Editing Otto Jespersen (section)

===The English language===
The seven-volume, descriptive reference work ''[[A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles]]'' (1909–1949) is likely Jespersen's most influential work and concentrates on syntax,

Jespersen's specialism for the longest period was the English language. Within this, the foremost work was ''[[A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles]]'', published in six volumes during his lifetime, from 1909 to 1942, and a seventh, posthumous volume in 1949. The first volume is devoted to historical phonetics, the sixth to morphology (both derivational and inflectional) Five of the seven volumes are devoted to syntax, which Jespersen particularly enjoyed.{{Efn|1="When I took up work again after a rest necessitated by over-strain during a nine months' stay in America, I wanted something pleasurable to do and thought Syntax more attractive than Morphology.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;." {{Cite book| first=Otto | last=Jespersen | location=London | publisher=George Allen & Unwin | title=A Modern English grammar on historical principles. Part II: Syntax (first volume) | orig-date=1914 | year=1954 | page=v | url=https://archive.org/details/jespersen-1954-a-modern-english-grammar-on-historical-principles-part-ii-syntax-first-volume | via=Internet Archive}}}}

''A Modern English grammar'' had a high repute at the time: writing in Jespersen's obituary, Helmslev calls it a "monumental work", one that "will maintain its immense value for an incalculable future thanks to the rich documentation of facts it provides".{{Efn|1="[Un] œuvre monumentale.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Ce grand ouvrage .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. conservera pour un avenir incalculable une très haute valeur par la riche documentation de faits qu'il apporte."}}{{sfnp|Hjelmslev|1943|p=128}}

In his own work ''[[The Syntactic Phenomena of English]]'' (1988), [[James D. McCawley]] attributes various of his analyses, or the insights pointing towards them, to Jespersen: [[Raising (syntax)|raising]];{{Sfnp|McCawley|1988|loc=vol.&nbsp;1, pp.&nbsp;122,&nbsp;149}} "worthwhile criticism of traditional systems of [[part of speech|parts of speech]]"{{Sfnp|McCawley|1988|loc=vol.&nbsp;1, p.&nbsp;204}} and classification of what are traditionally termed "[[subordinating conjunction]]s" (as in "You must look at this ''<u>before</u> you leave''") as [[preposition]]s with sentential [[Object (grammar)|objects]];{{Sfnp|McCawley|1988|loc=vol.&nbsp;1, p.&nbsp;191}} and more specifically, classification of ''that'' in [[relative clause]]s (as in "The necktie ''<u>that</u> he bought'' was polyester") not as a [[relative pronoun]] but as a [[complementizer]].{{Sfnp|McCawley|1988|loc=vol.&nbsp;2, p.&nbsp;461}} Asked how the 20th-century Dutch grammarians of English [[Hendrik Poutsma]], [[Etsko Kruisinga]] and [[R. W. Zandvoort|R.&nbsp;W. Zandvoort]] compared with Jespersen, McCawley replied: "Of course, Jespersen is in a class by himself. He was a fantastically original, broad, and deep thinker."<ref>{{Cite journal | title=An interview with professor James D. McCawley | first=F.G.A.M. |last=Aarts | journal=Forum der Letteren | year=1977 | url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_for004197701_01/_for004197701_01_0020.php | via=DBNL | page=232}}</ref>

''Growth and Structure of the English Language'' (1905, and reprinted at numerous times thereafter) is a broad history of the English language. It won Jespersen the [[Prix Volney]].{{sfnp|Hjelmslev|1943|p=129}} In 1989, [[Hans Frede Nielsen]] wrote that:

<blockquote>[It] can be read as the homage paid by an Anglophile to the English language which is praised for its business-like, virile qualities, its conciseness, logic and sobriety — to say nothing of its noble, rich, pliant and expressive character.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. No wonder that [the book] became so popular in the English-speaking world and among Anglophiles elsewhere.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Nielsen|1989a|pp=70–71}} Within this, Nielsen cites in particular ''Growth and Structure of the English Language'' (9th edition, 1938), pp.&nbsp;2–16, 234.</ref></blockquote>

He described it as "probably the most widely read introduction to the history of the English language ever written".{{Sfnp|Nielsen|1989a|p=61}}

''Essentials of English Grammar'' (1933), primarily intended for university teaching, is for the most part synchronic.{{sfnp|Hjelmslev|1943|pp=129–130}} [[W. Nelson Francis]] described it as "arguably [Jespersen's] most familiar and popular book".{{Sfnp|Francis|1989|p=97}}

Terms related to English that were introduced by Jespersen and are still widely used today include ''[[cleft sentence]]'',<ref>{{Cite book | first=Peter C. | last=Collins | title=Cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions in English | location=London | publisher=Routledge | year=1991 | isbn=0-415-06328-0 | page=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | first=Marcel | last=den Dikken | chapter=Specificational copular sentences and pseudoclefts | volume=4 | page=306 | editor-first1=Martin | editor-last1=Everaert | editor-first2=Henk | editor-last2=van Riemsdijk | editor-link2=Henk van Riemsdijk | title=The Blackwell companion to syntax | location=Malden, Massachusetts | publisher=Blackwell | year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1485-1 }}</ref> ''[[content clause]]'',{{Sfnp|Aarts|Chalker|Weiner|2014|p=96}} ''[[light verb]]'',<ref>{{Cite book | first=Tara | last=Mohanan | author-link=Tara Mohanan | chapter=Grammatical verbs (with special reference to light verbs) | volume=2 | pages=461–462 | editor-first1=Martin | editor-last1=Everaert | editor-first2=Henk | editor-last2=van Riemsdijk | editor-link2=Henk van Riemsdijk | title=The Blackwell companion to syntax | location=Malden, Massachusetts | publisher=Blackwell | year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1485-1}}</ref> ''[[mass noun]]'',{{Sfnp|Aarts|Chalker|Weiner|2014|pp=244–245}} and ''[[Yes–no question|yes-or-no question]]''.{{Sfnp|Aarts|Chalker|Weiner|2014|p=222}} Jespersen's writings have also influenced today's conceptions of ''[[existential sentence]]''.<ref>{{Cite book | first=Andrea | last=Moro | author-link=Andrea Moro | chapter=Expletive sentences and expletive ''there'' | volume=2 | pages=210–211 | editor-first1=Martin | editor-last1=Everaert | editor-first2=Henk | editor-last2=van Riemsdijk | editor-link2=Henk van Riemsdijk | title=The Blackwell companion to syntax | location=Malden, Massachusetts | publisher=Blackwell | year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4051-1485-1}}</ref>

Robert I. Binnick calls Jespersen "one of the greatest students of the English language .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;, at once the last of the traditional grammarians and the first modern linguist–grammarian".<ref>{{Cite book | first=Robert I. | last=Binnick | title=Time and the verb: A guide to tense and aspect |location=New York | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1991 | isbn=0-19-506206-X | pages=53–54}}</ref>