DeterminersDeterminers can be appreciated in following terms

1) What are determiners? 2) Types of determiners.

3) Determiners and Adjectives

What are determiners?In simple words Determiners are words like “the, a, my, this, Some, Either, Every, Enough, Several.

OR

A determiner is a noun modifier that expresses the reference of noun or noun phrase in the context rather than attributes .This function is performed by :-

Articles, Possessive determiners, Demonstrative determiners.

Order of determiners

I + ii+ iiiTypes of Determiners:-

1) Pre determiners2) Central determiners3) Post determiners

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Pre determiners

Pre determiners are of three types

Quantifiers All, both, half

Multipliers Double, twice, thrice.

Fraction One third, one fourth, two third

Central determiners

Articles A, an, thePronoun This,that,my,his,one,someQuantifiers Some, any, every each, either

neither,enough,much Negative noWh- determiner What(ever) which(ever) whose

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Post determiners

Number: - cardinal

Ordinal

Quantifier - few, several, much

Determiners and adjective Determiners AdjectivesPoints out noun. E.g. This tree

Describes noun. E.g. tall tree

Retain the same form Changes their form. E.g. bright,brighter,brightest

Can be placed only before the noun. e.g. the/some/which noun

Can be placed before and before or after a noun.Sweet mangoesThe mangoes are sweet

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Pre determinerQuantifiers

All, both, half

These determiners can occur only before articles or demonstratives but, since they are themselves quantifiers, they do not occur with following ‘quantitative’ determiners: every, neither, either, each, some, any, no enough.

All It can go with

1 singular count noun:

All (the) book

All (the) day

All the pen

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Plural count noun:

All (the, my, these, those) pens

All (the my, these, those) days

All (the my, these, those) books

All these years she had avoided the limelight.

Non count nouns

All (the) furniture

All this time Mr. Husain continues to paint.

Half

Half (the) book

Half (the) day

Half the pen

Plural count noun:

Half (the, my, these, those) pens

Half (the my, these, those) days

Half (the my, these, those) books

Non count nouns

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Half (the) furniture

Half ink

Nearly half the children receive no education

BOTH

It can occur only with plural noun

Both the eyes

Both my eyes

All, both and half have of- construction, which are optional with nouns and obligatory with personal pronouns.

Noun Pronoun

All (of) the meat all of it

Both (of) the students both of it

Half (of) the time half of it

All three can be used as independent pronouns

All/both/half passed their exams.

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Multipliers

Double , twice, three times , four times, etc occur with

Singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and mass noun

The party needs double that number of votes to win the election.

Twice his strength

Her age

Double the amount

Their salaries

Three times this amount

The usual cost

The sum

Fractions

One third, two fifths, three quarters etc usually have the construction with of

He did it in one third /a third of the time it took me.

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Central determiners

Articles definite: - the

Indefinite:- a, an

Demonstrative determiners

This That

These Those

This That occurs with singular count noun and mass noun only

This research requires expensive equipment.

I find that poetry difficult to understand

These Those occurs with plural count noun only

These things are difficult to perform

Have you seen those plays?

Possessive determiners

My, your , her, act as a determiner before noun heads

And can be used with all kinds of noun

My book

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My books/ your book

Your books

my money /Your money

Quantifiers

Some, any, every each, either, neither, enough, much

Some

It can be used with plural count noun and mass noun

Some bottles /some chairs /some boys

Some furniture/money/milk

Any

It can be used with plural count noun and mass noun

Any bottles/any suitable candidates

Any bread for breakfast

Every (universal determiner)

It is used with singular count noun

I want to interview every student individually

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Each (universal determiner)

It is used with singular count noun

Each brand has its own plus point.

Either

It is used with singular count noun

You can park on either side

We can hold meeting on Monday or Tuesday. Either day is suitable

Neither

It is used with singular count noun

Neither party accepted the arbitration proposal

Neither book covers my syllable

Enough

It is used only with plural count noun and non count nouns

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There is enough money to spend.

I have enough tools to do this job.

Much

It occurs with mass noun only

Some of the young players have so much ability

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Negative – No

It can occur with all three kinds of nouns

Singular countable

Plural countable

Mass noun

We have no problem with violence here.

We have no problems with violence here.

They have no money.

