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Archives for September 2009

Oxymoron – how to understand it

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Oxymoron – definition

oxymoron Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two incongruous or apparently contradictory words are combined to make a special effect.

redbtn An oxymoron is a contracted paradox.

Examples
  • He has a strong weakness for drink.
  • I’ll try the sweet and sour duck.
  • She is something of a cheerful pessimist
  • Their affair is an open secret.
Use

redbtn Oxymoron is used for emphasis or stylistic effect.

redbtn It’s often used in advertising.

redbtn NB! By the way, it’s pronounced ‘ox-ymoron’ — not ‘oxy-moron’.

redbtn The oxymoron is closely related to antithesis and paradox. Both of these are figures of speech.

redbtn An oxymoron is ‘a contracted paradox’. That is, the paradox is an apparently contradictory statement; whereas the contradiction in an oxymoron is reduced to just two antithetical terms.

redbtn It is the sort of playful and often witty effect used by those who wish to draw attention to their command of language.

redbtn The device is much-loved by poets, because it enables them to express complex ideas in a very compressed form:

Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain

[Oliver Goldsmith]

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
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Page layout – how to display writing

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Page layout – definition

page layout Page layout is the physical organisation of text on the page, the screen, or any other medium of written communication.

redbtn It refers to the visual conventions of arranging text to assist reading and comprehension.

Examples

redbtn Good layout includes effective use of the following common features:

  • page margins
  • indentation
  • paragraphs
  • line spacing
  • justification
  • centring
  • type style
  • type size
  • italics
  • bold
  • capitals
  • underlining
Use

redbtn There are conventions of layout in written communication in English. Some of these are based purely on function, and some on tradition.

redbtn The modern trend is towards layout which results in fast and easy reading of the page.

redbtn Layout complements content in efficient communication. It facilitates the reading and the comprehensibility of the text.

redbtn NB! Readers are affected by these conventions, even though they may not be aware of them.

redbtn The conventions of layout for most writing (printed or written) are designed to make comprehension easier for readers. They are as follows:

  • text is surrounded by margins on the page
  • continuous writing is divided into paragraphs
  • paragraphs are separated by double spaces, or by indentation
  • sentences are separated by a single space
  • emphasis is indicated by italics or bold
  • headings are indicated by larger type size or emphasis [or both]
  • headings and sub-headings used to create logical organisation
  • indentation and spacing is used to present lists and diagrams

redbtn All this might seem rather obvious, but many people have difficulty reproducing or controlling these conventions.

redbtn These ‘rules’ apply to all languages which are written from left to right, and from the top to the bottom of the page. [Some languages are not!]

redbtn Most of these conventions can be reproduced in handwriting, as well as by typewriting and word-processing.

redbtn Faulty or inappropriate layout can seriously affect the legibility of text, and thus its comprehension.

redbtn Research shows that readers assimilate the content of a page in the following order:

  1. pictures
  2. diagrams
  3. tables
  4. bulleted lists
  5. headings
  6. continuous text

redbtn Layout choices. For every type of written communication, the writer has a choice to make regarding layout. An awareness of the conventions appropriate to the contents will make the writing more effective.

redbtn The layout for personal letters is known and used by most writers, as is the convention for addressing the accompanying envelope. Elements of the address are arranged on separate lines:

Mrs J Fingerbottom
14 Oildrum Lane
Accrington
Lancashire

Literary texts

redbtn Literary texts (stories, novels, biographies) are produced with layout conventions of which most people are unconsciously aware:

  • serifed type face
  • type size large enough for the normally sighted
  • between ten and twenty words per line
  • numbered pages and chapters
  • generous margins
Business documents

redbtn Contemporary business documents are often laid out following conventions which arise from economic considerations. [Time spent deciphering memos, reports, and proposals represent financial loss.]

redbtn A typical business document might have the following features:

  • sub-headings in the left margin opposite related paragraphs
  • small blocks of text with no more than five sentences
  • blocks of text separated by horizontal lines or double-spacing
  • extensive use of bulleted lists
  • document structure reflected in type size and emphasis
Newspapers

redbtn Newspapers have very distinctive conventions of layout which make them easily recognisable:

  • banner headlines in bold sans-serif type
  • body text in small serifed type
  • text arranged in narrow columns
  • text aligned with full justification
  • all page elements arranged on a ‘grid’
  • pictures and diagrams straddling columns
  • boxes and borders surrounding some page elements

redbtn Lists of items are easier to read if they are laid out vertically, rather than across the page as a line of text.

redbtn Tables are useful when lists become more complex than a collection of items. For instance, bus and train time-tables would be very difficult to use if the information were given as continuous prose.

redbtn One important feature of layout related to all text is the choice between serif and sans-serif type.

redbtn The serif is a tiny swirl at the tip and foot of letters. The serif aids the reading process by leading the eye from one letter to the next. These occur in type sets [fonts] such as Times Roman, Bookman, and Classroom.

