English Grammar: Understanding the Basics

by Evelyn P. Altenberg, Robert M. Vago

This text is designed to help readers learn about English grammar in as simple and straightforward a way as possible. The authors use a friendly and encouraging tone and easy to understand language with a minimum of terminology, helping readers to overcome "grammar phobia." The book can be used alone or as part of a course. It assumes no prior knowledge of grammar. Using a workbook approach, the present information in small steps, with objective techniques to help readers apply new concepts. Numerous exercises, with answers, allow readers to test themselves after information is presented. "Quick Tips" provide convenient "tricks" to help readers master the material and also highlight the main concepts in each lesson. Short sections called "To Enhance Your Understanding" are for readers who are interested in more than basic information. Overall, the text provides readers with an important learning experience as well as a useful reference book.

Resources within the text: * numerous exercises with answers allow readers to test themselves after new information is presented; exercises gradually incorporate more knowledge while building on prior information; * "Quick Tips" that help mastery of the material and highlight the main points provide "tricks" to help readers master the material and help readers focus on the main points of each lesson; * "To Enhance Your Understanding" sections for readers who want more than the basics provide further information for readers interested in more than the basics; can be skipped by beginners; * an extensive glossary for easy reference; * answers to the "Getting Started" section of each exercise.

Resources on the companion website: *Table of Contents: provides readers with an overview of the contents; *searchable index: allows readers to look for specific information; *sample lesson *review exercises for each unit, with answers (17 review exercises, each with ten items) allow readers to review and further monitor their progress; *answers to the "More Practice" section of each exercise; *additional exercises, with answers, available only to instructors, for use as homework and/or tests.

286 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2006

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to use this as a textbook for my Structure of Modern English course. Good book for someone who knows little about grammar or do not speak English as a first language but mostly useless for those, who like me, learned all this in elementary school. Honestly, I have to question how people get into college not knowing any of the stuff in this book. My instructor even said the course used to be a lot more complex but too many students came into college not knowing even the basics so its bascially been dumbed down. Obviously, our education system is failing somewhere.

[Sebah Al-Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginner. Questions/exercises. Summarized set of rules.

Nouns. Verbs. Determiners. Adjectives. Prepositions.
Conjunctions. Adverbs. Pronouns. Phrases.

[Kokie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and understandable. I read (and worked through) this for a college class, but I have come back to when teaching to refresh myself and my examples for students.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The high rating for this book is not so much because it's a riveting read, but more for its usefulness as a text for beginners to English grammar. I used it as a textbook for a grammar class and it was by far the easiest to understand of the books we had to choose from.

Each section has a set of exercises. These seemed too easy at first when we were looking at the first word classes ('Underline the nouns in the following sentences.') but as the concepts got more complex, it became more useful to have so many examples and exercises.

Useful book.

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