SOLUTIONS MANUAL for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston, G

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Instructor’s Answer Guide For authorized instructors using the second edition of A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar

by Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, and Brett Reynolds (Cambridge University Press, 2022, v1.0, Oct 31, 2021)

Table of Contents Chapter 1

2

Chapter 9

70

Chapter 2

5

Chapter 10

75

Chapter 3

10

Chapter 11

81

Chapter 4

22

Chapter 12

92

Chapter 5

33

Chapter 13

100

Chapter 6

42

Chapter 14

106

Chapter 7

52

Chapter 15

113

Chapter 8

61

Chapter 16

118

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Chapter 1 1.

Consider the words the, dog, ran, and away. Which are the three grammatical orders of those words? Discuss any possible grounds for doubt or disagreement that you see.

We actually don't see any grounds for doubting that just three possible orders of {the, dog, ran, away} are grammatical, but perhaps some students might query this, and come up with ideas that are worth discussing. The exercise is not very important, but it provides a reminder that nearly all strings of words you could write down are ungrammatical. For any list of n words, there are n! different orders they could be arranged in (we can allow some of the words in a list to be duplications of others in the list). The notation n! denotes the factorial of n; that is, n times n – 1 times n – 2 times n – 3... and so on down to 1. So 10! = 10 × 9 × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 3,628,800 orders. Our point is that out of the n! arrangements of n words, almost all are complete gibberish. The strings of English words that comply with all the requirements of English grammar are very few in number relative to all the possible strings that could be constructed.

The bottom-line lesson about language learning is that someone who wants to learn a language has only just begun the task when they have learned all the words!

2.

Consider what features of the following sentences mark them as belonging to formal style in Standard English. Rewrite them in a more informal style, keeping the meaning as close as possible to the original. Add notes on what you changed and why.

(The following are sample answers and should not be taken to be the only correct responses.) i

To whom am I speaking? → Who am I speaking to?

Changed whom to who and put to at the end because these both feel like less formal choices, and they seem to go together.

ii

It would be a pity if he were to give up now. → It would be sad if he gave up now.

Nobody says a pity these days, and he were sounds formal. Also, if he gave up is shorter than if he were to give up.

iii

We hid the documents, lest they be confiscated. → We hid the documents, to stop them from being confiscated.

Again, nobody uses lest these days. But without lest the sentence needs to be longer to say the same thing. I guess longer isn’t more formal.

iv

That which but twenty years ago was a mystery now seems routine. → What was a mystery just twenty years ago now seems routine.

It seems too formal to say that which instead of just what. And usually but isn’t formal, yet this use of but seems very formal, even archaic. One more lesson in how little of the learning task has been accomplished once you know the words!

v

One should always try to do one’s best. → You should always do your best.

You and one have the same meaning here, but you (pronounced ya) is more informal. It doesn’t mean “you, the person I’m talking to”. It just means somebody, any person.

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3.

For each of the following statements, say whether it is a morphological, syntactic, or semantic fact about English (see §1.2.1).

Keep in mind that if it's about the internal makeup of words, the answer is that it is morphological; if it's about the way words (regardless of their meanings) combine into sentences, it's syntactic; and if it's about meaning — what the sentence would be literally saying if it were uttered in some context — then it's semantic. i

A completed grammatical sentence of Standard English that begins ‘I believe that we… ’ must continue in a way that includes at least one verb. syntactic

ii

A witness who used to be a smoker would be wrong to answer No to the question Did you ever smoke? semantic

iii

Of can occur as the last word in a Standard English sentence. syntactic

iv

The string of words *He it saw can be made grammatical by positioning the word it after the word saw. syntactic

v

The verb enable is formed from able by adding the en⋅ prefix. morphological

vi

We find fell rather than *falled, because fall doesn’t take the ⋅ed suffix. morphological

vii When someone says I was going to walk but I decided not to, the sense is exactly the same as if they had said I was going to walk but I decided not to walk.

This shows that syntax and semantics are very often tightly related, but the focus here is semantic. viii Wherever we can truthfully say Montmorency bought a red Porsche, we can also say Montmorency bought a Porsche, but not conversely. semantic ix

You can’t insert every at random points in the sentence A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do and get a grammatical result every time. syntactic

x

You can’t sincerely say I believe Sally slapped the boss if you think that The boss was slapped by Sally is a lie.

Again, this is mainly semantic, but it relies on a syntactic fact.

4.

You may have heard people talk about a noun functioning as an adjective or a verb functioning as a noun. Under the framework we’ve described here, what’s wrong with such a description? (See §§1.3.2 and 1.3.3.)

Nouns, adjectives, and verbs are lexical categories. There are other concepts, such as subject, modifier, and head, which are functions. Categories perform

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functions. In this framework, it doesn’t make sense to say that a category functions as another category. It’s a little like saying that a snake (category) that you name and keep in your home is functioning as a dog (category) instead of as a pet (function).

5.

Consider the sentence Jupiter and Saturn are planets. Here, the subject is Jupiter and Saturn. Based on this, we form the following hypothesis: When the subject has two constituents joined by and, if the choice is between are and is, are is always correct.

To check that this is true, should you search for examples with the form ‘NP and NP are’, or for examples with the form ‘NP and NP is’? Explain why.

We should search for is examples. We already have an example with are, so further examples will not help us understand whether the hypothesis is always correct or not. If we can find a valid example with is, though, then we can reject the hypothesis.

6.

List three or four grammar ‘rules’ you recall hearing about (e.g., Don’t start a sentence with and). For each rule, say whether you believe that violating that rule would (a) result in an ungrammatical sentence, (b) produce a grammatical sentence in a non-standard dialect but not in Standard English, (c) produce a markedly informal Standard English sentence, or (d) produce Standard English that some people don’t like for no obvious reason.

(No key provided; this is an open discussion exercise.)

7.

[Supplementary exercise] Choose one or two language references (of any language; grammars, style books, usage guides, or dictionaries) from those accessible to you.

Say whether you think they are focused on describing the language or advising the language user, and explain why.

Consider the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, in particular, its entry for suggest. This seems to be focused on describing the language, including the usual meaning of words (with the most common listed first), typical patterns (e.g. suggest something to somebody), and data about word frequency (suggest appears in the top 1,000 word families in both written and spoken English, viz S1 & W1). It also gives typical examples from a corpus. It also provides advice, though (e.g., ✗Don’t say: He suggested us a solution).

8.

[Supplementary exercise] We have explained that Standard English is ‘just a name’, but it still offends some people (because of the confusion between ‘not standard’ and ‘substandard’). You will see throughout this book that we believe finding the right term for a concept is important. Can you think of an alternative name for Standard English that would be better? Explain the pros and cons of one or two candidate terms.

If you’re having trouble finding examples, consider one of the following: 1. Colonial English 2. Dominant English 3. English (just the language name, without any qualifier) 4. Proper English 5. Standardized English

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