Privacy Policy

The owners of this website are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy (together with our terms of use, available on this website under the Legal section and any other documents referred to on it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. By visiting this website you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is the owner this website of the address shown on the website.

Information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following data about you:

• Information you give us. You may give us information about you by filling in forms on this website or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register to use our site, subscribe to our service, search for a product, place an order on our site, participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our site, enter a competition, promotion or survey and when you report a problem with our site. The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address and phone number, financial and credit card information, personal description and photograph.
• Information we collect about you. With regard to each of your visits to our site we may automatically collect the following information:
• technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
• Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.
• Information we receive from other sources. We may receive information about you if you use any of the other websites we operate or the other services we provide. [In this case we will have informed you when we collected that data that it may be shared internally and combined with data collected on this site.] We are also working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, credit reference agencies) and may receive information about you from them.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie policy, available on this website under the Legal section.

Uses made of the information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

• Information you give to us. We will use this information:
• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us;
• to provide you with information about other goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about;
• to provide you, or permit selected third parties to provide you, with information about goods or services we feel may interest you. If you are an existing customer, we will only contact you by electronic means (e-mail or SMS) with information about goods and services similar to those which were the subject of a previous sale or negotiations of a sale to you. If you are a new customer, and where we permit selected third parties to use your data, we (or they) will contact you by electronic means only if you have consented to this. If you do not want us to use your data in this way, or to pass your details on to third parties for marketing purposes, please tick the relevant box situated on the form on which we collect your data;
• to notify you about changes to our service;
• to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
• Information we collect about you. We will use this information:
• to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• to improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
• to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
• as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure;
• to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
• to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our site about goods or services that may interest you or them.
• Information we receive from other sources. We may combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We may us this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

Disclosure of your information

We may share your personal information with any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

We may share your information with selected third parties including:

• Business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with [them or] you.
• Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
• If the company or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use (available on this website under the Legal section) or terms and conditions of supply and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the company, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Where we store your personal data

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us using the contact email address on this website.

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Access to information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to the contact email address on this website.

Cookie Policy

Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 30 days.

Accessibility Information

The owners of this website care that their website is accessible to all and welcomes visitors of all races, religions and abilities.

This page is to give you information on what aids this website offers for people with a disability. It also explains how the WC3 Accessibility Guidelines I.O and 2.O have been implemented on this site.

Using this website

• For those screen reader and non-mouse users, please use the ‘jump’ menus provided to skip straight to the content, navigation and/or site map
• Please use the text variations provided;
  • ‘Standard text’ will provide a 12px equivalent version on most browsers and hide accessibility elements
  • ‘Large text’ will provide a 24px equivalent version on most browsers and hide accessibility elements
  • ‘Easy Read’ will provide a low simple contrast version, using standard text size on a pale yellow background to aid legibility which is often helpful for users with dyslexia
  • ‘No Style’ will strip off all our styles and provide a plain text, linear version
  • To resize the text without our help:
    • In Internet Explorer: View > Text size > Largest
    • In Firefox: View > Text size > Increase
    • In Opera: File > Preferences > Fonts > Minimum font size (pixels)
    • Alternatively, scroll with the wheel of your mouse whilst holding down the control key.
    • To use the keyboard instead of the mouse;
      • Use the Tab key to move and browse amongst the menus and links.
      • Pressing ‘Enter’ is the same as clicking a mouse
      • Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move up or down the page or from left to right.
• All images contain an ALT tag unless decorative, where they are marked as empty.
• Links make sense out of context. Wherever possible, title tags have also been used to expand on their meaning.
• Drop down menu bars are sometimes used. Please select a category and click (or press ‘Enter’) on the option you wish to view. If your system does not support drop-down menus, please use the site map link for quick and easy browsing
• Most of our sites have ‘breadcrumbs’ on the top of each page which allow you to retrace your steps and go back to where you started. However, older sites may not have this facility so you may need to use the ‘Back’ button on your browser. Back buttons are usually on the top left hand corner of your browser. By simply clicking on this button you can retrace your steps through the pages you have already viewed on our website. Some keyboards also have a Back Button as part of their options.

General Accessibility.

