English Syntax and Argumentation

This textbook on English syntax aims to give students a thorough grounding in the basics of sentence structure, and at the same time strives to acquaint them with the essentials of syntactic argument. The text is written in a user-friendly style with many 'hands-on' in-text and chapter-final exercises. At the end of each chapter there is a section with suggested further reading material, and there is a bibliography and list of recommended reference works at the end of the book.

The publication of the 5th edition of English Syntax and Argumentation is a testimony to Aarts’ extraordinary successful tour de force of syntactic argumentation. Aarts has managed to account for many abstract syntax concepts in a way that is truly enlightening for students and instructors alike. The addition of a new chapter on ‘information packaging’, an answer key, and the lucidity of the analysis put this text in a class of its own., The newly added chapter on Information Packaging constitutes a very welcome addition to the already convincing introduction to English syntax and argumentation. All key terms are now printed in bold italics, which makes them easy to identify. Students and instructors alike appreciate the new answer key.

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).