Syntactic Constructions in English

Jong-Bok Kim is Professor of English Linguistics at Kyung Hee University, Seoul. Laura A. Michaelis is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Colorado Boulder.

• Preface; 1. What is a theory of english syntax about?; 2. Lexical and phrasal signs; 3. Syntactic forms, grammatical functions, and semantic roles; 4. Head, complements, modifiers, and argument structures; 5. Combinatorial construction rules and principles; 6. Noun phrases and agreement; 7. Raising and control constructions; 8. Auxiliary and related constructions; 9. Passive constructions; 10. Interrogative and wh-question constructions; 11. Relative clause constructions; 12. Tough, extraposition and cleft constructions; Afterword; Appendix; Bibliography.

'Adopting the traditional perspective that constructions are at the heart of the grammar of English and other languages, Kim and Michaelis provide a detailed introduction to English syntax within the Sign-Based Construction Grammar framework (SBCG). They consider all the main syntactic phenomena of English, and in each area consider both what is assumed and why it is assumed. The book is a valuable addition to textbooks on English syntax. Anyone who learns about syntax from it will end up with considerable knowledge both of English syntax and of the SBCG framework.' Bob Borsley, Emeritus Professor, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex