British or American English?: A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns

by John Algeo

• ISBN13: 9780521371377
• ISBN10: 0521371376
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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 isn't? 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 - between 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 in use.

Author Biography

John Algeo is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English, University of Georgia, Athens

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xii
Introduction	1	(8)
British and American as national varieties	1	(1)
Differences between British and American	2	(1)
The basis of this study	2	(2)
Sources of comparative statistics and citations	4	(2)
Conventions and organization of this study	6	(3)
Part I Parts of Speech	9	(206)
1 Verbs	11	(32)
1.1 Derivation	11	(1)
1.2 Form	12	(12)
1.3 Verb phrases	24	(7)
1.4 Functions	31	(12)
2 Determiners	43	(26)
2.1 Definite article	43	(6)
2.2 Indefinite article	49	(3)
2.3 Possessive construction	52	(1)
2.4 No determiner versus some determiner	53	(11)
2.5 Predeterminers and postdeterminers	64	(5)
3 Nouns	69	(38)
3.1 Derivation	69	(7)
3.2 Form	76	(10)
3.3 Function	86	(16)
3.4 Names and titles	102	(2)
3.5 Genitive constructions	104	(3)
4 Pronouns	107	(12)
4.1 Personal	107	(3)
4.2 Impersonal	110	(1)
4.3 Demonstrative	111	(1)
4.4 Relative	112	(2)
4.5 Interrogative	114	(1)
4.6 Indefinite	114	(1)
4.7 Expletive	115	(1)
4.8 Case	116	(3)
5 Adjectives	119	(14)
5.1 Derivation	119	(7)
5.2 Frequency and collocation	126	(2)
5.3 Comparison	128	(3)
5.4 Adjective order	131	(2)
6 Adverbs	133	(20)
6.1 General	133	(13)
6.2 Disjuncts	146	(2)
6.3 Comparison	148	(1)
6.4 Adverb order	148	(3)
6.5 Adverbial particles	151	(2)
7 Qualifiers	153	(6)
7.1 Modifying adjectives or adverbs	153	(4)
7.2 Modifying prepositional phrases	157	(1)
7.3 Modifying comparative structures	158	(1)
8 Prepositions	159	(40)
8.1 Choice of preposition	159	(35)
8.2 Omission of any preposition	194	(3)
8.3 Omission of the prepositional object	197	(1)
8.4 Prepositional phrase versus noun adjunct	197	(1)
8.5 Order of numbers with by	197	(2)
9 Conjunctions	199	(8)
9.1 Coordinating conjunctions	199	(2)
9.2 Subordinating conjunctions	201	(6)
10 Interjections	207	(8)
Part II Syntactic Constructions	215	(98)
11 Complementation	217	(46)
11.1 Complementation of verbs	217	(34)
11.2 Complementation of nouns	251	(6)
11.3 Complementation of adjectives	257	(4)
11.4 Complementation of adverbs	261	(2)
12 Mandative constructions	263	(6)
12.1 Mandative present indicative	264	(2)
12.2 Mandative past indicative	266	(3)
13 Expanded predicates	269	(10)
13.1 Five "light" verbs in British and American	270	(6)
13.2 Modification and complementation of the expanded predicate noun	276	(1)
13.3 Other expanded-predicate-like constructions	277	(2)
14 Concord	279	(8)
14.1 Verb and pronoun concord with collective nouns	279	(6)
14.2 Verb concord in other problematical cases	285	(2)
15 Propredicates	287	(6)
15.1 Propredicate do	287	(5)
15.2 Complements of propredicates	292	(1)
16 Tag questions	293	(12)
16.1 Canonical form	293	(1)
16.2 Anomalous forms	293	(3)
16.3 Frequency of use	296	(1)
16.4 Rhetorical uses	297	(5)
16.5 Other forms and uses	302	(3)
17 Miscellaneous	305	(8)
17.1 Focus	305	(3)
17.2 Phatic language	308	(2)
17.3 Numbers	310	(1)
17.4 Dates	311	(2)
Bibliography of British book citation sources	313	(6)
Bibliography of studies, dictionaries, and corpora	319	(6)
Index of words	325