下文选自上海外语教育出版社出版的《如何教授英语语法（Explaining English Grammar）》（作者George Yule）“Preface”（序言）。

选文、导读：Mark老师

导读

本文在接下来的章节中不会解决任何具体的问题，但将尝试为英语语法的一些主要问题领域提供解释。在本介绍性章节中，我们将引入一些基本术语和主题。本章的设计也是为了举例说明将在后续章节中介绍的主题的一般类型和顺序。在每一章的开头，都将对所分析的基本形式进行描述。在这些描述中，前提假设是读者对语法概念的许多传统术语有普遍的熟悉。

星号符号或星号（*）是将形式标记为不合语法的常规方式。该符号将在以下章节中使用，以表明我们在该上下文中使用的形式或结构在语法上是不可接受的。在其他情况下，这些看似不合语法的形式可能会以有意义的方式使用。星号符号仅用于表示“在所示上下文中不合语法”。注意，正是形式的功能（即它是用作动词还是用作名词）决定了结构是否符合语法或不合语法。因此，“不符合语法的”是指形式和结构在某种程度上没有被普遍使用，并且无法想到所使用的特殊上下文语境。然而，对许多人来说，任何关于什么是符合语法或不符合语法的讨论似乎都会导致一个结构是否真的是“好英语”的问题。

到底什么是符合或不符合语法结构的标准，让我们一探究竟！

INTRODUCTION

1 Which is correct: Mary runs faster than I or Mary runs faster than me?

2 We can say a woman and her, but what about *a her? Why is it ungrammatical?

3 How can we explain why it’s odd when learners say: I am boring today?

4 If I shot the sheriff is okay, what’s wrong with *I smiled the sheriff?

5 How do we explain the problems in *Lady go supermarket meet friend?

'The greater part of this world’s troubles are due to questions of grammar.’

The author of these words, Michel de Montaigne, was not an English language teacher, but he sounds like he’s describing one of those difficult teaching days. While we will not solve any of the world’s troubles in the chapters that follow, we will attempt to offer explanations for some of the major problem areas of English grammar. In this introductory chapter, we consider some basic terms and topics.

Overview

After briefly reviewing some basic grammatical terminology, such as noun, noun phrase, and pronoun, we try to define the nature of UNGRAMMATICAL English and contrast PRESCRIPTIVE with DESCRIPTIVE views of the language. We then look at some basic meaning distinctions, explaining the connection between terms such as SUBJECT, OBJECT, AGENT, THEME, SOURCE, and EXPERIENCER. The distinction between CORE and PERIPHERAL elements of a message is illustrated, as is the relationship between LINGUISTIC DISTANCE and CONCEPTUAL DISTANCE in English. We then look at some distinctions associated with information structure, illustrating the role of GIVEN and NEW INFORMATION in accounting for the different expressions (e.g. a woman, the woman, she) used to talk about the same person. This first chapter has also been designed to exemplify the general type and sequence of topics that will be presented in the chapters that follow.

Basic forms

At the beginning of each chapter, there is a description of the basic forms being analyzed. In those descriptions, a general familiarity is assumed with many traditional terms for grammatical concepts. That is, terms such as SENTENCE (S), VERB (V), and NOUN (N), will be illustrated and used without technical discussion. There are, however, some terms that may need an introduction.

On terminology

A distinction is drawn between a noun (N) and a noun phrase (NP). Essentially, the term noun is reserved for single words. The forms shown in [1] are all nouns.

[1]

book, example, man, tradition, woman

In speaking or writing English, however, we rarely use nouns by themselves. We use them in phrases. When we add an article (e.g. aor the] to the noun, we create a noun phrase. When adjectives (e.g. good, old) are included, we also have noun phrases. The forms in [2] are all noun phrases.

[2]

the book, some good examples, an old man, that tradition, a woman

Given this distinction, we can then see that a pronoun (e.g. it, he, her, them) is not a form that normally substitutes for a noun. We don’t typically use the expressions in [3b] to refer to the same things in [3a].

[3]

a. In the book, there was an old man and a woman.

b. *At the start of the it, the old he was helping the her.

c. At the start of it, he was helping her.

As shown in [3c], we use the pronouns by themselves in place of the whole noun phrase. A pronoun in English is used in the same way as a noun phrase. Relative pronouns such as who and which, as we will see in Chapter 9, are also used as noun phrases. In discussing other important terms, such as subject and agent, we will be talking about the use of noun phrases rather than just nouns.

On being ungrammatical

The star symbol, or asterisk (*), which is placed in front of the sentence in [3b], is a conventional way of marking forms as ungrammatical. (Such forms are sometimes described as 'starred’.) This symbol will be used in the following chapters to indicate that we are treating a form or structure, as used in that context, as not grammatically acceptable. In other contexts, these seemingly ungrammatical forms may be used in a meaningful way. The star symbol will only be used here to mean 'ungrammatical in the context indicated’. In this approach, a noun phrase such as *a her is basically treated as an ungrammatical form in most contexts (such as [3b]) where the reference is equivalent to a woman, even though it is possible to hear someone say When I heard the name Charlie, I was expecting a him and not a her in one particular context.

To take another example, the basic form of the sentence presented in [4] would normally be treated as ungrammatical.

[4]

*She is in stay.

If asked to explain why [4] is ungrammatical, we might say that, in terms of basic forms, stay is a verb, and here it has been put in a slot that is mostly reserved for nouns or noun phrases. That is, in the grammar of English, we normally have nouns, not verbs, in phrases after PREPOSITIONS (e.g. in, on, at). Putting a verb in a slot that is reserved for a noun or noun phrase will usually create an ungrammatical structure. The explanation, in terms of grammatical form, is relatively simple.

However, I have heard someone use the sentence shown in [4] and it sounded quite appropriate and meaningful in the context. My friend has a dog that is very well trained and, when told to stay in one place, the dog (she) will not move from that place. My friend can then say [4] to explain why her dog is sitting quietly. So, there is a state called stay that this dog can be in. We often represent states by using nouns after prepositions (e.g. She is in love) and that seems to be what one speaker is doing when using [4] to talk about her dog. We will have more to say about being in love in Chapter 6.

Notice that it is the function of the form (i.e. whether it is being used as a verb or as a noun) that determines whether the structure in [4] seems grammatical or ungrammatical. If one form is generally used as a verb (as in the case of stay), we will naturally think that it is ungrammatical when used as a noun. Thus, 'being ungrammatical’ is using forms and structures in ways that they are not generally used, and for which no special context of use can be imagined. For many people, however, any discussion of what is grammatical or ungrammatical seems to lead to the issue of whether a structure is really 'good English’ or not.

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