• This website conforms to the WCAG 2.0 four principles of accessibility and so is: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust
• The original designers, Access by Design, have considered the full range of techniques, including the advisory techniques, as well as to seeking relevant advice about current best practice to ensure that this web content is accessible, as far as possible, to all communities.
• This website has been thoroughly tested on multiple browsers, platforms and devices
• This website has been tested using multiple automated accessibility testing software
• This website has been tested by a REAL person with a disability who tested the website and submitted a report to the original designers who then used it to improve accessibility further.

Web Standards

• All CSS and XHTML created by this website validate to the document type.
  Validation does not equal accessibility.
• If a page on this website does not validate it is almost always because a third-party ‘plug-in’ has needed to be employed.
• Although we try to use only accessible third-parties and we alert designers to accessibility issues, rectifying them is beyond our control
• We reserve the right to use the web standards CSS and XHML buttons on this website as all elements within our control validate correctly.

Please Note: although this website was designed and built by a company specialising in accessible websites, it is run by us. We are not experts on web accessibility ourselves and sometimes mistakes can happen. If you find an accessibility error, please alert us as soon as possible, using the contact email address on this website, telling us the nature of the problem so that we can fix it.

Further Help

You may wish to download “Browsealoud”. This is a FREE speech reader that enables you to listen rather than read our website. Browsealoud may be helpful to people with dyslexia, those who find reading difficult, those who have a mild visual impairment or those who just like to do more than one thing at a time!

• Please follow this link to download Browsealoud onto your computer or select the image above.

WC3 WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and W.A.G 2.0

To be considered to be Priority 1 (A) standard a website should meet all of the following points.

• This website provides a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. (1.0)
• This website provides text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
• This website ensures that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup. (1.0)
• This website clearly identifies changes in the natural language of a document’s text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions). (1.0)
• This website may be read without style sheets; when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it is still be possible to read the document. (1.0)
• This website ensures that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes. (1.0)
• This website avoids causing the screen to flicker. (1.0)
• This website uses the clearest and simplest language appropriate for its content.
• This website does not use image maps(1.0)
• This website does not use tables(1.0)
• This website does not use frames(1.0)
• This websitedoes not use multimedia(1.0)
  • This website has 1 area that is sadly, still inaccessible to some users. (1.0)
    • After our best efforts, we have not been able to create an accessible page for the Social Networking buttons. Please see the bottom of this page for alternatives.
    • Pages on this website are still usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, this website provides equivalent information on an alternative accessible page. (1.0)
    • Programmatic elements such as scripts are directly accessible and compatible with assistive technologies (1.0)

This website passes Priority 1 (A) Accessibility.

Priority 2 checkpoints

To be considered to be Priority 2 (AA) standard, a website should meet all of the following points;

• This website ensures that the foreground and background colour combinations in images provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. (1.0)
• When an appropriate markup language exists, this website uses usesmarkup rather than images to convey information. (1.0)
• This website documents validate to published formal grammars. (1.0)
• This website uses style sheets to control layout and presentation. (1.0)
• This website uses relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values. (1.0)
• This website uses header elements to convey document structure and uses them according to specification. (1.0)
• This website marks up lists and list items properly. (1.0)
• This website marks up quotations and does not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation. (1.0)
  This website ensures that dynamic content is accessible (or provides an alternative presentation or page only when no other option is possible). (1.0)
• Until user agents allow users to control blinking, this website avoids causing content to blink (i.e., change presentation at a regular rate, such as turning on and off). (1.0)
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, this website does not use periodically auto-refreshing pages. (1.0)
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, this website does not use markup to redirect pages automatically. (If redirects are needed they are configures via the server) (1.0)
• Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, this website does not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and does not change the current window without informing the user. (1.0)

Please note: this website uses ‘highslide’, a JavaScript technique to give the appearance of a pop-up window to preview links or content. However, highslide is NOT a pop-up, the JavaScript can be disabled (and the link will still work) and is for graphic purposes only.

