Oxford Guide to English Grammar

Oxford Guide to English Grammar

Introduction

TheOxfordGuidetoEnglishGrammarisasystematicaccountofgrammatical
formsandthewaytheyareusedinstandardBritishEnglishtoday.Theemphasisis
onmeaningsandhowtheygovernthechoiceofgrammaticalpattern.
Thebookisthoroughinitscoveragebutpaysmostattentiontopointsthatareof
importancetointermediateandadvancedlearnersofEnglish,andtotheir
teachers.Itwillbefoundequallysuitablefo rquickreferencetodetailsandfo rthe
moreleisuredstudyofbroadgrammartopics.
Ausefulfeatureofthebookistheinclusionofexampletextsandconversations,
manyofthemauthentic,toshowhowgrammarisusedinconnectedwritingand
inspeech.
Languagechangesallthetime.Eventhoughgrammarchangesmoreslowlythan
vocabulary,itisnotasetofunalterablerules.Therearesometimesdisagreements
aboutwhatiscorrectEnglishandwhatisincorrect.'Incorrect'grammarisoften
usedininformalspeech.Doesthatmakeitacceptable?Wherethereisadifference
betweencommonusageandopinionsaboutcorrectness,Ihavepointedthisout.
Thisinformationisimportantfo rlearners.Insomesituationsitmaybesaferfo r
themtousetheformwhichistraditionallyseenascorrect.Theuseofacorrect
forminanunsuitablecontext,however,caninterferewithunderstandingjustas
muchasamistake.Tohelplearnerstouselanguagewhichisappropriatefo ra
givenoccasion,Ihavefrequentlymarkedusagesasformal,informal,literary
andsoon.

Howtousethisbook

Anyuserofareferencebookofthiskindwillrelyonaful landefficientindex,asis
providedintheOxfordGuide(pages404to446).Inaddition,thereisasummaryat
thebeginningofeachchapterwhichgivesabird'seyeview,withexamples,ofthe
grammarcoveredinthechapterasawholeandgivesreferencestotheindividual
sectionswhichfollow.

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