Short description:

In print for over 30 years, Meaning and the English Verb is an established and recognised authority on the meaning and use of verb construction in English.  This updated third edition is an invaluable text for teachers and advanced students of English as a second language. The third edition takes into account the subtle changes which are taking place in the language today to provide a clear and precise guide to English.

Long description:

Every language has its peculiar problems of meaning for the foreign learner. In the English language, some of the biggest yet most fascinating problems are concentrated in the area of the finite verb phrase: in particular, tense, aspect, mood and modality.

Meaning and the English Verb describes these fields in detail for teachers and advanced students of English as a foreign or second language. This new third edition uses up-to-date examples to show differences and similarities between American and British english, reflecting a great deal of recent research in this area. It also takes account of the subtle changes which are taking place in the language today.

In print for over 30 years, Meaning and the English Verb has established itself as a recognised authority on the meaning and use of verb constructions in English. This updated third edition will ensure that it remains an invaluable text for teachers and students of English worldwide.

This new updated third edition confirms Professor Leech's pre-eminence in the field. The book is still the clearest and most authoritative statement of meaning in the verb phrase, and the revised extended treatment of modality and mood constitutes a new standard for English language study. The writing is clear, precise and combines complexity with accessibility. Descriptive linguists, applied linguists, critical discourse analysts, teachers and students of the English language across the world will continue to reach for this book again and again. Professor Peter Stockwell, University of Nottingham

This new edition, taking into account recent studies on English grammar, is elaborately organized with lucid and insightful descriptions of the relationship between form and meaning - indispensably valuable work that will no doubt greatly benefit teachers and students of English as a second/foreign language. Professor Miyazaki Akio, Mie University, Japan

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements
Key to Sumbols
Preface to Third Edition
Introduction
1. Simple Present and Past Tenses
2. Progressive Aspect
3. The Expression of Past Time
4. The Expression of Future Time
5. The Primary Modal Auxillaries
6. Modality Continued
7. Indirect Speech
8. Mood: Theoretical and Hypothetical Meaning
Further Reading
Index