Presenting the linguistic basis for courses and projects on translation, contrastive linguistics, stylistics, reading and discourse studies, this book illustrates grammatical usage through authentic texts from a range of sources, both spoken and written. 

Table of Contents

1 Basic concepts

2 The skeleton of the message: Introduction to clause structure

3 The development of the message: Complementation of the verb

4 Conceptualising patterns of experience: Processes,

participants, circumstances

5 Interaction between speaker and hearer: Linking speech acts and grammar

6 Organising the message: Thematic and information structures of the clause

7 Expanding the message: Clause combinations

8 Talking about events: The Verbal Group

9 Viewpoints on events: Tense, aspect and modality

10 Talking about people and things: The Nominal Group

11 Describing persons, things and circumstances: Adjectival and Adverbial groups

12 Spatial, temporal and other relationships: The Prepositional Phrase

About the Author

Angela Downing is Professor Emeritus at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. She was General Editor of Atlantis (Journal of the Spanish Association of English and American Studies) from 2006 to 2012 and has published numerous articles on grammar and discourse.