3 Making a message 120

Indicating how many participants are involved: transitivity 120

Talking about events which involve only the subject: intransitive verbs 121

Involving someone or something other than the subject: transitive verbs 123

Verbs where the object refers back to the subject: reflexive verbs 126

Verbs with little meaning: delexical verbs 127

Verbs which can be used in both intransitive and transitive clauses 130

Verbs which can take an object or a prepositional phrase 132

Changing your focus by changing the subject: ergative verbs 132

Verbs which involve people doing the same thing to each other: reciprocal verbs 134

Verbs which can have two objects: ditransitive verbs 135

Extending or changing the meaning of a verb: phrasal verbs 137

Verbs which consist of two words: compound verbs 143

Describing and identifying things: complementation 144

Describing things: adjectives as complements of link verbs 145

Saying that one thing is another thing: noun groups as complements of link verbs 146

Commenting: 'to'-infinitive clauses after complements 147

Describing as well as talking about an action: other verbs with complements 148

Describing the object of a verb: object complements 149

Describing something in other ways: adjuncts instead of complements 151

Indicating what role something has or how it is perceived: the preposition 'as' 151

Talking about closely linked actions: using two verbs together in phase 152

Talking about two actions done by the same person: phase verbs together 153

Talking about two actions done by different people: phase verbs separated by an object 155

Contents of Chapter 4 157

4 Varying the message 158

Statements, questions, orders, and suggestions 158

Making statements: the declarative mood 159

Asking questions: the interrogative mood 159

'Yes/no'-questions 160

'Wh'-questions 161

Telling someone to do something: the imperative mood 164

Other uses of moods 165

Negation 166

Forming negative statements 166

Forming negative statements: negative affixes 170

Forming negative statements: broad negatives 171

Emphasizing the negative aspect of a statement 172

Using modals 173

The main uses of modals 173

Special features of modals 174

Referring to time 176

Indicating possibility 176

Indicating ability 177

Indicating likelihood 177

Indicating permission 179

Indicating unacceptability 180

Interacting with other people 180

Giving instructions and making requests 181

Making an offer or an invitation 182

Making suggestions 183

Stating an intention 184

Indicating unwillingness or refusal 184

Expressing a wish 185

Indicating importance 185

Introducing what you are going to say 186

Expressions used instead of modals 187

Semi-modals 189

Contents of Chapter 5 191

5 Expressing time 191

Introduction 191

The present 192

The present in general: the simple present 192

Accent on the present: the present continuous 193

Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 194

The past 194

Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 194

Accent on the past: the past continuous 195

The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 195

Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 196

Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 196

The future 197

Indicating the future using 'will' 198

Other ways of indicating the future 198

Adjuncts with future tenses 198

Other uses of tenses 199

Vivid narrative 199

Firm plans for the future 199

Forward planning from a time in the past 199

Timing by adjuncts 200

Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 201

Time expressions and prepositional phrases 203

Specific times 203

Non-specific times 205

Subordinate time clauses 207

Extended uses of time expressions 207

Frequency and duration 208

Adjuncts of frequency 208

Adjuncts of duration 210

Indicating the whole of a period 212

Indicating the start or end of a period 213

Duration expressions as modifiers 214

Contents of Chapter 6 214

6 Expressing manner and place 215

Introduction to adjuncts 215

Position of adjuncts 216

Giving information about manner: adverbs 218

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 218

Comparative and superlative adverbs 220

Adverbs of manner 221

Adverbs of degree 223

Giving information about place: prepositions 225

Position of prepositional phrases 225

Indicating position 226

Indicating direction 228

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 229

Other ways of giving information about place 229

Destinations and directions 231

Noun groups referring to place: place names 232

Other uses of prepositional phrases 233

Prepositions used with verbs 234

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 235

Extended meanings of prepositions 235

Contents of Chapter 7 236

7 Reporting what people say or think 236

Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 236

Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 238

Reporting in your own words: report structures 240

Reporting statements and thoughts 240

Reporting questions 241

Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 243

Time reference in report structures 245

Making your reference appropriate 246

Using reporting verbs for politeness 247

Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 247

Referring to the speaker and hearer 248

Other ways of indicating what is said 250

Other ways of using reported clauses 251

Contents of Chapter 8 253