• The website uses W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and uses the latest versions when supported. (1.0)
• This website avoids deprecated features of W3C technologies. (1.0)
• This website divides large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate. (1.0)
• This website does not identify the target of each link because it is written in XHTML 1.0 Strict
• This website provides metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites. (1.0)
• This website provides information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map). (1.0)
• This website uses navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner. (1.0)
• Tables are not used for layout. (1.0)
• Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, all form controls are combined with implicitly associated labels and the label is properly positioned. (1.0)
• Form labels are explicitly associated with their controls. (1.0)
• Event handlers used in scripts are input device-independent. (1.0)
• Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, this website avoids movement in pages. If movement is present it can be instantly and easily stopped or blocked. (1.0)
• Programmatic elements such as scripts are directly accessible and compatible with assistive technologies (1.0)
• Any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner. (1.0)
• When using scripts, this website specifies logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event handlers. (1.0)

This website passes Priority 2 (AA) Accessibility.

Priority 3 checkpoints

• This website ensures that the foreground and background colour combinations in text provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. (1.0)
• This website specifies the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a document where it first occurs. (1.0)
• This website identifies the primary natural language of a document. (1.0)
• This website provides keyboard shortcuts (such as jump menus) to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls. (1.0)
• Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, this website includes non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links. (1.0)
• This website provides information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.) (1.0)
• This website provides navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism
• This website groups related links, identifies the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provides a way to bypass the group. (1.0)
• This site enables different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences. These might include a search box, site maps and content ‘tagging’(1.0)
• This website places distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc. (1.0)
• This website does not use ASCII ART
• This website supplements text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page. (1.0)
• This website uses a style of presentation that is consistent across pages. (1.0)
• This website now refers to the new WC WCAG 2.0 guidelines and does NOT include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas in forms as user agents ARE now able to handle empty controls correctly. (1.0)

This website passes Priority 3 (AAA) Accessibility.

Accessibility Problems?

This website may have the following minor access problems/issues. These are explained here and alternatives given.

• This site does not use meta access keys (sometimes called ‘hot keys’). Our research suggest that these are actually detrimental to most keyboard-users as they already have their own keys set up which are then overwritten or confused by websites (who do not use a consistent approach). We will review this decision periodically and if research proves otherwise (or technology improves) we will resume these techniques.
• This site may fail validation on third-party technologies. This is because we have little or no ability to recode these to meet our high accessibly standards. However, we always aim to use plug-ins that are either accessible, increase the accessibility or have simple accessible alternatives. If forced to choose between accessibility features and validation, we have taken the difficult decision to always choose accessibility.

Acceptable Use Policy

This acceptable use policy sets out the terms between you and us under which you may access our website. This acceptable use policy applies to all users of, and visitors to, our site.

Your use of our site means that you accept, and agree to abide by, all the policies in this acceptable use policy, which supplement our terms of website use (available on this website under the Legal section).

This website is a site operated by the company named on this website. All relevant company details and regulatory authorities are on this website.

Prohibited uses

You may use our site only for lawful purposes. You may not use our site:

• In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.
• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards below.
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

You also agree:

• Not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our site in contravention of the provisions of our terms of website use (available on this website under the Legal section).
• Not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
• any part of our site;
• any equipment or network on which our site is stored;
• any software used in the provision of our site; or
• any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

Interactive services

We may from time to time provide interactive services on our site, including, without limitation:

• Chat rooms.
• Bulletin boards.
• Blogs

Where we do provide any interactive service, we will provide clear information to you about the kind of service offered, if it is moderated and what form of moderation is used (including whether it is human or technical).

We will do our best to assess any possible risks for users (and in particular, for children) from third parties when they use any interactive service provided on our site, and we will decide in each case whether it is appropriate to use moderation of the relevant service (including what kind of moderation to use) in the light of those risks. However, we are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our site, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards, whether the service is moderated or not.

The use of any of our interactive services by a minor is subject to the consent of their parent or guardian. We advise parents who permit their children to use an interactive service that it is important that they communicate with their children about their safety online, as moderation is not foolproof. Minors who are using any interactive service should be made aware of the potential risks to them.

Where we do moderate an interactive service, we will normally provide you with a means of contacting the moderator, should a concern or difficulty arise.

Content standards

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site (contributions), and to any interactive services associated with it.

You must comply with the spirit and the letter of the following standards. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

Contributions must:

• Be accurate (where they state facts).
• Be genuinely held (where they state opinions).
• Comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.

