This chapter seeks to establish if the Transitivity Hypothesis (Hopper & Thompson 1980) can explain the variation in the use of two reflexive strategies with the verb sit in Early Modern English (e.g. I sat me down/I sat myself down) and the verb’s subsequent transitivization (e.g. he sat me down). By studying data from large historical corpora, we will re-evaluate the results of earlier research and establish why sit continued to be used with the simple reflexive strategy (i.e. with object pronouns) until the Late Modern period. In our analysis of the transitivization of sit (down), we focus on both micro-level semantic and syntactic factors and more general developments that have supported the transitivization of verbs in Late Modern English.

This article discusses the history and regional variation of the complex preposition off of (e.g., I got off of the bus). The study is intended to uncover detailed information about the use of the form from Early Modern to Present-Day English by examining a variety of linguistic corpora and databases from different perspectives. In addition to charting the history and present-day variation of off of, the study will make a methodological contribution to historical dialectology by showing that there are extensive, severely underused resources that can reveal valuable information about the geographical variation of English even if they were not originally designed for that purpose. Most crucially, the article introduces a way to investigate Early Modern English from the perspective of regional variation, thus paving the way for future research in a field that has been extremely challenging to study in the past.

This book is a collection of eleven research articles which altogether serve as a contribution to the study of verb complementation and other constructions, an area of investigation which bridges observations on the spectrum of lexico-grammar, syntax, and semantics. In terms of methodological approaches and the types of linguistic patterns examined, the chapters cast light on the subject from a variety of perspectives, and the volume is structured in a way that groups the various perspectives under three main themes according to their main focus and/or methodological approaches, namely: the semantic and functional descriptions of constructions; the investigation into the distribution of complementation patterns; and the study of innovative patterns in ESL contexts and languages other than English. All chapters in this volume employ data from large electronic corpora where possible – the BNC, COCA, COHA, GloWbE, NOW, and newly compiled corpora representing regional varieties of English.

The present chapter will contribute to the area of English complementation studies by investigating the adjective ashamed. The study focuses on the diachronic development of the use of ashamed during the past two centuries in different environments, and the variation between two rivalling non-finite complements, to infinitive and of -ing. The data was collected from COHA and COCA. The results show that since the 1870s ashamed has been used less and less, and that it occurs nowadays regularly without a complement whereas in the 19th century the to infinitive complement was common. The of -ing complement is not used much, but some contexts such as negation or copula in the complement clause were observed to attract this complement type.

In recent years the increasing availability of large electronic corpora has led to a methodological shift in linguistics from intuition-based research to work that utilises electronic corpora as a source of data. This shift has given rise to a new perspective on work on complementation. This book presents the latest work in the field of complementation studies. Leading scholars and upcoming researchers in the area approac… show moreh complementation from various perspectives and different frameworks, such as Cognitive Grammar and construction grammars, to offer a broad survey of the field and provide thought-provoking reading accessible to anyone interested in complementation, novice or expert.

In recent years the increasing availability of large electronic corpora has led to a methodological shift in linguistics from intuition-based research to work that utilises electronic corpora as a source of data. This shift has given rise to a new perspective on work on complementation. This book presents the latest work in the field of complementation studies. Leading scholars and upcoming researchers in the area approach complementation from various perspectives and different frameworks, such as Cognitive Grammar and construction grammars, to offer a broad survey of the field and provide thought-provoking reading accessible to anyone interested in complementation, novice or expert.