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Imprecise Noun Phrases in
Conversation |
Imagine you hear a group of American teenagers talking.
One teenager has received a gift, and his friends are a
little jealous.
Where did you get that new video game?
Yeah! It's expensive - it costs like thirty dollars or
something!
My mom got it for me.
You're lucky – she's always buying you games and stuff
like that!
In today's report, we are going to learn about video
games. Just joking!
In fact, we are going to teach you how Americans use
certain phrases to show they are uncertain. Sometimes
they use these phrases to shorten their sentences, too.
These phrases are sometimes called coordination tags.
What are coordination tags?
In conversation, Americans often use imprecise nouns.
Imprecise nouns are nouns that do not represent an exact
person or object.
Sometimes Americans use these imprecise nouns in
phrases.
Americans use them to show that they have not identified
exactly the noun they are thinking of.
Rather than listing a long series of nouns, speakers
will often use one noun and then use a coordination tag
to show that there are other possible nouns they could
have said.
So, what do these coordination tags look like?
Three common coordination tags
Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are English grammar
experts. They write that there are three common
coordination tags in conversation.
These include or something like that, and things like
that, as well as and stuff like that.
The words like that can be optional. Sometimes speakers
will say them; sometimes they will not.
#1 or something (like that)
The first common coordination tag is the phrase or
something like that. Speakers generally use this phrase
when the earlier noun is not exactly what the speaker
meant, say Conrad and Biber.
Here's an example. Imagine you are listening to strange
electronic music. A friend might tell you this:
"It sounds like a science fiction movie or something
like that."
The speaker uses the coordination tag because he thinks
that the noun, science fiction movie, is not quite the
right noun for the situation.
The speaker is able to make a statement while expressing
some uncertainty about that statement.
#2 and things (like that)
The second common coordination tag is the phrase and
things like that. Americans generally use this when
there are unstated nouns that could be added to the
earlier noun.
Sometimes speakers will use this to move through a
sentence quickly, to avoid listing all of the exact
nouns.
Consider this example. Imagine you are at a college and
a student is telling you about all of the majors at the
school of fine arts.
"We have a master of arts in painting and things like
that."
Why did the speaker say and things like that?
She used it mainly to shorten the length of her sentence
without limiting its meaning too severely.
Perhaps she felt that listing every degree at the school
would bore the person listening to her.
Or perhaps she does not care very much about all of the
majors at the school.
Regardless of the speaker's opinion, the basic point is
this: and things like that is a way to express that
there is a long list of exact nouns.
#3 and stuff (like that)
The third common coordination tag is the phrase and
stuff like that.
As with things like that Americans use this when there
are some unstated nouns.
Sometimes speakers will use and stuff like that to refer
to nouns that are objects.
For example, you might hear an American say, "The
restaurant has hamburgers and hot dogs and stuff like
that."
Here, the speaker is suggesting that the restaurant has
common American foods -- hamburgers and hot dogs, most
notably.
You will notice that the construction and stuff like
that has an almost identical meaning to and things like
that.
They both mean that there are unstated nouns that should
be added to the earlier noun.
In conversation the phrases things like that and stuff
like that are basically the same.
What can you do?
Now let's think back to the conversation from the
beginning of the story.
Where did you get that new video game?
Yeah! It's expensive - it costs like thirty dollars or
something!
My mom got it for me.
You're lucky – she's always buying you games and stuff
like that!
You will notice the two examples of coordination tags
have slightly different meanings. The first example, or
something, shows that the speaker does not know the
exact price of the video game. The speaker is able to
express some amount of uncertainty while making a
statement.
The second example, and stuff like that, shows a
different meaning: the game was one of a series of gifts
that the lucky teenager has received!
The coordination tags we have explored today are not
only useful in everyday conversation. They can be useful
in written communication such as emails or text messages
to friends, too.
We do not advise using these structures in formal
speaking or writing. In general, formal situations call
for more exact language.
While you might say "We have a master of arts in
painting and stuff like that" to a friend who visits
your college, you should not say it in a speech to
officials at your college.
In that setting, it would be better to say "We have a
master of arts in painting and many other degrees" or
"We have a master of arts in painting, drawing, and
filmmaking," for example.
The next time you are watching an American film or
television show, try to listen for when the speakers use
coordination tags like the ones you heard in today's
report.
Try to listen for other coordination tags, and ask
yourself what they might mean.
In future Everyday Grammar programs, we will explore
parts of speech and other stuff like that.
I'm John Russell.
And I'm Alice Brant.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Caty
Weaver was the editor. |
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