
And are the norm in some other languages, for example?
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Double positive?
A linguistics professor was lecturing his class. “In English,” he explained, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative.
“However,” the professor continued, “there is no language in which a double positive can form a negative.”
A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

— Reader’s Digest, July 2003
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Pinker The Language Mavens
What is a maven?
How well does Pinker’s analogy work in your opinion? Is the idea of ungrammatical human speech just as absurd as the idea of mistakes in the whale’s song?
What does Pinker mean when he says “every normal person can speak grammatically and ungrammatically” (p. 372)? What are prescriptive and descriptive rules?
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Pinker The Language Mavens
What is a shibboleth?
The language mavens claim that nonstandard English is less logical. What is the problem with this argument? Explain using examples.
What examples of ‘errors’ typically deplored by the mavens does Pinker examine?

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Pinker The Language Mavens
What are some things Pinker hopes to have convinced the reader of?
What does he recommend that people do to improve their language? What is the message (if any) for ESL teaching?
What is Pinker’s pet language peeve? What are yours?