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An Introduction to the Grammar of English: Syntactic arguments and socio-historical background Elly van Gelderen John Benjamins Publishing Company An Introduction to the Grammar of English An Introduction to the Grammar of English Syntactic arguments and socio-historical background Elly van Gelderen Arizona State University John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam / Philadelphia 8 TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gelderen, Elly van. An introduction to the grammar of English : syntactic arguments and socio-historical background / Elly van Gelderen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English language--Grammar. 2. English language--Grammar, Historical. 3. English language--Social aspects. 4. English language--Syntax. I. Title. PE1106.G38 2002 428.2-dc21 2002021580 isbn 90 272 2588 5 (Eur.) / isbn 1 58811 200 4 (US) (Hb; alk. paper) isbn 90 272 2586 9 (Eur.) / isbn 1 58811 157 1 (US) (Pb; alk. paper) © 2002 – John Benjamins B.V. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa Table of contents Preface List of tables Glossary ix xiii xv 1 Introduction 1. Examples of linguistic knowledge 1 2. How do we know so much? 5 3. Examples of social or non-linguistic knowledge 6 4. Conclusion 7 2 Categories 1. Lexical categories 11 2. Grammatical categories 17 3. Pronouns 20 4. What new words and loanwords tell us 21 5. Conclusion 22 11 3 Phrases 1. The phrase 31 2. Phrases in the sentence 40 3. Coordination of phrases 41 4. Finding phrases 43 5. Building trees 44 6. Conclusion 46 31 Review Chapters 1–3 1 57 vi Table of contents 4 Functions in the sentence 1. The different functions and how they are realized 61 2. Verbs and functions 66 3. Trees 67 4. Light verbs (Optional) 69 5. Conclusion 69 61 5 More functions, of prepositions and particles 1. Adverbials 79 2. Prepositional verbs 83 3. Phrasal verbs 84 4. Phrasal prepositional verbs (Optional) 85 5. Objects and adverbials 86 6. Conclusion 88 79 6 The structure of the Verb Group in the VP 1. Auxiliary verbs 97 2. The order of auxiliaries and affix hop 103 3. Finiteness 105 4. Conclusion 107 97 Review Chapters 4–6 113 7 Finite clauses: Embedded and coordinated 1. Sentences and clauses 119 2. The functions of clauses 120 3. The structure: S¢ (pronounced: S-bar) 120 4. Coordinate sentences 124 5. Terminological labyrinth 125 6. Conclusion 125 119 8 Non-finite clauses 1. Non-finite clauses 135 2. The functions of non-finites 136 3. The structure: S¢? 137 4. Coordinating non-finites 139 5. Conclusion 140 135 Table of contents Review of Chapters 7 and 8 147 9 The structure of the NP, AdjP, AdvP, and PP 1. The structure and function of AdjP, AdvP, and PP 149 2. The structure of the NP and functions inside it 151 3. Arguments for distinguishing complements from modifiers 154 4. Conclusion 156 149 10 Clauses as parts of NPs and AdjPs 1. NPs and AdjPs as compared to PPs and AdvPs 167 2. NPs: Modifier (Relative) and complement clauses 168 3. More on RCs 172 4. AdjPs: Complement cla