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redbtn Serif type is used for any substantial passages of text which will be read continuously.

redbtn Sans-serif type on the other hand is plain. The edges of letters are straight, and devoid of swirls or serifs. Arial, Helvetica, and Courier are all sans-serif type sets.

redbtn Sans-serif is used for impact in short sequences of text which will not require continuous reading. It is often used to effect in titles, headings, and sub-headings.

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redbtn Children begin to write in sans-serif characters and then graduate to using joined-up writing [which is equivalent to the serifed type style]. Some youngsters find it very difficult to make this transition and continue to write using separate letters — which they call ‘printing’.

redbtn Writing of this kind is very difficult to read, and it is discouraged in schools and colleges. This is because it obscures such features as capitalisation. It is a more laborious process for the writer to produce and makes understanding more difficult for the reader.

redbtn Two common faults of layout are the use of continuous capital letters in headings, and the use of underlining for emphasis. Both of these features make the text more difficult to read.

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
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Paradox – how to understand it

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Paradox – definition

paradox Paradox is a figure of speech in which a statement appears to be self-contradictory, but contains something of a truth.

Examples
  • The child is father to the man.
  • Cowards die many times before their death.
Use

redbtn Paradox is used for emphasis or stylistic effect.

redbtn The paradox is closely related to oxymoron — which is sometimes defined as ‘a contracted paradox’.

redbtn That is, the paradox is an apparently contradictory statement; whereas the contradiction in an oxymoron is reduced to just two antithetical terms – as in ‘living dead’ or ‘open secret’.

redbtn Paradox was much-used by the Metaphysical poets of the senteenth century — of whom John Donne is perhaps the best known. The following example is taken from one of his religious sonnets in which he appeals to God to strengthen his beliefs. He packs three paradoxes into these last four lines:

Divorce mee, untie, or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
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More on grammar

Paragraphs – how to write them

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Paragraphs – definition

paragraphs Paragraphs are (usually) a group of sentences which deal with one topic.

redbtn The sentences are related to each other to produce an effect of unity.

redbtn The group of sentences form a single unit of meaning.

Examples

redbtn The following example of a paragraph is itself the definition of a paragraph:

The central thought or main controlling idea of a paragraph is usually conveyed in what is called a topic sentence. This crucial sentence which states, summarises or clearly expresses the main theme, is the keystone of a well-built paragraph. The topic sentence may come anywhere in the paragraph, though most logically and in most cases it is the first sentence. This immediately tells readers what is coming, and leaves them in no doubt about the overall controlling idea. In a very long paragraph, the initial topic sentence may even be restated or given a more significant emphasis in its conclusion.

Use

redbtn Paragraphs are used to divide a long piece of writing into separate sections.

redbtn Each of these sections should deal with one issue, or one topic in a sequence.

redbtn Paragraphs are a device to create firm structure in writing.

redbtn They can also be used to give rhythm, variety, and pace to writing.

redbtn NB! If in doubt, keep your paragraphs shorter, rather than longer.

redbtn The recommended structure of a typical paragraph in academic writing is as follows. [It is rather like a mini-version of the structure of a complete essay.]

  • The opening topic sentence
  • A fuller explanation of the topic sentence
  • Supporting sentences which explain its significance
  • The discussion of examples or evidence
  • A concluding or link sentence

redbtn The start of a new paragraph is usually signalled by either a double space between lines, or by indenting the first line of the new paragraph.

redbtn Very short paragraphs are often used in literary writing for stylistic effect.

redbtn One of the most famous examples of this device comes from the Bible [John 11:35].

