Grammar (Scottish Highers English): Revision Notes
Grammar
Understanding how sentences work is essential for analysing texts in your Scottish Highers exams. This knowledge helps you examine prose fiction, non-fiction, plays and poems with precision. Grammar skills also strengthen your own writing abilities, making you more aware of how language creates meaning.
How meaning is established
In English, meaning depends entirely on word order. The position of words in a sentence determines what that sentence means. This is a fundamental principle of English grammar.
The Word Order Principle
The arrangement of words in a sentence determines its meaning. Changing the word order changes the meaning entirely—this is not optional or flexible, but a core rule of English grammar.
Consider the sentence "Matt loves Ruth." If you rearrange the words to "Ruth loves Matt," the meaning changes completely. The same reversal works with "Sam loves tennis" becoming "Tennis loves Sam"—the second version is nonsensical because word order has been disrupted.
Even shifting a single word can alter meaning. In the sentence "I swam across the stream slowly," the word "slowly" describes the manner of swimming. When repositioned to "Slowly, I swam across the stream," the opening placement draws attention to the unhurried pace of the action. The emphasis has shifted. By placing "slowly" at the start, the writer highlights how the swimming took place, making it the focal point of the sentence.
This relationship between structure and meaning matters in both reading and writing. When you analyse a text, consider how the arrangement of words creates particular effects. When you write, think about how word order guides your reader's attention.
Understanding sentence structure
Sentences operate at four levels:
- Sentences (the complete unit)
- Clauses (units within sentences)
- Word groups (phrases within clauses)
- Words (individual units)
A sentence may contain one or more clauses. Each clause consists of word groups, which are made up of individual words. Understanding these levels helps you analyse how writers construct meaning and create effects.
Word classes
Every word belongs to a word class. Recognising these classes allows you to understand how words function within sentences.
Nouns
Concrete nouns name things you can perceive through your five senses. Examples include boy, girl, dog, couch, supermarket, loch, television, smartphone. You can see, hear, smell, taste or touch these things.
Proper nouns name specific people and places. These always take capital letters: Fiona, George, Queen Elizabeth, New York, Scotland, Tess.
Abstract nouns name emotions, feelings or concepts you cannot touch. Many abstract nouns end in -ness, -dom or -ment. Examples include happiness, sadness, tiredness, nosiness, kingdom, freedom, excitement, merriment, beauty, truth.
Pronouns
- Personal pronouns stand in place of nouns: I, you (singular), he, she, it, we, you (plural), they, them.
- Possessive pronouns indicate belonging: my, your, his, hers, its, our, your, their, mine, ours, yours, theirs.
- Reflexive pronouns are used in reflexive verb constructions: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Reflexive Pronoun Usage
- "I am washing myself"
- "Watch you don't cut yourself!"
These pronouns reflect the action back to the subject performing it.
- Relative pronouns connect clauses and refer back to nouns: who, whom, whose, which, that, as. For example: "That is the man who walked here" or "that is the woman whose house has been bought."
Verbs and adverbs
- Verbs are traditionally called "doing words," though many verbs indicate a state of being rather than an action. Action verbs include to skip, to jump, to sing, to read, to play. State of being verbs include to be, to exist, to have.
- Adverbs modify verbs. They often end in -ly and typically answer questions about why, when or how something happens. Examples include sadly, incautiously, mostly, slowly, speedily, determinedly. Words like then, however and moreover also function as adverbs.
Prepositions
- Prepositions indicate relationships between objects or words. Common prepositions include on, under, in, beside, at. For example: "the book is on the table," "the cat is under the bed," "the idea was in his head."
- Prepositional phrases usually have an adverbial function, modifying verbs or nouns. Examples include in the morning, down the motorway, at the cinema, beside the coffee machine, under the train.
Prepositional Phrases in Action
Consider this sentence: "The workers on the railway line could see at first glance the approaching train."
- "on the railway line" modifies the workers (telling us which workers)
- "at first glance" modifies the verb see (telling us how they could see)
Adjectives
- Adjectives describe things or people, modifying or adding detail to nouns. Examples include beautiful, excited, sad, clever, intelligent, blue, red, yellow, four, difficult.
- Comparative adjectives compare differences between two nouns: good, better; bad, worse; happy, happier; beautiful, more beautiful.
- Superlative adjectives compare differences among three or more nouns: best, worst, happiest, most beautiful.
- Demonstrative adjectives (sometimes called determiners) refer to something already mentioned: "this top is prettier than that one over there" or "all these dogs are very clever." They indicate which specific thing is being discussed.
The Definite Article
The definite article (the) is a determiner with an adjectival function. It modifies or restricts meaning. The difference between "cat" and "the cat" is that the definite article indicates which specific cat is being referred to.
- Indefinite articles (a, an) function as determiners. Use "a" before consonant sounds (a book, a shop) and "an" before vowel sounds (an apple, an adventure, an orange).
Other word classes
- Conjunctions are linking or joining words: and, because, or, since, but, yet.
- Interjections are words and sounds used to attract attention or express emotion or surprise. Examples include Hark! Hush! Alas! Bravo! Eh? These can create dramatic effects in writing.
Word groups
After identifying individual words and their classes, you need to recognise how words cluster into groups.
Take the sentence "His mobile phone rang at eleven o'clock in the morning." The verb is "rang." This leaves three word groups:
- His mobile phone
- at eleven o'clock
- in the morning
The first group functions as a nominal (noun) group because it performs the role of a noun. Groups 2 and 3 are prepositional phrases.
