Distinguish between essential and nonessential rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage
How much attention should technical communicators pay to formal rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage?
Does incorrect grammar, punctuation, or usage detract from the value and usability of your group’s publications? Does your audience care, or even notice, if formal rules are broken?
Why have rules?
Grammar is the arrangement, relationships, and functions of words and the ways they are put together to form phrases, clauses or sentences.
Punctuation marks are signals that help readers to understand the ideas in a passage and read more quickly and efficiently.
Rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage can be essential or nonessential—or even fake! Writers and editors need to pay attention to the essential issues, but can spend less time on nonessential issues—particularly in the face of tight deadlines—and they can safely ignore the fake issues.
Essential rules are those that are necessary for clear, unambiguous communication.
Nonessential rules are those that are not required for clarity and unambiguity.
Fake rules may actually be matters of word choice, style, or conventional usage, not rules of grammar; they may be things many of us were taught were wrong, but which are in fact acceptable variations.
ادامه مطلب
So we don’t repeat ourselves!
Definition: The word ‘pronoun’ comes from the Latin pronomen meaning ‘for a noun’. As the word implies, pronouns are the words that we use in place of nouns. It will become clear later when we discuss the difference between possessive and demonstrative pronouns and possessive and demonstrative adjectives. We use pronouns to make clear whom or what we are talking about, while avoiding confusing or clumsy repetition. It is wise to teach just personal pronouns initially and bring in the other kinds later.
Personal pronouns
Share this story with your students. This (true) story could sound something like the following.
‘Marjorie lost her false teeth. The dog had found Marjorie’s false teeth and buried Marjorie’s false teeth. Marjorie could not find Marjorie’s false teeth anywhere, but Marjorie dug up Marjorie’s false teeth two years later, while Marjorie was digging in the garden.’
With the use of pronouns this would read much more smoothly, in spite of the repetition of the pronouns. Although equally important to the sense, they are less prominent.
‘Marjorie lost her false teeth. The dog had found them and buried them. Marjorie could not find them anywhere, but she dug them up two years later, while she was digging in the garden.’
Without the words ‘I’ and ‘you’ (personal pronouns) we could become very confused. Instead of:
I saw her give you the letter for me.
We would have to say something like this:
John saw Maureen give Michael the letter for John. [John, referring to himself!]
And:
I hurt myself.
Would become:
John hurt John. [himself or another person called John?]
It becomes altogether very confusing!
Most languages have pronouns, though in some languages the pronoun is incorporated in the verb. Pronouns change in form according to the work that they do in the sentence. For example they have number:
Singular – I went to town with him.
Plural – We went to town with them.
Personal pronouns Singular Plural
1st person
(The person/s speaking)
I / we
2nd person
(The person/s spoken to)
you / you
3rd person
(The person/s or things being spoken about)
he/she/it /they
And when the action is done to the person, for example:
Singular / Plural
Me/us
you /you
he/she/it /them
The falling brick hit me.
a. Following a preposition: These will be explained in the section on prepositions and the section on object.
The brick fell on me.
b. A preposition that is understood, i.e. not mentioned.
It gave (to) me concussion.
The following words are common pronouns for one person or thing:
I you he she it me her him
And for more than one person or thing:
we you they us them
Demonstrative pronouns
As the name suggests, demonstrative pronouns demonstrate or point out ‘which one’ of a number. There are just four obvious ones:
Singular/Plural
(here) this these
(there) that those
Remember, as the pronoun takes the place of a noun, the noun is not mentioned.
A pronoun – This is scrumptious.
Not a pronoun – This éclair is scrumptious.
In the second sentence this is an adjective qualifying (telling more about) the noun ‘éclair’.
Note: the words one and such can also be used as pronouns taking the place of nouns.
For example:
One can search for gemstones.
Such is life.
I found one.
He told me such.
Nouns mean every thing to us!
Definition: The word ‘noun’ comes from Latin nomen meaning ‘name’. A noun is the name of a thing. Everything that exists has a name, whether you can see it or not. A blind person cannot see something, but that does not mean that it isn’t there! It may only exist in our minds, like hope, beauty or calories.
There are four kinds of nouns.
Common nouns
These are names of everyday things that we can see, hear or touch.
