English Syntax - 2nd Edition [Paperback]

C. L. Baker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262521989 | ISBN-13: 978-0262521987 | Publication Date: March 27, 1995 | Edition: second edition

English Syntax is an authoritative, self-contained introduction to the subject for students who have had no prior coursework in syntactic theory. The detailed revisions throughout this new edition are aimed at increasing its clarity and usefulness. There are changes in almost every chapter, including a large number of new exercises and several new subsections. In addition there are two new appendixes, the first sketching the relation of English syntax to the wider field of generative syntactic theory, the second summarizing the basic syntactic structures discussed in the body of the text.Specific changes include a fuller discussion, at the beginning of chapter 3, of the difference between complements and modifiers; a more systematic introduction to tree diagrams and what they express, at the end of chapter 3; a new subsection in chapter 4 on how to analyze complex structures; a new discussion of the general nature of missing-phrase constructions in chapter 9; a significant revision of the discussion of comparative clauses in chapter 12; a new discussion of the scope of negation in chapter 15; and, in chapter 16, a new discussion of practical strategies for analyzing conjoined structures.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

C. L. Baker was a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; second edition edition (March 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262521989
• ISBN-13: 978-0262521987
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Textbook on Beginning Englsh Syntax, November 3, 2011

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Mssr. Nomdeplume (Monster Island, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: English Syntax - 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I got this because Mark Lester recommended it in his "Grammar and Usage in the Classroom." It was written to be an introductory classroom text on English syntax, which makes it great for someone like me without prior linguistics experience. And like Grammar and Usage, you'll learn lots of those usage tests to determine what a particular phrase is doing in a sentence, both sharpening your analytical skills and helping you to explain it to curious students. The chapter contents proceed with a deductive logic that is almost mathematical, analyzing every little phrase embedded in a larger phrase, and discovering new rules as you go along. This book has definitely stretched my head.