Wh -determiner What(ever) which(ever) whose

It can occur with all three kinds of nouns

Singular countable

Plural countable

Mass noun

The house whose roof was damaged has now been repaired.

The lady whose umbrellas were lost has been recovered

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For whatever reason, don’t be late again.

Post determiners

Number: - cardinal

Ordinal

Quantifier - few, several, much

Cardinal number – one, two, three, four, five

The numeral one occurs with singular count noun

I would like a/one photocopy of this article

The numerals two, three, four occurs with plural count noun

The two blue cars belong to me.

Ordinal numerals

General Ordinals

Ordinal numerals first, second, third occurs with count nouns and usually precede any cardinal numbers

My first three years in Indore.

The first two days.

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Another three weeks

General Ordinals Include next, last, other, usually precede any cardinal number

The last two years

Her next five days at home.

Quantifiers Many, several ,a few, few and fewer occur with plural count nouns

I have corrected many spelling errors in your report.

There were many mistakes in your essay.

There are several students in the class.

I have spent several years in USA.

Here are a few facts and figures

There were a few students in the class.

Very few people are aware of this tradition.

There are fewer people going to temple nowadays.

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Much and (a) little co-occur only with non count noun

She has not got much money.

She has got (a) little money.

More and less

Comparative determiner more occur with plural nouns and mass nouns

We are taking more students this year.

There has been more activity than usual this year.

Less

It occurs with mass nouns

You will have less anxiety with this medicine.

I will spend Less money this year.

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Determiners

Two simple "rules" govern the use of the noun group in English.

1) The essential parts of a noun group

Unless a noun is used in a generalising sense (see articles), a noun group consists or at least the following elements: a determiner and a noun.    A determiner is one of the following: an article (the, a, an, some, any), a quantifier (no, few, a few, many, etc.), a possessive (my, your, whose, the man's, etc.), a demonstrative (this, that, these, those), a numeral (one, two, three etc.) or a question word (which, whose, how many, etc.).

     Except in some very rare cases, a noun can only be preceded by ONE determiner:

   Examples: the man, some women, a few dogs, your horse, the man's horse* , that car, whose money,  how many bottles?     (In this example, the man's horse* there appear to be two determiners before horse, but in fact there is only one: the determiner before horse is the man, and the article the is the determiner of the word  man.)

2) Other parts of a noun group.

A noun group can also contain one or more modifiers; a modifier is an adjective, an adjectival phrase, a secondary noun, a prepositional phrase or a relative clause. 

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pre determiners

central determiners

post detrminers

The principal noun in a noun group is called the head noun.

Adjectives are placed before the head noun: as in the Great Gatsby   (Click here for ► How to place adjectives in the right order)

Adjective phrases usually come before the head noun:  as in:    a black-and-white striped vest    a rather tight-fitting dress

Secondary nouns behave exactly like adjectives, and  come before the head noun:  a beer glass,  the police inspector,  a London bus

Prepositional phrases and relative clauses follow the head noun, as in:   the students in our class   or  the girl who gave me her phone-number.

Put all this together, and we get a complex noun group, such as:

   The nice old-fashioned police inspector with white hair, who was drinking his beer, was Mr. Morse.

3 Some common exceptionsSometimes an adjective or an adjectival phrase will follow the noun, or appear to do so. There are three cases that need to be noted:

A very few adjectives always follow the noun: concerned (in the sense of "being talked about"), and involved (in the sense of "participating", or "being present") are the two common ones.

Other participial adjectives (such as left, remaining, missing) appear to be used as adjectives that follow the noun; in reality, they are elliptical forms of a relative clause that has become reduced to a single word.

Adjectives follow the noun when the adjectives themselves are post-modified (defined) by a following phrase.

Examples.     There's been an outbreak of flu, but there are only fifteen people concerned     After the fight, the police arrested the men involved.      Oh look ! there is only one chocolate left !!      We can't go yet !! There are still three people missing.        There was a crowd bigger than last year.

ntroduction

Words combine to make phrases, and phrases are one of the basic patterns out of which we build sentences.

A phrase is a group of words which acts as a single unit in meaning and in grammar, and is not built round a verb.

Phrases can have many different functions in a sentence. They are used as subjects, objects, complements, modifiers, or  adverbials .