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
Jesus wept.

redbtn The longer the paragraph, the more demands it makes on the reader.

redbtn The length of paragraphs can be varied to give rhythm and ‘pace’ to a piece of writing [rather like variations in sentence-length].

redbtn The last sentence in a paragraph is often used to provide a link to the next.

redbtn The following example [written by E.M.Forster] shows the skilful use of an attention-grabbing first sentence, and a concluding sentence which whets the reader’s appetite to know more about the subject:

John Skelton was an East Anglian: he was a poet, also a clergyman, and he was extremely strange. Partly strange because the age in which he flourished – that of the early Tudors – is remote from us, and difficult to interpret. But he was also a strange creature personally, and whatever you think of him when we’ve finished – and you will possibly think badly of him – you will agree that we have been in contact with someone unusual.

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
Books on language
More on grammar

Participles – how to understand them

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Participles – definition

participles The term participles refers to the lexical component of the verb or the part which conveys the information or meaning.

redbtn Participles can express the present tense as in swimming or the past as in swam.

Examples

PRESENT PARTICIPLES

jumping thinking being
rowing considering maintaining

PAST PARTICIPLES

ran came went was
thought made helped socialised
Use

redbtn Participles are usually used along with pronouns as verbs, but they are also used as adjectives as in The Killing Fields and The Hanging Gardens.

redbtn Participles can be used also as nouns as in ‘the cleaning’, ‘the washing’, or The Shining [film title].

redbtn NB! Speaking, listening, reading, and writing add up to communicating.

redbtn The term ‘participle’ is a technical grammatical term. It is useful to be able to identify this portion of the verb.

redbtn A verb is usually referred to in its infinitive form, with the prefix ‘to’ — as in:

to learn to be to have
to walk to converse to seem

redbtn An alternative form of reference to a given verb is to express it as a participle:

running walking sitting
wondering scribbling seeming

redbtn The participle has been very adaptable in creating new terms recently. This is particularly true in the USA, where Americans seem to have a more flexible and pragmatic approach to linguistic creativity than the British — who are perhaps inhibited by notions of traditional restraint where language development is concerned.

redbtn The scope of the noun ‘parent’ has been extended to include a verb form, and the participle is the most common form of this. Parenting is now the title of a magazine, and the activity is often referred to as ‘parenting’. However, we do not often hear other forms of the verb used — as in ‘I parented two children’ or ‘I have learnt to parent my child’.

redbtn The phrase ‘the reason being’ contains the participle form of the verb ‘to be’. This phrase seems to have recently become idiomatic. That is, it has become a compound or stock phrase which speakers find useful when expressing cause and effect, especially in speech.

redbtn Often a speaker will use the idiom as in the utterance: ‘The reason being is that I don’t like driving late at night’. In a mechanical sense, the participle ‘being’ has been substituted for ‘is’ in the conventionally grammatical utterance ‘The reason is that I don’t like driving late at night’.

redbtn The result is ungrammatical, but it is quite possible that this deviant form could become Standard English if enough speakers adopted it into their everyday repertoire. [But let’s hope not!]

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
Books on language
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Patrick White – greatest works

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Patrick White - portraitPatrick White was born in Australia but sent to be educated in England, which he disliked intensely. He settled to live in London during the 1930s and served in the RAF during the war. After the war he returned to live in Australia, eking out his small private income by farming. His novels offer great variety in their themes, subjects, and settings – but what they have in common is his use of powerfully rich language, his deeply psychological character portraits, the dramatic incidents of his stories, and a semi-mystical belief system which he invites us to contemplate without making his narratives depend upon it. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973.

 

The Tree of Man (1955)
This is White’s first major work. (He actually dis-owned some of his earlier work.) It is an epic account of a young farmer, Stan Parker and his wife Amy and their struggles to build themselves a life and a family in the middle of the Australian wilderness at the beginning of the twentieth century. The life they make is full of small triumphs and some bitter disappointments. This is a novel which has been compared with D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow, yet the tale is recounted in a bare simple prose which gives no hints of the baroque complexities of his later style.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

 

A Fringe of Leaves (1976)
This novel is the re-telling of a true nineteenth century incident which has become a mythical Australian narrative. It’s the story of Mrs Fraser, an English woman who is shipwrecked on the island which now bears her name. She gets back to the mainland, only to be seized and held semi-captive by Aboriginal natives. She escapes from them and teams up with an escaped convict to make an epic journey on foot back to ‘civilization’. The implication of the novel is that she is spiritually transformed by her experiences of suffering and deprivation. It conjures up a very romantic evocation of the period, with all White’s touches of vivid and dramatic scene painting.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