For example: table, banana, volcano, song
We can put the word ‘the’ in front of them and make sense, as in: the rope, the poison
If it does not make sense, the word cannot be a noun.
Proper nouns
Definition: The word ‘proper’ comes from the French word proper meaning one’s own, i.e. belonging to a particular person or thing. Proper nouns are the special names that we give to people, places and particular things like the days of the week, months of the year, or even the titles of books or TV shows.
For example: Jason, Town Hall, China, French, The Wishing Chair
Because they are special and individual names, they start with a capital letter and, apart from people, most of these things have only one proper name.
Collective nouns
Definition: These are names for groups of things, animals or people, which go together, or have something in common.
For example:
A number of people in a group singing is a choir.
A number of cows in a group is a herd.
Note here that if the group word is singular then the verb following must also be singular.
For example:
Correct – The choir was rehearsing in the chapel.
Incorrect – The choir were rehearsing in the chapel.
There may, of course, be more than one group. In which case the verb will be plural.
The choirs were competing in the final.
Abstract nouns
Definition: Abstract nouns form what can be the most difficult group to understand, as they represent ideas, and have no physical substance that you can see or touch.
The idea may be of quality, for example: beauty, greed, intelligence or the idea may be a state that is felt or suffered, for example: joy, misery, neglect.
It may be the act of something, for example: duty, aggression.
It may even be an event or happening, for example: conversation, pause.
اسم: واژه ای است که برای نامیدن شی، شخص، حیوان، مکان و زمان به کار می رود.
انواع اسم:
- مرکب: اسمی که از دو یا چند کلمه ساخته می شود، مانند:
Classroom, Policeman
Police, People, Family
- جنس: اسمی که جهت نامگذاری و مشخص نمودن نوع جنس و ماده به کار می رود، مانند: Gold, Silk, Iron
- خاص: اسمی که به شخص، شی و مکان مخصوصی دلالت نماید، مانند:
Tehran, England, Mostafa
- معنی: اسمی که وجود خارجی نداشته باشد و حالت مفهومی و تصوری داشته باشد، مانند: Happiness, Honesty
- ذات: اسمی که قابل دیدن، لمس کردن، بوییدن و غیره باشد، مانند:
Class, Pen
- عام: اسمی که به تمام افراد و چیزهای همنوع دلالت نماید، مانند:
Car, Country, Tree
- اسم در زبان انگلیسی بر دو نوع است: اسم های قابل شمارش و اسم های غیر قابل شمارش. چنانچه اسم قابل شمارش باشد می تواند مفرد یا جمع باشد، به عبارت دیگر اسم های قابل شمارش جمع بسته می شوند در حالیکه اسم های غیر قابل شمارش جمع بسته نمی شوند:
مثال:
Book – books water
Pen – pens weather
- اسم های با قاعده و بی قاعده
اسم در زبان انگلیسی به روشهای متفاوت جمع بسته می شود. اسمی که جمع بستن آن از قاعده خاصی پیروی کند را اسم با قاعده و اسمی که بدون پیروی از قاعده خاصی جمع بسته می شود را اسم بی قاعده گویند.
- اکثر اسم ها با اضافه کردن حرف "S" به آخر آنها جمع بسته می شوند.
- اسم هایی که به "s"، "ss"، "ch"، "sh"، "x"، "z"، "o" ختم می شوند هنگام جمع بستن "es" به آخر آنها اضافه می شود.
Church – churches box – boxes
- برخی از اسامی که به "o" ختم می شوند از روش فوق پیروی نمی کنند و برای جمع بستن آنها فقط حرف "s" به آخر آنها اضافه می شود.
Pianos, radios
- اسمی که به "y" ختم می شوند، چنانچه قبل از حرف "y" حرف بی صدا قرار داشته باشد جهت جمع بستن آن اسم ابتدا حرف "y" را به "I" تبدیل کرده و سپس حروف "es" را به آخر آن اسم اضافه می کنیم. ولی اگر قبل از حرف "y" حرف صدادار وجود داشته باشد جهت جمع بستن آن اسم کافی است فقط حرف "s" را به آخر آن اسم اضافه نماییم.
