Overview

An Introduction to English Syntax discusses the central concepts of syntax which are applied in a wide range of university courses, in business, in teaching and in speech therapy. The book deals with traditional concepts which have been greatly refined and extended over the past thirty years: what nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are and how they can be recognized; what a subordinate clause is and how different types of subordinate clauses can be recognized; what subjects and objects are. The book draws out the connections between syntax and meaning; in particular, two chapters focus on topics such as tense, mood and voice which are central to the use of language and are of major importance in second language learning.