Understanding phrasal patterns helps us to discuss and explain the effects in our own and others’ writing. In the sentence:

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The strange green creatures with bobbing heads spoke.

the phrase the strange green creatures with bobbing heads acts as the subject of the verb spoke. The phrase is a single unit both in its meaning and in its grammar.

the fragment the strange green is not a phrase, because it has no separate meaning and no grammatical function.

Expansion and heads

A phrase is an expansion of one of the words inside it, which is called its head. For example, creatures is the head ofthe strange green creatures with bobbing heads.

The words that expand the head of a phrase are its 'expanders', which are generally the head's modifiers; for example,green modifies creatures. All this means is that green makes the meaning of creatures more precise - instead of meaning simply 'creatures', it means 'green creatures'. (For an expander which is not a modifier see Prepositional phrases.)

There is a useful notation for showing heads and their expanders, in which the head is written higher than the modifiers, showing that it is the 'boss' and the expanders are its assistants, brought in to make the message more precise.

How long is a phrase?

A phrase can be two words long:

big dog

Sometimes you will even see a single word referred to as a phrase. Or a phrase can be much longer:

that lovely old pub by the bridge over the river

Phrases within phrases

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Longer phrases are like Russian dolls – they contain a number of shorter phrases:

 

 

The phrases whose

heads are by and overare prepositional phrases and will be explained below.

The other notation shows the same structure in a different way:

These diagrams are both useful in revealing the way in which the larger phrase is built out of smaller parts, each of which helps to expand a word which is before or after it:

river

the river

over the river

the bridge over the river

by the bridge over the river

that lovely old pub by the bridge over the river

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Noun phrases

A noun phrase has a noun as its head. The modifiers may be:

determinersHe carried the bags

possessives She brought Mary's bags

adjectives The heavy bags are downstairs

prepositional phrases The bridge over the river

clauses The pub we went to

 

A noun phrase does the work of a noun in a sentence.

It can be:

the subject:The red balloon soared upwards.

the object: I read that book about dinosaurs

the complement: She wants to be a doctor.

possessive my best friend’s father

the object of a preposition looked over the fence

 

Most sentences contain several noun phrases, which often determine the overall length and complexity of the whole sentence. This is why it’s important to be able to focus attention on the noun phrases in a text, in order to discuss their structures and how they are used.

Adjectival and adverbial phrases

Adjectival  phrases have an adjective as their head.o e.g. good at ..., very tall

Adverbial  phrases have an adverb as their head.o e.g. very quickly

Adjectival phrases

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Adjectival phrases either

expand noun phrases or complete the verb (act as the complement)

For example:

They are really enthusiastic.

The adjective enthusiastic is modified by the adverb really to form the adjectival phrase. It is the complement of the verb are.

They are keen on football.

The adjective keen combines with the prepositional phrase, on football. The head of the phrase is keen, and the phrase describes the keen-ness, so it’s an adjectival phrase.

the unusually tall boy

The adjective tall is modified by the adverb unusually to form the adjectival phrase. It expands the noun phrase the boy.

 

At KS3 one main area of development with adjective phrases is likely to concern the use of prepositions and linking words (e.g. different from, conscious of, accustomed to, sufficiently big to).

Adverbial phrases

Like single adverbs, they modify verbs, adjectives or adverbs. For example:

He opened it extremely easily.

extremely easily

modifies opened

I'll do it quite soon. quite soon modifies doI ran so fast. so fast modifies ranHe was quite unexpectedly kind.

quite unexpectedly

modifies kind

He came very surprisingly quickly.

very surprisingly

modifies quickly

 

Prepositional phrases

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Prepositional phrases have a preposition as their head:

at lunchtime

behind the fridge

for an interview

from eating too much

in the drawer

Heads and objects in prepositional phrases

The preposition is usually followed by a noun or noun phrase - lunchtime, the fridge, etc. This is called its object, because the preposition + object combination is rather like a verb + object (e.g. forgot lunchtime, opened the fridge).

Why don't we treat the preposition as a modifier of the object? Because the preposition doesn't modify the object's meaning - for example, behind doesn't turn the fridge into a particular kind of fridge.

In fact, the preposition sets up the meaning for the whole phrase, and the object makes it more precise. For example,behind picks out some place, and defines it in relation to something else - the fridge, Mary, the Houses of Parliament, depending on what the object may be. This is why we treat the preposition as the phrase's head.

