Change in Contemporary English

Based on the systematic analysis of large amounts of computer-readable text, this book shows how the English language has been changing in the recent past, often in unexpected and previously undocumented ways. The study is based on a group of matching corpora, known as the 'Brown family' of corpora, supplemented by a range of other corpus materials, both written and spoken, drawn mainly from the later twentieth century. Among the matters receiving particular attention are the influence of American English on British English, the role of the press, the 'colloquialization' of written English, and a wide range of grammatical topics, including the modal auxiliaries, progressive, subjunctive, passive, genitive and relative clauses. These subjects build an overall picture of how English grammar is changing, and the linguistic and social factors that are contributing to this process.

1. Introduction: grammar-blindness in the recent history of English?; 2. Comparative corpus linguistics: the methodological basis of this book; 3. The subjunctive mood; 4. The modal auxiliaries; 5. The so-called semi-modals; 6. The progressive; 7. The passive voice; 8. Expanded predicates; 9. Non-finite clauses; 10. The noun phrase; 11. Linguistic and other determinants of change.