The Hidden Grammar of English

Simple Phrase Grammar (SPG) is a sequence of separated, meaningful phrases, ignoring all of the rules of English Grammar for connecting phrases. All readers understand it, even though it's never taught. So it's a valid, usable grammar of the English language. (The English rules for spelling and constructing phrases must be followed, but the rules for connecting phrases and clauses can be discarded.)

SPG can be followed in perfectly grammatical sentences, sentences that are ungrammatical yet a normal part of writing (such as a sequence of fragments), and sentences that are obviously ungrammatical. One short example: "Trying to remember the last time I had anything but cereal for breakfast. Maybe never. Remembering the last time Mom fixed me breakfast before school, it was the last day of 6th grade, an important day for her."

Though simple, SPG has different limitations, often making it more powerful than English Grammar. That's why writers have been breaking the rules of English Grammar in the direction of SPG for the last 80 years. You cannot understand the grammar of modern writing without understanding SPG.

English Grammar makes no promise of understandability, and it encourages disconnected phrases. So SPG is a useful tour of some of the basic principles for writing clearly. SPG has no conventions or rules, just psychological principles for clear and powerful writing.

This book thoroughly explains SPG, and along the way provides a unique view of grammar. English at first seems to use comma, period, and newline as a three-tiered system for grouping. However the comma is given roles within phrases, completely undermining the reader's ability to know whether or not a comma separates a phrase. This includes describing what makes a phrase meaningful. It includes the possibilities for different separators.

The third and last grammar term in SPG is "connector", which expresses how a phrase relates to the previous phrase. This category includes conjunctions and adverbs.