The table below lists all known typographical errors in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language that are known to me. Most are very small: one-character spelling mistakes, spacing errors, character transpositions, and the like. On page 1036, in a fit of typographical nerdiness, I have even corrected an en dash (–) to a hyphen (-).
Only a handful of the errors involve facts – and one of those, a glaring slip on page 518, involves a fact not about grammar but the geography of the Big Apple.
Cases of the book giving or implying a syntactic analysis that might be alleged to be wrong are very rare indeed, but here are four examples:
Even in these cases, however, the correction scarcely involves more than just a single ill-chosen word.
A second table is given following the main one which shows a few entries that we now think should have been in the lexical index but were missed in the first printing (they were added in the second), plus a few further entries that we now think should have been added.
Some of the errors have been spotted by the authors, and others by alert readers around the world – and we mean literally around the world: we have heard from readers in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, the UK, and the USA.
To be specific about the people involved, we want to thank Adam Albright, Randy Alexander, Michael J. Corrigan, Peter Culicover, Jim Donaldson, Stephen Drage, Vanja Dunjko, Dennis During, Dan Flickinger, Simon Goodwin, Lloyd Humberstone, Benson Ibe, Dae-Ho Kim, Hideki Kishimoto, Audrey Laroche, Chungmin Lee, Geoffrey Leech†, Stan Legacy, Maurice McCallum, Joybrato Mukherjee, Will Oxford, Paul Postal, Brett Reynolds, Adrian Stenton, Roland Sussex, and Jonathan Swinton for their eagle eyes and their kindness in taking the trouble to write.
We list in total just over 100 errors here. The book has 1,860 pages, so that's about one error every 19 pages.
We'd be grateful for messages about any further errors that might be discovered. They should be emailed to pullum@gmail.com.
We write "\\" to signify a line break. A prefixed + means we definitely know this was corrected in the second reprinting or a subsequent one. Each line has four main fields: page number, location in the page, erroneous text, and corrected text.
Page | Where | What it says | What it should say | ||
+ | viii | line 7 | Üniversität | Universität | |
+ | xii | line 14 | (p. 48) | (p. 49) | |
+ | xiii | line 11 up | [24] what you insisted that we need 1098 | [24] what you insisted that we need 1089 | |
+ | 11 | fn. 3 | the London/Oslo/Bergen (LOB) corpus | the Lancaster/Oslo/Bergen (LOB) corpus | |
+ | 24 | 5 lines up | the photographs | the photographs | |
+ | 47 | 3 lines below [3] | the passive [iiib] | the passive [iiia] | |
50 | tree [8b] | PredComp | PredComp: | ||
62 | line 6 | a request to close the door. | a request to close the window. | ||
+ | 79 | line 8 | in Ch. 16, §10.3 | in Ch. 16, §10.1.3 | |
+ | 140 | 6 lines below [3] | T12 | Tr2 | |
150 | line 11 | the accepting her offer | the accepting of her offer | ||
167 | 5th line below [13] | if Kim's situation had been conceptualised | if Jill's situation had been conceptualised | ||
+ | 176 | 2 lines above [5] | it important | it is important | |
+ | 217 | 11 lines up (text) | think in a passive clause | consider in a passive clause | |
+ | 218 | 4 lines below [6] | think | consider | |
+ | 219 | line 2 | die | leave | |
235 | 3rd line after header (c) | [iv] with precede/follow | [v] with precede/follow | ||
+ | 241 | example [11], line (f) |
/ X / X | N/A N/A N/A X | |
+ | 247 | 4 lines below [4] | her | Jo | |
252 | 4th line of last full paragraph | the be of [3i] | the be of [3a] | ||
+ | 261 | example [26] | almost raw | almost raw | |
269 | end of shaded box | (cf. Ch. 12, §5.4) | (cf. Ch. 12, §6.4) | ||
299 | 4th line after [10] | the Dean met (with) Pat | the Dean met (with) Kim | ||
332 | tree in example [11] | Comp: | Mod: | ||
+ | 349 | example display at line 12 | [51] | [53] | |
+ | 412 | example [7b] | Nom: | Nom | |
440 | lines 6-7 | The one exception is the noun denizen... | There are no known exceptions. | ||
