British or American English? : a handbook of word and grammar patterns / John Algeo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Algeo, John.

Series:

Studies in English language

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Grammar, Comparative.

English language.

English language--Great Britain.

Great Britain.

English language--United States.

United States.

Americanisms.

Physical Description:

xii, 348 p ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Summary:

British or American English? Speakers of British and American English display some striking differences in their use of grammar. In this detailed survey, John Algeo considers questions such as: Who lives on a street, and who lives in a street? Who takes a bath, and who has a bath? Who says Neither do I, and who says Nor do I? After 'thank you', who says Not at all and who says You're welcome? Whose team are on the ball, and whose team is? Containing extensive quotations from real-life English on both sides of the Atlantic, collected over the past twenty years, this is a clear and highly organized guide to the differences - and the similarities - in the grammar of British and American speakers. Written for those with no prior knowledge of linguistics, it shows how these grammatical differences are linked mainly to particular words, and provides an accessible account of contemporary English as it is actually used.

Contents:

British and American as national varieties 1

Differences between British and American 2

The basis of this study 2

Sources of comparative statistics and citations 4

Conventions and organization of this study 6

Part I Parts of Speech 9

1 Verbs 11

1.1 Derivation 11

1.2 Form 12

1.3 Verb phrases 24

1.4 Functions 31

2 Determiners 43

2.1 Definite article 43

2.2 Indefinite article 49

2.3 Possessive construction 52

2.4 No determiner versus some determiner 53

2.5 Predeterminers and postdeterminers 64

3 Nouns 69

3.1 Derivation 69

3.2 Form 76

3.3 Function 86

3.4 Names and titles 102

3.5 Genitive constructions 104

4 Pronouns 107

4.1 Personal 107

4.2 Impersonal 110

4.3 Demonstrative 111

4.4 Relative 112

4.5 Interrogative 114

4.6 Indefinite 114

4.7 Expletive 115

4.8 Case 116

5 Adjectives 119

5.1 Derivation 119

5.2 Frequency and collocation 126

5.3 Comparison 128

5.4 Adjective order 131

6 Adverbs 133

6.2 Disjuncts 146

6.3 Comparison 148

6.4 Adverb order 148

6.5 Adverbial particles 151

7 Qualifiers 153

7.1 Modifying adjectives or adverbs 153

7.2 Modifying prepositional phrases 157

7.3 Modifying comparative structures 158

8 Prepositions 159

8.1 Choice of preposition 159

8.2 Omission of any preposition 194

8.3 Omission of the prepositional object 197

8.4 Prepositional phrase versus noun adjunct 197

8.5 Order of numbers with by 197

9 Conjunctions 199

9.1 Coordinating conjunctions 199

9.2 Subordinating conjunctions 201

10 Interjections 207

Part II Syntactic Constructions 215

11 Complementation 217

11.1 Complementation of verbs 217

11.2 Complementation of nouns 251

11.3 Complementation of adjectives 257

11.4 Complementation of adverbs 261

12 Mandative constructions 263

12.1 Mandative present indicative 264

12.2 Mandative past indicative 266

13 Expanded predicates 269

13.1 Five "light" verbs in British and American 270

13.2 Modification and complementation of the expanded predicate noun 276

13.3 Other expanded-predicate-like constructions 277

14 Concord 279

14.1 Verb and pronoun concord with collective nouns 279

14.2 Verb concord in other problematical cases 285

15 Propredicates 287

15.1 Propredicate do 287

15.2 Complements of propredicates 292

16 Tag questions 293

16.1 Canonical form 293

16.2 Anomalous forms 293

16.3 Frequency of use 296

16.4 Rhetorical uses 297

16.5 Other forms and uses 302

17.1 Focus 305

17.2 Phatic language 308

17.3 Numbers 310

17.4 Dates 311

Bibliography of British book citation sources 313

Bibliography of studies, dictionaries, and corpora 319.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-324) and index.

ISBN:

0521379938

0521371376

OCLC:

71201863

Publisher Number:

9780521379939

9780521371377