 

Voss (1957)
This is another nineteenth century epic tale – this one based on the true story of the tragic and doomed journey made in 1845 by the German explorer Leichardt. He leads a group across the Australian desert, and is accompanied imaginatively by a young woman, Lara Trevalyen from her home in Sydney. She suffers with him, right up to the point of his death – and then keeps his memory alive. The scene painting of the Australian outback and desert is truly wonderful, and although an outsider, Voss lives on as an increasingly legendary, martyred figure. This is another of White’s novels which seeks to capture the essence of Australia, its national spirit, and cultural heritage.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

 

The Vivisector (1970)
This is the story of Hurtle Duffield, an Australian painter – a portrait loosely based on Sydney Nolan, with whom White was once friendly before they fell out because of a fairly trivial disagreement. It traces very convincingly the relationship between the artist’s experiences of life and their translation into artistic expression. What makes this novel particularly interesting is its dramatic conclusion as Duffield sinks into a psychologically chaotic old age. His memories from a past which we have fictionally shared are woven into his crumbling grip on the present. The fragmented narrative is demanding on the reader, but very impressively written, as we are invited to remember the origins of sane incidents which lie beneath his apparently deluded old age.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

 

The Twyborn Affair (1979)
This novel; presents readers with a real challenge. It’s White’s version of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Without giving away too much of the very intriguing story line, White is exploring the relationship between gender and sexuality. The same character experiences life in quite different ways with different sexual identities. The setting changes from the south of France, to an Australian sheep farm, then back to a brothel in London. It’s baffling and uncompromising at first reading – but eventually makes a kind of sense.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

 

Riders in the Chariot (1961)
Many critics see this as White’s greatest work. The story puts together four completely different characters – all outsiders in one way or another. It’s not difficult to see them as various aspects of White’s own complex personality. Himmelfarb is a refugee Jewish professor struggling to come to terms with his persecution and the murder of his wife by the Nazis. The other misfits are a half-caste painter, a spinster, and a washerwoman, Ruth Godbold, who finds a mystic feeling of togetherness with her living friends and the dead ones. It contains White’s most ferocious criticism of Australian gentility and ugliness, plus the subtle gradations of racism, ignorance, and hypocrisy in contemporary suburban society.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

Flaws in the GlassFaws in the Glass (1981) is an amazingly frank self-portrait. In this he reveals the truths about his homosexuality; his feelings of inhabiting different personae and sexual identities; his lifelong feud with his mother; his alcoholism, and his later political radicalism. Reading it will certainly help you to understand his complex fictions, but more importantly it lays bare his relationship with Australia. White reveals a great deal about the psychological processes through which his experiences and ideas are transformed into art. It is a fascinating if at times almost uncomfortable reading experience.
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon UK
Patrick White Buy the book from Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2005

Patrick White biographical notes

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Patrick White - portrait1912. Patrick White born in Sydney – his father was a wealthy sheep farmer. Both parents were indolent, snobbish, and never worked. White always felt very distant from them.

He was sent to England to be educated at a boarding school in Cheltenham College. He hated it, and reproached his parents:

“I resented their capacity for boring me and their dumping me in a prison of a school at the other side of the world.”

He spent adolescent holidays in Dieppe and Germany, and read mainly poetry as a youth, then went on to take a degree in French and German literature at Cambridge University.

1930s. His father finally made him an allowance of £400 per year, and he settled in bohemian London, making friends with the painters Francis Bacon and Roy de Maistre. He made a break with Australia which was part cultural, and partly to do with his struggle with sexual identity:

“I see myself not so much a homosexual as a mind possessed by the spirit of a man and woman according to actual situations or the characters I become in my writing.”

1939. Published his first novel, Happy Valley, which he later disowned. He emigrated to the USA, but returned on the outbreak of war to join the RAF. He served in the middle East in the Intelligence Corps, working as a censor.

“Superficially my war was a comfortable exercise in futility carried out in a grand hotel amongst the bridge players and swillers of easy-come-by whisky. My chest got me out of active service and into guilt, as I wrote two, or is it three of the novels for which I am now acclaimed.”

