Introduction to English Syntax

This book provides an overview of basic syntactic categories, analytical methods and theoretical frameworks that are needed for a comprehensive and systematic description and analysis of the syntax of English as it is spoken and written today. It is therefore useful for students of the English language but also for teachers who are looking for an overview of traditional syntactic analysis. In addition, the book explores various related aspects, such as syntactic variation, the relation between syntax and semantics, and psycholinguistic approaches to syntax. One focus throughout is to introduce the reader to the ‘art’ or science of syntactic argumentation. Almost all of the examples that are found in this book are drawn from language corpora – each syntactic concept, therefore, is exemplified by authentic language data.

The Author: Rolf Kreyer, born in 1973, studied English Language and Literature, Mathematics and Pedagogy in Bonn and Lampeter (Wales). He holds the Chair of English Linguistics at the University of Marburg (Germany). His main research interests are syntax, corpus linguistics, text linguistics and cognitive linguistics.

From Language Data to Syntactic Description – Words and Word Classes – The Verb Phrase – The Noun Phrase – Adjective, Adverb and Prepositional Phrase – Clauses and Sentences – Indeterminacy – Spoken and Written Syntax – Syntactic Variation – Syntax and Meaning – Major Approaches to Syntactic Description – Psycholinguistic Aspects of Syntax. Inhaltsverzeichnis