Greenbaum_1996__The_Oxford_English_Grammar -pdf [a0b10c110]

The Oxford English Grammar



Written by one of the world's leading grammarians, The Oxford English Grammar is an authoritative review of and topic reference for English grammar.



Opening with an outline of national, regional, and social variation in English, the book details descriptive and prescriptive approaches and attitudes to English among both native and non-native speakers. This is followed by an account of the development of grammar, and a review of modern approaches to this complex subject. The central section of the book is a presentation of current English grammar at sentence, clause, phrase, and word level; with the last chapters covering grammar in relation to discourse, word-formation, lexis, pronunciation and intonation, punctuation, and spelling. A full index is provided, and examples of usage are drawn from a wide range of sources, including use of the new international Corpus of English at University College London. Written in a readable and absorbing style, The Oxford English Grammar is an essential reference for English speakers around the world.



Product Details



Language: English

ISBN-10: 0198612508

ISBN-13: 978-0198612506



About the Author



Sidney Greenbaum is director of the Survey of English Usage at University College London where he was for seven years Quain Professor of English Language and Literature. He is also an associate editor of The Oxford Companion to the English Language.



Reviews



As the other reviewer has said, this isn't a usage guide. It is partly a reference grammar, but also partly a textbook on the whole English language. Indeed, the title may be misleading, because most self-proclaimed grammars of English limit themselves to sentence-level syntax and a bit of morphology (inflections and such). Greenbaum includes chapters on phonology (the sounds of language) and morphology (word structure), and discourse (grammatical structure above the level of single sentences).

The material here is the most accurate you will find in a book directed at a general (non-linguistic) audience, and is essentially a condensed version of the material in *A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language*, of which Greenbaum was a co-author, and which remains the best one-volume reference grammar of English. It is a sad fact that most grammar books marketed to a general audience perpetuate factual inaccuracies about English grammar. Greenbaum gives you English the way it really works, without descending into the complexities of contemporary linguistic theory.



I read this book from front to back. It is a thorough treatment of English grammar. For those looking for a usage guide- do not look here. It would probably serve as a good reference book for writers, teachers and non-linguistic scholars who would appreciate the abundance of examples given. For the average reader, they will tire of the enumeration of boring, useless-to-most-people aspects of grammar. On the other hand, if you're just curious about grammar, as I was, it can be very educational.



This grammar book couldn't be better. I say for sure this book is one of top-notch publications on English grammar.

As I first opened pages of the book,I was so impressed by the concise,brief and right-to -the point explanations about English syntax and semantics.In fact this book has given me a brand-new aspect of English grammar which is well arranged in such a way as has enabled me to further understand English grammatical system beyond what I've learned in he past including those days such as my junior and high school days. In Japan English was used to have been taught first in early junior high school days as one of knowlegeable skills for taking exams for colleges and universities.

This type of old fashioned study of English grammar does not deepen the real important concept of the grammar.

It's necessary to know the sentence structure thru grammatical study but what's more important is how the study of grammar teach you human psychological and psychiatric mood of hearts and minds. Ultimately grammatical study is an investication into human minds. Oxford English Grammer enlightens you on how you look at English grammar.