1941. Published his second novel, The Living and the Dead, about which he later said “Perhaps it should not have been written”.

1945. He settled back in Australia with his Greek partner Monoly Lascaris, and they attempted a form of self-sufficiency on a smallholding, making a living from selling flowers, vegetables, milk, and cream.

1948. Published The Aunt’s Story and traveled widely throughout England, France, Germany, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece, as well as Australia and the USA. His spiritual life is particularly tempestuous.

“Those who are doomed to become artists are seldom blessed with equanimity. They are tossed to drunken heights, only to be brought down into a sludge of headachy despair.”

1955. Published The Tree of Man – a family saga, which focused on ordinary people at the beginning of the twentieth century. Stan Parker is a young farmer. He establishes a family and farm in the Australian wilderness, has children and grandchildren, but the land is eventually engulfed by suburb.

1957. Published Voss “Much of Voss was written in bed”

1961. Published Riders in the Chariot.

1966. Published The Solid Mandala

Flaws in the GlassFlaws in the Glass (1981) is an amazingly frank self-portrait. In this he reveals the truths about his homosexuality; his feelings of inhabiting different personae and sexual identities; his lifelong feud with his mother; his alcoholism, and his later political radicalism. Reading it will certainly help you to understand his complex fictions, but more importantly it lays bare his relationship with Australia. White reveals a great deal about the psychological processes through which his experiences and ideas are transformed into art. It is a fascinating if at times almost uncomfortable reading experience.

1970. Published The Vivesector.

1973. Published The Eye of the Storm. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature – but White, who guarded his privacy, did not attend the award ceremonies. He persuaded his friend, the artist Sidney Nolan, to accept it in Stockholm on his behalf.

1976. Published A Fringe of Leaves

“I first went to Fraser Island after Sydney Nolan gave me the story of Eliza Fraser and the wreck of the Stirling Castle. I went there on my own and began A Fringe of Leaves but gave up on deciding that Australian writers should deal with the twentieth century. Years later Manoly and I went to the island together and explored it more thoroughly. From two visits and a certain amount of necessary research, it became part of my life, and the novel I wrote as painful and sensual a situation as one I might have lived through personally whether as Ellen Roxburgh or Jack Chance.”

1979. Published The Twyborn Affair

1981. Published Flaws in the Glass

1986 Published Memoirs of Many in One

1990 Died, after a long illness.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Phonology – how to understand it

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Phonology – definition

phonology Phonology is the study of the sounds in any language.

redbtn The smallest unit of sound is known as a phoneme.

redbtn The phonemic alphabet is a complete set of symbols, each of which represents a single sound belonging to a specific language.

Examples

redbtn Here are some of the phonemic symbols representing sounds in English [received pronunciation]:

/ æ / = the ‘a’ in hat

/ k / = the ‘c’ in cap

Use

redbtn Phonology is a study of how sounds are organised in languages.

redbtn It is the province of linguists who study language varieties and who chart language change and development.

redbtn Phonemic symbols are used in all dictionaries to indicate the received pronunciation of each word.

redbtn Phonology is also used in therapeutic fields such as audiology and speech therapy.

redbtn NB! Phonetics [as distinct from phonology] is the study of how speech sounds are made, transmitted, and received.

redbtn The International Phonetic Alphabet [IPA] is a set of symbols which attempts to represent every unit of sound contained in every known language. [In this context the symbols are known as phonetic symbols.]

redbtn For instance, the words ‘butter’, ‘carriage’, and ‘chocolate’ (spoken in received pronunciation) would be represented as follows:

Butter = phonol-1
Carriage = phonol-2
Chocolate = phonol-3

redbtn The term phonemic symbol is used to refer to a set of sounds representing a specific language such as English, Turkish, Urdu, Icelandic, or any other.

redbtn It is as if there were a box containing all phonetic symbols for all languages, and when we select those which serve our own language we call that selection a set of phonemes.

redbtn A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in any language.

redbtn It is represented in writing by placing a phonetic symbol between slanted lines. This indicates that it is part of a language.

redbtn For instance the simple word ‘pig’ would be represented by
/p/I/g/ because it is composed of three separate sounds.

redbtn Phonemes are the sounds of a language in received pronunciation. Regional varieties of that language may use sounds which differ from the RP version — and the symbols used to represent the dialect version are known as allophones.

