Don,
I'm not sold yet on the comparative, noncomparitive distinction.
Comparative and superlative are identifying (or limiting) functions of
their own, are they not? "He was the tallest of his class." "He ate
nothing but the reddest, smoothest apples."
I'll be scratching my head for awhile on the prepositional phrase
point. I'm usually slow to come around.
I like to point out that common nouns and abstract nouns almost cry out
for restriction. Unless it's a "proper noun", nounness simply means
"member (or members) of a class", and this can be undifferentiated (a
cow, cows) or identified in any of a number of ways. (My cow. Your cow.
A wild cow. "Some of the strangest cows I have seen at the county
fairs...") In subject slot, that simply means fine-tuning what you are
bringing into focus.
I also like the cognitivists' view that the prototypical noun is a
'bounded entity", but that we extend that "solidity" to many abstract
concepts. So many (murder, lecture, contact, flow) are both nouns and
verbs in almost equal weight. Meanings also build radially, so that
"coat of paint" makes sense to us by metaphoric extension of its
original meaning. "Heart" implies "center," so we have "heart of
darkness. Heart of discourse."
I love what Christensen says about a restrictive statement implying its
opposite.
All of this brings grammar right smack into the heart of discourse,
with "error" clearly linked to a failure to build and convey
significant meaning. So much gets lost with textbook sentences, out of
context of discourse. I think you're right to link grammar to the books
your students are reading; I immediately started to do more of that the
day after I left the conference.
Whatever we do with scope and sequence, we shouldn't imply that schools
and teachers shouldn't go beyond that. The "all we need is X" mentality
is an anti-grammar mentality, even when it parades itself as an
approach to grammar. As Phil points out, we don't make those
restrictions in any other field.
Craig
First, sorry, folks, about the double posting—I got myself a new email
> program!
>
> Craig,
>
> You are right that the distinction between identifying and describing is
> sometimes blurred. Often we identify by describing. I guess that’s why, if
> we are going to make use of the two terms—limiting (or identifying) and
> descriptive—it helps to define them the way I mentioned, by whether they
> can
> be made comparative and superlative.
>
> An interesting aside about prepositional phrases is that most of them do
> not
> describe at all. Telling me that the birthday present is in the drawer, or
> under the table, or on the shelf merely tells me its position, as the word
> “preposition” implies. But if you tell me about the birthday present with
> the silver ribbon, you have really described (and identified) it. “With”
> and
> “without” are about the only ones that really describe things.
>
> As for your question about Christensen, he had a whole essay in Notes
> Toward
> A New Rhetoric called “Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Modifiers Again.”
> Here
> are three relevant excerpts: “The problem of restrictive-nonrestrictive
> goes
> beyond adjective clauses; the principle applies to all adjectival
> modifiers,
> to apposi-tives, and to some adverbial modifiers, at least to final
> adverbial clauses.” “The best way to frame the problem is to ask, why do
> we
> set off nonrestrictive modifiers?” “The purpose of all nonrestrictive
> punctuation [is] to head off unwanted im-plications. Conversely, when the
> modifier is restrictive, the sentence makes one statement and implies its
> oppo-site; and what it implies is just as important as what it states.”
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