8 Combining messages 258

Adverbial clauses 259

Time clauses 259

Conditional clauses 262

Purpose clauses 265

Reason clauses 266

Result clauses 267

Concessive clauses 268

Place clauses 269

Clauses of manner 270

Relative clauses 271

Using relative pronouns in defining clauses 272

Using relative pronouns in non-defining clauses 272

Using relative pronouns with prepositions 273

Using 'whose' 273

Using other relative pronouns 273

Additional points about non-defining relative clauses 274

Nominal relative clauses 275

Non-finite clauses 275

Using non-defining clauses 276

Using defining clauses 277

Other structures used like non-finite clauses 277

Coordination 277

Linking clauses 278

Linking verbs 280

Linking noun groups 280

Linking adjectives and adverbs 281

Linking other word groups 282

Emphasizing coordinating conjunctions 283

Linking more than two clauses or word groups 284

Contents of Chapter 9 284

9 Making texts 284

Referring back 285

Referring back in a specific way 285

Referring back in a general way 287

Substituting for something already mentioned: using 'so' and 'not' 289

Comparing with something already mentioned 289

Referring forward 291

Leaving out words: ellipsis 292

Ellipsis in conversation 294

Contents of Chapter 10 295

10 The structure of information 295

Introduction 295

Focusing on the thing affected: the passive voice 296

Selecting focus: cleft sentences 300

Taking the focus off the subject: using impersonal 'it' 301

Describing a place or situation 301

Talking about the weather and the time 302

Commenting on an action, activity, or experience 303

Commenting on a fact that you are about to mention 303

Introducing something new: 'there' as subject 304

Focusing on clauses or clause elements using adjuncts 305

Commenting on your statement: sentence adjuncts 305

Indicating your attitude to what you are saying 306

Stating your field of reference 308

Showing connections: linking adjuncts 309

Indicating a change in a conversation 310

Emphasizing 311

Indicating the most relevant thing: focusing adverbs 312

Other information structures 313

Putting something first: fronting 313

Introducing your statement: prefacing structures 313

Doing by saying: performative verbs 314

Exclamations 315

Making a statement into a question: question tags 316

Addressing people: vocatives 317

Contents of the Reference Section 317

Reference Section 318

Pronunciation guide 318

Forming plurals of count nouns 318

Forming comparative and superlative adjectives 320

The spelling and pronunciation of possessives 322

Numbers 323

Cardinal numbers 323

Ordinal numbers 324

Fractions and percentages 324

Verb forms and the formation of verb groups 324

Finite verb groups and the formation of tenses 330

Non-finite verb groups: infinitives and participles 334

Forming adverbs 335

Forming comparative and superlative adverbs 337

Index 337

3 Making a message

3.1 When you make a statement, you use a clause. A clause which is used to make a statement contains a noun group, which refers to the person or thing that you are talking about, and a verb group, which indicates what sort of action, process, or state you are talking about.

The noun group, which usually comes in front of the verb group, is called the subject of the verb or the clause. For example, in the clause 'Ellen laughed', 'Ellen' is the subject. The formation of noun groups is explained in Chapter 1 and 2.

A verb group used in a statement is finite. The elements of a finite verb group and their form depend on what tense you want to use and whether one person or thing is performing the action, or more than one. The formation of verb groups is explained in the Reference Section. Quite often in statements the verb group is a single word, and it is quite common to talk about the 'verb' of a clause.

When you say something, you can be talking about an action that involves one or more participants. Indicating participants in a clause is called transitivity. See paragraphs 3.2 to 3.126. You can also be describing someone or something, or saying that they are a particular thing. Describing and identifying things is called complementation. See paragraphs 3.127 to 3.182. A third kind of statement involves talking about two actions that are closely linked. This is called phase. See paragraphs 3.183 to 3.213.

Although this chapter mainly describes finite clauses, the information that it gives about transitivity and complementation also applies to non-finite clauses, that is, clauses whose verb is an infinitive or a participle. Non-finite verb groups can be followed by objects, adjuncts, and complements, just as finite verb groups can.

This chapter deals mainly with the use of verbs in active clauses, where the subject is the performer of an action rather then the person or thing affected by an action. The use of verbs in passive clauses, where the subject is the person or thing affected, is explained in paragraphs 10.8 to 10.24.