The Structure of Modern Standard French: A Student Grammar

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

Overview

This book is an advanced student's grammar of French that integrates traditional grammar with knowledge and insights from modern linguistics. Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen takes a structural approach to French grammar: she provides clear descriptions of grammatical rules based explicitly on syntactic structure, and places descriptive emphasis on instances where the grammatical structures of French differ from those used in corresponding contexts in English. The first part of the book provides an introduction to French sentence structure, before the following parts examine the grammar of verbs, nominals, particles, and clauses and sentences.

The Structure of Modern Standard French will be a valuable resource for students of French at undergraduate level and beyond. It assumes some prior knowledge of French grammar but is designed to be accessible to those with no background in linguistics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198723738
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/24/2016
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen is Professor of French Language and Linguistics at the University of Manchester. She holds a PhD and Higher Doctorate in French Linguistics from the University of Copenhagen, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 2013. She is the author of The Function of Discourse Particles: A Study with Special Reference to Spoken Standard French (Benjamins, 1996), and Particles at the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic Issues (Elsevier/Brill, 2008) and of numerous journal articles and book chapters in the areas of French grammar, linguistics, and pragmatics, from both a synchronic and diachronic point of view.

Table of Contents

PrefaceList of abbreviationsPart I: Understanding French Sentence Structure1. Simple sentences and their basic constituents2. The internal structure of clause constituents3. Complex sentence structures4. Subordinate clausesPart II: The Grammar of French Verbs5. Finite verb forms: Mood6. Finite verb forms: Tense7. Finite verb forms: Aspect8. Finite verb forms: Auxiliaries9. Non-finite verb forms: The infinitive10. Non-finite verb forms: The past participle11. 11. Non-finite verb forms: The present participle and the gerondif Part III: The Grammar of French Nominals12. Definite and indefinite determiners13. Adjectives within the noun phrase14. Pronouns: Overview15. Personal and reflexive pronouns16. Neutral pronouns17. Pronominal adverbs18. Possessives and demonstratives19. Interrogative and relative pronouns and adverbs20. IndefinitesPart IV: The Grammar of French Particles21. Prepositions22. Adverbs, interjections, and coordinating conjunctionsPart V: The Grammar of French Clauses and Sentences23. Negation and restriction24. Word order25. Voice26. Dislocation, (pseudo-)clefts, and presentative constructionsFurther readingAppendix A: Overview of grammatical functionsAppendix B: Word classes in FrenchAppendix C: Subordinate clause types in FrenchAppendix D: Examples of sentence analyses to word levelAppendix E: Overview of the French tenses

Editorial Reviews

"I would highly recommend this book, particularly to English-speaking students who are looking to acquire a deeper understanding of the most complicated structures found in standard French. Thorough, accessible, and rich in examples and illustrations, this work should establish itself as standard reference both for students and teachers of French as a foreign language." — Damien Gaucher, Journal of French Language Studies

"This reference book is definitely designed for the grammar gurus among us. Those who use this book will develop heightened analytical skills and enhanced attention to detail. As is naturally the case when comparing and contrasting two languages, the user will improve his/her skills in both languages, so much so that what had previously been a baffling structure will be clearer." —French Review

From the Publisher