Summative modifiers in English grammar : an eclectic approach

الملخص EN

Summative modifiers are crucial linguistic devices in English that contribute to text clarity and cohesion.

They are addressed by several major theories of grammar.

The majority of grammar books and studies concentrate on a single type of these devices without mentioning the others, and there is no theoretical model that attempts to unify, within a single framework, all of the ways in which summation can be established in texts.

Therefore, one of the primary research questions is: 'What are the linguistic mechanisms for summarizing texts in English?'.

This study, then, seeks to address all of these types and to examine their use in authentic written formal English texts.

It also tries to distinguish between all of the types in terms of form and use.

It is hypothesized that whenever summative modifiers are used, there is a range of units that are summarized and this range could either be the length of a clause, a sentence, a paragraph or a whole topic unit.

Additionally, it is hypothesized that the meaning of summative modifiers can be extended to neighbouring units to include the following sentences.

This study adopts a model proposed by Quirk et al.

(1985) and follows a qualitative approach for analysing the data.

The data are from two registers: journal articles and textbooks.

The study has revealed that such a variation of register can actually affect the use of such devices.

Additionally, the study has corroborated the aforementioned hypotheses.

Thus, this study contributes to our understanding of these devices.