Introducing English Syntax: A Basic Guide for Students of English

✍ Scribed by Peter Fenn, Götz Schwab

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 275
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Introducing English Syntax provides a basic introduction to syntax for students studying English as a foreign language at university. Examining English phrase and sentence structure from a descriptive point of view, this book develops the reader’s understanding of the characteristic features of English sentence construction and provides the necessary theoretical apparatus for engaging with the language.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
List of symbols and abbreviations
Introduction
0.1 Who this book is for
0.2 What this book does
0.3 What is syntax?
0.4 The role of meaning
0.5 The connection to language teaching and training
Chapter 1: Basic elements of grammatical structure
1.0 Structure
1.1 What are word-classes or ‘parts of speech’?
1.2 The phrase
1.3 What word-classes are there, and what are their characteristic
features?
1.4 Phrase, clause and sentence
Exercises
Chapter 2: The simple sentence and its grammatical functions
2.0 Structure and function
2.1 Sentence functions explained
2.2 Verb complementation
2.3 Functions in the sentence
Exercises
Chapter 3: Structural variations of the simple sentence and
functional consequences
3.0 Basic sentence operations
3.1 Questions (the interrogative)
3.2 Voice: active to passive
3.3 Negation
3.4 Commands (the imperative)
Exercises
Chapter 4: Phrases and their structure (I)
4.0 Phrases
4.1 The noun phrase
4.2 The prepositional phrase
4.3 The adjective phrase
4.4 The adverb phrase
Exercises
Chapter 5: Phrases and their structure (II)
5.1 The verb phrase
5.2 Effects of negative, interrogative and passive on the verb phrase
5.3 Auxiliary pro-forms
5.4 Two- and three-part verbs
Exercises
Chapter 6: The multiple sentence
6.1 Co-ordination
6.2 Further aspects of co-ordination
6.3 Subordination
6.4 Subordination without conjunctions
Exercises
Chapter 7: Non-finite clauses in the complex sentence (I): the infinitive
7.0 Non-finite clauses
7.1 The infinitive clause
7.2 The infinitive clause as verb complementation
7.3 The subject of an infinitive clause
7.4 Some special cases in complementation by infinitive clause
7.5 The infinitive clause as subject
7.6 Semantics: implicative meanings of catenatives with infinitives
7.7 Tense and aspect
Exercises
Chapter 8: Non-finite clauses in the complex sentence (II): the gerund
8.0 The gerund
8.1 The gerund clause
8.2 The semantics of the gerund
8.3 The gerund clause as catenative complementation
8.4 Questions of tense and aspect
8.5 The action nominal
Exercises
Chapter 9: Non-finite clauses in the complex sentence (III): the participles
9.0 The participles
9.1 The present participle and its clause
9.2 The past participle and its clause
Exercises
Chapter 10: The complex phrase (I): the complex noun phrase
10.0 The complex phrase
10.1 Postmodifiers: the relative clause
10.2 Postmodifiers: other structures as reduced relative clauses
10.3 Postmodifiers: apposition
Exercises
Chapter 11: The complex phrase (II): complex prepositional and
adjective phrases
11.0 Complex prepositional and adjective phrases
11.1 The complex prepositional phrase
11.2 The complex adjective phrase
Exercises
Chapter 12: Selected clause constructions
12.0 Return to sentence-level: particular clause constructions
12.1 Extraposition
12.2 False subject constructions
12.3 Existential sentences
12.4 Cleft sentences
12.5 Nominal relative clauses
12.6 Interrogative clauses
Exercises
Bibliography
Index