3 Making a message 111

Indicating how many participants are involved: transitivity 112

Talking about events which involve only the subject: intransitive verbs 113

Involving someone or something other than the subject: transitive verbs 115

Verbs where the object refers back to the subject: reflexive verbs 118

Verbs with little meaning: delexical verbs 118

Verbs which can be used in both intransitive and transitive clauses 122

Verbs which can take an object or a prepositional phrase 123

Changing your focus by changing the subject: ergative verbs 124

Verbs which involve people doing the same thing to each other: reciprocal verbs 126

Verbs which can have two objects: ditransitive verbs 127

Extending or changing the meaning of a verb: phrasal verbs 128

Verbs which consist of two words: compound verbs 135

Describing and identifying things: complementation 136

Describing things: adjectives as complements of link verbs 137

Saying that one thing is another thing: noun groups as complements of link verbs 138

Commenting: 'to'-infinitive clauses after complements 139

Describing as well as talking about an action: other verbs with complements 140

Describing the object of a verb: object complements 141

Describing something in other ways: adjuncts instead of complements 142

Indicating what role something has or how it is perceived: the preposition 'as' 143

Talking about closely linked actions: using two verbs together in phase 144

Talking about two actions done by the same person: phase verbs together 145

Talking about two actions done by different people: phase verbs separated by an object 147

Contents of Chapter 4 149

4 Varying the message 150

Statements, questions, orders, and suggestions 150

Making statements: the declarative mood 151

Asking questions: the interrogative mood 151

'Yes/no'-questions 152

'Wh'-questions 153

Telling someone to do something: the imperative mood 156

Other uses of moods 156

Negation 158

Forming negative statements 158

Forming negative statements: negative affixes 162

Forming negative statements: broad negatives 163

Emphasizing the negative aspect of a statement 164

Using modals 165

The main uses of modals 165

Special features of modals 166

Referring to time 167

Indicating possibility 168

Indicating ability 168

Indicating likelihood 169

Indicating permission 171

Indicating unacceptability 171

Interacting with other people 172

Giving instructions and making requests 172

Making an offer or an invitation 174

Making suggestions 175

Stating an intention 175

Indicating unwillingness or refusal 176

Expressing a wish 176

Indicating importance 177

Introducing what you are going to say 178

Expressions used instead of modals 179

Semi-modals 181

Contents of Chapter 5 182

5 Expressing time 183

Introduction 183

The present 184

The present in general: the simple present 184

Accent on the present: the present continuous 185

Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 185

The past 186

Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 186

Accent on the past: the past continuous 187

The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 187

Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 187

Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 188

The future 189

Indicating the future using 'will' 189

Other ways of indicating the future 190

Adjuncts with future tenses 190

Other uses of tenses 191

Vivid narrative 191

Firm plans for the future 191

Forward planning from a time in the past 191

Timing by adjuncts 191

Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 193

Time expressions and prepositional phrases 194

Specific times 194

Non-specific times 197

Subordinate time clauses 199

Extended uses of time expressions 199

Frequency and duration 199

Adjuncts of frequency 199

Adjuncts of duration 202

Indicating the whole of a period 204

Indicating the start or end of a period 204

Duration expressions as modifiers 206

Contents of Chapter 6 206

6 Expressing manner and place 206

Introduction to adjuncts 206

Position of adjuncts 207

Giving information about manner: adverbs 209

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 210

Comparative and superlative adverbs 212

Adverbs of manner 213

Adverbs of degree 214

Giving information about place: prepositions 216

Position of prepositional phrases 217

Indicating position 218

Indicating direction 219

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 220

Other ways of giving information about place 221

Destinations and directions 223

Noun groups referring to place: place names 224

Other uses of prepositional phrases 225

Prepositions used with verbs 226

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 226

Extended meanings of prepositions 227

Contents of Chapter 7 227

7 Reporting what people say or think 228

Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 228

Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 230

Reporting in your own words: report structures 231

Reporting statements and thoughts 232

Reporting questions 233

Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 234

Time reference in report structures 236

Making your reference appropriate 238

Using reporting verbs for politeness 239

Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 239

Referring to the speaker and hearer 240

Other ways of indicating what is said 242

Other ways of using reported clauses 243

Contents of Chapter 8 245