Contributions must not:

• Contain any material which is defamatory of any person.
• Contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory.
• Promote sexually explicit material.
• Promote violence.
• Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• Infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person.
• Be likely to deceive any person.
• Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
• Promote any illegal activity.
• Be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
• Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.
• Be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.
• Give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case.
• Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

Suspension and termination

We will determine, in our discretion, whether there has been a breach of this acceptable use policy through your use of our site. When a breach of this policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate.

Failure to comply with this acceptable use policy constitutes a material breach of the terms of use (available on this website under the Legal section) upon which you are permitted to use our site, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:

• Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our site.
• Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to our site.
• Issue of a warning to you.
• Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.
• Further legal action against you.
• Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of this acceptable use policy. The responses described in this policy are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

Changes to the acceptable use policy

We may revise this acceptable use policy at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are legally binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in this acceptable use policy may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our site.

Site Map

Clause analysis

by Bill Ball

 

It is assumed for the purposes of this article that the reader will have a reasonable knowledge of the various grammatical elements of the English language that are known collectively as 'parts of speech'. The traditional parts of speech are verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. 'Interjections' are usually included even though they are often single-word exclamations, such as Bravo! Oh! and 'Hurrah!, that are 'thrown' into a sentence without playing any part in its grammatical construction.

Within the sentence structure there will be groups of words that that are known as phrases and clauses. Phrases, such 'in the mood' and 'at the top of her voice', are groups of two or more words that do not include a finite verb. A clause, on the other hand, always contains a finite verb. In simple terms, a finite verb is a verb that has a grammatical subject, as in, for example, 'He goes' and 'She has left', where 'He' and 'She' are respectively subjects of the verbs 'goes' and 'has left'. The main non-finite parts of the verb are the infinitive (to go etc.) and the present and past participles (going, gone etc.).

There are two types of clause: main and subordinate. A main clause normally makes sense on its own, and often functions as a complete sentence in its own right. A subordinate clause always depends on another clause (frequently the main clause) for its real meaning.

We should note from the outset (a) that a main clause does not always appear at the beginning of a sentence, which in turn means that a subordinate clause does not always follow the main clause (b) that one clause sometimes breaks into the middle of another clause, as in, for example, 'He is, although he does not know it, an idiot', as an alternative to 'He is an idiot, although he does not know it.

A subordinate clause is equivalent to an adjective, an adverb or a noun in another clause (hence adjective clause, adverb clause, noun clause). Here are a few notes with simple examples, which I hope will help to make this clear.

 

Adjective clauses

An adjective clause is the equivalent of a simple adjective: it qualifies a noun or pronoun in another clause. It is always introduced by a relative pronoun (mainly 'who', 'whom' whose' 'which', 'that') or a word that acts as a relative pronoun, such as 'where' or 'when'. Here are three examples:

1. 1 The man who broke the bank was a crook.
2. Here is the book which you lent me.
3. I have seen the house where he was born.

The main clauses are respectively 'The man was a crook', 'Here is the book', and 'I have seen the house'. The adjective clauses are:

1. I 'who broke the bank', qualifying the noun 'man'.
2. 2 'which you lent me', qualifying the noun 'book'.
3. 3 'where he was born', qualifying the noun 'house'.

 

Adverb clauses

An adverb clause is the equivalent of a simple adverb: it modifies a verb, an adverb or an adjective (usually a verb) in another clause. It is introduced by such words as 'if,' because', 'unless',' than',' after',' while',' although',' when', 'where' and 'as'. Here are three examples:

1. I I will go when I am ready.
2. 2 She will succeed because she works hard.
3. 3 The match will be cancelled if it rains.

The main clauses are respectively 'I will go', 'She will succeed' and 'The match will be cancelled'. The adverb clauses are:

1. 1 'when I am ready', modifying the verb 'will go'.
2. 2 'because she works hard', modifying the verb 'will succeed'.
3. 3 'if it rains', modifying the verb 'will be cancelled'.

 

Noun clauses

A noun clause is the equivalent of a simple noun, and is usually introduced by such words as 'how', 'what', 'that', 'where', 'when', 'whether', 'who' and 'why'. The noun clause may be (a) the subject or object of a verb (b) in 'apposition' to a simple noun (c) the object of a preposition. Here are four examples:

1. How he did it is not known.
2. I asked him why he could not repair the puncture.
3. The rumour that he has left is not true.
4. I will sell it for what it is worth.

