Adjunct Adverbials in English

Discusses the use of adverbials in English, i.e. clause elements that refer to circumstances of time, space, reason and manner.

Hilde Hasselgård (Author)

9780521515566, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 February 2010

338 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.2 cm, 0.68 kg

'… everything has been solidly compiled, exemplified, quantified and argued. … Undoubtedly, Hasselgård's 2010 monograph is a worthy addition to the classics on English adverbials written in the Greenbaumian tradition and will for the foreseeable future remain the standard reference on the topic.' Bernd Kortmann, Journal of English Language and Linguistics

In this original study, Hilde Hasselgård discusses the use of adverbials in English, through examining examples found in everyday texts. Adverbials - clause elements that typically refer to circumstances of time, space, reason and manner - cover a range of meanings and can be placed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence. The description of the frequency of meaning types and discussion of the reasons for selecting positions show that the use of adverbials differs across text types. Adverbial usage is often linked to the general build-up of a text and part of its content and purpose. In using real texts, Hasselgård identifies a challenge for the classification of adjuncts, and also highlights that some adjuncts have uses that extend into the textual and interpersonal domains, obscuring the traditional divisions between adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts.

Part I. A Framework for Analysing Adverbials: 1. Studying adjunct adverbials
2. The classification of adverbials
3. Some syntactic features of adverbial placement
Part II. Adverbial Positions: Theme, Cohesion and Information Dynamics: 4. Initial position
5. Medial position
6. End position
7. The cleft focus position
8. Combinations of positions
Part III. Semantic Types of Adverbials: Subtypes, Frequencies and Usage: 9. Space and time adjuncts
10. Adjuncts of manner and contingency
11. Other adjunct types: participant, respect, focus, degree, situation, comparison and viewpoint
Part IV. Adjunct Adverbials in English: 12. Adverbial usage across text types
13. The grammar of English adjuncts: summary of findings and concluding remarks.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG]