Last update:
8 September 2010
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An Introduction to the Grammar of EnglishRevised edition
2010. xxi, 232 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound
– In stock
978 90 272 3270 0 / EUR 105.00 / USD 158.00
Paperback
– In stock
e-Book
– Available from e-book platforms
It has been eight years since An Introduction to the Grammar of English was first published. The second edition is completely revised and greatly expanded, especially where texts, example sentences, exercises, and cartoons are concerned. It continues to provide a very lively and clearly written textbook. The book introduces basic concepts of grammar in a format which inspires the reader to use linguistic arguments. The style of the book is engaging and examples from poetry, jokes, and puns illustrate grammatical concepts. The focus is on syntactic analysis and evidence. However, special topic sections contribute sociolinguistic and historical reasons behind prescriptive rules such as the bans on split infinitives, dangling participles, and preposition stranding. The book is written for undergraduate students and structured for a semester-long course. It provides exercises, keys to those exercises, and sample exams. It also includes a comprehensive glossary. A basic website will be kept up at http://www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/grammar.htm.
Table of contents
“What the critics said of the first edition:”
“This is a book that is geared towards students who will not take many linguistics classes and who need a practical introduction to analyzing English sentences. What makes this book stand out are the author's conscious choices to keep the book student-friendly without oversimplifying the material that is discussed. [...] Van Gelderen's focused contribution to the textbook shelf for English grammar classes is highly welcome. It balances linguistic argumentation and practical answers in a student-friendly manner and draws a clear line between what can be achieved in a one-semester introductory class and what should be left to further exploration.”
“Another student-friendly element are the exercises throughout the book, which are generally followed by model answers. The point of the model answers is to provide feedback to the students. There is no implication that there is only one acceptable answer to a question. Students will also like the ‘special topics’ despite all affirmative nods to a descriptive approach they still expect a grammar class to tell them ‘what is right’, or at least `why some people think that some things are right and others are not’.”
Subject classification |
Linguistics