Adjectival and adverbial uses of prepostional phrases

Think about the functions of the two preposition phrases in this sentence:

The boy from the shop is waiting at the corner

from the shop :The head of this prepositional phrase is the preposition from. The function of the phrase isadjectival - it does the work of an adjective by describing the noun boy. It modifies the noun, answering the question: which boy?

at the corner :The head of this prepositional phrase is the preposition at. The function of the phrase is adverbial - it does the work of an adverb by modifying the verb waiting. It answers the question: where is he waiting?

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Adverbial prepositional phrases, like adverbs, modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions, and answer the same range of questions as adverbs:

How? in a hurry, with enthusiasm

When? after the party, at midnight

Where? at the station, near London

Why? for my sake, because of the cold

Adjectival prepositional phrases, like adjectives, modify nouns: for example, they tell you which boy:

The boy in a hurry is waiting over there.

The boy at the station told me.

The boy from London lives here.

The boy with red hair is called Ginger.

The boy behind the shed is smoking.

As some of these examples show, the same phrase can be adjectival or adverbial, depending on its function in the sentence.

 

Introduction: coherence, anaphora and reference

This unit is about one of the main aspects of coherence, the quality of a text that 'hangs together' in terms of its meaning. In a coherent text it is clear how each part of the text is intended to relate to other parts. Other aspects of coherence which are discussed elsewhere are:

the logical links which are indicated by connectives such as but, when, because, therefore and nevertheless;

the consistent choice of tense and person.

Anaphora is the name for the relationship between she and Mary in

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Mary looked out of the window. The sky looked threatening, so she decided to take an umbrella.

What the two highlighted words share is the fact that they both refer to the same person - they have the same reference. The word she refers back to the word Mary without repeating the name. This 'reference back' is called anaphora. Successful writers keep track of the various people and things that they mention by building a reference chain by means of anaphoric devices such as pronouns. KS3 writers sometimes fail to make these links clear, thus spoiling the coherence of their writing.

Characters

The part of coherence with which we are concerned here involves reference: the way in which the text refers to people, places, events and so on. Let us call all these people and things 'characters'.

For example, in this sentence by a KS3 pupil there are six characters to which reference is made.

When his grandfather came the atmosphere was as if there were trees and plants in his bedroom.

'he' (i.e. the boy described in the poem), referred to by the word his the grandfather, referred to by the phrase his grandfather the atmosphere, referred to by the phrase they atmosphere trees plants the bedroom (his bedroom)

After the first reference a character is 'on stage', a continuation of the drama metaphor.

Reference chains

A simple reference chain tracks a single character through the text. Usually the first link introduces the character, so this link needs to provide enough information to distinguish the character from everything else in the world. This typically requires a full noun phrase (e.g. the people next door or a large grey cat). Once 'on stage', however, the character is much easier to identify because it only needs to be distinguished from the other characters that are already on stage. Consequently the

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subsequent links give just enough information for this, using one of the anaphoric devices that you can look at in more detail if you wish.

These anaphoric devices are useful because they save effort (e.g. they is much easier to say, write and understand than the people next door), but they also avoid potential misunderstanding because we know that they are not introducing new characters. For example, consider the effect of repeating a large grey cat:

A large grey cat was lying on the stairs, and I had to step over a large grey cat.

Is this sentence referring to one cat or two? The sentence is not just clumsy and long-winded, but the extra words are actually counterproductive because they make it less clear than it would have been with a pronoun as the second link:

A large grey cat was lying on the stairs, and I had to step over it.

Here we can be sure that there is only one cat.

Where problems arise: anaphora and coherence

Anaphora is relevant to coherence because it works by linking one word back to another word which refers to the same character. The text quoted earlier continues as follows:

He made it sound as if it was outside and not inside. When I read it I felt as if he was a farmer of some sort. I thought that the boy wanted him to be there and not to be there.

At least two words in the continuation refer to the grandfather:

he in he was a farmer him in the boy wanted him to be there.

Since the grandfather has already been introduced by his grandfather, these two pronouns refer back to this phrase, thereby building a reference chain:

his grandfather ... he ... him

which is held together by anaphora and which extends across four sentences.

