Published: Nov. 18, 2020

syn-const-bookCU Linguistics Professor and chair Laura Michaelis is the co-author of a new English syntax textbook,Β Β (Cambridge UP, 2020). The book takes a novel approach to the study of sentence structures. It is the first formal syntax textbook based on Construction Grammar, a theoretical framework that Prof. Michaelis helped to develop, and the first to explain concepts primarily with real English sentences from text corpora. Michaelis and co-author (Kyung Hee University) wanted to create a textbook that would be accessible and engaging for readers globally, and target formulaic language and idioms that are often daunting for English learners. Michaelis says, β€œMy advisor was Chuck Fillmore at Berkeley and JB’s advisor was Ivan Sag at Stanford, so the book is a combination of their approaches which is infused with insights from our brilliant teachers. And because JB teaches at a Korean university, the book was shaped by the very different context in which he teaches the structure of English”.