Understanding Sentence Structure An Introduction to English Syntax 1st Edition by Christina Tortora ISBN 9781118659946 1118659945

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ISBN 10: 1118659945
ISBN 13: 9781118659946
Author: Christina Tortora

A straightforward guide to understanding English grammar

This book is for people who have never thought about syntax, and who don’t know anything about grammar, but who want to learn. Assuming a blank slate on the part of the reader, the book treats English grammar as a product of the speaker’s mind, and builds up student skills by exploring phrases and sentences with more and more complexity, as the chapters proceed.

This practical guide excites and empowers readers by guiding them step by step through each chapter with intermittent exercises. In order to capitalize on the reader’s confidence as a personal authority on English, Understanding Sentence Structure assumes an inclusive definition of English, taking dialect variation and structures common amongst millions of English speakers to be a fact of natural language.

Situates grammar as part of what the student already unconsciously knows

Presupposes no prior instruction, not even in prescriptive grammar

Begins analyzing sentences immediately, with the “big picture” (sentences have structure, structure can be ambiguous) and moves through levels of complexity, tapping into students’ tacit knowledge of sentence structure

Includes exercise boxes for in-chapter practicing of skills, side notes that offer further tips/encouragement on topics being discussed, and new terms defined immediately and helpfully in term boxes

Applies decades of findings in syntactic theory and cognitive science, with an eye towards making English grammar accessible to school teachers and beginning students alike

Understanding Sentence Structure: An Introduction to English Syntax is an ideal book for undergraduates studying modern English grammar and for instructors teaching introductory courses in English grammar, syntax, and sentence structure

Understanding Sentence Structure An Introduction to English Syntax 1st Edition Table of contents:

1 Let’s get Parsing!

1.1 some introductory words

1.2 let’s start understanding what those unconscious rules that create structure are

1.3 some conclusions, and what to look forward to in the coming chapters

list of terms/concepts

reference

2 The Subject NP — Outside and In

2.1 some introductory words about the noun phrase vs. the subject position

2.2 the subject position

2.3 let’s get inside that NP triangle

2.4 possessive NPs

2.5 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

3 The Subject’s Better Half:

3.1 parts of the verb phrase we already know about

3.2 building up the VP

3.3 revisiting structural ambiguity from Chapter 1

3.4 VPs with double objects

3.5 VPs with adjectives

3.6 constituency test

3.7 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

4 Up Close and Personal with the Prepositional Phrase

4.1 aspects of the prepositional phrase we already know about

4.2 it’s not just the P and NP anymore!

4.3 verb–particle constructions

4.4 modifiers within PP

4.5 lexical vs. functional prepositions

4.6 English prepositions are not inflected

4.7 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

5 Infinite Wisdom

5.1 aspects of the verb phrase we already know about

5.2 building up VP

5.3 the complementizer phrase

5.4 embedded adjunct clauses

5.5 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

6 It’s More Complex Than That

6.1 aspects of the noun phrase we already know about

6.2 subordinate clauses within the noun phrase

6.3 the noun complement clause

6.4 the relative clause

6.5 subject relative clauses

6.6 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

7 Making Their Presence Felt

7.1 what is a silent category in sentence structure?

7.2 the reality of the trace of movement: wanna‐contraction

7.3 other kinds of silence: the null pronoun

7.4 the null operator in relative clauses

7.5 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

8 Main Verbs and the Simple Tenses

8.1 overview: the “main verb” and its entourage

8.2 main verbs: the present, the past, and the future

8.3 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

reference

9 The Support System

9.1 auxiliary verbs: the support in the English verb system

9.2 auxiliary have

9.3 auxiliary be

9.4 modal auxiliaries

9.5 verb selection and word order

9.6 conclusions: all 16 possible combinations

list of terms/concepts

10 It Takes a Village

10.1 the syntax of the English verb system

10.2 auxiliaries and the syntactic expression of tense

10.3 main verbs: in a class by themselves

10.4 conclusions

list of terms/concepts

references

11 Unfinished Business

11.1 overview

11.2 tense as the head of S

11.3 matrix interrogatives

11.4 x‐bar and binary branching

11.5 adverbs

11.6 conclusions

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Tags: Christina Tortora, Understanding Sentence Structure, English Syntax