The Verb in Contemporary English

Theoretical and descriptive perspectives on the verb in English by some of the top scholars in the field.

This collection of essays by some of the leading scholars in the field sheds new light on the verb in English. The authors illustrate that verbs can only be adequately and properly understood if studied from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective and provide valuable new insights through their range of studies.This collection of essays by some of the leading scholars in the field sheds new light on the verb in English. The central concern of the volume is to illustrate that verbs can only be adequately and properly understood if studied from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective. In part one, theoretical topics are explored: terminological problems of classifying verbs and verb-related elements, the 'determining' properties of verbs, verb complementation, the semantics and pragmatics of verbs and verbal combinations, and the notions of tense, aspect, voice and modality. In part two, computer corpora are used to study various types of verb complements and collocations, to trace the development in English of certain verb forms and to detail the usage of verbs in different varieties and genres of English.