English Syntax and Argumentation

by Bas Aarts

Overview

Written by a leading authority on the subject, the fifth edition of this bestselling book provides students with a thorough grounding in the essentials of sentence structure and the fundamentals of syntactic argumentation.

Divided into four parts, it begins by examining the basic concepts that underpin the study of syntax, before moving on to more complex issues. The first part introduces the foundations of syntax, namely clauses and sentences; the second looks at the internal structure of phrases and the bridge between syntax and semantics; the third deals with syntactic argumentation; and the fourth focuses on argumentation and its application. Chapters feature clear explanations of technical terms, easy-to-follow examples and interactive exercises to illustrate key ideas.

This theoretically-neutral text will be core reading for all students of English, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics who are encountering the study of syntax for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137605795
Publisher:	Macmillan Education UK
Publication date:	10/23/2017
Series:	Macmillan Modern Linguistics
Edition description:	5th ed. 2018
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bas Aarts is Professor of English Linguistics and Director of the Survey of English Usage at University College London, UK. His research interest is in the field of syntax, more specifically verbal syntax. His recent publications include: Syntactic gradience (2007, OUP), Oxford modern English grammar (2011, OUP), The English verb phrase (2013, edited with J. Close, G. Leech and S. Wallis, CUP), Oxford dictionary of English Grammar (2nd edition 2014; edited with S. Chalker and E. Weiner, OUP), as well as articles in books and journals. He is a founding editor of the journal English Language and Linguistics (CUP).

Table of Contents

PART I: FUNCTION AND FORM
1. Introduction
2. Function
3. From: words, word classes and phrases
4. More on form: clauses and sentences
5. The function-form interface
PART II: ELABORATION
6. Predicates, arguments and thematic roles
7. Cross-categorical generalisations: X-bar syntax
8. More on clauses
9. Movement
10. Tense, aspect and mood
PART III: ARGUMENTATION
11. Syntactic argumentation
12. Constituency: movement and substitution
13. Constituency: some additional tests
14. Predicates and arguments revisited
PART IV: APPLICATION
15. Information structuring
16. Grammatical indeterminacy
17. Case studies

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Aarts' textbook provides an engaging initiation into the central discoveries of modern syntactic theory and the art of syntactic argumentation. This revised fourth edition containus numerous exercises which involve the reader in learning syntax by doing it, namely, formulating a scientific hypothesis and testing it against further data. It also features an additional chapter on tense, aspect and mood and a very useful list of further readings. Definitely a must book for undergraduate students who would love to start syntax!" - Yosuke Sato, National University of Singapore

Editorial Reviews

'The emphasis on argumentation in this textbook is particularly useful. The writing is clear and appropriate for undergraduate students. The exercises are meaty and fun to do.' - Thomas B. Klein, Georgia Southern University, USA
'A book that really understands the key issues for students, and helps them to appreciate what syntax is about.' - Laura Rupp, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
 
'Highly accessible to any reader interested in the formal study of sentence and phrase structure in modern linguistics...an important addition to the growing series of introductory syntax textbooks due to its general accessibility, wealth of English data and extensive exercises, and much needed in-depth discussion of syntactic argumentation. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has no previous experience in syntax but wants to learn about it.' - Yosuke Sato, Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, Canada 

Reviews of the first edition:
'This introductory textbook offers a solid exposition of the foundational topics required for the investigation and study of English sentence structure ... it is clearly written in an accessible style.' - Language
 
'An ideal introduction to syntax.' - The Year's Work in English Studies 
  
 

From the Publisher