Introduction to the Grammar of English : Syntactic Arguments and Socio-historical Backgrounds

This Introduction provides a lively and clearly written textbook. It introduces basic concepts of grammar in a format which should inspire the reader to use linguistic arguments. The book uses examples from poetry, jokes, and puns to illustrate grammatical concepts. The focus is on syntactic analysis and evidence. However, special topic sections contribute sociolinguistic and historical reasons behind prescriptive rules such as the bans on split infinitives, dangling participles, and preposition stranding. The book is structured for a semester-long course. It provides exercises, keys to those exercises, and sample exams. It also includes a comprehensive glossary and suggestions for further reading.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Categories
Part 3 Phrases
Part 4 Functions
Part 5 More functions, or prepositions and particles
Part 6 The structure of the verb group in the VP
Part 7 Finite clauses - embedded and coordinated
Part 8 Non-finite clauses
Part 9 The structure of the NP, AdjP, AdvP, and PP
Part 10 Clauses as parts of NPs and AdjPs
Part 11 Special sentences