redbtn An example of an allophone in English is seen in the vowel sound of words such as ‘bath’, ‘path’ and ‘castle’. The phoneme for the RP version of these sounds would be a: — representing the long open vowel b/a:/ð in ‘bath’.

redbtn The northern dialect version of the same sound in the context of those same words would be an allophone represented as b/æ/ð in ‘bath’.

redbtn Even though the symbol used is a phoneme representing RP, it becomes known as an allophone in the context of regional pronunciation.

redbtn It is important when attempting to grasp the concept of phonology and phonetics, to put to aside all notions of the orthodox spelling system.

redbtn An introduction to phonetics is useful to students of language in understanding the important distinction between speech and writing.

redbtn Phonetics also highlights the differences between spelling and pronunciation. When we learn to read [that is, to understand writing] we are learning a code. This is related to the spoken language in a crucially significant way, but in its nature and function it is distinct and discrete.

redbtn Phonology in context. The pronunciation system in English is extremely varied, and this variety springs from context.

redbtn The geographical context or the social context can be seen to determine the speech style of both individuals and of groups of speakers.

redbtn On a smaller scale, certain words themselves are context-specific in terms of pronunciation.

redbtn For example, ‘hand’ is pronounced roughly as it is spelt if it is spoken in isolation as a single word. However, in ‘handbag’ it is pronounced ‘ham’ or ‘han’.

redbtn The reason for this is ease of articulation. Clusters of consonants [three in succession in ‘handbag’] are difficult to pronounce.

redbtn If ‘hand’ is spoken after the adjective ‘left’ in ‘lefthand’, the initial aspirant [h] of ‘hand’ is to varying degrees eliminated to produce the sequence ‘left’and’.

redbtn Similarly, if the word ‘crisp’ is spoken in isolation, it is pronounced as written. If the plural ‘s’ is added however, the ‘p’ almost disappears to produce the sequence ‘criss’.

redbtn The definite article itself is subject to phonological variation which is determined by its context. That is, if it precedes a vowel sound as in ‘the other’ ‘the’ is pronounced ‘thee’. If it precedes a consonant, or is articulated in isolation, it is pronounced ‘the’, with the narrower vowel sound.

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
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Phrases – how to understand them

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Phrases – definition

phrases Phrases are part of a sentence which does not contain a finite verb.

redbtn [This feature distinguishes a phrase from a clause, which does have a finite verb.]

redbtn It is a group of words which acts as a noun, adjective, or an adverb.

Examples
up the street my father’s dog
to hunt the killer the house with big windows
strawberries and cream having a wonderful time
Use

redbtn Phrases are sequences of meaning and are used in both speech and writing.

redbtn A grammatically complete sentence requires a finite verb. However, in some contexts phrases can convey as much meaning as is required.

redbtn In these cases the verb may not be expressed but will be implied by the speaker and understood by the listener.

redbtn In writing, the phrase would only be punctuated as a sentence in special cases and for special effects.

redbtn NB! Remember – a phrase does not contain a finite verb, but a clause does.

redbtn The term ‘phrase’ is used generally to suggest a saying or a brief statement.

redbtn The most interesting thing regarding phrases is that when uttered in isolation they have a verb which is understood or implied.

redbtn If we say to a child ‘Up those stairs!’ it usually means something like, ‘It’s time you went up those stairs to bed’. In the more complete utterance ‘you went’ is a finite verb.

redbtn Similarly, the question ‘Where are the glasses?’ may be answered by ‘Inside the cabinet’. The semantic implication is ‘The glasses are inside the cabinet’ in which ‘are’ is the finite verb whose subject is ‘the glasses’.

redbtn Many proverbs are expressed as phrases but with the finite verb understood.

redbtn For instance ‘More haste less speed’, suggests that, ‘more haste results in less speed’. However, this addition of the finite verb ‘results’ makes the saying less succinct and epigrammatic.

redbtn A very unscientific but efficient way to test whether an utterance is a sentence or a phrase is to imagine addressing a stranger with the statement. The response to a phrase would be ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

redbtn For example, imagine making any of the following statements to someone. They would not know what you meant.

‘The green book’
‘A lovely surprise’
‘Over there’

redbtn On the other hand, even a stranger would make some sense of the following sentences:

‘That’s the green book I left in the park.’
‘The bus stops over there.’
‘I have a lovely surprise for you.’

