This paper examines the syntactic distribution of degree modifiers in both spoken and written English. The results of the empirical case studies show that degree modifiers, both amplifiers (e.g., very, extremely) and downtoners (e.g., quite, pretty), are generally more often used in predication than in attribution, a result that is in line with earlier observations of the distribution of individual modifiers. This synchronic trend is also evident in diachronic developments: corpus data show that the recent frequency increase of intensifying this and that has largely taken place in predication, and the adjectivization of a class of -ed participles (e.g., interested, scared) can also be connected to their frequent co-occurrence with degree modifiers after be. Finally, the connection between degree modifiers and predicative usage has recently become stronger for a subset of modifiers (e.g., so, this, that) due to the decline of the “Big Mess” construction (e.g., so good an idea). From a theoretical perspective, this paper promotes a dynamic, usage-based model of word classes where frequency of use plays a role in categorization. The data investigated in the article are mainly discussed from the perspective of usage-based Construction Grammar, and the theoretical implications of the findings are examined both in light of a more traditional Construction Grammar network model of language and some recent ideas of overlapping word classes.

本文研究了英语口语和书面语中程度修饰语的句法分布。经验案例研究的结果表明，程度修饰语，即放大器（例如，非常，极高）和降调器（例如，相当，极美），通常更多地用于谓词而不是归因，这一结果与早期的观点相符。观察单个修饰符的分布。这种共时趋势在历时性发展中也很明显：语料库数据显示，最近这种频率的增强加剧了这种现象，这主要发生在谓词中，并且形容词为-ed的分词（例如，感兴趣，害怕）也可以与他们在be之后经常与度数修饰词同时出现有关。最后，程度修饰和表语使用之间的联系，最近成为强大的修饰符子集（例如，所以，这个，那个）由于“大食堂”的建设（如衰落，这么好的一个主意）。从理论的角度来看，本文提出了一种基于使用情况的动态词类模型，其中使用频率在分类中发挥了作用。本文中研究的数据主要从基于用法的构造语法的角度进行讨论，并且根据更传统的语言构造语法网络模型和一些近期重叠词类的思想，对研究结果的理论意义进行了研究。