The Secret Architecture of English Grammar

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate that the English language can be shown to be based upon an amazingly systematic grammar and that beneath the concrete sentences of the language there exists a secret geometry that the users of English are completely unconscious of. One could ask: "why a new English grammar at all?" Because grammars are perishable goods, for the simple reason that they depend on the theoretical research of the moment. Existing descriptive grammars no longer correspond to present views on language and, moreover, it is now clear that they have failed to offer a satisfactory account of the working of languages. This essay sheds new light on the functioning of such fundamental problems of English grammar as the so-called "continuous form" versus the "simple form", the actual role of DO, the two-verb construction V1V2-ing versus V1 Ø V2 and V1 to V2 and also of such diabolical pairs as this/that, nearly/almost and till/until. The Double Keyboard Theory proposes a unitary treatment of all there grammatical microsystems. Although it has been written for THE GENERAL READER and for LEARNERS OF ENGLISH , this introduction to an explanatory grammar of English offers invaluable insights to teachers of English (natives or non-natives). It will also prove useful to students and researchers eager to find their way in the tricky field of linguistics.