Lack of clarity in these links makes a text incoherent. For example, it is uncertain whether or not the pronoun he in he made it sound also refers to the grandfather (it probably refers to the poet); and the reference of the pronoun it varies between the

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global situation (makes it sound as though it was outside) and the poem (when I read it).

Uncertain reference of pronouns is a common mistake in the writing of KS3 pupils. For example, in KS3 essays it is common to find a pronoun that refers back to a character mentioned in the material on which the essay is based. The first few words of an essay quoted earlier are:

When his grandfather came,

where his refers back to a character in the poem under discussion (and possibly to the essay-question). In this case the writer is treating the essay as a continuation of the text read in class.

At KS3, pupils already know the personal pronoun system well and apply it in everyday conversation. However the system becomes less effective as the number of similar characters on stage increases. For example, in the following text there are numerous references to Benjamin, which are highlighted:

Benjamin seemed frightend when he seen the plane. Is uncle tried to foreds [force?] him. Lewis seem very surprise to see the planes. Benjemin seemed scared to sign when Alex said if we land in a farmer's felid and kill some old farmer's cow. He was afrided he could land in his farm and kill is cattle. ones he sign they went in the plane ones up in the air he seemed to forget he was in the plane.

As long as he is the only character on stage, Benjamin can be referred to safely by he and [h]is. Even after the uncle has been introduced, him refers unambiguously to Benjamin because in this position in the clause the only way to refer to the pronoun is by using himself - a reflexive pronoun. When Lewis is introduced the writer (correctly) reverts to Benjamin's name in order to avoid confusion.

However by the time we have reached the sentence He was afraid, a third character (Alex) is on stage, so it might have been better to use Benjamin's name again instead of the pronoun. In this sentence another character is also introduced (a farmer), so it is in fact quite unclear whether his field and [h]is cattle) refer to this farmer's field and cattle, or to Benjamin's.

More generally, then, personal pronouns work well as long as there is only one potential 'target' among the characters on stage. When this is not true, the writer has to take care that the reference is clear. Often the writer has to balance this risk of confusion against the simplicity of the pronoun, and an inexperienced writer may underestimate the danger (or the work required of the reader).

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Anaphoric devices

Pronouns in anaphora and reference

Pronouns are far and away the most commonly used word classes to create reference chains. A lack of clarity in the reference of pronouns is also the most common mistake in this area found in the writing of KS3 pupils, who often appear to assume, because they know in their own minds who him or her or his or it refers to, that the reader must know too.

The most common kind of reference chain has personal pronouns for all the links except the first:

Once upon a time there was an old woman who had a lazy son. She was forever scolding him, but it made no difference - he spent all his time lying in the sunshine, ignoring her. His main job was to look after her goats, but he preferred to sleep in the sun.

The two chains in this text are as follows:

an old woman - she - her - her

a lazy son - him - he - his - his - he

The creation of reference chains here is relatively easy, since there are only two characters mentioned and one is female and the other is male.

Third-person pronouns are normally reserved for non-initial links, but first-person and second-person pronouns may even be the first link because it is nearly always clear who they refer to (i.e. the speaker and the person addressed):

Hello, how are you? I'm so pleased to see you. How long is it since we last met? Didn't you ring me about six months ago? ....

Even third-person pronouns can occasionally be used as the first link, provided that the person concerned is easy to identify from the context; e.g. if Bill often calls for his friend Ben, "Is he in?" may be sufficient to identify Ben.

The use of a third person pronoun as first link is also a common literary device in narrative, as it forces the reader to engage actively with the text by guessing who the

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characters are, as in this example from the opening sentence of the narrative of George Eliot’s novel Daniel Deronda:

Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance?

 

Pronouns are not the only anaphoric device that is available. The same text illustrates three others.

Benjamin seemed frightend when he seen the plane. Is uncle tried to foreds [force?] him. Lewis seem very surprise to see the planes. Benjemin seemed scared to sign when Alex said if we land in a farmer's felid and kill some old farmer's cow. He was afrided he could land in his farm and kill is cattle. ones he sign they went in the plane ones up in the air he seemed to forget he was in the plane.

definiteness (the plane, the planes) ellipsis (tried to foreds him) lexical relationships (Benjamin…Benjemin…He)

In addition to these devices we can include two more which are not found in this text.

substitution (e.g. He may be late. If so we shall miss the bus.) apposition (e.g. Benjamin, an elderly farmer)

KS3 pupils rarely use the last four devices in writing, though they often meet them in their reading.

