Henry James's long sentences

Are they unreadable?

Jul 6 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

4

3

2

May 2026

English Grammar Day 2026

Monday 29 June 2026 at the British Library in London

May 18 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

7

3

1

April 2026

Tricky relative clauses (2)

restrictive/non-restrictive or integrated/supplemental

Apr 16 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

10

11

1

March 2026

"I would have had to have flown to London"

Too many haves?

Mar 6

9

7

February 2026

The past perfect in counterfactual if-clauses

On the way out?

Feb 27

10

16

December 2025

Mules of meaning: complex noun phrases

A noun phrase is defined as a syntactic unit with a noun as its Head, which may have dependents.

Dec 15, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

6

7

5

New publication: 'Recent grammatical change in English'

Bowie and Aarts

Dec 11, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

2

1

2

November 2025

Whither the National Curriculum for English?

Response to the Becky Francis Review of the National Curriculum

Nov 22, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

6

3

Tricky relative clauses

The following attested example poses some interesting syntactic questions:

Nov 14, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

13

25

4

June 2025

On so-called adjective clauses

a label to avoid

Jun 27, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

11

8

1

April 2025

Can clauses function as Subject?

In earlier posts we saw that adjective phrases cannot function as Subject, but prepositional phrases can, though in a restricted way.

Apr 30, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

4

11

2

English Grammar Day 2025

Monday 7 July 2025 at the British Library in London

Apr 9, 2025 • Bas Aarts - English Grammar

7

1