Moving Prepositional Phrases for Emphasis
Prepositional phrases can be moved within sentences to change emphasis. Writers use this technique frequently, and you should watch for it in your reading and employ it in your writing.
Shifting Prepositional Phrases
Compare these two versions:
- "His mobile phone rang at eleven o'clock in the morning"
- "In the morning, at eleven o'clock, his mobile phone rang"
By shifting the prepositional phrases to the beginning, the writer highlights when the phone rang. This placement creates emphasis and draws the reader's attention to the timing.
Clause structure
A clause is a unit containing a subject and a main verb. Clauses may also contain objects and modifiers.
In the sentence "The dog jumped over the burn," the main verb is "jumped." The sentence consists of one clause—a main clause—which can stand alone and make complete sense.
Not All Verb Forms Are Main Verbs
Infinitives (the form with "to": to speak, to run, to jump, to swim) do not function as main verbs. In "I like to run every morning," the main verb is "like," not "to run."
Present participles (verb forms ending in -ing: walking, jumping, swimming, gardening, writing) also do not function as main verbs. In "Harry walked to school eating an apple," the main verb is "walked," not "eating."
Main clauses and subordinate clauses
A main clause can stand independently and make complete sense. A subordinate clause cannot stand alone—it depends on the main clause for its meaning.
Identifying Main and Subordinate Clauses
Consider: "The dog jumped over the burn, which flowed through the garden."
This sentence contains two main verbs (jumped and flowed), so it has two clauses:
- Main clause: "The dog jumped over the burn" (makes sense independently)
- Subordinate clause: "which flowed through the garden" (cannot stand alone)
Another example: "The ship sank in the harbour after it had been struck by a submarine."
- Main clause: "The ship sank in the harbour"
- Subordinate clause: "After it had been struck by a submarine"
Tip: Use MC for main clause and SC for subordinate clause to identify structure clearly when analysing.
Types of sentences
There are five sentence types you need to recognise:
Simple sentences contain one main clause: "The boy ate the apple."
Complex sentences contain a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses: "The dog jumped over the burn, which flowed through the garden."
Compound sentences contain two or more main clauses joined by a conjunction: "The lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled."
Compound-complex sentences contain two or more main clauses with at least one subordinate clause: "The lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled, after which the rain fell in torrents."
Minor sentences lack a main verb. Consider this example from Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper": "She was pointing to the roof where the sniper lay. An informer."
The phrase "An informer" is a minor sentence. This short, verbless sentence creates a highly dramatic effect, drawing attention to the woman who betrays the sniper's position. It isolates the information and makes it immediate and shocking.
Features and effects of sentence structure
Writers manipulate sentence structure to create specific effects. Understanding these techniques helps you analyse texts effectively.
Inversion
Inversion occurs when the expected word order is reversed, shifting emphasis within a sentence. This technique can create climax by delaying the main point.
Inversion Creating Climax
Consider this sentence about Adele performing at a royal occasion:
“When the organisers of a major national ceremony were looking for someone to follow in the footsteps of iconic British performers and deliver a powerful, emotionally controlled vocal performance in front of a worldwide television audience, it’s not hard to see why they chose Adele.”
The main clause (“it’s not hard to see why they chose Adele”) comes at the end. By placing the subordinate clause first, the writer delays the main point, creating suspense. The insertion of multiple phrases builds up information before revealing the conclusion, highlighting why choosing such an established artist mattered.
Inversion with Prepositional Phrases
Inversion can also involve moving prepositional phrases. In “The violinist performed on the main stage during the evening concert,” there are two prepositional phrases: “on the main stage” (where) and “during the evening concert” (when).
If you shift one phrase to the beginning — “On the main stage, the violinist performed during the evening concert” — you draw attention to where the performance took place.
Alternatively, “During the evening concert, the violinist performed on the main stage” emphasises when it took place.
You could even move both: “On the main stage, during the evening concert, the violinist performed.” This last version sounds more poetic and strongly attracts the reader’s attention to both location and time.
Climax appears frequently in skilled writing. When analysing texts, look for this technique and explain how it has been created and what point it highlights.
Placement of words and phrases
Placing particular words or phrases at the beginning of sentences creates two main effects:
- It draws attention to those words and phrases, highlighting their meaning
- It delays the main point until the end of the sentence, creating climax
Strategic Placement for Effect
From Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim": "Red of face, only half awake, the left eye partly closed, the right staring stupid and glassy, he stared at the map."
The phrases "Red of face," "only half awake," "the left eye partly closed," and "the right staring stupid and glassy" all come before the main clause.
By placing them at the beginning, the writer:
- Draws attention to the man's overwhelming tiredness
- Creates climax by putting all these descriptive phrases before the main point ("he stared at the map")
- Emphasises the difficulties the character faces in trying to read the map
Key Points to Remember:
- Word order determines meaning in English sentences. Change the word order and you change the meaning
- Every word belongs to a word class. Identifying these classes helps you understand how sentences work
- Sentences consist of clauses, clauses consist of word groups, and word groups consist of words. Analysing all four levels reveals how meaning is constructed
- Main clauses can stand alone; subordinate clauses depend on main clauses for their meaning
- Inversion and climax are powerful techniques that shift emphasis by delaying the main point until the end of a sentence