+ | 446 | example [13ii] | fifty miles an hours | fifty miles an hour | |
+ | 446 | line 10 | indefinities | indefinites | |
474 | 4th line up | Mary's letter in [iii] | Mary's letter in [xiii] | ||
+ | 479 | below example [63] | the suffix's attaches | the suffix 's attaches | |
+ | 518 | line 9 | the Bronx naming a district in Manhattan | the Bronx naming a borough of New York City | |
529 | line below example [3] | preceding the def- | preceding the indef- | ||
+ | 529 | 6 lines below example [3] | An adjectives that | All adjectives that | |
530 | 3 lines below example [7] | predicative PPs with idiomatic meanings, such as in a bad | predicative PPs with idiomatic meanings, such as in a bad | ||
+ | 530 | 12 lines up | Predicative adjuncts in front position . . . | █ Predicative adjuncts in front position . . . | |
540 | last line | Ch. 16, §10.3 | Ch. 16, §10.1.3 | ||
+ | 547 | example [33ii] | It surely isn't [That important] | It surely isn't [that important] | |
+ | 560 | in [20], second line | drunk | drunk BrE | |
+ | 560 | line 3 up (not counting footnote) | a Nobel laureate | the poet laureate | |
+ | 560 | line below [20] | Those in [20] have to do with medical health or condition. | Those in [i] have to do with medical health or condition. | |
+ | 561 | line 9 | We take these to involved | We take these to involve | |
588 | line before [45] | the relevant concept is not "except", but "more than" | the relevant concept is not "except", but "no more than" | ||
+ | 599 | line 8 | Adj Ps | AdjPs | |
620 | tree (c) in example [9] | NP (at the right child of the root PP node, under Comp:) | PP | ||
+ | 626 | bottom line of text | In [i] the | In [a] the | |
+ | 627 | line 2 | in [ii] | in [b] | |
+ | 629 | example [7] ii a. | you can certainly rely __ oni | you can certainly rely on __i | |
640 | line 11 | require a complement – a for phrase | require a complement – a from phrase | ||
+ | 692 | line 1 | [iii] even has a path | [ii] even has a path | |
704 | 3rd line after [6] | And in [iib] | And in [iiib] | ||
733 | 2nd line in [35v] | see Ch. 15, §§10–11 | see Ch. 15, §§2.10–2.11 | ||
+ | 912 | line 10 up, header (a) | Determinative whose | Determiner whose | |
+ | 912 | line 5 up | With determinative whose, | With determiner whose, | |
1017 | example [18ib] | is be congratulated | is to be congratulated | ||
+ | 1036 | 2 lines below [8] | gerund–participials | gerund-participials | |
+ | 1037 | line 20 | The meaning in both [i] and [ii] | The meaning in both [ii] and [iii] | |
1042 | 5 lines after [17] | into an NP | in an NP | ||
1043 | example [20] ii | I felt the need \\ need of a better knowledge of Hebrew and archaeology.] | I felt the need \\ of a better knowledge of Hebrew and archaeology.] | ||
1045 | example [32] iii | [where they went last year ___i]. | [where they went ___i last year]. | ||
1050 | example [51] iii | the knoll behind the missioni, | the knoll behind the missioni, | ||
1055 | line 18 | in [ib] | in [iib] | ||
1082 | 1st line after [10] | While [i] is fully acceptable, [ii] is ungrammatical. | While [a] is fully acceptable, [b] is ungrammatical. | ||
1105 | line 5 | more satisfactorily than we did last year | better than we did last year | ||
+ | 1173 | example [2] iii | subordinate | embedded in a larger clause | |
1218 | line 2 of text | whereas in [ii] | whereas in [b] | ||
1223 | 18 lines up | very unlikely in [iii] | very unlikely in [iic] | ||
+ | 1229 | example [14] | help (B) NS | help (B) NS | |
1232 | example [28] | ackowledge | acknowledge | ||
1247 | 2nd line of blue-shaded section | but only of convince | but only of accept | ||
1253 | 3 lines up | likely, probably, certain, | likely, probable, certain, | ||
1263 | 12 lines up | Wantstraightforwardly | Want straightforwardly | ||
+ | 1276 | example [5] i | [on Monday, | on [Monday, | |
+ | 1276 | example [5] ii | [on Monday | on [Monday | |
+ | 1280 | example [14] i b. | [on Tuesday or Wednesday]. | on [Tuesday or Wednesday]. | |
+ | 1284 | example [28] i | [the premiers of Queensland and Tasmania] | [the premiers of Queensland and Tasmania] | |
1305 | 2nd line below [38] | [iia/iib] | [ib/iib] | ||
1321 | note 41 | similar to that of yet | similar to that of yet | ||