The noun clauses are:

1. 'How he did it', as subject of the verb 'is'.
2. 'why he could not repair the puncture', as object of the verb 'asked'.
3. 'that he has left', in apposition to the noun 'rumour'.
4. 'what it is worth', as object of the preposition 'for.

It was mentioned above that a main clause may stand on its own as a complete sentence. Main clauses may also be joined together by what are known as co­ordinating conjunctions (and, but, or etc.):

The man was injured and he was taken to hospital. I phoned him but there was no reply.

Each of the four clauses (joined here by 'and' in the first example, and 'but' in the second) could stand on its own as a separate sentence.

It is important to note that some words can be used to introduce more than one type of clause. For example, the word 'when' can introduce an adjective clause (The day when he arrived), an adverb clause (They were pleased when he arrived), and a noun clause (When he arrived is not certain). It is the function of the clause in the sentence (not necessarily its initial appearance) that determines its type.

Many sentences are of course more involved than the examples we have looked at so far, but the principles of clause analysis outlined above will apply equally to every sentence, however long or complicated it might be. Here are three examples:

1. 1 Her son went to London after he had completed his studies because it was easier to find a job there.
2. 2 As the rain had stopped, we decided to go for a walk in the park, which was only a short distance away.
3. When he was asked how he had received his injury, he said that he had fallen over.

In the first sentence, the main clause is 'Her son went to London'. The other clauses are 'after he had completed his studies' and 'because it was easier to find a job there', both adverb clauses modifying the verb 'went in the main clause.

In the second sentence, the main clause is 'We decided to go for a walk in the park'. The other clauses are 'as the rain had stopped', an adverb clause modifying the verb 'decided' in the main clause, and 'which was only a short distance away', an adjective clause qualifying the noun 'park' in the main clause.

In the third sentence, the main clause is 'He said'. The other clauses are (a) 'when he was asked', an adverb clause modifying the verb 'said' in the main clause (b) 'how he had received his injury', a noun clause object of 'asked' in the adverb clause had fallen over a noun clause object of 'said' in the main clause.

I hope that these notes and examples will be of some use to you. However, I have to say that in reality clause analysis is no more than a mechanical exercise that helps, but only helps, to show us how the English sentence works. Studying how established writers fashion their own sentences will be much more useful than breaking down each sentence into clauses. Indeed, in your reading you will almost certainly come across sentences that seem to defy analysis.

No doubt there will be errors or omissions in this article. If so I won't let it bother me. As long as we don't take clause analysis too seriously we should find that it is both interesting and instructive.

It can also be fun at times, you know.

Causative theme in English

by David Wulstan
The causative is found in Hamito-Semitic languages and in Sanskrit; but it is not often acknowledged as occurring in Indo-European languages generally. Crystal (Cambridge Enc. of Language, 93) calls the causative a tense, a description which Semitic scholars would certainly dispute. Jespersen (Essentials of Eng. Gramm., p.117), in discussing the difference between the transitive and intransitive use of verbal forms, points out that certain transitive verbs (‘to grow corn’), when used intransitively (‘corn grows’), “must be considered a causative”.

He goes on to list “two cases [where] we have separate verbs for the intransitive and the corresponding transitive (causative) use”, instancing sit, sat, sat and lie, lay, lain (intrans) as against set, set, set and lay, laid, laid (trans. = causative). The matter is, however, more complicated than Jespersen supposed in his somewhat confused treatment.  Granted that in various registers of speech (including that of the poets) these forms are sometimes confused (J cites Byron’s ‘there let him lay’), there are reasons for such misprisions: those of us who mistake ‘he was hung at Tyburn’, for the correct ‘he was hanged’ deserve some sympathy: the morphology and syntax are by no means clear. This is because thematic and ‘strong’ causatives have a system of ablaut, which is extremely confusing in modern English, for these forms often sound like the past tense or participle of the ordinary verbal theme.

To define the causative: oremus is ‘let us pray’ in Latin. Although Latin exhibits some instances, the language as we know it does not typically have a causative theme; so the subjunctive mood is used here, instead. In classical Greek, this or the optative mood might have been be used (although Greek, too, had a few separate causatives). In Hebrew, however, the causative theme proper would come into play, the significance of which would more accurately be rendered ‘cause us to pray’. In English, the foregoing phrase is not a thematic causative, as it is formed from a modal verb. Similarly, ‘make that horse canter’ is syntactically but not morphologically causative.

