1

The first part of this question is about how I should ask this question. I am a bit confused about all the terms used to describe books written about English. For example, "usage", "style", "reference", "reference grammars", etc. So I don't know what the proper term is for the type of book I want to ask about.

So I've seen the thread on English reference grammars (english.stackexchange.com/questions/183/what-are-some-of-the-better-english-reference-grammars), and my question is similar. That thread asks about texts that describe English grammar, but I'm wondering about more practical books.

For example, when I'm writing, I often come up with a myriad of questions like:

  • When should one use "that" vs. "which"?
  • How do you deal with multiple descriptive clause modifiers, or whatever they're called, that both end with nouns, leading to ambiguity. For example: "I looked at the bucket at the bottom of the barrel that contained my money." Let's say that the bucket is the object that contains the money, not the barrel. Well if you say "the bucket that contained my money at the bottom of the barrel" that could still be ambiguous, because now maybe "at the bottom of the barrel" could refer to the money. This is a bad example, but you get the gist of it; how do you deal with these double-bind ambiguities?
  • Is it grammatical to do a comma then a gerund phrase like I just did in that last bullet point? For example: "This drug is fatal, causing death within seconds." Is that grammatical?
  • When should one put hyphens between nouns?
  • Is it grammatical to use nouns as adjectives? E.g. "double-bind ambiguities". There's probably a better way to say that, right?

And so on and so on. Now, one could ask/search for every single question that pops into your head on this stack exchange, but that seems infeasible for a large volume. So there must be some reference book that would give one the background to know the answer to these types of questions. After all, the people on this stack exchange had to learn it somewhere, right?

stackedAE
  • 143
  • 1
    I think you are not seeing the forest for the trees. You have come to the resource on writing grammatically and clearly. In fact, out of your five example questions four have been asked already. Just use the site search or browse the corresponding tags. That being said, the question you linked to has the answers that you need. (Though again, going straight to our "which-that" tag is much faster than browsing a physical copy of CGEL for them.) – RegDwigнt Feb 13 '14 at 10:05
  • As @RegDwigнt said. – Kris Feb 13 '14 at 10:11
  • I had written at length to you about your already capable English. But I am unable to post it due to the peremptory interference of a moderator, without any warning. I would be glad to send it to you if you would care to supply your email address. – WS2 Feb 13 '14 at 10:13
  • The answers may exist out there, but it's difficult for me to find them because I don't have the requisite vocabulary. For example, searching for "multiple descriptive clause modifiers" gets me nowhere, and neither does "comma gerund phrase" (at least I don't think the thread on appositive phrases is the same thing). I'll check out CGEL and see if it helps.

    Also, my e-mail is Limnage@yahoo.com!

     – stackedAE Feb 13 '14 at 19:34

0 Answers0