CONTENTS
PREFACE .........................................................................................................................................3
List of symbols (simplified transcription) ...................................................................................... 4
PART ONE – FROM SENTENCE GRAMMAR TO DISCOURSE AWARE GRAMMAR ..........................5
1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................5
2. Varieties of English ............................................................................................................6
3. Functions of language........................................................................................................13
4. Choices in the semantic representation of sentences ........................................................19
5. Linking and grammatical cohesion ...................................................................................29
6. Information processing. Topic and focus ..........................................................................44
7. Formal and informal language...........................................................................................52
8. Polite and familiar language .............................................................................................59
9. Personal and impersonal language ....................................................................................63
10. Spoken and written language ............................................................................................66
PART TWO – ANALYSING SENTENCE STRUCTURE ......................................................................76
11. Information, reality and belief ..........................................................................................76
11.1 Giving and requesting information. Representing information ........................................76
11.2 Expressing attitude and opinion ........................................................................................80
12. Mood, emotion and attitude ..............................................................................................84
12.1 Expressing feelings and emotions .....................................................................................84
12.2 Friendly communications and influencing people ............................................................88
13. Meaning in connected discourse .......................................................................................92
13.1 Linking signals and constructions .....................................................................................92
13.2 Reference, substitution and omission ...............................................................................97
14. Information processing ..................................................................................................101
14.1 Presenting and focusing information ..............................................................................101
14.2 Word order and emphasis 1 ............................................................................................104
14.3 Word order and emphasis 2 ............................................................................................107
15. Varieties of English ........................................................................................................111
15.1 Status of participants .......................................................................................................111
15.2 Medium and place ...........................................................................................................115
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PART THREE – PRACTICING SENTENCE STRUCTURE ...............................................................119
16. Clauses with hypothetical meaning ................................................................................119
17. Fronting ...........................................................................................................................122
17.1 Fronting without inversion ..............................................................................................122
17.2 Fronting with inversion ...................................................................................................123
17.2.1 Fronting with subject – verb inversion ...........................................................................123
17.2.2 Fronting with subject – operator inversion .....................................................................124
18. Postponement ..................................................................................................................126
18.1 Passive voice ...................................................................................................................126
18.2 Extraposition of clausal subject ......................................................................................127
18.3 Extraposition of clausal object ........................................................................................130
18.4 Postponement of the object .............................................................................................131
18.5 Other discontinuities .......................................................................................................131
19. Cleft sentences ................................................................................................................133
19.1 Cleft sentences proper .....................................................................................................133
19.2 Pseudo-cleft sentences ....................................................................................................134
20. Existential sentences .......................................................................................................137
GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS ............................................................................................139
ENGLISH-CZECH DICTIONARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS ............................................................152
ANSWERS TO PART THREE ........................................................................................................158
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................................164