A Student's Introduction to English Grammar

✍ Scribed by Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 320
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This groundbreaking undergraduate textbook on modern Standard English grammar is the first to be based on the revolutionary advances of the authors' previous work, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002). The text is intended for students in colleges or universities who have little or no previous background in grammar, and presupposes no linguistics. It contains exercises, and will provide a basis for introductions to grammar and courses on the structure of English, not only in linguistics departments but also in English language and literature departments and schools of education.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 5
Notational conventions......Page 6
Preface......Page 7
1. Standard English......Page 9
2. Descriptive and prescriptive approaches to grammar......Page 12
3. Grammatical terms and definitions......Page 13
Exercises......Page 17
2. A rapid overview......Page 19
1. Two kinds of sentence......Page 20
8.2 Futurity......Page 0
3. Subject and predicate......Page 21
4.1 Functions and categories......Page 22
4.2 Words and lexemes......Page 23
5.1 Nouns......Page 24
5.2 Verbs......Page 25
5.3 Adjectives......Page 26
5.5 Adverbs......Page 27
5.6 Prepositions......Page 28
5.8 Subordinators......Page 29
6.1 Complement and modifier......Page 30
6.3 Determiner......Page 31
7.2 Clause type......Page 32
7.4 Coordination......Page 33
7.5 Information packaging......Page 34
Exercises......Page 35
1.1 The verb paradigm......Page 37
1.2 Verb-forms and shape sharing......Page 41
2. Finite and non-finite clauses......Page 44
3.1 Distinctive properties of auxiliary verbs......Page 45
3.2 Modal auxiliaries......Page 47
3.3 Dually-classified verbs......Page 48
3.4 The general concept of auxiliary verb......Page 49
4. Perfective and imperfective interpretations......Page 50
5.1 The present tense......Page 52
5.2 The preterite......Page 54
6.1 The present perfect......Page 56
6.3 The perfect in clauses without primary tense......Page 58
7. Progressive aspect......Page 59
8. Mood......Page 61
8.1 Uses of modal auxiliaries......Page 62
8.3 The preterite forms of the modals......Page 65
8.4 Irrealis 'were'......Page 66
Exercises......Page 68
1. Introduction......Page 71
2.1 Distinctive syntactic properties of the subject in English......Page 75
2.2 Traditional errors in defining the subject......Page 76
3.1 Distinctive syntactic properties of the object in English......Page 78
3.2 Direct and indirect objects......Page 79
4. Predicative complements......Page 81
4.1 Syntactic differences between predicative complements and objects......Page 82
4.3 Ascriptive and specifying uses of the verb 'be'......Page 84
5. Five canonical clause structures......Page 85
6. Adjuncts......Page 86
6.3 Modifiers and supplements......Page 87
Exercises......Page 88
5. Nouns and noun phrases......Page 90
6. Adjectives and adverbs......Page 120
7. Prepositions and preposition phrases......Page 135
8. Negation and related phenomena......Page 157
9. Clause type: asking......Page 167
10. Subordination and content clauses......Page 182
11. Relative clauses......Page 191
12. Grade and comparison......Page 203
2. The form of non-finite clauses......Page 212
2.1 Subordinators in to-infinitivals: 'to' and 'for'......Page 213
2.2 Subjectless non-finites......Page 214
2.3 Non-finites with an overt subject......Page 217
3. The functions of non-finite clauses......Page 219
3.1 To-infinitivals......Page 220
3.3 Gerund-participials......Page 221
4.1 Introduction......Page 222
4.2 The simple catenative construction......Page 224
4.3 The complex catenative construction......Page 228
5. Verbless clauses......Page 230
Exercises......Page 231
14. Coodination and more......Page 233
15. Information packaging in the clause......Page 246
16. Morphology: words and lexemes......Page 272
Further reading......Page 299
Glossary......Page 303
Index......Page 317