Grammatical Metaphor: A Quick Guide

In my previous post on figurative language, I described simile, lexical metaphor, analogy, hyperbole, personification, and synecdoche and their use in academic and creative writing. Figurative language is conveying ideas artfully using words in nonliteral (according to their definition) ways. As I was reading up on figurative language, I came across something called grammatical metaphor, which was first named in 1985 by linguist Michael Halliday in his book Functional Grammar.

Grammatical metaphor is not figurative language as defined above. According to Macmillan Dictionary grammatical metaphor is when “concepts that are usually expressed in one grammatical form are expressed in another, mainly by using a noun to express a concept normally expressed by a verb.” This might sound like a bunch of grammatical mumbo-jumbo (good stuff!), but as you read on and better understand grammatical metaphor through some examples, you will see its usefulness in all types of writing, particularly academic writing, and when it should be avoided.

Transforming the parts of speech (e.g., nouns, verbs) in a sentence can be done various ways, but substituting nouns for related verbs or adjectives, or nominalization, is most common. Examples of nominalization include turning “express” into “expression,” “argue” into “argument,” and “debate” (verb) into “debate” (noun).

The change from a verb to a noun within a sentence carries with it other changes as well. For example, “I express my ideas in detail to effectively clarify the point,” becomes, “Detailed expression effectively clarifies the point.” Let’s look at another example of grammatical metaphor. The sentence:

• When not one but two proofreaders thoroughly review and edit documents, the quality of customers’ writing is vastly improved.

can be rewritten as:

• A two-proofreader model vastly improves customers’ writing.

In this example, a somewhat lengthy clause (“When not one but two proofreaders thoroughly review and edit documents”) is turned into a short noun phrase (“a two-proofreader model”) that becomes the subject of a single-clause sentence. The subject of the original first clause (“not one but two proofreaders”) and the original verb phrase (“thoroughly review”) all melt into a new subject (“a two-proofreader model”), which combines with the verb “improves” into a much more concise version of the sentence.

Grammatical metaphor may seem complex, but it is actually something we use rather automatically and frequently in speaking and writing. Becoming aware and intentional about using it, however, can improve our writing in several ways.

• Grammatical metaphor can be use to remove personal pronouns. Some style guides and instructors will ask you to avoid personal pronouns (I, she) in your writing. Because turning a verb into a noun leads to the removal of the subject of a clause, sentences are often rewritten to avoid personal pronouns. For example, by transforming remove to removal, “I removed the pronouns to present the information more neutrally,” can be turned into “Removal of the pronouns allows the information to be presented more neutrally.”
  
• Grammatical metaphor takes the focus off of who and puts it on what happened. So if the action is important but the actor is not or if you’d like to preserve anonymity, grammatical metaphor may be useful. Some research paper guidelines require writers to present findings in this way.
  
• Reducing the number of clauses and conjunctions in a sentence can make it easier to understand and, sometimes, more concise/shorter. The example above about the two-proofreader model demonstrates how grammatical metaphor can shorten a sentence and isolate the most important part of what’s being expressed.

Grammatical metaphor has its potential pitfalls  as well:

• Grammatical metaphor can actually lengthen sentences. For example, if you remove a subject from a sentence, you may actually need more verbal gymnastics to make your point. For example, if you change the verb explained to a noun in this, “The world-renowned geologist explained the results,” (six words) you might get, “The explanation of the results by the world-renowned geologist” (nine words) thus lengthening the sentence and making it more cumbersome.
  
• Grammatical metaphor can lead to lots of passive voice. The example with the geologist contains passive voice (active: the geologist explained the results; passive: the results were explained ), which in some cases is not allowed; APA discourages it, for example, and many instructors and editors frown on it as well. Depending on the context and delivery, passive voice can be confusing, as well.
  
• Too much simplification can remove details that are important. If grammatical metaphor involves removing a verb and an accompanying subject that is important to the message being delivered, sticking to the original wording would be best.

As you write your next paper or report, keep in mind the concept of grammatical metaphor and the way in which it allows you to transform sentences. Used well, grammatical metaphor can definitely add  to your writing at times and provide you with alternative wordings to best express your ideas.

Sarah P.