Self-assessment quiz follows >>>

© Roy Johnson 2003

English Language 3.0 program
Books on language
More on grammar

Point of view – how to understand it

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Point of view – definition

point of view ‘Point of view’ is a term from literary studies which describes the outlook from which events are related.

redbtn It is used of a statement which offers a particular viewpoint or perspective on something.

redbtn This viewpoint might be that that held personally by the writer or speaker, but it could also be that of a deliberately created fictional character.

Examples
  • I think Bill’s taste in clothes is appalling.
    [My point of view.]
  • “I think Bill’s taste in clothes is appalling” John said sneeringly.
    [John’s point of view.]
  • She tried desperately to persuade me of her husband’s honesty.
    [My point of view.]
Use

redbtn ‘Point of view’ is an important concept in analysing and understanding both speech and writing.

redbtn Point of view may be overt and explicit, or it may be subtly implied.

redbtn It is often used to create character by presenting recognisable opinions.

redbtn It may also be used to present psychology in depth by revealing unconscious thoughts.

redbtn Information may often be presented from a particular point of view without revealing the source – which the observer is invited to guess.

redbtn It may also be mischevously imitated for ironic effect.

redbtn NB! Point of view is more than just an ‘opinion’. It also implies an identifiable source.

redbtn The concept of ‘point of view’ is essentially concerned with identifying the source of information.

redbtn This is not always a straightforward matter, because statements may contain more than one point of view.

redbtn In the first example – I think Bill’s taste in clothes is appalling – we are given only one point of view: that of the ‘I’ who is making the statement. We have no way of putting this view into any other perspective. Strictly speaking, we do not know if Bill’s taste is bad or not. We only know the opinion of ‘I’ about the matter.

redbtn In the second example – “I think Bill’s taste in clothes is appalling” John said sneeringly – the same statement is made by John, and this is reported to us by someone else – the narrator. The narrator informs us that the statement was made ‘sneeringly’. This casts John’s opinion into a critical light, because the term ‘sneering’ carries very negatives overtones.

redbtn Thus in this second example we have two points of view – John’s and the narrator’s. One is passing comment on the other. This gives the reader more information with which to make judgements.

redbtn In the third example – She tried desperately to persuade me of her husband’s honesty – there are again two points of view, though the second is less obvious this time.

redbtn The first point of view is that of the ‘me’ recounting events. This person – the narrator – controls what we know. The second point of view is that of the ‘she’ who is discussing her husband. This view however comes to us from the narrator – the ‘me’.

redbtn The terms ‘desperately’ and ‘persuade’ suggest that this effort is being made under emotional pressure – and that the attempt is not succeeding.

redbtn But the person recounting this event [the narrator] might have a bias of some kind, or prejudice against the woman. We tend to believe that narrators are telling the truth, but what if this person were a robber who had just broken into the house and was stealing the family jewels?

redbtn The point here is that we cannot know if the husband is actually honest or not. We only have two points of view – that of the wife who is trying to persuade a narrator, and failing. [It’s a complex business, isn’t it?]

redbtn Sometimes a point of view may be implied rather than directly stated. Consider the following example, from a story which concerns a young girl making a journey at night:

A faint wind blowing off the water ruffled under Fenella’s hat, and she put up her hand to keep it on. It was dark on the Old Warf, very dark; the wool sheds, the cattle trucks, the cranes standing up so high, the little squat railway engine, all seemed carved out of solid darkness. Here and there on a rounded wood pile, that was like the stalk of a huge black mushroom, there hung a lantern, but it seemed afraid to unfurl its timid, quivering light in all that blackness; it burned softly, as if for itself.

[KATHERINE MANSFIELD]

redbtn Here the first point of view is that of a narrator – telling the story of Fenella, the young girl. But then in the second sentence, starting with terms such as ‘cranes standing up so high’ and ‘the little squat railway engine’, the events are narrated from the young girl’s point of view – as they might seem to her.

redbtn This is a very typical example of a writer using ‘point of view’ to offer readers an imaginative experience – in this case seeing the world as it would be perceived by a young girl.

redbtn Point of view may also be impersonated, assumed, or mischevously implied in both speech and writing for ironic effect.

redbtn To summarise, point of view is important because we need to place any statement into a context before we can evaluate it properly.

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© Roy Johnson 2003

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