The Grammar of the English Tense System
The Grammar of the English Tense System

Author:

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2008-08-22

Total Pages: 854

ISBN-13: 3110199882

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The Grammar of the English Tense System forms the first volume of a four-volume set, The Grammar of the English Verb Phrase. The other volumes, to appear over the next few years, will deal with mood and modality, aspect and voice. The book aims to provide a grammar of tense which can be used both as an advanced reference grammar (for example by MA-level or postgraduate students of English or linguistics) and as a scientific study which can act as a basis for and stimulus to further research. It provides not only a wealth of data but also a unique framework for the study of the English tense system, which achieves great predictive and explanatory power on the basis of a limited number of relatively simple rules. The framework provided allows for an analysis of the semantics of individual tenses which reflects the role of tenses not only in locating situations in time relative to speech time but also in relating situations in time relative to one another to form temporally coherent discourse. Attention is paid to the relations between tenses. On the one hand, we can identify sets of tenses linked to particular temporal areas such as the past or the future. These sets of tenses provide for the expression of a system of temporal relations in a stretch of discourse in which all the situations are located within the same temporal area. On the other hand, there are many contexts in which speakers might in theory choose between two or more tenses to locate a situation (e.g., when we choose between the past tense and the present perfect to locate a situation before speech time), and the book examines the difference that a choice of one or the other tense may make within a discourse context. The book moves from a detailed exploration of the meaning and use of individual tenses to a thorough analysis of the way in which tenses can be seen to function together as sets, and finally to a detailed examination of tenses in, and tenses interacting with, temporal adverbials. Original data is used frequently throughout the book to illustrate the theory discussed.

The Verb in Contemporary English
The Verb in Contemporary English

Author: Bas Aarts

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1995-05-04

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780521460392

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This collection of essays by some of the leading scholars in the field sheds new light on the verb in English. The central concern of the volume is to illustrate that verbs can only be adequately and properly understood if studied from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective. In part one, theoretical topics are explored: terminological problems of classifying verbs and verb-related elements, the 'determining' properties of verbs, verb complementation, the semantics and pragmatics of verbs and verbal combinations, and the notions of tense, aspect, voice and modality. In part two, computer corpora are used to study various types of verb complements and collocations, to trace the development in English of certain verb forms and to detail the usage of verbs in different varieties and genres of English.

The Verb Phrase in English
The Verb Phrase in English

Author: Bas Aarts

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-02-14

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 1107016355

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This volume features new and groundbreaking research on recent changes in the English verb phrase.

Syntax Changing of the Verb Phrase from Shakespearian English to the Present
Syntax Changing of the Verb Phrase from Shakespearian English to the Present

Author: Dominik Lorenz

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2008-10

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 3640181115

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Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2, University of Freiburg, course: The Syntax and Semantics of the English Verb Phrase, 38 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Blake states that Shakespeare is like food and that we take both very much for granted. It is only when we come across a passage of particular intensity in a play that we question how the language has been employed to achieve that result, just as it is only for exotic dishes that we enquire about the ingredients (1983:1). It is definitely astonishing how the English Language has been influenced by this incredible playwright and poet. However, it is noticeable that the English Language has changed significantly since the Renaissance. Baugh and Cable (1993:235) argue that "the English grammar in the 16th and early 17th century is marked more by the survival of certain forms, constructions and usages that have since [then] disappeared than by any fundamental developments". Therefore, I want to show that the syntax of the verb phrase has changed since Elizabethan times. To achieve this, I will compare verb phrases in this term paper which occur in some of Shakespeare's plays with Modern English verb phrases. First of all, I will define the term "verb phrase". After that we will focus on transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitivity and intransitivity will be examined - and we will analyze how its usage has changed since Shakespearian times. Thirdly, I will talk about impersonal verbs and afterwards we will study reflexive verbs and the mediopassive. Finally, the passive, inchoative and reflexive meaning of transitive verbs will be discussed. The focus will be on the change or the disappearance of these constructions which occurred between the 16th century and today. I will use some Shakespearian plays which will provide a basis in order to illustrate and to underline my arguments.

A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English
A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English

Author: Randolph Quirk

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P

Published: 1973

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13:

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Varieties of english - Elements of grammar - The verb phrase - Nouns, pronouns, and the basic noun phrase - Adjectives and adverbs - Prepositions and prepositional phrases - The simple sentence - Adjunts, disjuncts, conjuncts - Coordination and apposition - Sentence connection - The complex setence - The verb and its complementation - The complex noun phrase - Focus, theme, and emphasis - Word formation - Stress, rhythm, and intonation - Punctuation.

Multi-word Verbs in Early Modern English
Multi-word Verbs in Early Modern English

Author: Claudia Claridge

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9789042004597

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In a revision of her doctoral thesis (no date or institution cited), which itself grew out of the project to compile the database Lampeter Corpus of Early Modern English Tracts (1640-1740), Claridge looks at the use of such multi-word verbs as get clear, wish for, and make merry as they appear in the database. She considers both syntax and semantics, which she shows merge to some extent, but takes semantics to be the primary and thus the more important level because people know how they are going to say something before they know what they are going to say. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Verb Phrase Syntax: A Parametric Study of English and Spanish
Verb Phrase Syntax: A Parametric Study of English and Spanish

Author: Karen Zagona

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9400927177

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This study is concerned with the structure of verb phrases in English and Spanish, and with syntactic processes involving VP and Vo. A primary focus of attention is auxiliary verbs. It is argued that the structure dominating these verbs is essentially the same in English and Spanish, as is the structure dominating auxiliaries and 'main' verbs in each language. It must be concluded that the occurrence of distinct syntactic processes affecting auxiliaries and other VP constituents in the two languages does not follow from parametrization of phrase structure. It is argued that similarities between the two languages with respect to the composition of so-called "V*" constructions derive from the fact that VP is licensed under both clauses of the Principle of Full Interpretation, i. e. , predication and sub categorization. Distinct syntactic processes in English and Spanish are argued to follow from the fact that there are inflectional features related to each of these licensing conditions (including specification for [ ± PAST) and nominal person/number features) which affect government relations in distinct ways, resulting in parametrization of S-structure representa tions. xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my appreCiatIOn to the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Washington for support for preparation of the final manuscript, and to the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese at the University of Virginia for a leave during which much of this research was accomplished.