Boy – boys baby – babies
- اسم هایی که به "f" یا "fe" ختم می شوند، برای جمع بستن آنها ابتدا "f" یا "fe" را به حرف "v" تبدیل کرده و سپس حروف "es" را به آخر آن اضافه می نماییم.
Shelf – shelves wife – wives
- برخی از اسامی که به "f"ختم می شوند از روش فوق پیروی نمی کنند و جهت جمع بستن آنها فقط حرف "s" به آخر آنها افزوده می شود، مانند: Chief, Proof, Gulf, Roof, Cliff
- برخی از اسامی شکل مفرد و جمع متفاوتی دارند و از روش خاصی پیروی نمی کنند:
Man – men
Woman – women
Tooth – teeth
Child – children
Mouse – mice
Ox – oxen
- برخی اسامی در حالت مفرد و جمع یکسان نوشته می شوند:
Sheep – sheep
Salmon – salmon
- برخی از اسامی فاقد شکل مفرد بوده و همواره به صورت جمع به کار برده می شوند:
People, glasses, clothes, pants, police, trousers
Was/were + verb + ing
- هنگامی که بخواهیم بیان کنیم کسی در حال انجام کاری در زمانی معین بوده از گذشته استمراری استفاده می کنیم. آن عمل یا موقعیت قبل از زمان حال شروع شده و در زمان گذشته به پایان رسیده است:
مثال:
- What were you doing at
- I waved at her, but she was not looking.
- I was walking home when I met Dave.
- Nicole was watching TV when the phone rang.
- برای بیان اینکه عملی در حین عمل دیگری اتفاق افتاده، اغلب از زمان گذشته ساده و گذشته استمراری استفاده می شود:
مثال:
- While I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.
- He burnt his hand while he was cooking dinner.
- ولی برای بیان اینکه عملی بعد از عمل دیگر اتفاق افتاده، از گذشته ساده استفاده می شود.
مثال:
- I was walking home when I saw Dave. So I stopped and we talked for a while.
Regular Verbs + ed
Was/were
- افعال بسیاری دون قاعده هستند. بدین معنی که زمان گذشته ساده این افعال به ed ختم نمی شود.
مثال:
- I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a department store.
- The police stopped me for speeding.
- She passed her exam because she studied very hard.
- We saw
- I went to the movies three times last week.
- This house cost $89,000 in 1996.
- برای سوالی و منفی کردن زمان گذشته ساده از did/did not استفاده می کنیم.
Did + subject + simple from of the verb
Subject + Did not + simple form of the verb
مثال:
- Did you go out last night? Yes, I went to the movies.
- They did not (didn't) invite her to the party.
- I didn't do anything.
- برای سوالی یا منفی کردن گذشته ساده که فعل to be فعل اصلی جمله است به صورت زیر عمل می کنیم:
I/He/she/it + was + not Was + I/He/She/It
They/you/we + were + not Were + They/You/We
مثال:
- Was the weather good?
- They were not able to come because they were busy.
I/You/We/They + simple form of the verb
He/She/It + Simple form of the verb + s
Am/is/are
- برای بیان حقیقت یا مساله ای به صورت کلی از زمان حال ساده استفاده می شود. یعنی برای بیان مساله ای که همیشه یا به صورت مکرر اتفاق می افتد یا بیان یک حقیقت از زمان حال ساده استفاده می شود. در این صورت مهم نیست که در زمان بیان عمل، آن عمل در حال انجام باشد یا نباشد.
مثال:
- Nurses take care of patients in hospital.
- I usually leave for work at
- The earth goes around the sun.
- برای سوالی و منفی کردن جملات حال ساده از Do/Does استفاده می کنیم.
Do + I/We/You/They + verb?
Does + He/She/It + verb?
I/We/You/They + do not (don't) + verb
He/She/It + does not (doesn't) + verb
- هنگامی که جملات سوم شخص را منفی یا سوالی می کنیم (با استفاده از Does)، S فعل برداشته می شود.
مثال:
- I come from
- What does this word mean?
- Rice does not grow in cold climates.
- What do you do?
- He's so lazy. He doesn't do anything to help me.
