Collins Cobuild English Grammar (161 page)

linking modifiers and determiners together

8.193
    You can use
and
or
or
to link
modifiers
.

…the largest
fridge and freezer
manufacturer in Germany.
This would not apply to a
coal or oil
supplier.

You can use
or
to link the
determiners
his
and
her
.

Your child’s school will play an important part in shaping the rest of
his or her
life.

Emphasizing coordinating conjunctions

8.194
    When you are using coordinating conjunctions, you sometimes want to emphasize that what you are saying applies to both the words or phrases linked by the conjunction. You usually do this by putting a word such as
both
or
neither
in front of the first word or phrase.

8.195
    When you are using
and
, the most common way of emphasizing that what you are saying applies to two phrases is to put
both
in front of the first phrase.

By that time
both
Robin
and
Drew were overseas.
They feel
both
anxiety
and
joy.
These headlines
both
mystified
and
infuriated him.
Investment continues
both
at home
and
abroad.
The medicine is
both
expensive
and
in great demand.

Another way is to use
and also
instead of
and
.

Wilkins drove racing cars himself
and also
raced powerboats.
The job of the library is to get books to people
and also
to get information to them.

8.196
    For stronger emphasis, you can put
not only
or
not just
in front of the first word or phrase, and
but
or
but also
between the two words or phrases.

The team is playing really well,
not only
in England
but
now in Europe.
Employers need to think more seriously
not only
of attracting staff
but
of keeping them.

8.197
    When you are using
or
, the most common way of emphasizing that what you are saying applies to two words or phrases is to put
either
in front of the first word or phrase.

Sentences can be
either
true
or
false.
You can
either
buy a special insecticide
or
get help from an expert.
Either
Margaret
or
John should certainly have come to see me by now.
Either
we raise money from outside
or
we close part of the museum.

When you are linking clauses in this way, you can use
or else
, instead of
or
.

They should
either
formally charge the men
or else
let them go.

8.198
    If you want to emphasize that a negative statement applies to two words or phrases, you put
neither
in front of the first word or phrase and
nor
in front of the second word or phrase.

For example, instead of saying
The girl did not speak or look up
, you say
The girl neither spoke nor looked up
.

The thought
neither
upset
nor
delighted her.
She had
neither
received
nor
read the letter.
Neither
Margaret
nor
John was there.

Note that you use a singular verb after singular noun phrases and a plural verb after plural noun phrases.

Neither Belinda nor anyone else
was
going to speak.
Neither city councils nor wealthy manufacturers
have
much need of painters or sculptors.

8.199
    Sometimes you want to draw attention to an element of a sentence by contrasting it with something different. One way to do this is to link the two elements by putting
but
between them. You put
not
in front of the first element.

I wasn’t smiling,
not
because I was angry
but
because it was painful to move my face.
I felt
not
joy
but
sadness.
The upright chairs were
not
polished
but
painted.

Linking more than two clauses, phrases, or words

8.200
    You can link more than two clauses, words, or phrases using
and
or
or
. Usually you use the conjunction only once, putting it between the last two clauses, words, or phrases. After each of the others you put a comma.

Harrison marched him to the door, threw him out
and
returned.
…courses in accountancy, science, maths
or
engineering.

You can also put a comma in front of the conjunction; this usually makes the sentence easier to read, especially if the separated elements contain more than one word or are not completely similar.

Mrs Roberts cooked meals, cleaned, mended clothes,
and
went to meetings of the sewing club.

     In informal speech, people sometimes put
and
or
or
between each pair of clauses, words, or phrases. Occasionally, you do this in writing when you want to emphasize that all the statements you are making are true.

Mrs Barnett has a gate
and
it’s not locked
and
that’s how they get out.

linking adjectives together

8.201
    There are special rules for linking more than two adjectives.

When you put more than two
qualitative adjectives
in front of a noun, you put commas between the adjectives and do not use a conjunction.

…a large, airy, comfortable room.

When you put more than two
classifying adjectives
in front of a noun, you have to decide whether the adjectives relate to the same system of classification or to different systems. (This is explained in paragraph
8.183
.)

If the classifying adjectives relate to the same system, you put
and
between the last two adjectives and a comma after each of the others.

…the country’s social, economic and political crisis.

If the classifying adjectives relate to different systems of classification, you do not put anything between any of the adjectives.

…an unknown medieval French poet.

When you put both qualitative and classifying adjectives in front of a noun, you do not put anything between them.

…a little white wooden house.

When you put more than two adjectives after a
linking verb
, you put
and
between the last two adjectives and a comma after each of the others.

He was big, dark and mysterious.
We felt hot, tired and thirsty.

9        Changing the focus in a sentence

Introduction

9.1
      The structure of a statement usually follows the sequence
subject, verb, object, complement, adverbial
. The subject, which is what you are going to talk about, comes first. If you do not want to draw special attention to any part of the clause, then you follow this sequence.

The examples above are in the
declarative
form.
Chapter 5
explains how meanings can be expressed using the
declarative
, the
interrogative
and the
imperative
forms. These other forms involve regular changes in the sequence of elements in the clause.

Is he ill?
Put it on the table.

9.2
      However, there are other ways of putting the parts of a clause in a different sequence, in order to give special emphasis or meaning.

This applies mainly to
main clauses
. This chapter shows how you can change the word order in a main clause when you want to give special force to the whole clause or to one of its elements.

In most
subordinate clauses
, you have no choice about the order of the clause elements (see
Chapter 8
).

the passive

9.3
      One way of changing word order in order to change the focus in a clause is to use the
passive
form. The passive allows you to talk about an event from the point of view of the thing or person affected, and even to avoid mentioning who or what was responsible for the action.

A girl from my class
was chosen
to do the reading.

The
passive
is explained in paragraphs
9.8
to
9.24
.

split sentences

9.4
      Another way of varying the sequence of elements in the clause is to use a
split sentence
. There are three different types.