1325 | 2nd line below (d) | [85] of §2.2 | [85] of §2.11 | ||
1349 | line 4 | ‘__ unlocked the | __ unlocked the | ||
1349 | 7th line below [39] | The nonce-constituent analysis | Nonce-constituent coordination | ||
1359 | example [28i] | hoarded | herded | ||
1365 | sentence just above [3] | Secondly, the canonical and non-canonical versions do not invariably have the same truth conditions: | Secondly, non-canonical clauses do not invariably have the same truth conditions as their syntactically more basic counterparts: | ||
1389 | 3 lines above section header 5.3 | (cf. the three days later of [11vi]), | (cf. the three days later of [1vi]), | ||
1458 | 4th line below [18] | in [i] refers | in [18] refers | ||
1556 | example [21i] | to Government House ballroom | to the Government House ballroom | ||
1563 | example [15ii] | in her fifities | in her fifties | ||
+ | 1587 | line 4 up | length, moth, strength | length, strength | |
+ | 1587 | line 5 up | lath, oath, sheath, | lath, moth, oath, sheath, | |
+ | 1605 | example [44] | thrive | thrive R | |
+ | 1623 | line 23 | consraints | constraints | |
1652 | 7th line after [15] | comparable to that seen in [14] above | comparable to that seen in [11] above | ||
+ | 1725 | line 23 | (' or ' ') | (' or ") | |
1736 | example [4] ii b | he did not want have to | he did not want to have to | ||
1741 | foonote, bottom line | to whit | to wit | ||
+ | 1755 | example [11] ii | 'She | She | |
1771 | line 8 | Sumney | Summey | ||
1777 | Sumney entry | Sumney | Summey | ||
1778 | last entry | Anna | Anne | ||
+ | 1796 | column 3 | let 208, 271n, | let 208, 270n, | |
+ | 1809 | line 3, col. 2 | tortelleni 1594 | tortellini 1594 | |
+ | 1817 | line 3 | co-indexing 49, 68, 1037, 1039, 1085, 1088 | co-indexing 49, 68, 1037, 1039, 1085, 1088, 1454 | |
+ | 1823 | ‘fused-head’ entry | 384, | 384-5, | |
1828 | line 9 of column 2 | metalinguistic negation 724, 1101n | metalinguistic negation 724, 790, 1101n | ||
+ | 1837 | line 21, col. 1 | 1582n | 1581n |
Additions to lexical index (these references were missing in 2002 but have been added in recent reprintings)
+ | Page | Where | What it says | What it should have said |
+ | 1784 | line 6 of column 3 | buy 230, 232, 235, 248, 260, 285, | buy 220, 230, 232, 235, 248, 260, 285, |
+ | 1786 | nearly halfway down column 2 | contain 167-8, 1432 | contain 167-8, 220, 1432 |
+ | 1788 | line 10, col. 2 | dive 296 | dive 296, 1604 |
+ | 1795 | line 11 of column 2 | inquire 975-6, 978, 1027, 1529 | inquire 220, 975-6, 978, 1027, 1529 |
+ | 1806 | col. 3, below line 14 | spit 1604 | |
+ | 1811 | one third down column 3 | wonder 170, 600, 871, 882, 958 | wonder 170, 220, 600, 871, 882, 958 |
Finally, this is as good a place as any to state a general warning that a few lists of lexical items that are claimed not to have some property are longer than they should have been — they get shorter each time we look at a larger corpus. One example is the list of strictly transitive verbs, those that take a truly obligatory object (see section (b), Selective obligatoriness, on page 246). We include the verb use as strictly transitive; but in connection with illegal drugs an objectless use has developed (Amy is using again). Verbs taking strictly obligatory objects are extremely rare, especially if one considers secondary forms (occurrences in non-finite clauses like infinitivals or participials are more likely to be able to dispense with the object NP).
Another example is the list of monosyllabic adjectives that do not inflect for comparison (see page 1583, [9]). Inflected forms of the adjectives we list there (cross, fake, ill, like, loath, prime, real, right, and worth) are certainly very rare; but crosser definitely occurs (and was more frequent in British writing about a century ago); faker and iller and realer can occasionally be found; and so on. Although *worther and *worthest do not appear to exist at all, in general, monosyllabic adjectives that absolutely never inflect for grade are extraordinarily scarce; we only list ten, and even that is too many. We should probably have listed just worth, loath, and perhaps prime.