Non-finite complementation a usage-based study of infinitive and -ing clauses in English - Egan, Thomas 1954- (Rodopi, 2008)
Includes bibliographical references and index
Non-finite Complementation; Contents; Acknowledgements; Preface; Chapter 1 The purpose and scope of the study; Chapter 2 Classification of the constructions; Chapter 3 Earlier Studies; Chapter 4 Complement Types and Complementisers; Chapter 5 Constructions in contrast: Same-time constructions; Chapter 6 Constructions in contrast: Forward-looking constructions; Chapter 7 Constructions in contrast: Backward-looking constructions; Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusions; References; Appendix 1 The Matrix verbs; Appendix 2 Tables; Appendix 3 List of technical terms; Index
This book presents a comprehensive guide to the way speakers of British English use infinitive and - ing clauses as verbal complements. It contains details of the non-finite complementation patterns of over 300 matrix verbs, with a particular emphasis on verbs that occur with more than one type of non-finite complement. Drawing upon data from the British National Corpus, the author shows that some of the views which are to be found in the existing literature on these sorts of clauses are in conflict with the evidence of actual usage. He also shows that there is actually much more regularity in