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A Descriptive Grammar of English: Modern English grammar by example (Linguapress English) [Print Replica] Kindle Edition

by Andrew Rossiter (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 5 ratings
Revised and updated version - 2023
  • Recommended in IATEFL Voices
    The magazine of the International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
    Andrew Rossiter’s A Descriptive Grammar of English by Example should be included on your list of reference materials. It reviews language as it is not only written but also spoken, and will cater for learners from upper-intermediate to advanced levels.... For the invested student, this book is a huge step forward, and having the English language laid out in such a user-friendly approach is a welcome treat for non-native teachers and learners.
  • Reviewed in TESOLANZ bulletin, New Zealand."All good useful stuff and made very user friendly with clear formatting and colour coding. ... a useful, compact grammar reference, especially for those who want to improve their confidence in teaching grammar."
  • Reviewed in EFL Magazine. "This is a useful reference book to have on hand when planning for and teaching grammar lessons. The clarity of explanations and wealth of examples, alongside helpful visual keys, provide both new and experienced teachers with something easy to dip into, regardless of the language level they are teaching."
  • Reviewed in ELTAF Online bulletin, Germany. This book is ... very extensive without being too deep or analytical. The author seems to have a great understanding of many of the challenges that teachers and learners have, and tries to combat these challenges to make the English language more accessible for all."
This is a compact pedagogical reference Grammar of English for the 2020s, thorough, complete, original, clearly explained and accessible to all. It covers in detail all the essential points of English grammar, with abundant and carefully chosen examples and clear explanations, avoiding the confusing jargon that is common to many books on English grammar.

Approaching grammar as a semantic system rather than from the more technical morphosyntaxic approach currently favoured in the world of linguistics, this book not only takes the mystery out of English grammar but also answers questions that students (and teachers) ask, providing explanations that teachers can use and students can understand. It pays particular attention to the tricky questions that often baffle speakers of other languages, and even native speakers, such as the use of articles and determiners, or of conjunctions and connectors, or when to use an 's or an of for possession, which past tense to use, and other sometimes confusing points.
As a descriptive and pedagogical grammar, it shows by example how English is used today, and explains the principles or rules that define this usage. Descriptive grammar does not mean grammar without rules, but grammar with rules that reflect widely accepted contemporary usage. While these rules are largely based on the norms of written English, they apply too to spoken English, and this book points out significant differences where they exist.

A Descriptive Grammar of English is designed to cater specifically to the needs of teachers and students in the real life situations of school, university, home study or language classes; crucially, it sets out to demonstrate how simple the underlying rules of basic English grammar really are, not to show how complicated they can be.
It provides clear explanations of the many aspects of English grammar that native speakers seem to master intuitively, but are at a loss to explain. How is it that native speakers seem to know by intuition how to put adjectives in the right order? What’s the difference between couldn’t have and wasn’t able to, and so on?

Coherently organised, and with a detailed table of contents, it is a very useful handbook for teachers and students from B1 level up.
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  1. Part of series
    Linguapress English
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    August 23, 2023
  4. File size
    5.0 MB
  5. Page Flip
    Not Enabled
  6. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  7. Enhanced typesetting
    Not Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

  • Reviewed in VOICES the Journal of the IATEFL 2022
    Andrew Rossiter's     A Descriptive Grammar of English by Example should be included on your list of reference material. It reviews language as it is not only written but also spoken, and will cater for learners from upper-intermediate to advanced levels.The format presented is user-friendly, and unveils the mysteries behind how grammatical features are applied. For the invested student, this book is a huge step forward, and having the English language laid out in such a user-friendly approach is a welcome treat for non-native teachers and learners.
  • .. Explanations are clear and accessible, even to long-time professionals who feel the need for further support in sharing the information with both colleagues and learners. And while the book does not offer activities for practice, you will probably want to add it to your resource library.
  • Reviewed in OPEN! Magazine (Estonian English teachers association) 2023
    The feedback from students is rather positive, and ... (A Descriptive Grammar of English) should belong as a handbook in every EFL teacher's collection.
  • Reviewed in TESOLANZ newsletter, New Zealand 2021
    All good useful stuff and made very user friendly with clear formatting and colour coding. In fact, this is one of the greatest strengths of this publication. It is laid out and colour-coded very effectively, making it easy and quick to reference and cross reference examples. In addition, the reader can easily identify exceptions to rules and see additional notes and warnings about potentially confusing structures.
    These features all add up to make it a useful, compact grammar reference, especially for new teachers and those who want to improve their confidence in teaching grammar.
  • Reviewed in ELTAF Online bulletin, Germany 2021
    This book ... is very extensive without being too deep or analytical. The author seems to have a great understanding of many of the challenges that teachers and learners have, and tries to combat these challenges to make the English language more accessible for all of us.

About the Author

Andrew Rossiter was for many years chair of the department of Applied Languages at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, France. He spent most of his career teaching in universities in France, and has been guest lecturer at universities elsewhere in Europe. This title is the fruit of over thirty years of teaching English, giving the author a broad-ranging insight into the difficulties of the English language and English grammar, as perceived by speakers of other languages as well as by native English speakers.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CGJ6JPQ6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Linguapress; 2nd edition (August 23, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 23, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.0 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Format ‏ : ‎ Print Replica
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

About the author

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Andrew Rossiter

Andrew Rossiter

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Former head of Applied Languages at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, Andrew Rossiter has a long experience teaching English language, grammar and translation, as well as British area studies, to graduate and postgraduate students of English. He was founding editor and a regular contributor to the Linguapress language-learning newsmagazines which were for over twenty years widely used in EFL classes and schools across Europe. Under the European Erasmus programme, he was guest lecturer in Spain at the universities of Granada, Almeria and Caceres and in Italy at the university of L'Aquila.

Andrew Rossiter holds an honours MA in languages from the University of Edinburgh, a degree in applied linguistics and a D.Lett in literature.

He is now enjoying an active retirement, doing some of the research, writing, reading and website development he did not have time for while running a large interdisciplinary university department.

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  • Stuart
    3.0 out of 5 stars Poorly typeset and proofread
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I have no issue with the book's context exactly, but given its price and subject matter I would expect minimal to no spelling and typesetting errors. Simple typos like "coulour" and "ngative" could be trivially solved with minimal effort and the most basic spell checker, putting aside the question of a proper proofreading. The presence of typos on the first pages (to say nothing of the rest of the book) just makes me feel like a mug for buying this book before I've even begun to get into it.
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