Modern Italian Grammar

, by Proudfoot, Anna

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ISBN: 9780415098502 | 0415098505
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 12/1/1996

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Summary

Author Biography

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This new edition of the Modern Italian Grammar: A Practical Guide is an innovative reference guide to Italian, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume.

Introduction	p. xiii
How to use this book	p. xv
Glossary	p. xvii
Structures
The noun group	p. 3
What is a noun?	p. 3
The noun	p. 3
The article	p. 10
The adjective	p. 14
Agreement of noun, article and adjective	p. 20
Verbs	p. 22
General features of verbs	p. 22
Verb tables	p. 31
Moods and tenses of verbs	p. 39
Pronouns	p. 65
What is a pronoun?	p. 65
Personal pronouns	p. 65
Stressed personal pronouns	p. 65
Unstressed personal pronouns	p. 67
Relative pronouns	p. 72
Interrogative pronouns and adjectives	p. 74
Possessive pronouns and adjectives	p. 75
Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives	p. 77
Indefinite pronouns and adjectives	p. 80
Prepositions	p. 84
What is preposition?	p. 84
Combined prepositions and articles	p. 85
Use of prepositions with nouns	p. 85
Use of prepositions with verbs	p. 89
Other prepositions	p. 91
Conjunctions	p. 93
What is a conjunction?	p. 93
Coordinating conjunctions	p. 93
Subordinating conjunctions	p. 95
Adverbs	p. 98
What is an adverb?	p. 98
Types of adverbs	p. 98
Comparative and superlative adverbs	p. 101
Numbers	p. 103
What is a number?	p. 103
Cardinal numbers	p. 103
Ordinal numbers	p. 104
Calculations	p. 106
Percentages	p. 106
Collective and approximate numbers	p. 106
Dates	p. 107
Time	p. 108
Weights and measures	p. 108
Currency	p. 109
Table of numbers	p. 109
Functions
Giving and seeking factual information
Identification: giving personal information	p. 115
Introduction	p. 115
Tu or Lei?	p. 115
Giving different kinds of personal information	p. 116
Emphasising the person referred to	p. 120
Eliciting personal information	p. 120
Dialoghi	p. 121
Specifying people or objects	p. 123
Introduction	p. 123
Specifying a known or particular person or object	p. 123
Specifying category or type	p. 124
Specifying ownership	p. 125
Describing people or things	p. 127
Introduction	p. 127
Physical characteristics	p. 127
Non-physical attributes	p. 130
Intensifying the meaning of the adjective	p. 133
Diminishing the strength of the adjective	p. 134
Describing a physical state using stare	p. 135
Dialogo	p. 136
Talking about existence, presence and availability	p. 137
Introduction	p. 137
Talking about existence and/or presence	p. 138
Talking about occurrence	p. 139
Talking about presence, attendance and participation at an event	p. 141
Talking about availability	p. 141
Expressing 'some, any'	p. 142
Specifying the quantity available	p. 144
Expressing 'something, anything', 'someone, anyone'	p. 145
Specifying location, time or frequency	p. 145
Expressing non-existence or non-availability	p. 146
Talking about the present	p. 149
Introduction	p. 149
Describing present situations, actions and events	p. 149
Expressing ongoing actions	p. 151
Words and phrases indicating present time	p. 151
Dialogo	p. 152
Speaking/writing about the past	p. 154
Introduction	p. 154
The perfect aspect	p. 155
Using the passato prossimo	p. 156
Using the passato remoto	p. 157
Expressing the imperfect aspect	p. 158
Combinations of perfect and imperfect aspect	p. 161
Present tense expressing past	p. 165
Indicators of time	p. 165
Talking about the future	p. 167
Introduction	p. 167
Using the future tense	p. 167
Using the present tense	p. 167
Expressing the immediate or very near future	p. 168
Expressing the English 'going to'	p. 168
The 'past in the future'	p. 169
The future seen from the past	p. 169
Some expressions of time in the future	p. 170
Expressing intention and future plans	p. 172
Asking questions	p. 173
Introduction	p. 173
Asking a question using interrogative intonation	p. 173
Asking a question using interrogative words	p. 173
Dialogo	p. 176
Negative sentences	p. 178
Introduction	p. 178
Reinforcing a negative statement	p. 178
Expressing negation and time non ... piu, non ... mai	p. 179
Expressing negation using ne ... ne	p. 179
Expressing negation using niente, nulla	p. 180
Expressing negation using the adjective nessun/o/a	p. 180
Expressing negation using the pronoun nessuno/a	p. 181
Reinforcing negation	p. 181
Comparisons and degrees of intensity	p. 183
Introduction	p. 183
Using comparative adjectives and adverbs	p. 183
Expressing 'than'	p. 184
Expressing 'which'	p. 186
Expressing different degrees of intensity	p. 186
Referring to objects and people	p. 188
Introduction	p. 188
Using a pronoun to refer back	p. 188
Using a pronoun: referring to the subject of an action	p. 188
Using a pronoun: referring to someone other than the subject	p. 188
Referring to someone or something using questo, quello	p. 192
Using indefinites to refer to 'someone/something'	p. 192
Referring to something or someone mentioned	p. 193
Referring to what has been said or will be said	p. 193
Focusing on the action	p. 194
Introduction	p. 194
Focusing on the action using the passive	p. 194
Situations when the passive is not used	p. 197
Focusing on the action using si passivante (passive form with si)	p. 199
Si impersonale (impersonal si)	p. 200
Focusing on the object of the action	p. 200
Actions affecting ourselves and others
Social interactions	p. 203
Greeting, welcoming	p. 203