It might be argued that ‘waken’, ‘gladden’, and so on are thematic causatives, the -en being a causative suffix, as ‘envision’, ‘entrap’ have apparent causative prefixes. I do not know the answer as to whether these (or ‘glorify’, ‘mesmerise’ and the like) are thematic causatives, but for the moment they will be excluded. True, Sanskrit nayati ‘lead’ has the causative nāyayati ‘cause to lead/to be led’, but it is regular. So far as may be divined, the English (deriving from the Germanic) causative theme is based on vowel-gradation similar to that found in ‘strong plurals’ (mouse-mice).

When set is used as the causative of sit, it derives, as the OED says, from the OE (sęttan) and Gothic (satjan), causative of *setjan (sitjan), whence also settle, verb and noun (these, and one or two further references to OE etc, are due to the OED/NED) If one ‘sets’ the table, however, the phrase is a species of synecdoche, meaning that the setter is causing the silver and glass to ‘sit’ in its appropriate place.

Other uses of ‘set’ as in ‘setting the Maths Paper for the Upper Set’) are not really related. Curiously, the Latin sĕdeo, sēdi, sessum means ‘to sit’ whereas sēdo, -āvi, -ātum is causative, ‘to settle’. All of these words (including Greek cognates) are related to Sanskrit (in which, by chance ‘sit’, ās, is not recorded in its causative form). What the dictionaries (and Jespersen) do not tell us, however, is that sat may also be causative: ‘I sat him down’. It is this usage which gives rise to the solecism, ‘I was sat in the corner’ i.e. sitting rather than having been unceremoniously made to sit.

That ‘lay’ is the causative of ‘lie’ is acknowledged by the dictionaries (to lay a hedge or an egg is to cause it to lie); to lay down one’s life is a more metaphorical locution, but hardly obscure. A coin may have lain under hedge or hen, but it was caused to lie by whomsoever left it there, accidentally or not: the problems arise with speaking of the past, as to whether the coin was laid or layed.

Similarly, to fell a tree is to cause it to fall. But if the woodman fell, his falling to the ground would have been an accident, perhaps occurring when the tree had already been felled. So it befell (this time with a prefix) that he had to recover from his fall. Latin has cădo, cĕcĭdi,cāsum for ‘to fall’, but caedo, cĕcīdi, caesum for the causative. Ordinary ablaut makes ‘wend’
(OE wenden) the causative of ‘wind’ (winden – in the sense of following a winding path).

The verb ‘rise’ (rising, rose, had risen) has two causatives, ‘to raise’ (raising, raised, had been raised) and to ‘rouse’ (rousing, roused, had been roused – the British Army bugle call for ‘Rouse’ differed from that of ‘Reveille’). Here the morphology is reasonably straightforward, but with the proviso that the forms ‘arise’ and ‘arouse’ lurk in the wings:  indeed, a connexion with hawking is the origin of ‘rouse’ (probably Anglo-Norman). To ‘drench’ in the agricultural sense of ‘cause (a sheep) to drink’ is more technical (Dryden says A Drench of Wine … the Patient’s Death did cause); it may be surmised that ‘ferry’ developed similarly as a specialised term in connexion with ‘fare’ in the sense of ‘travel’.

The problem with ‘hanging’ (apart from our estimable habit of hanging the present participle with the sense of a gerund) is not that the causative present sounds like the ordinary past (fell being both the causative of fall and its past tense). It is a particular quirk of the English language that the general verb derives from OE hangian and variants, referring to the ‘base of the neck’, but that it became confused with the Norse causative hęngia which intruded into northern English as henge.

So ‘you shall hang by the neck…’ or ‘shall be hung, drawn and quartered’ are correct pronouncements; ‘was hung at Tyburn’ is not. The name Stonehenge rightly implies that the monument comprises stones which were caused to hang; similarly, any unfortunate ‘hanged at Tyburn’ suffered from the permanent causative rather than the more fleeting indicative.

The Coverdale version of Ps 137:2 reads ‘As for our harps, we hanged them up: upon the trees that are therein’. This makes the hanged look like the causative (which it is not in this instance, the Hebrew qt. l form meaning ‘we hung’ – suspendimus organa – the instruments in question were kinnôrôt – lyres), but the inflected (-ed) and strong past tense with ablaut (hung) meant much the same in the English of the period, and hanged is found persisting in the equivalent place in the Authorised Version of King James.