All the reference chains discussed so far were simple, in the sense that they tracked a single character. Complex reference chains are also important at KS3.

Definiteness in anaphora and reference

The definite article the is generally used to indicate that the character referred to is already on stage, or at least known to the reader, in contrast with the indefinite articles a and some, which signal the introduction of a new character:

Once upon a time there was an old woman who had a lazy daughter. The woman used to scold the daughter all day long.

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These articles allow a reference chain to be built, without confusion, out of full noun phrases:

an old woman ... the woman ...

a lazy daughter ... the daughter ...

If the first link in a text contains a definite article, this is often because the reference chain in fact extends back to a previous text:

Benjamin seemed frightend when he seen the plane.

This is the first sentence of the sample text, and the refers back to the passage on which the questions are based.

Although the definite and indefinite articles are generally used effectively in conversation, the special demands of writing may produce problems for KS3 pupils. The sample text contains an example:

Benjemin seemed scared to sign when Alex said if we land in a farmer's felid and kill some old farmer's cow.

Are the farmers intended to be the same or different? The use of the indefinite some suggests that the second farmer is a different person from the first, but the context suggests otherwise. Presumably the intended meaning calls for the following:

Benjemin seemed scared to sign when Alex said if we land in some old farmer's felid and kill his cow.

Proper nouns are also definite in the sense that they are only suitable when the reader already knows the character referred to; so Benjamin means 'the person called Benjamin', rather than 'a person called Benjamin'. It is unhelpful to use a proper name when the reader does not know the person concerned.

To summarise, a noun phrase is definite if it contains a definite determiner (e.g. the/this plane) or a proper noun (e.g.Benjamin). This definiteness tells the reader to look for a character that is already known for one of two reasons:

because the character concerned is part of the reader's general knowledge (e.g. the head teacher, the school), or

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because the character is currently on stage.

In the second case the definite noun phrase normally refers back to an earlier noun phrase. Since the two noun phrases refer to the same character they are often built round the same noun and may even be identical - e.g. the plane ... the plane. However this does not have to be so, and varying the noun is an important way to make writing more interesting and informative. For example, since plane is a synonym of machine, the second the plane could be replaced by the machine. KS3 writers should learn to exploit such lexical relationships.

Lexical relationships in anaphora and reference

If a later noun phrase refers to the same character as an earlier one, its head noun must obviously fit this character; for example, the man could refer back to Benjamin but the plane could not. Equally obviously, the simplest way to make sure that the two noun phrases are compatible is to give them exactly the same head noun:

Benjamin and Lewis went for a flight. Benjamin hated it but Lewis loved it.

Once upon a time an old man and an old woman owned two cows. The man took them to pasture every day, while the woman turned their milk into butter.

In some cases simple repetition is effective, but it quickly becomes monotonous if the chain is extended. Unless it is clearly intentional, it also gives the impression - rightly or wrongly - of a limited vocabulary. An alternative is to replace the earlier noun by a (rough) synonym whose meaning may be either broader or narrower than that of the word replaced:

Once upon a time an old king was very ill. The old man sent for his councillors. When they came before him, their ruler told them that he wanted to divide his kingdom.

Another kind of lexical relationship is provided by word families, which allow words of different classes to be linked to each other. For example, a noun may belong to the same family as a verb, so the two can belong to a single reference chain.

The king won an important battle. His victory made him the most powerful person in the whole country - indeed his power was greater than that of any ruler before him.

In this passage won and victory are lexically related as members of the same word family, and so are powerful and power.

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Ellipsis in anaphora and reference

Ellipsis is the omission of words which can be recovered ('understood') from the context. For example, in the sample text we find:

Is uncle tried to foreds [force?] him.

In this sentence the ellipsis involves the infinitive which we expect after force (as in He forced us to work harder). In this example the ellipsis is unsuccessful because there is nothing for it to refer back to (force him to do what?), but ellipsis can be very effective in both providing an anaphoric link and also reducing the number of words. Here is a typical example:

They didn't want to go into the water, and he didn't force them .

In this sentence the ellipsis has removed the words to go into the water after force.

When is ellipsis possible?