Introducing oneself and others	p. 204
Saying goodbye	p. 205
Wishes	p. 206
Expressing and receiving thanks, appreciation	p. 206
Compliments	p. 207
Making and accepting excuses, apologies	p. 207
Expressing commiseration, sympathy	p. 208
Using titles, salutations	p. 208
Getting other people to do things	p. 211
Introduction	p. 211
Giving orders and commands	p. 211
Making negative requests and commands	p. 213
Written instructions and recipes	p. 213
Asking someone to do something	p. 216
Giving an order using 'command' verbs	p. 217
Far fare, lasciar fare construction	p. 217
Using persuasion	p. 218
Monologo	p. 219
Permission and possibility	p. 221
Asking or granting permission	p. 221
Denying permission	p. 222
Speaking about the ability or opportunity to do something	p. 222
Making a request	p. 223
Expressing need, obligation or desire	p. 225
Need or want	p. 225
Expressing wants	p. 225
Expressing needs	p. 227
Suggesting, proposing, advising and recommending	p. 229
Giving advice	p. 229
Making or receiving a suggestion	p. 230
More expressions of advising or suggesting	p. 232
Advising someone not to do something, giving a warning	p. 233
Asking for advice	p. 233
Other ways of making suggestions	p. 234
Expressing emotions, feelings, attitudes and opinions
Expressing emotions: positive, negative, neutral	p. 237
Introduction	p. 237
Interjections (positive, negative, neutral)	p. 237
Expressing positive emotions	p. 238
Expressing negative emotions	p. 241
Expressing neutral emotions	p. 245
Expressing positive and/or negative emotions	p. 247
Expressing emotions: hope, fear, doubt	p. 248
Introduction	p. 248
Expressing hope	p. 248
Expressing fear, pessimism or regret	p. 249
Expressing doubt	p. 251
Expressing an opinion or belief, agreement or disagreement	p. 253
Expressing or seeking an opinion or belief	p. 253
Expressing agreement, disagreement	p. 255
Indicating preference, likes and dislikes	p. 258
Introduction	p. 258
Expressing likes	p. 258
Expressing dislikes	p. 260
Expressing a preference	p. 262
Expressing certainty and knowledge	p. 263
Introduction	p. 263
Sapere	p. 263
Essere certo, sicuro, convinto	p. 264
Non certo, poco certo, incerto	p. 265
Pensare, credere, sembrare, parere	p. 266
Ricordare, dimenticare	p. 266
Putting in context
Combining messages	p. 271
Introduction	p. 271
Combining messages of equal importance	p. 271
Combining messages of unequal importance	p. 274
Setting events in a time context	p. 274
Relationship of main clause and dependent clauses	p. 275
Relationship of tenses in complex texts	p. 279
Quoting or reporting events and hearsay	p. 287
Introduction	p. 287
Quoting: direct speech	p. 288
Reporting: indirect speech	p. 289
Reporting information or quoting hearsay	p. 291
Expressing possibility and probability	p. 294
Introduction	p. 294
Certainty, uncertainty	p. 294
Knowing, not knowing	p. 295
Possible or impossible, probable or improbable	p. 295
Evident, obvious	p. 296
Expressing purpose	p. 297
Introduction	p. 297
Purpose involving only the subject of the action	p. 297
Purpose involving someone or something else	p. 299
Purpose attached to a person/object	p. 300
Expressing causes and reasons	p. 302
Introduction	p. 302
Specific people, factors or events responsible	p. 302
General cause or reason	p. 302
Il motivo, la causa, la ragione	p. 305
Causare, provocare, suscitare	p. 306
Dovere, dovuto	p. 306
Asking why	p. 306
Using the imperfect tense to give reasons	p. 307
Expressing result, effect and consequence	p. 308
Introduction	p. 308
Coordinating conjunctions	p. 308
Conclusive (result) conjunctions	p. 309
Cosi, tale, tanto, troppo	p. 310
Words expressing result, effect	p. 311
Specifying time	p. 313
Introduction	p. 313
Expressing same time context	p. 313
Expressing earlier time context	p. 314
Expressing later time context	p. 315
Defining the limits of a period: 'since'/'until'	p. 317
Specifying repetition and frequency	p. 319
Other expressions of time	p. 320
Place and manner	p. 321
Introduction	p. 321
Place: adverbs	p. 321
Place: prepositions	p. 322
Manner	p. 324
Expressing a condition or hypothesis	p. 327
Introduction	p. 327
Expressing a real possibility	p. 327
Expressing a condition unlikely to be met or impossible	p. 328
Expressing conditions with other conjunctions	p. 329
Expressing conditions with gerund, infinitive or participle	p. 330
Unfinished conditional sentence	p. 331
Other uses of se	p. 332
Expressing reservation, exception and concession	p. 333
Introduction	p. 333
Expressing reservation or exception	p. 333
Modifying a statement by concession	p. 334
Expanding the horizons
Registers and style	p. 341
Introduction	p. 341
Spoken and written discourse	p. 341
Differences in lexis	p. 342
Differences in syntax	p. 343
Informal written communication	p. 346
Formal and informal registers	p. 347
Word order	p. 349
Oral communication and telephone skills	p. 352
Introduction	p. 352
The Lei form	p. 352
Interjections	p. 354
Discourse markers	p. 354
Techniques of oral communication	p. 356
Spelling on the telephone	p. 357
Telephone phrases	p. 358
On the telephone	p. 360
Written communication	p. 362
Introduction	p. 362
Letters and faxes	p. 362
Curriculum vitae	p. 365
Extended writing: differences between English and Italian	p. 367
Writing essays, making connections	p. 367
Reports	p. 367
Bureaucratic language	p. 371
Scientific and technical language	p. 372
Journalistic language	p. 373
Spelling and pronunciation	p. 376
Irregular verbs	p. 381
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Modern Italian Grammar

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials