Leonard Hoy's List: FF Grammar

• When  a single term will not supply the reference we need, we add terms to focus or  limit a more general term.

  • Go beyond the limitations of any one single word: Turn generality into specificity with additional terms.
• This section examines how we construct full and specific references using noun  phrases. An ability to recognize complete noun phrases is essential to  reading ideas rather than words

  • Noun phrases are another way to organize WORDS INTO IDEAS. Include it in the organization-fest

  • Noun Phrases are another way to organize
• Modification    is a somewhat technical term in linguistics. It does not mean to change  something, as when we "modify" a car or dress. To modify means to limit,  restrict, characterize, or otherwise focus meaning. We use this meaning  throughout the discussion here.

  • Definition of MODIFIED: Not so much to CHANGE as to FOCUS and LIMIT our mental image or understanding of something.
• The  noun phrase is the most common unit in English sentences.     

  • Noun phrase as a UNIT OF SENTENCE construction.
    
    THE most common unit of sentence structure
• The  most common post-modifier is prepositional phrases:

  • The MOST COMMON POST-modified is the prepositional phrase.
• At the point that we recognize  structure within the sentence, we recognize meaning.

  • To recognize STRUCTURE is to recognize MEANING
• Post-modifiers  commonly answer the traditional news reporting questions of    who    ,    what    ,    where    ,    when    ,    how    , or    why    .            Noun post-modifiers commonly take the following  forms: 

  • The FUNCTION of POST MODIFIERS: To answer the reporters questions of WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE or WHY
• The noun together with all  pre- and post-modifiers constitutes a single unit, a noun phrase that  indicates the complete reference. Any agreement in terms of singular/plural  is with the noun at the center.

  • Definition of a NOUN PHRASE
    1. Pre modifiers
    2. THE NOUN ITSELF
    3. Post Modifiers
    a. Prepositional phrases
    b. wh words
    c. That/which clauses
    d. ing verb words after a noun
    e. ed verb words after a noun
• If you see a  preposition,        wh        - word (        which, who, when where        ),        -ing        verb form, or        that        or        which        after a noun, you can  suspect a post-modifier and the completion of a noun phrase.

  • POST MODIFIER ANNOUNCERS:
    1. A Preposition
    2. A WH-Word: (which, who when, where)
    3. An -ING VERB form
    4. THAT or WHICH after a noun
• In  school, we were taught that pronouns replaced    nouns    .          Not so.          Pronouns replace    complete noun phrases    .

  • Pronouns replace COMPLETE NOUN PHRASES, not the mere NOUN at the center of the phrase.
•   Pronoun replacement thus offers a test of  a complete noun phrase. Consider:

  • Replace the NOUN with the PRONOUN. Read the resulting sentence. MAke sense? No? Well, you probably should have replaced the ENTIRE NOUN PHASE with the pronoun and then the resulting sentence makes sense.

  • The Test for a Noun Phrase: Replacing the propsective noun phrase with a suitable pronoun.
• The  goal of reading, we noted above, is not to recognize grammatical features,  but to find meaning.

  • THE GOAL OF READING: Find MEANING, not grammatical features for their own sakes.
• We  don't want to recognize every little noun phrase.

  • NOUN PHRASES are critical in DECODING and RESTATING a text.

• The  above discussion introduces a number of concepts crucial to effective reading  and writing.         

   
   
  •     We do not read texts word by word,  but chunk by chunk.            We  must read each grammatical construction as a single unit. Deciphering  sentences involves isolating phrases within a sentence and recognizing  where long phrases begin and end. 
   

   

  •   To write well is not to string words  together, but to string together larger phrases, to create full  references that carefully distinguish one idea from another, going  beyond talking in vague generalities.           We can increase the clarity and sophistication of our  thought by using extended phrases instead of single words. 

  • APPLICATION:
    1. Noun phrases make for CLARITY in writing
    2. Isolating noun phrases properly means the writer's meaning is more precisely arrived at.

• Remarks can be 

   
  • extended (made broader or more general) , 
  • qualified (restricted in some way), or 
  • limited (made more specific or less encompassing). 

  • With noun phrases, remarks can be
    1. Extended in scope
    2. Narrowed in scope
    3. Qualified in some way or other
• Weak writers can achieve  an immediate gain in the level of thought of their writing by taking  advantages of the opportunities for adding pre- and post-modifiers.

  • GRACIE NOTE: Weak writers can pick up clarity and precision by working on extended noun modifiers, either pre or post.
• We don’t really make sentences longer by  adding at the end so much as expanding each chunk

  • As writers, we should THINK IN CHUNKS!!! To increase the depth of meaning or feeling, we often go INTO the sentence and develp this or than noun phrase.

•   The Constitution is the nation’s charter, and lawmakers  should resist the temptation to push for amendments every time an election  year rolls around.   

     

      Notice how much richer the next sentence  is (additional modifiers in bold face) .   

   

    The Constitution    of the United States    is the  nation’s    bedrock    charter, and    devoted    lawmakers    sworn to uphold it    should  resist the    dangerous    temptation to push for    pandering    amendments every time an election year rolls around. 

  • Beautiful example of the aformentioned process of building meaning by expanding noun clauses and nudging them to ever greater levels of specificity.

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