- جملاتی که فعل to be در آن فعل اصلی است را به صورت زیر سوالی یا منفی می کنیم:
I + am + not Am + I
He/she/it + is + not Is + He/She/It
They/you/we + are + not Are + They/You/We
مثال:
- He isn't angry.
- Are they late?
- هنگامی که قصد بیان عملی را داشته باشیم که اغلب انجام می دهیم، از زمان حال ساده استفاده
می کنیم.:
مثال:
- I get up at
- How often do you go to dentist?
- Mojtaba doesn't drink coffee very often.
- In the summer John usually plays tennis once or twice a week.
- قیدهای always/never/usually/… قبل از فعل اصلی قرار می گیرند:
مثال:
- Sue always looks happy.
- I never drink coffee at night.
- What time do you usually get home after work?
- از ترکیب I always do زمانی استفاده می کنیم که قصد بیان عملی را که همیشه انجام می دهیم داشته باشیم:
مثال:
- I always go to work by car.
Am/Is/Are + -ing
- حال استمراری نشان دهنده عملی است که در حال انجام است، بدین معنی که شروع شده و هنوز به پایان نرسیده است و آن عمل اغلب در زمان صحبت کردن از آن، در حال انجام است.
مثال:
- Please don't make so much noise. I'm working.
- Let's go out. It's not raining anymore.
- I'm tired. I'm going to bed.
- ولی لزوما عمل در زمان صحبت کردن از آن انجام نمی شود.
مثال:
- I'm reading an interesting book at the moment. I'll lend it to you when I've finished it.
- Maria wants to work in
- Some friends of mine are building their own house.
در مثالهای بالا، عمل لزوما در هنگام صحبت کردن انجام نمی شود. بدین معنی که کاری شروع شده و هنوز به پایان نرسیده است.
- هنگامی که قصد بیان مساله ای نزدیک به زمان حال داشته باشیم، از زمان حال استمراری استفاده می کنیم، مثل امروز، این هفته، امشب، ... .
مثال:
- You are working hard today.
- Is Sarah working this week?
- هنگامی که قصد بیان تغییراتی در زمان حال یا نزدیک به زمان حال داشته باشیم، از زمان حال استمراری استفاده می کنیم.
مثال:
- The population of the world is rising very fast.
- Is your English getting better?
- از ترکیب I am always doing زمانی استفاده می کنیم که قصد بیان عملی را که اغلب و بیش از حد معمول انجام می دهیم، داشته باشیم:
مثال:
- I'm always losing things.
- John is never satisfied. He's always complaining.
- از زمان حال استمراری تنها برای بیان عمل یا اتفاقات می توانیم استفاده کنیم. برخی از افعال، افعال عملی نیستند مانند know, like و غیره و نمی توان آنها را به صورت استمراری به کار برد. افعال زیر برخی از افعالی هستند که معمولا به صورت استمراری به کار برده نمی شوند:
Like, love, hate, want, need, prefer, know, realize, suppose, mean, understand, believe, remember, belong, contain, consist, depend, seem, see, hear, smell, taste
- افعال think با معنی believe و have با معنی possess به صورت استمراری به کار
نمی روند.
- What do you think (believe) will happen?
- We have a nice room in the hotel.
- فعل see را اگر به معنی having a meeting with باشد، خصوصا در آینده، می توان به صورت استمراری استفاده کرد.
- I'm seeing the manager tomorrow morning.
- اگر به همراه صفت selfish فعل حال ساده به کار برده شود بدین معنی است که فرد مورد نظر همیشه چنین صفتی دارد و اگر فعل حال استمراری به کار برده شود بدین معنی است که در آن لحظه فرد چنین صفتی را از خود بروز داده است.
- I can't understand why he's being so selfish. He isn't usually like that (being selfish = behaving selfishly at the moment).
- He is very selfish (he is selfish generally).
- از ترکیب am/is/are being برای بیان چگونگی رفتار یک شخص استفاده می شود و معمولا در موقعیتهای دیگر قابل استفاده نیست:
- It's hot today (not It is being hot).
- Sarah is very tired (not is being tired).
- افعال look و feel را هم می توان به صورت حال ساده و هم به صورت حال استمراری برای بیان احساس یا ظاهر یک شخص به کار برد:
- You look good today or you're looking good today.
- How do you feel now or how are you feeling now?