A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
By Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik
Publisher: Longman
Number Of Pages: 1779
Publication Date: 1985-05
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0582517346
must admit, though, that the mess is actually that of modern linguistics, from what I can tell. I knew I had made a grave mistake when I spotted the authors’ incorrect definition of a clause, two-thirds of which actually defines a phrase. I cannot understand the avoidance of traditional nomenclature.
Is “nominal -ing participle” really preferable to “gerund”? And good luck finding “object of the preposition” or “substantivized adjective”–just you wait until you get a load of what they call those! The faulty definition of “clause,” in particular, reflects frequently inadequate and downright bizarre ways of analyzing the authors’ supposed “clauses.” Steer clear of this one. And if the Cambridge grammar is supposed to make this one seem old-fashioned, I suggest you just go ahead and burn that one.
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