Preface

In many ways this book is the sum of my life so far as a lecturer in functional grammar at Cardiff University. It has come from working closely with my students and trying to help them map the expressions of language functions onto grammatical structures and vice versa. Many students are apprehensive about the study of grammar but there is merit in working through it. One student described it once as climbing a mountain; very challenging but very satisfying when you finally get it. This is the real motivation behind this book. I wanted to offer something that would unlock some of the mysteries. I hope that this book will let people see grammar as a thing of interest and something that we shouldn’t be afraid of. I also hope that it will raise curiosity and lead readers to pursue an even more detailed understanding.

I am grateful to many people who have helped me write this book. My students have contributed indirectly. I would like to thank Cardiff students, past and present, who have taken Describing Language or Functions of Grammar with me. They have been incredibly supportive and encouraging. Although it seems like a lifetime ago, I was also a linguistics student once, at York University in Toronto, Canada. I am grateful to have had such inspiring and dedicated professors and I’d like to thank Ian Smith, Ruth King, Susan Ehrlich and Sheilah Embleton especially.