Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey
Pullum, Brett Reynolds
,Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
Instructor’s Answer
Guide
For authorized instructors using the second edition of
A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar
by Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, and Brett Reynolds
(Cambridge University Press, 2022, v1.0, Oct 31, 2021)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 2 Chapter 9 70
Chapter 2 5 Chapter 10 75
Chapter 3 10 Chapter 11 81
Chapter 4 22 Chapter 12 92
Chapter 5 33 Chapter 13 100
Chapter 6 42 Chapter 14 106
Chapter 7 52 Chapter 15 113
Chapter 8 61 Chapter 16 118
Copyright © by the authors All rights reserved
,Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
Chapter 1
1. Consider the words the, dog, ran, and away. Which are the three grammatical orders
of those words? Discuss any possible grounds for doubt or disagreement that you see.
We actually don't see any grounds for doubting that just three possible orders of
{the, dog, ran, away} are grammatical, but perhaps some students might query
this, and come up with ideas that are worth discussing. The exercise is not very
important, but it provides a reminder that nearly all strings of words you could
write down are ungrammatical. For any list of n words, there are n! different
orders they could be arranged in (we can allow some of the words in a list to be
duplications of others in the list). The notation n! denotes the factorial of n; that
is, n times n – 1 times n – 2 times n – 3... and so on down to 1. So 10! = 10 × 9 ×
8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 3,628,800 orders. Our point is that out of the n!
arrangements of n words, almost all are complete gibberish. The strings of
English words that comply with all the requirements of English grammar are
very few in number relative to all the possible strings that could be constructed.
The bottom-line lesson about language learning is that someone who wants to
learn a language has only just begun the task when they have learned all the
words!
2. Consider what features of the following sentences mark them as belonging to formal
style in Standard English. Rewrite them in a more informal style, keeping the
meaning as close as possible to the original. Add notes on what you changed and why.
(The following are sample answers and should not be taken to be the only correct
responses.)
i To whom am I speaking? → Who am I speaking to?
Changed whom to who and put to at the end because these both feel like less
formal choices, and they seem to go together.
ii It would be a pity if he were to give up now. → It would be sad if he gave up
now.
Nobody says a pity these days, and he were sounds formal. Also, if he gave up is
shorter than if he were to give up.
iii We hid the documents, lest they be confiscated. → We hid the documents, to stop
them from being confiscated.
Again, nobody uses lest these days. But without lest the sentence needs to be
longer to say the same thing. I guess longer isn’t more formal.
iv That which but twenty years ago was a mystery now seems routine. → What was
a mystery just twenty years ago now seems routine.
It seems too formal to say that which instead of just what. And usually but isn’t
formal, yet this use of but seems very formal, even archaic. One more lesson in
how little of the learning task has been accomplished once you know the words!
v One should always try to do one’s best. → You should always do your best.
You and one have the same meaning here, but you (pronounced ya) is more
informal. It doesn’t mean “you, the person I’m talking to”. It just means
somebody, any person.
Copyright © 2022 by the authors 2 All rights reserved
, Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
3. For each of the following statements, say whether it is a morphological, syntactic, or
semantic fact about English (see §1.2.1).
Keep in mind that if it's about the internal makeup of words, the answer is that it
is morphological; if it's about the way words (regardless of their meanings)
combine into sentences, it's syntactic; and if it's about meaning — what the
sentence would be literally saying if it were uttered in some context — then it's
semantic.
i A completed grammatical sentence of Standard English that begins ‘I believe
that we… ’ must continue in a way that includes at least one verb.
syntactic
ii A witness who used to be a smoker would be wrong to answer No to the question
Did you ever smoke?
semantic
iii Of can occur as the last word in a Standard English sentence.
syntactic
iv The string of words *He it saw can be made grammatical by positioning the
word it after the word saw.
syntactic
v The verb enable is formed from able by adding the en⋅ prefix.
morphological
vi We find fell rather than *falled, because fall doesn’t take the ⋅ed suffix.
morphological
vii When someone says I was going to walk but I decided not to, the sense is exactly
the same as if they had said I was going to walk but I decided not to walk.
This shows that syntax and semantics are very often tightly related, but the focus
here is semantic.
viii Wherever we can truthfully say Montmorency bought a red Porsche, we can also
say Montmorency bought a Porsche, but not conversely.
semantic
ix You can’t insert every at random points in the sentence A man’s got to do what a
man’s got to do and get a grammatical result every time.
syntactic
x You can’t sincerely say I believe Sally slapped the boss if you think that The
boss was slapped by Sally is a lie.
Again, this is mainly semantic, but it relies on a syntactic fact.
4. You may have heard people talk about a noun functioning as an adjective or a verb
functioning as a noun. Under the framework we’ve described here, what’s wrong with
such a description? (See §§1.3.2 and 1.3.3.)
