A WORD, PLEASE: Using an academic approach to learning

I have two new kittens: Tibor and Maddie. They’re shelter babies, brother and sister.

Maddie’s the looker, complete with a perfect Charlie Chaplain mustache. But Tibor’s the talented one. He fetches. And I don’t mean he kind of does something that could be interpreted as fetching. I mean he chases his little pink soccer ball, grabs it in his mouth and then runs back to me and drops it at my feet for me to throw — over and over again. The amazing thing is that we never taught him. He just started doing it, perfectly, right from the get-go. (In case you don’t believe me, I’m posting proof at grammarsnobs/ kitties.com.)

How did Tibor know how to fetch? And, more importantly, how — oh, how — am I going to segue from this self-serving kitty ditty into a grammar column?

Two words: Noam Chomsky.

Though best known for his positions on politics, Chomsky is actually a linguist and father of one of the most influential theories in his field: the idea that grammar should not be seen as set of external rules but as a description of something our brains know without being taught — an “internalized grammar,” an unconscious knowledge that we pick up during childhood. It’s the reason a 3-year-old might say “I want candy” but already grasps why he wouldn’t say, “Candy want I.”

So what would Chomsky say about Tibor’s amazing innate fetching knowledge? I think it’s obvious: “Leave me alone. I’ve got important things to think about.”

This Chomsky stuff is just one of the fascinating things I’ve learned by reading a real live, bona fide grammar book. Not a style guide. Not a usage guide. But the type of book that’s so academic it’s officially called “a grammar.” Specifically, it’s the “Oxford English Grammar,” and in the several years since I first opened it, this book has proved that there’s a lot to be gained by taking an academic approach to adult learning.

For example, professional editors and copy editors might know that “everyday” is one word as a modifier, as in “everyday values,” but that it’s two words when using “day” as a noun, as in, “We offer these values every day.” That’s the kind of thing you learn from a style guide. But you can study those till the cows come home and never really understand the difference between a phrase and a clause.

And because this is one of the first bits of grammar wisdom offered by “Oxford,” that will be our lesson for today.

In grammar terminology, a phrase is a constituent of a sentence that plays a specific role in that sentence — that of noun, verb, adverb, adjective or preposition. In, “Cats don’t play fetch,” the “cats” is a noun and it’s also a noun phrase.

In, “My cat plays fetch,” “my cat” is a noun phrase. So basically, the phrase is a part of speech with or without any determiners or modifiers that go with it. A verb phrase might be “fetch,” “have fetched,” “could have fetched,” etc.

A clause, on the other hand, contains both a subject and a verb. In, “I play fetch with Tibor because he insists,” one clause is “I play.” Another is, “he insists.”

In, “leave me alone, Tibor,” “leave” is a clause because it’s imperative and therefore implies the subject “you” that goes with the verb “leave.” And “leave” is also the verb phrase in that sentence.

Now you know the difference between a phrase and a clause. If only it were so easy to teach Tibor the difference between play time and work time.

JUNE CASAGRANDE is a freelance writer and author of “Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies.” You can reach her at JuneTCNaol.com.