An Introduction to English Syntax

by Jim Miller

An Introduction to English Syntax discusses the central concepts of syntax which are applied in a wide range of university courses, in business, in teaching and in speech therapy. The book deals with traditional concepts which have been greatly refined and extended over the past thirty what nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are and how they can be recognized; what a subordinate clause is and how different types of subordinate clauses can be recognized; what subjects and objects are. The book draws out the connections between syntax and meaning; in particular, two chapters focus on topics such as tense, mood and voice which are central to the use of language and are of major importance in second language learning.

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2002

About the author

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Reviews

[Antariksa]

Most of the part, the flow of this introduction can get very confusing. Perhaps that's why this book's chapters are not taught in order in my class. One of the things that gets in the way of understanding the explanations is that there is no glossary chapter. You can rarely just highlight the few important bits in each chapter since you need to read through the entire chapter to get a sense of what it tries to say. Nonetheless, going through those difficulties is worth it in the end. I could get a grasp of syntax in general (the title is a misnomer, I think, since there are lots of explanations taken from languages other than English).

I still have to reread this book, though.

[محمد حسين ضاحي]

Though the book is primary, the first chapters give you the impression you are learning it for the first time! This may be because of the complex vocabulary the author expresses the ideas, it may be the writer's style, or I am more accustomed to American English!
Anyhow this is a good book! Deserves review, and opens up more topics for consideration!
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This book is some kind of a debt I had to pay! It must have been finished long time ago! I finish it today, Jan. 10th, 2015, but I register it for 2014.