Whether or not this psalm-verse played a part in the longevity of the longer hanged as an alternative past tense to hung is questionable; but it would not have helped to lessen the confusion between the indicative and causative usages of hanged. Moreover, the somewhat inconsidered pronouncements of Jespersen and Crystal, mentioned at the beginning of this
note, will not do.

A postscript. A recent lecture to which I was subjected made me realise that some treatments of linguistics bear the same relationship to philology as astrology has to astronomy. Several manifest idiocies were trotted out by our linguisticist priestess, but not the one which should be stamped upon firmly, the notion that ‘it’s me’ is incorrect. In the Camb. Enc. of the Eng. Lang. (page 203) Crystal asserts that as ‘me’ is the objective “where Latin-influenced grammatical tradition recommends the subjective” and thus the schoolmasterly ‘It is I’ (also commended in his Making Sense of English Usage, 1991, which prompts the suspicion that there is a disastrous misprint in its title).

Apart from Crystal’s subjective use of the word ‘objective’, French has more to do with the idiom than Latin, for ‘me’ in this instance is not the accusative, but the emphatic, as in ‘ç’est moi’. Oddly enough, in 1388 ‘Je suy je’ was the object of derision, in the words Chastillon contrefaisoit son langage (see Lebsanft, 2005, 365 apud Gärtner & Günter, Überlieferungsund Aneignungsprozesse im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert... Trier).

Substitute and replace

Substitute does not mean Replace

by Ted Bell

There is some confusion among many people about the wordssubstitute and replace. These words are not interchangeable; they refer to the same process, but there is a difference between them. It is really quite a simple difference, a matter of the writer's or speaker's point of view.

If you substitute B for A, then you replace A by B.

 

It is important to use the prepositions for and by strictly in this way. If instead you use with, confusion is not just possible but very likely. Unfortunately it is not uncommon to find with used both with substitute and replace, and the result is hardly ever satisfactory. Thus you may see: "Cornflour in this recipe may be substituted with breadcrumbs" and "Breadcrumbs in this recipe may be replaced with Cornflour". In each case the meaning is far from clear. It is much better to avoid using with.

It is also a pity that B can be described as either the substitute or the replacement for A, and yet there is no corresponding word for A (unless you were to use the rather clumsy "person (or thing) replaced"). This probably compounds the original difficulty. The confusion between substitute and replace seems to be at its worst among football writers, some of whom appear to use words without really thinking about them. How else could anyone produce such a sentence as "Bloggs was substituted at the last moment"? This really is nonsense. Even by reference to the context it may be impossible to tell whether Bloggs was the player being substituted or was the player being replaced.

In any case, why should the reader have to struggle to get at the writer's meaning? It is of course one of the glories of the English language that scholars can argue about the exact meaning of a line of Shakespeare, for instance, and many accept that, with such a writer, where there are two interpretations both may be intended. But for most of us, and certainly for journalists, it is better to steer a more precise course. It is better because the object must always be communication.

My husband and I

"My husband and I": a matter of personal pronouns

By Ted Bell

The question of whether to say or write "my husband and I" or "I and my husband" is not a matter of grammar but one of modesty or politeness. It is usually considered good form not to put oneself first. However, this may be why many people think that they must always talk of "my husband and I" and never of "my husband and me". In different situations, either of these expressions may be right, and there is a simple way of deciding which one to choose. It is correct to say "My husband and I are going to a party". It is also correct to say "A neighbour has invited my husband and me to a party".

Try dealing with each person separately. "My husband is going to a party and I am going to a party; a neighbour has invited my husband to a party and a neighbour has invited me to a party". You would never write "he has invited I", though you might hear this said in deepest Devon.

In grammatical terms, the noun husband can be the subject or the object of the sentence and the form does not change, but in the case of a pronoun (in this instance the first person singular pronoun) we use I for the subject and me for the object. If the first person plural were to be used, we would say "We are going to a party" and "a neighbour has invited us to a party". The complete list of personal pronouns which vary in this way is:

I / me he / him she / her we / us they / them

There is no variation with you, it or one.

