Adjunct Adverbials in English

Description

In this original study, Hilde Hasselgard discusses the use of adverbials in English, through examining examples found in everyday texts. Adverbials - clause elements that typically refer to circumstances of time, space, reason and manner - cover a range of meanings and can be placed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence. The description of the frequency of meaning types and discussion of the reasons for selecting positions show that the use of adverbials differs across text types. Adverbial usage is often linked to the general build-up of a text and part of its content and purpose. In using real texts, Hasselgard identifies a challenge for the classification of adjuncts, and also highlights that some adjuncts have uses that extend into the textual and interpersonal domains, obscuring the traditional divisions between adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts.

Hilde Hasselgard is Professor of English Language at the University of Oslo. Her previous publications include Introducing English Grammar (with Magne Dypedahl and Berit Loken, 2006), English Grammar: Theory and Use (with Stig Johansson and Per Lysvag, 1998) and a series of articles on word order, cohesion and information structure.

'... everything has been solidly compiled, exemplified, quantified and argued. ... Undoubtedly, Hasselgard's 2010 monograph is a worthy addition to the classics on English adverbials written in the Greenbaumian tradition and will for the foreseeable future remain the standard reference on the topic.' Bernd Kortmann, Journal of English Language and Linguistics