Foundations: Theory, terminology and methodology
Approaching shell nouns
The term shell noun
Defining shell nouns and shell-content complexes in functional terms
A brief note on the theoretical stance
The links between shell nouns and contents
Triggering co-interpretation
Lexico-grammatical patterns of shell-noun uses
From identity of reference to experiential identity
The semantic contributions of different types of complements: a survey of the evidence from verbal complementation
Basic functions of shell-noun typical patterns
The systematic investigation of shell nouns
The From-Corpus-to-Cognition Principle
Data retrieval
Cleaning up the data
Systematic misses of the corpus inquiry
A survey of the results of the corpus inquiry
Semantic prerequisites
Abstractness
Extensional abstractness and classes of abstract entities
Stylistic abstractness and grammatical metaphor
Unspecificity and structure-inherent semantic gaps
The use of shell nouns
Describing shell-noun uses
Degrees of typicality
Explaining the meanings of shell-noun uses: features and frames
Factual uses
Neutral uses
Causal uses
Evidential uses
Comparative uses
Partitive uses
Attitudinal factual uses
Linguistic uses
Propositional uses
Illocutionary uses
Assertive uses
Rogative uses
Directive uses
Commissive uses
Expressive uses
Mental uses
Conceptual uses
Psychological-state uses
Creditive uses
Dubitative uses
Volitional uses.