As well as this subject/object use, we need to use the object form of any personal pronoun after prepositions such as for, with or in front of. The test above can still be used: "for my husband", "for me", "for my husband and me".

Incidentally, the French have personal pronouns similar to ours (such as je for I, me - pronounced muh - for me, nous for we / us);but they also have some emphatic pronouns of which moi is the most used. So it would be perfectly proper for a French speaker to refer to "mon mari et moi, nous ...". It could be that in a century or so we shall use me in this way in speech, but I doubt very much whether it will be written.

But the peculiarities of English do prove difficult for non-native English speakers. Thus the chef Raymond Blanc in an article in the Daily Telegraph (2 April 2011) describes his mother making "a traditional French breakfast ... for my brothers and I". What a pity this was allowed to appear without its being corrected to"...my brothers and me". Is it conceivable that the chef, who in his native tongue would have written "pour mes frères et moi", wrote the correct words in English and that some foolish person altered it to "for my brothers and I"? Surely not.

Verbless Sentences

By Bill Ball

Although there have always been verbless sentences in English, many grammarians of old insisted that a sentence had to contain at least one 'finite' verb. Examples of finite verbs are 'is', as in 'The weather is fine', and 'plays', as in 'He plays tennis'. The word 'finite' broadly means 'having a subject'. In the above examples, the subjects of the verbs are 'The weather' and 'He'.

So what does a 'verbless' sentence look like? Here are a few examples:

A wonderful achievement.
Of course not.
Now for those other matters.
So far so good.

Verbless sentences are usually preceded by 'normal' sentences, without which the verbless sentences would have no real meaning. Using 'Of course not' as the verbless sentence, here is an example that includes a 'normal' preceding sentence:

Do you know who I am? Of course not.

'Of course not' is short for 'Of course I do not know who you are', which is what many of the grammarians of old would have insisted on. Indeed, there are still some people today who would condemn verbless sentences, even though they are and always have been acceptable English.

It has to be admitted, however, that verbless sentences should never be used in formal writing (legal documents and the like) or by schoolchildren or students in their school or college work. It is often said that it is acceptable for established writers to commit occasional grammatical errors, because they have learnt all the rules and therefore have the right to modify them to suit their purpose if they so wish. That may be so, but there is one 'rule' that says that verbless sentences should be used sparingly and with good taste. Any writers who choose to ignore this rule (for whatever reason) do so at their own risk.

Verbless sentences should not be confused with 'interjections', which are words that are 'thrown' into a sentence without playing any part in its grammatical construction. They are usually single words but can also be phrases. They are normally followed by an exclamation mark (!). Examples are:

Oh!
Behold!
Alas!
My goodness!
Dear me!
Good for you!

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Clause analysis

by Bill Ball   It is assumed for the purposes of this article that the reader will have a reasonable knowledge of the various grammatical elements of the English language that are known collectively as 'parts of speech'. The traditional parts of speech are verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. 'Interjections' are usually included even though they are...

Causative theme in English

by David Wulstan The causative is found in Hamito-Semitic languages and in Sanskrit; but it is not often acknowledged as occurring in Indo-European languages generally. Crystal (Cambridge Enc. of Language, 93) calls the causative a tense, a description which Semitic scholars would certainly dispute. Jespersen (Essentials of Eng. Gramm., p.117), in discussing the difference between the transitive and intransitive use of verbal forms, points...

Substitute and replace

Substitute does not mean Replace by Ted Bell There is some confusion among many people about the wordssubstitute and replace. These words are not interchangeable; they refer to the same process, but there is a difference between them. It is really quite a simple difference, a matter of the writer's or speaker's point of view. If you substitute B for A, then...

My husband and I

"My husband and I": a matter of personal pronouns By Ted Bell The question of whether to say or write "my husband and I" or "I and my husband" is not a matter of grammar but one of modesty or politeness. It is usually considered good form not to put oneself first. However, this may be why many people think that...

Verbless Sentences

By Bill Ball Although there have always been verbless sentences in English, many grammarians of old insisted that a sentence had to contain at least one 'finite' verb. Examples of finite verbs are 'is', as in 'The weather is fine', and 'plays', as in 'He plays tennis'. The word 'finite' broadly means 'having a subject'. In the above examples, the...