W. H. Mittins - Pattern in English: A Fresh Approach to Grammar

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Volume 18

PATTERN IN ENGLISH

A Fresh Approach to Grammar

W. H. Mittins

First published in 1950

This edition first published in 2015
by Routledge
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1950 W. H. Mittins

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ISBN: 978-1-138-92111-5 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-315-68654-7 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-91711-8 (Volume 18) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-68923-4 (Volume 18) (ebk)

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PATTERN IN ENGLISH

A FRESH APPROACH TO GRAMMAR

BY
W. H. MITTINS
B.A.

LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1950

This hook is copyright under the Berne Convention.

No portion may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
in 11 on 12 pt. Baskerville type
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
ABERDEEN

This book includes what seems to me the minimum of English grammar relevant to efficient communication in language. The scope was determined by collecting from children's writings examples of common faults and weaknesses susceptible of treatment in grammatical terms. Certain concepts emerged as fundamentalpredication, word-order, proximity, equivalents, variety and repetition. Other notions helped towards the clear exposition of these fundamentalsparts of speech, phrases, clauses, link-words. Some time-honoured ideasnotably the classification of the parts of speech into categories: concrete and abstract nouns, demonstrative and possessive adjectives, and so on-seemed unnecessary.

Apart from a few matters relegated to appendices, this material is organised on a simple plan which, while easy for reference, provides a progressive course, leading from the structure of the simple sentence to problems of literary style.

The Simple Sentence is shown to be an assembly, according to one of a well-defined range of patterns, of various items. These items are certain Parts of Speech or their equivalents. Equivalents include other Parts of Speech (acting, as it were, out of character}, Phrases, and Clauses.

The assembling of the items involves the principle of Proximity and the use of Conjunctions and other link-words. The notions of Co-ordination and Sub-ordination and the earlier reference to Clauses as Equivalents lead to an examination of Multiple Sentences, with their Main and Subordinate Clauses.

Finally, the various word-clusters (Phrases and Clauses) are seen at work in passages from competent authors. The stylistic principles of emphasis, variety and repetition are associated with the distribution of phrases and clauses in consecutive prose.

To keep the central sequence of the argument clear, some important considerations are denied separate treatment. There are not, for instance, separate chapters on the Parts of Speech. A few minor points-Person and Number, for instance-are not introduced in the text at all, but in the exercises.

There are, I suppose, never enough exercises in a text-book. The teacher should have no difficulty, however, in expanding those given here. It is to be hoped, moreover, that they will be linked with an examination both of the pupils' own writing and of the literature being studied.

The practical core of the exercises is analysis. Some teachers deplore the schematic approach. Others who like schemes have their own favourite systems. The stencil method outlined in is, I believe, original and may appeal to those who, like myself, find that the more popular systems fail effectively to expose the bare bones of a sentence. Not wishing, nevertheless, to dogmatise in so controversial a matter, I have confined the stencil suggestion to an appendix, to which unobtrusive references are made in the course of the text.

Opinions vary considerably as to the age at which grammar should be taught. I have aimed primarily at the middle and upper forms of grammar schools. But, suitably diluted, the book should be usable both by junior grammar school forms and by other secondary pupils. A fair amount of guidance from teachers is assumed, but older students-in evening classes, for instance-should be able to manage unaided.

W. H. M.