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 199

Introduction 199

The present 200

The present in general: the simple present 201

Accent on the present: the present continuous 202

Emphasizing time in the present: using adjuncts 202

The past 203

Stating a definite time in the past: the simple past 203

Accent on the past: the past continuous 203

The past in relation to the present: the present perfect 203

Events before a particular time in the past: the past perfect 204

Emphasizing time in the past: using adjuncts 204

The future 206

Indicating the future using 'will' 206

Other ways of indicating the future 207

Adjuncts with future tenses 207

Other uses of tenses 207

Vivid narrative 207

Firm plans for the future 207

Forward planning from a time in the past 208

Timing by adjuncts 208

Emphasizing the unexpected: continuing, stopping, or not happening 210

Time expressions and prepositional phrases 211

Specific times 211

Non-specific times 214

Subordinate time clauses 215

Extended uses of time expressions 216

Frequency and duration 216

Adjuncts of frequency 216

Adjuncts of duration 219

Indicating the whole of a period 221

Indicating the start or end of a period 221

Duration expressions as modifiers 222

Contents of Chapter 6 223

6 Expressing manner and place 223

Introduction to adjuncts 223

Position of adjuncts 224

Giving information about manner: adverbs 226

Adverb forms and meanings related to adjectives 226

Comparative and superlative adverbs 228

Adverbs of manner 230

Adverbs of degree 231

Giving information about place: prepositions 233

Position of prepositional phrases 234

Indicating position 234

Indicating direction 236

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers 237

Other ways of giving information about place 237

Destinations and directions 239

Noun groups referring to place: place names 241

Other uses of prepositional phrases 241

Prepositions used with verbs 242

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives 243

Extended meanings of prepositions 243

Contents of Chapter 7 244

7 Reporting what people say or think 244

Indicating that you are reporting: reporting verbs 245

Reporting someone's actual words: quote structures 246

Reporting in your own words: report structures 248

Reporting statements and thoughts 249

Reporting questions 250

Reporting orders, requests, advice, and intentions 251

Time reference in report structures 253

Making your reference appropriate 255

Using reporting verbs for politeness 255

Avoiding mention of the person speaking or thinking 256

Referring to the speaker and hearer 257

Other ways of indicating what is said 258

Other ways of using reported clauses 259

Contents of Chapter 8 262