What is a grammatical unit? How does grammatical structure evolve? How can we best investigate the mental representation of grammar? What is the connection between language use and language structure? This book aims to help answer such questions by presenting a detailed analysis of English complex prepositions (e.g. in spite of or with respect to) on the basis of large amounts of authentic language data dating from the Middle Ages until today.

Grammaticalization is an important concept in general and typological linguistics and a prominent type of explanation in historical linguistics. For historical corpus linguists, grammaticalization theory provides a frame of orientation in their effort to analyze and systematize a fast-accumulating mass of data. Students of grammaticalization have become increasingly aware of the potential of existing corpora and established corpus-linguistic methodology for their work. This book continues and develops the dialogue between the two fields. All the contributions are based on extensive use of various electronic corpora. Relating corpus practices to recent theoretical concerns of grammaticalization studies they deal with grammaticalization and historical sociolinguistics, lexicalization and grammaticalization, layering, frequency, grammaticalization and dialects, degrammaticalization and grammaticalization in a contrastive perspective. The papers show that a synthesis of corpus methodology and grammaticalization studies leads to new and interesting insights about the mechanisms of language change and the communicative functions of language.

ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS are the most frequently occurring type of essential words in the English language and should be learned by everyone who wants to speak English fluently-whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner. Prepositions have a strategic function in the English discourse-especially for nonnative speakers. These (often logical) connectors have tremendous power and are of critical importance in the English language learning processes, as well as in grammar studies. Prepositions are an indispensable part of the English sentence structure and perhaps the most efficient tool for international students in the environment of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), for teachers and students of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Spatial and nonspatial relations are conceptual in nature. We use prepositions to describe these relations and the interaction between words and meanings in a sentence, clause, or phrase. But context makes it almost impossible for us to grasp the meanings of these words without understanding the concepts behind these logical or contextual connectors. Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions explores the seven key concepts and their contextual implications encompassing the spatial and nonspatial senses of English prepositions. __________ Andrew Bruckfield's English Language Reference Library: - Prepositions: The Ultimate Book - Mastering English Prepositions, The Key to Fluency in English Conversation - Prepositions by Example - The Quickest Way to Learn and Practice English Prepositions - Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions - The Container Effect, Dimensional Prepositions, The Proximity Effect, The Concept of Magnitude, The Sound-Wave Effect, The Platform Effect, Complex Prepositions: including Spatial, Nonspatial & Temporal Uses - Essential & Practical English Grammar - A Compendium of Verbs, Phrasal Verbs, Idioms, Prepositions, Vocabulary, Punctuation & more.

Prepositions: The Ultimate Book - Mastering English Prepositions - Revised Edition - A guide for developing successful speakers, Prepositions: The Ultimate Book proposes a pedagogical approach to the prepositions of the English language. Designed for all levels of students for easy comprehension and quick learning, over 2,000 examples of simple and complex (phrasal) prepositions and prepositional idioms help readers understand and create the intended message. By learning how to correctly link words to their specific meanings, students will be able to build fluency and accuracy while working with creativity and autonomy. Organized by function and subject, with over 400 prepositions and prepositional entries-including more than 100 illustrations-this book helps students identify and use context cues through a variety of examples of real-world situations. Whether you are in the English classroom or out in the professional world, Prepositions: The Ultimate Book is an indispensable and comprehensive reference tool for all international learners seeking to communicate more effectively and naturally in the English language. Andrew Bruckfield's English Language Reference Library: - Prepositions: The Ultimate Book - Mastering English Prepositions, The Key to Fluency in English Conversation - Prepositions by Example - The Quickest Way to Learn and Practice English Prepositions - Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions - The Container Effect, Dimensional Prepositions, The Proximity Effect, The Concept of Magnitude, The Sound-Wave Effect, The Platform Effect, Complex Prepositions: including Spatial, Nonspatial & Temporal Uses - Essential & Practical English Grammar - A Compendium of Verbs, Phrasal Verbs, Idioms, Prepositions, Vocabulary, Punctuation & more.

This book provides an integrated account of the main prepositions of English, outlining their various forms and illustrating contrastive senses. The three chapters in Part I delineate grammatical contexts of occurrence and special uses, exploring grammatical roles, phrasal verbs, and prepositional verbs respectively. In Part II, each chapter deals with a set of related prepositions, providing an integrated account of the meanings for each, and explaining how these are linked to their grammatical properties. There are two chapters on relational prepositions - principally of, for, by, and with - which have only minor reference to space or time. These are followed by seven chapters on prepositions whose basic meaning is spatial, with many extensions to abstract senses, and one that ties together the varied ways through which prepositions deal with time. The final chapter outlines how some people have attempted to prescribe how language should be used; it also covers dialect variation, foreign learners' errors, and prospects for the future. The book is written in Dixon's accustomed style - clear and well-organized, with easy-to-understand explanations, and with limited use of technical terms. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of the English language, including instructors of English as a second language.

Grammaticalization is an important concept in general and typological linguistics and a prominent type of explanation in historical linguistics. For historical corpus linguists, grammaticalization theory provides a frame of orientation in their effort to analyze and systematize a fast-accumulating mass of data. Students of grammaticalization have become increasingly aware of the potential of existing corpora and established corpus-linguistic methodology for their work. This book continues and develops the dialogue between the two fields. All the contributions are based on extensive use of various electronic corpora. Relating corpus practices to recent theoretical concerns of grammaticalization studies they deal with grammaticalization and historical sociolinguistics, lexicalization and grammaticalization, layering, frequency, grammaticalization and dialects, degrammaticalization and grammaticalization in a contrastive perspective. The papers show that a synthesis of corpus methodology and grammaticalization studies leads to new and interesting insights about the mechanisms of language change and the communicative functions of language.

While much attention has been devoted to simple nominal relators, especially prepositions and case markers, complex nominal relators have not yet been the focus of a systematic and cross-linguistic study. The chapters of this volume provide not only a working definition of such constructions, but also a description of complex adpositions and other complex nominal relators in a variety of European languages, both Indo-European and non-Indo-European, including some languages for which this phenomenon had received little attention, such as Breton and Albanian. Building on synchronic and diachronic corpus-based investigations, the authors show commonalities and specificities of these linguistic items across languages, trying to explain why and how they emerged. The research presented in this volume confirms the wide-spread use of complex adpositions in Europe, and the data reviewed in the final discussion suggests it might be the same in other parts of the world, as well. This book thus offers not only detailed descriptions of complex nominal relators in fifteen languages, but also indications of what to look for in other languages, and how to distinguish between a syntactically free sequence and a genuine complex nominal relator.