Jennifer,
When you are studying grammar in this way, it is often more useful to think
in terms of phrases (subject, predicate, verb phrase, complement, object,
modifier, and others) than words. Of course, these phrases are often just
single words; but it is the phrase, more than the word, that provides the
force behind effective sentence building. Beyond the sentence, it is often
the cohesion among phrases throughout the text that makes for powerful
construction. A single brick is essential to a brick building, but it is
not useful (except for sending messages through windows or holding down
tarps) unless it is in the companionship of mortar and other bricks.
And before anyone calls me heretic, let me assert that I am speaking
relatively. I know the impact of the perfect word. It is second only to
that of "the well-turned phrase."
Jeff Glauner
Associate Professor of English
Park University, Box 1303
8700 River Park Drive
Parkville MO 64152
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http://www.park.edu/jglauner/index.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Rabinowitz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2001 10:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Verbs, tense, and existence
Brock,
In the process of trying to learn more about English grammar, I, like
you, have gravitated towards trying to discern more about how language
works and why. Learning about the rules of English grammar do not, in
themselves, satisfy my wish to understanding why the rules are as they
are. There seems to be a larger, superimposed, organic structure or
system of meaning--which your wonderings speak to directly. I really
have had such a tough time trying to learn grammar from the ground up,
that is, from a rule-oriented perspective! What is more to the point, I
believe, is to try to understanding the nature of the relationship
between words, and between words and thought, and then again between
words and physical reality--the dynamic between these things, that is.
I believe your comments, which I find so imaginative, are along the same
track of thinking.
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