8 Combining messages 275

Adverbial clauses 276

Time clauses 277

Conditional clauses 280

Purpose clauses 283

Reason clauses 283

Result clauses 284

Concessive clauses 285

Place clauses 287

Clauses of manner 287

Relative clauses 288

Using relative pronouns in defining clauses 289

Using relative pronouns in non-defining clauses 289

Using relative pronouns with prepositions 290

Using 'whose' 290

Using other relative pronouns 291

Additional points about non-defining relative clauses 291

Nominal relative clauses 292

Non-finite clauses 293

Using non-defining clauses 293

Using defining clauses 294

Other structures used like non-finite clauses 294

Coordination 295

Linking clauses 295

Linking verbs 297

Linking noun groups 298

Linking adjectives and adverbs 299

Linking other word groups 300

Emphasizing coordinating conjunctions 300

Linking more than two clauses or word groups 301

Contents of Chapter 9 301

9 Making texts 302

Referring back 302

Referring back in a specific way 303

Referring back in a general way 304

Substituting for something already mentioned: using 'so' and 'not' 306

Comparing with something already mentioned 307

Referring forward 308

Leaving out words: ellipsis 309

Ellipsis in conversation 311

Contents of Chapter 10 312

10 The structure of information 313

Introduction 313

Focusing on the thing affected: the passive voice 313

Selecting focus: cleft sentences 317

Taking the focus off the subject: using impersonal 'it' 318

Describing a place or situation 319

Talking about the weather and the time 319

Commenting on an action, activity, or experience 320

Commenting on a fact that you are about to mention 321

Introducing something new: 'there' as subject 321

Focusing on clauses or clause elements using adjuncts 323

Commenting on your statement: sentence adjuncts 323

Indicating your attitude to what you are saying 323

Stating your field of reference 325

Showing connections: linking adjuncts 326

Indicating a change in a conversation 327

Emphasizing 328

Indicating the most relevant thing: focusing adverbs 329

Other information structures 330

Putting something first: fronting 330

Introducing your statement: prefacing structures 331

Doing by saying: performative verbs 331

Exclamations 332

Making a statement into a question: question tags 333

Addressing people: vocatives 334

Contents of the Reference Section 335

Reference Section 335

Pronunciation guide 335

Forming plurals of count nouns 336

Forming comparative and superlative adjectives 337

The spelling and pronunciation of possessives 339

Numbers 340

Cardinal numbers 340

Ordinal numbers 341

Fractions and percentages 341

Verb forms and the formation of verb groups 342

Finite verb groups and the formation of tenses 348

Non-finite verb groups: infinitives and participles 351

Forming adverbs 353

Forming comparative and superlative adverbs 354

Index 355

7 Reporting what people say or think

7.1 This chapter of the grammar explains the different ways of reporting what people say or think.

7.2 One way of reporting what someone has said is to repeat their actual words.

'I don't know much about music,' Judy said.

A sentence like this is called a quote structure.

Instead of repeating Judy's words, the writer could have said, 'Judy said that she didn't know much about music'. This is called a report structure.

Quote structures and report structures both consist of two clauses. The main clause is called a reporting clause. The other clause indicates what someone said or thought.

In a quote structure, this other clause is called the quote.

'Have you met him?' I asked.

'Of course we can get married,' said Gertrude.

In a report structure, the other clause is called the reported clause.

He mentioned that he couldn't stand shouting.

He asked if you would be able to can and see him.

He promised to give me the money.

Note that the reported clause can be a non-finite clause beginning with a 'to'-infinitive.

7.3 In ordinary conversation, we use report structures much more often than quote structures. This is because we usually do not know, or cannot remember, the exact words that someone has said. Quote structures are mainly used in written stories.

When we report people's thoughts, we almost always use report structures, because thoughts do not usually exist in the form of words, so we cannot quote them exactly. Report structures can be used to report almost any kind of thought.

7.4 Paragraphs 7.5 to 7.13 explain verbs used in reporting clauses. Paragraphs 7.14 to 7.23 explain quote structures. Paragraphs 7.24 to 7.67 explain report structures. Paragraphs 7.68 to 7.77 explain how to refer to the speaker and hearer in a quote structure or report structure. Paragraphs 7.78 to 7.81 explain other ways of indicating what someone says or talks about. Paragraphs 7.82 to 7.94 explain other ways of using reported clauses.