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 148

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 162

Statements, questions, orders, and suggestions 162

Making statements: the declarative mood 163

Asking questions: the interrogative mood 164

'Yes/no'-questions 164

'Wh'-questions 165

Telling someone to do something: the imperative mood 168

Other uses of moods 169

Negation 170

Forming negative statements 170

Forming negative statements: negative affixes 175

Forming negative statements: broad negatives 175

Emphasizing the negative aspect of a statement 176

Using modals 177

The main uses of modals 178

Special features of modals 178

Referring to time 180

Indicating possibility 181

Indicating ability 181

Indicating likelihood 181

Indicating permission 184

Indicating unacceptability 184

Interacting with other people 185

Giving instructions and making requests 185

Making an offer or an invitation 186

Making suggestions 187

Stating an intention 188

Indicating unwillingness or refusal 188

Expressing a wish 189

Indicating importance 190

Introducing what you are going to say 191

Expressions used instead of modals 191

Semi-modals 193

Contents of Chapter 5 195

5 Expressing time 195

Introduction 195

The present 196

The present in general: the simple present 196

Accent on the present: the present continuous 197

Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 198

The past 199

Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 199

Accent on the past: the past continuous 199

The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 199

Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 200

Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 200

The future 202

Indicating the future using 'will' 202

Other ways of indicating the future 202

Adjuncts with future tenses 203

Other uses of tenses 203

Vivid narrative 203

Firm plans for the future 203

Forward planning from a time in the past 203

Timing by adjuncts 204

Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 205

Time expressions and prepositional phrases 207

Specific times 207

Non-specific times 209

Subordinate time clauses 211

Extended uses of time expressions 211

Frequency and duration 212

Adjuncts of frequency 212

Adjuncts of duration 215

Indicating the whole of a period 216

Indicating the start or end of a period 217

Duration expressions as modifiers 218

Contents of Chapter 6 218

6 Expressing manner and place 219

Introduction to adjuncts 219

Position of adjuncts 220

Giving information about manner: adverbs 222

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 222

Comparative and superlative adverbs 224

Adverbs of manner 225

Adverbs of degree 227

Giving information about place: prepositions 229

Position of prepositional phrases 229

Indicating position 230

Indicating direction 232

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 233

Other ways of giving information about place 233

Destinations and directions 235

Noun groups referring to place: place names 237

Other uses of prepositional phrases 237

Prepositions used with verbs 238

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 239

Extended meanings of prepositions 239

Contents of Chapter 7 240

7 Reporting what people say or think 240

Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 241

Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 242

Reporting in your own words: report structures 244

Reporting statements and thoughts 244

Reporting questions 245

Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 247

Time reference in report structures 249

Making your reference appropriate 250

Using reporting verbs for politeness 251

Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 251

Referring to the speaker and hearer 252

Other ways of indicating what is said 254

Other ways of using reported clauses 255

Contents of Chapter 8 257