Nouns, adjectives, and verbs are lexical categories. There are other concepts,
such as subject, modifier, and head, which are functions. Categories perform
Copyright © 2022 by the authors 3 All rights reserved
Pullum, Brett Reynolds
,Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
Instructor’s Answer
Guide
For authorized instructors using the second edition of
A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar
by Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, and Brett Reynolds
(Cambridge University Press, 2022, v1.0, Oct 31, 2021)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 2 Chapter 9 70
Chapter 2 5 Chapter 10 75
Chapter 3 10 Chapter 11 81
Chapter 4 22 Chapter 12 92
Chapter 5 33 Chapter 13 100
Chapter 6 42 Chapter 14 106
Chapter 7 52 Chapter 15 113
Chapter 8 61 Chapter 16 118
Copyright © by the authors All rights reserved
,Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
Chapter 1
1. Consider the words the, dog, ran, and away. Which are the three grammatical orders
of those words? Discuss any possible grounds for doubt or disagreement that you see.
We actually don't see any grounds for doubting that just three possible orders of
{the, dog, ran, away} are grammatical, but perhaps some students might query
this, and come up with ideas that are worth discussing. The exercise is not very
important, but it provides a reminder that nearly all strings of words you could
write down are ungrammatical. For any list of n words, there are n! different
orders they could be arranged in (we can allow some of the words in a list to be
duplications of others in the list). The notation n! denotes the factorial of n; that
is, n times n – 1 times n – 2 times n – 3... and so on down to 1. So 10! = 10 × 9 ×
8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 3,628,800 orders. Our point is that out of the n!
arrangements of n words, almost all are complete gibberish. The strings of
English words that comply with all the requirements of English grammar are
very few in number relative to all the possible strings that could be constructed.
The bottom-line lesson about language learning is that someone who wants to
learn a language has only just begun the task when they have learned all the
words!
2. Consider what features of the following sentences mark them as belonging to formal
style in Standard English. Rewrite them in a more informal style, keeping the
meaning as close as possible to the original. Add notes on what you changed and why.
(The following are sample answers and should not be taken to be the only correct
responses.)
i To whom am I speaking? → Who am I speaking to?
Changed whom to who and put to at the end because these both feel like less
formal choices, and they seem to go together.
ii It would be a pity if he were to give up now. → It would be sad if he gave up
now.
Nobody says a pity these days, and he were sounds formal. Also, if he gave up is
shorter than if he were to give up.
iii We hid the documents, lest they be confiscated. → We hid the documents, to stop
them from being confiscated.
Again, nobody uses lest these days. But without lest the sentence needs to be
longer to say the same thing. I guess longer isn’t more formal.
iv That which but twenty years ago was a mystery now seems routine. → What was
a mystery just twenty years ago now seems routine.
It seems too formal to say that which instead of just what. And usually but isn’t
formal, yet this use of but seems very formal, even archaic. One more lesson in
how little of the learning task has been accomplished once you know the words!
v One should always try to do one’s best. → You should always do your best.
You and one have the same meaning here, but you (pronounced ya) is more
informal. It doesn’t mean “you, the person I’m talking to”. It just means
somebody, any person.
Copyright © 2022 by the authors 2 All rights reserved
, Solutions Manual for A Student's Introduction to English Grammar 2nd Edition by Rodney Huddleston,
Geoffrey K. Pullum, Brett Reynolds
3. For each of the following statements, say whether it is a morphological, syntactic, or
semantic fact about English (see §1.2.1).
Keep in mind that if it's about the internal makeup of words, the answer is that it
is morphological; if it's about the way words (regardless of their meanings)
combine into sentences, it's syntactic; and if it's about meaning — what the
sentence would be literally saying if it were uttered in some context — then it's
semantic.
i A completed grammatical sentence of Standard English that begins ‘I believe
that we… ’ must continue in a way that includes at least one verb.
syntactic
ii A witness who used to be a smoker would be wrong to answer No to the question
Did you ever smoke?
semantic
iii Of can occur as the last word in a Standard English sentence.
syntactic
iv The string of words *He it saw can be made grammatical by positioning the
word it after the word saw.
syntactic
v The verb enable is formed from able by adding the en⋅ prefix.
morphological
vi We find fell rather than *falled, because fall doesn’t take the ⋅ed suffix.
morphological
vii When someone says I was going to walk but I decided not to, the sense is exactly
the same as if they had said I was going to walk but I decided not to walk.
This shows that syntax and semantics are very often tightly related, but the focus
here is semantic.
viii Wherever we can truthfully say Montmorency bought a red Porsche, we can also
say Montmorency bought a Porsche, but not conversely.
semantic
ix You can’t insert every at random points in the sentence A man’s got to do what a
man’s got to do and get a grammatical result every time.
syntactic
x You can’t sincerely say I believe Sally slapped the boss if you think that The
boss was slapped by Sally is a lie.
Again, this is mainly semantic, but it relies on a syntactic fact.
4. You may have heard people talk about a noun functioning as an adjective or a verb
functioning as a noun. Under the framework we’ve described here, what’s wrong with
such a description? (See §§1.3.2 and 1.3.3.)
Nouns, adjectives, and verbs are lexical categories. There are other concepts,
such as subject, modifier, and head, which are functions. Categories perform
Copyright © 2022 by the authors 3 All rights reserved