Substitution

English has a few words other than pronouns which can be substituted for other words, phrases or clauses. The most obvious examples are yes and no, as in:

Do you love me? Yes.

It is very clear that the meaning of yes is based on anaphora, in the sense that it refers back to a preceding item in the text - in this case, the sentence Do you love me? This is a very efficient example of anaphora: one word expresses the meaning of a whole sentence.

The main words that can be used in substitution are as follows:

the 'pro-sentences' yes and no. the 'pro-clauses' so and not

o I think so/not.o If so/not, ...

the adverbs so and noro I liked it, and so did John.o Mary didn't like it, and nor did Jane;o I ate it, and John did so too.

the main verb intransitive do

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o Will it rain? It may do. the common noun one

o I've got a pet goldfish, and my brother's got one too. the adjective such, meaning 'like that'

o Yesterday he was mugged. Fortunately such things are rare in his life.

Apposition in anaphora and reference

Apposition is the traditional name for a very short reference chain in which two words or phrases that have the same reference are simply put next to each other within the same sentence.

his brother + Benjamin = his brother Benjamin

the two brothers, Benjamin and Lewis

Benjamin, an elderly farmer who was afraid of flying

Notice that unlike other reference chains, the second member does not need to be definite.

An apposition can usually be expanded by turning the second member into a relative clause who is/was ...:

his brother, who was Benjamin

Benjamin, who was an elderly farmer who was afraid of flying

Some appositions can also be expanded by adding the abbreviation i.e.:

his brother, i.e. Benjamin,

the two brothers, i.e. Benjamin and Lewis,

A discussion of apposition would provide a good opportunity for teaching the difference between i.e (or that is) and e.g. (orfor example or for instance):

Strictly speaking apposition does not contribute to textual coherence because it is only found within single sentences, but it is so similar to the other patterns that we have been considering that it cannot be left out of the discussion. It is also particularly important for KS3 writers as this seems to be the stage when stronger writers start to use it.

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Complex reference chains

Splitting and merging

The 'characters' in a text may be not only individual people or things but also groups, so we often find that a group later splits into its individual members, or individuals later merge into a group:

splitting:o The two brothers showed very different reactions. Benjamin was

frightened but Lewis was excited. merging:

o Benjamin was much more anxious than Lewis, but in the end they both enjoyed the flight.

The focus may alternate between the group and the individual members, which means that their reference chains intertwine in complicated ways.

Bridging

Suppose we have just introduced an aeroplane as one of the 'characters' in a story, and we want to talk about its pilot. How do we do so? One possibility is to use a possessive pronoun in the usual way:

We saw the plane land and its pilot get out.

Another option, however, is simply to use the definite article:

We saw the plane land and the pilot get out.

This is an extension of the usual rules for definiteness because the pilot has not been referred to before; but it works because we know that a plane has a pilot so we can work out for ourselves which pilot the pilot refers to. This extended use of the can be called 'bridging'.

What is special about bridging is that it starts a new reference chain - in this example, the chain for the pilot - without introducing it 'properly' by an indefinite noun phrase. In other words, we take it for granted that 'the plane had a pilot', and continue as if this sentence had been expressed.

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Since bridging is based on shared cultural knowledge it offers an interesting window into shared culture. For example, although bridging allows us to go straight from plane to pilot, it does not take us from plane to (say) man or leader.

Where is ellipsis possible?

Ellipsis is possible in some grammatical patterns but not in others. For example, think of the sentence:

I didn't know whether it was raining, so I looked out of the window. It was.

In this case there is an ellipsis after the second was, where we could have said raining. What is it about this sentence that permits the ellipsis? If it is the form of raining - the fact that it is a present participle - we might expect the same to be true for every present participle, but it is not. In fact, ellipsis is possible after some verbs, including be, but not after verbs such as keep (though it is possible after keep on).

 It started raining in the morning and it kept raining all day.

 It started raining in the morning and it kept all day.

 It started raining at 12 and it stopped at 1.

In other words, verbs stop does allow ellipsis, but keep doesn't. Similarly, try does but attempt doesn't, although they have the same meaning:

I knew I had to get up, but when I tried, I couldn't.

I knew I had to get up, but when I attempted, I couldn't.

Whether or not ellipsis is possible depends on the word that remains rather than on the one that is omitted.

 

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