Big Events, Small Clauses: The Grammar of Elaboration

Non-finite clause-like structures such as converb and participial constructions, depictive adjectivals, absolute and comitative small clauses are important means of enriching the description of the event or situation conjured up by the main verb; but they have not been studied in depth from that perspective. The present book takes up that challenge. It throws new light on the interface between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and presents new empirical findings based on parallel corpora involving English, German, Norwegian, French, Russian, Latin, and Ancient Greek.