Navigating English Grammar presents an engaging and insightful introduction to the structure of English. Lobeck and Denham's inquiry-based approach encourages students to discover the fundamentals of English grammar by investigating their own intuitive knowledge of the language. This popular textbook equips students with a practical set of tools to analyze English in all its varieties and representations. By exploring how English varies from community to community, and how English has changed over time, students find that English, like any other language, is a dynamic system, and that attitudes about language are often based on social perceptions rather than linguistic fact. In this fully revised and updated second edition of Navigating English Grammar, student-friendly chapters with examples taken from diverse varieties of American English illustrate the grammatical concepts of a living language, whose "rules" are decided by language users instead of language authorities. Accessible to any reader regardless of background in language and linguistics, this important textbook features: Entirely revised chapters on clauses, subordination and coordination, and modificationBasic phrase structure rules and tree diagrams to provide accessible graphic representations of language structureUpdated language examples drawn from varieties of American English that illustrate English as a dynamic system that changes over space and timeRevisions and updates to all chapters including new exercises, text excerpts, and boxesA completely new capstone chapter that provides an overview of concepts and an extensive set of challenging practice exercises Assuming no prior familiarity with the study of English grammar, Navigating English Grammar: A Guide to Analyzing Real Language, Second Edition is an excellent textbook for undergraduate courses in English grammar and related courses in English linguistics, second language acquisition, and language education programs. It is also a valuable resource for students studying the linguistics of other languages who want to improve their understanding of grammar.

DedicationPrefaceAcknowledgementsChapter 1IntroductionWhat is English? Language Change and VariationWhat is Grammar?Prescriptive GrammarDescriptive GrammarThe Components of GrammarSyntaxMorphologySemanticsPhonetics and phonologySummaryExercisesChapter 2IntroductionSemantic Distinctions among NounsAbstract and concreteCommon and properCount and massCollective nounsGeneric nounsNoun MorphologyInflectional affixationPluralsPossessivesDerivational affixationOther ways we form nounsSummaryExercisesChapter 3IntroductionCategories that Precede NounsDeterminersNoun Phrases without DeterminersNumeralsQuantifiersOrder of D, NUM, and QPartitive, Measure, and Collective Noun PhrasesPossessive Noun PhrasesNP or N: pronoun substitutionModifiers of NounsAdjectives that modify nounsNouns that modify nounsVerbs that modify nounsSummaryExercisesChapter 4IntroductionMain VerbsMain Verb MorphologyDerivational affixation and other ways we form verbsInflectional affixationInfinitivesPresent TensePast TenseWhat about Future Tense?Present and Past ParticiplesSuppletionSummaryExercisesChapter 5IntroductionAuxiliary VerbsAuxiliary haveAuxiliary beMain Verb have and beModalsSemi-modalsVerb strings with auxiliaries and modalsAspectProgressive aspectPerfect aspectHabitual aspectPassive Voice and the Passive Verb StringSummaryExercisesChapter 6IntroductionThe Independent ClauseThe Subject PositionSubjects of passive sentencesPleonastic subjectsThe Complement PositionDirect ObjectsOther complementsThe Tense PositionSubject-Auxiliary InversionTag question formationNegationDiagramming Verb StringsDo insertionMain Verb be RaisingSummaryExercisesChapter 7IntroductionAdjective SemanticsAdjective MorphologyDerivational affixation and other ways we form adjectivesParticipial adjectivesInflectional affixation: comparative and superlative adjectivesAdjective SyntaxModifiers of adjectivesAdjective Phrase positionsAdjective phrases as prenominal and postnominal modifiersAdjective phrases as subjective complementsSummaryExercisesChapter 8IntroductionAdverb SemanticsAdverb MorphologyDerivational affixation and other ways we form adverbsInflectional affixationAdverb SyntaxModifiers of adverbsAdverb phrase positionsAdverb phrase as modifiers in AP, PP, and NPAdverb phrases as complementsMore on ModifiersSummaryExercisesChapter 9IntroductionPreposition SemanticsPreposition MorphologyPreposition SyntaxComplements of prepositionsPrepositional phrases as complements and modifiersParticlesParticle SemanticsParticles SyntaxSummaryExercisesChapter 10IntroductionCoordinationSubordinationClauses and sentencesSubordinate Clause TypesTensed clause complementsBare infinitival clause complementsTo-infinitive clause complementsParticipial clause complementsWh-clause complementsSummaryExercisesChapter 11IntroductionClauses that Modify Nouns: Relative ClausesRestrictive Relative ClausesTensed, reduced, and infinitival relative clausesNonrestrictive relative clausesHeadless relative clausesAppositive NPsMovable ModifiersMovable AdvP modifiersMovable PP modifiersMovable NP modifiersMovable AP modifiersMovable VP modifiersMovable CL modifiersSummaryExercisesChapter 12IntroductionSyntactic CategoriesComplementationComplements of VerbsComplements of AdjectivesComplements of PrepositionsComplements of NounsModificationModifiers of NounsModifiers of AdjectivesModifiers of AdverbsModifiers of PrepositionsModifiers of VerbsModifiers of Clauses: Movable ModifiersSubordinationCoordinationSummaryPractice and ReviewReferences