Grammar of Conversation

Read the following extracts from real conversation; comment on the pe­culiarities of their grammar and say what 'external' factors cause their ap­pearance:

1. You are knitting. What are you knitting? That's not a tiny garment.

2. No. No, it's for me. But it's very plain.

3. It's a lovely colour.

4. It is nice?

5. Yeah. I never did — I could never take to knitting except on these dou­ble 0 needles with string, you know. That's my sort of knitting.

6. Yeah.

7. It grows quickly.

8. Yeah. I get very fed up.

9. The process, though. Do you sew? I used to sew a lot (when)...

10. No. I don't. — ... in the days when I was a human being (D. Crystal, D. Davy).

Jock: Keep your oars in the water so they can balance us.

Roz: Uh ...We're going to be hit.

Jock: All right, go forward. Push...

Roz: Forward?

Jock: ...this one. Yeah, push this one.

Roz: Like this?

Jock: No, no, the other way. The other way! Push the... That's it. Just

put both oars forward. Hey! No! Roz: What?

Jock: Damn it, this way! Roz: What way? Jock: With both of them! Oh, that damn boat's going to swamp us, Girl.

Roz: I don't know...

Jock: Not that way! Just stop going that way! That's it!

Roz: This way?

Jock: God! Yes! That boat's going to swa... All right, now just stay straight.

Pull on... Push with this one. Roz: Wliich one? Jock: Push. No, the other way (WE Soskin).

Pete: Oh, this looks yummy.

Marilyn: Oo. That's really good. A little salty. Mm.

Pete: Mm, yeah.

Marilyn: Oh, I guess we ought to put those in the oven, if we're gonna eat em. Hm?

Pete: It says chicken livers on it?

Marilyn: Yeah. It's amazing what happens if you keep it in the fridge long enough. I figure, ... every ... What goes around comes around. You know? Everything'll mutate into something you can eat eventually. But seriously, folks.

Pete: That looks good (Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American Eng­lish).

A: Well. I've been accepted at Pemberton Hall, you see.

C: Mm.

A: Which is obviously going to be much livelier and much more healthy. It's mixed. It's a graduate college. Sort of all ages. Up to sixty.

B: Mm.

A: And all nationalities, you know. People from India and people from America. < Cat miaows outside. > That your wolf?

B: I don't know what it is.

C: One of the numerous cats, presumably. Well, that's very interesting, I must say.

B: And have you seen Clarke since?

A: No. I was going to pop in, you know. I — I felt it would be courte­ous to pop in and tell him about it. Because he was ever so nice be­forehand. But he's so busy, you know.

C: Yes, he's very busy at the moment.

A: Yes. Well, he's always frantically busy (A Corpus of English Conver­sation).