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下文选自上海外语教育出版社出版的《如何教授英语语法（Explaining English Grammar）》（作者George Yule）“Preface”（序言）。当我们试图解释语法结构的含义时，我们倾向于使用与基本形式描述中的概念不同的概念。我们谈论句子描述的情况或事件。我们不考虑动词，而是考虑动词所代表的动作或状态的类型。我们还对名词和名词短语所代表的实体和概念的种类感兴趣。我们试图描述实体作为这些事件中执行的操作的参与者的角色。通过这种方式，我们从对句子、名词和动词等基本形式的纯粹结构描述，转向对说话人或作者使用这些形式所做的功能性描述，如指代事件、参与者和动作。在结构描述中，我们主要关注的是列出一种语言中的所有形式，并能够说出特定形式是正确的还是错误的。在功能描述中，我们更关心的是使用一种形式而不是另一种形式所传达的意义区别。我们将在第三章中更具体地讨论与体相关的施事和动作，在第四章中讨论情态动词，在第八章中讨论不定式，在第九章中讨论关系代词。当我们谈论一种情绪时，我们可以关注来源（即，是谁或什么导致了它）或体验者（即，受其影响的人或什么）。当你谈论来源时，你使用-ing形式。如果一本书（或一堂课或一个人）引起了这种情绪，那么它就是令人无聊的、令人有趣的或令人兴奋的。当你谈论体验者时，你使用-ed形式。如果人们体验到这种情绪，那么他们会感到无聊的、感到有趣的或兴奋的。When we try to explain the meaning of grammatical structures, we tend to use different concepts from those found in the description of basic forms. We talk about the situations or events described by sentences. Instead of verbs, we consider the types of actions or states represented by the verbs. We are also interested in the kinds of entities and concepts represented by nouns and noun phrases. We try to describe the roles of the entities as participants in the actions performed within those events.In this way, we move from a purely structural description of basic forms as sentences, nouns, and verbs, to a more functional description of what a speaker or writer is doing with those forms, as in referring to events, participants, and actions. In a structural description, we are basically concerned with listing all the forms in a language and being able to say whether a particular form is correct or incorrect. In a functional description, we are more concerned with what meaning distinction is conveyed by the use of one form rather than another. For example, instead of just talking about the sentence, noun, and verb in [8], we can interpret the utterance as representing a specific type of event.[8] Someone stole my bag.In this event, there is a central action (stole), plus one role involving the 'doer of the action’, or the AGENT (someone), and another role involving the 'thing affected by the action’, or the THEME (my bag). We will talk about agents and actions more specifically in connection with aspect in Chapter 3, modals in Chapter 4, infinitives in Chapter 8, and relative pronouns in Chapter 9. 
We can also note that the most typical events we describe involve a human agent performing a physical action that affects a non-human theme (as in [8]). That is, the distinction between human and non-human also becomes relevant. We can go further and distinguish between animate non-human entities (e.g. animals) and non-animate non-human entities (e.g. objects, ideas). These meaning categories can be useful in explaining a number of grammatical features of English, including indirect objects in Chapter 7 and relative clauses in Chapter 9.Returning to the roles of entities, we can describe actions by non-humans that affect humans, as in [9b], but there is simply an observed general pattern in which events are mostly described with human agents acting as the source or cause of actions, as in [9a].a. The girl threw the ball.This connection between the agent as the source entity and the theme as the affected entity may provide a useful basis for explaining one distinction that seems difficult for many learners of English.'I am more interesting in English grammar’There is a distinction in English between pairs of adjectives such as boring / bored, exciting / excited, and shocking / shocked. These forms are normally used as in examples [10a, b, and c], but many learners produce versions of the type shown in [ 10d and e].a. The lesson was interesting.b. The teacher was amusing.c. The students were interested and amused.d. I didn’t like the lesson. I was boring.e. I am more interesting in English grammar.In examples such as [l0d and e], learners may use the -ing form of the adjective (boring, interesting) when they actually mean the -ed form (bored, interested). But why, they may ask, can’t they say, I am boring today? The answer is, of course, that they certainly can say that (it’s grammatically correct), but is it what they mean? The meaning distinction is not too difficult to explain.
These adjectives are derived from verbs that express emotions or feelings. When we talk about an emotion, we can focus on the SOURCE (i.e. who or what causes it) or on the EXPERIENCER (i.e. who or what is affected by it). When you are talking about the source, you use the -ing form. If a book (or a lesson or a person) causes the emotion, then it is boring, interesting, or exciting. When you are talking about the experiencer, you use the -ed form. If people experience the emotion, then they are bored, interested, or excited. The cause is boring, the experiencer is bored.As we will do throughout this book, we can take these observations and summarize them, as shown in Box 1.1. We can also use this opportunity to include a list (as a teaching resource) of several adjectives that have this meaning distinction.Summary Box 1.1 Adjectives like boring and boredWhen learners make mistakes in trying to use the forms in Box 1.1, they tend to do so by overusing the -ing form. That is, we mostly don't have to devote energy to helping them learn how to say that things are boring. Given an opportunity to teach or focus learners’ attention on these forms, the teacher might be able to give greater emphasis to the forms, providing or inviting examples in contexts where participants are affected (emotionally) by events. In this way, our learners might become more accurate when they decide to tell us how bored (or interested) they are in our classes.
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