3 Making a message 124

Indicating how many participants are involved: transitivity 124

Talking about events which involve only the subject: intransitive verbs 125

Involving someone or something other than the subject: transitive verbs 127

Verbs where the object refers back to the subject: reflexive verbs 130

Verbs with little meaning: delexical verbs 131

Verbs which can be used in both intransitive and transitive clauses 134

Verbs which can take an object or a prepositional phrase 136

Changing your focus by changing the subject: ergative verbs 137

Verbs which involve people doing the same thing to each other: reciprocal verbs 138

Verbs which can have two objects: ditransitive verbs 139

Extending or changing the meaning of a verb: phrasal verbs 141

Verbs which consist of two words: compound verbs 147

Describing and identifying things: complementation 149

Describing things: adjectives as complements of link verbs 149

Saying that one thing is another thing: noun groups as complements of link verbs 150

Commenting: 'to'-infinitive clauses after complements 152

Describing as well as talking about an action: other verbs with complements 152

Describing the object of a verb: object complements 153

Describing something in other ways: adjuncts instead of complements 155

Indicating what role something has or how it is perceived: the preposition 'as' 156

Talking about closely linked actions: using two verbs together in phase 156

Talking about two actions done by the same person: phase verbs together 157

Talking about two actions done by different people: phase verbs separated by an object 159

Contents of Chapter 4 162

4 Varying the message 166

Statements, questions, orders, and suggestions 166

Making statements: the declarative mood 167

Asking questions: the interrogative mood 168

'Yes/no'-questions 168

'Wh'-questions 169

Telling someone to do something: the imperative mood 172

Other uses of moods 173

Negation 174

Forming negative statements 174

Forming negative statements: negative affixes 179

Forming negative statements: broad negatives 180

Emphasizing the negative aspect of a statement 181

Using modals 181

The main uses of modals 182

Special features of modals 182

Referring to time 184

Indicating possibility 185

Indicating ability 185

Indicating likelihood 185

Indicating permission 188

Indicating unacceptability 188

Interacting with other people 189

Giving instructions and making requests 189

Making an offer or an invitation 190

Making suggestions 191

Stating an intention 192

Indicating unwillingness or refusal 193

Expressing a wish 193

Indicating importance 194

Introducing what you are going to say 195

Expressions used instead of modals 195

Semi-modals 198

Contents of Chapter 5 199

5 Expressing time 204

Introduction 204

The present 205

The present in general: the simple present 205

Accent on the present: the present continuous 206

Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 206

The past 207

Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 207

Accent on the past: the past continuous 207

The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 208

Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 208

Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 208

The future 210

Indicating the future using 'will' 210

Other ways of indicating the future 211

Adjuncts with future tenses 211

Other uses of tenses 211

Vivid narrative 211

Firm plans for the future 212

Forward planning from a time in the past 212

Timing by adjuncts 212

Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 214

Time expressions and prepositional phrases 215

Specific times 215

Non-specific times 218

Subordinate time clauses 219

Extended uses of time expressions 220

Frequency and duration 220

Adjuncts of frequency 220

Adjuncts of duration 223

Indicating the whole of a period 225

Indicating the start or end of a period 225

Duration expressions as modifiers 227

Contents of Chapter 6 227

6 Expressing manner and place 227

Introduction to adjuncts 227

Position of adjuncts 228

Giving information about manner: adverbs 230

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 230

Comparative and superlative adverbs 233

Adverbs of manner 234

Adverbs of degree 235

Giving information about place: prepositions 237

Position of prepositional phrases 238

Indicating position 239

Indicating direction 240

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 241

Other ways of giving information about place 242

Destinations and directions 243

Noun groups referring to place: place names 245

Other uses of prepositional phrases 246

Prepositions used with verbs 247

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 247

Extended meanings of prepositions 248

Contents of Chapter 7 248

7 Reporting what people say or think 248

Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 249

Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 251

Reporting in your own words: report structures 252

Reporting statements and thoughts 253

Reporting questions 254

Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 255

Time reference in report structures 257

Making your reference appropriate 259

Using reporting verbs for politeness 259

Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 260

Referring to the speaker and hearer 261

Other ways of indicating what is said 262

Other ways of using reported clauses 263

Contents of Chapter 8 266