A Student's Introduction to English Grammar

A new edition of the ground-breaking undergraduate textbook on modern Standard English grammar, now completely rewritten and updated.

Rodney Huddleston (Author), Geoffrey K. Pullum (Author), Brett Reynolds (Author)

9781009088015, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 November 2021

418 pages
24.6 x 19.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.93 kg

'A good grammar textbook provides readers with the what, how and why and strives to boost students' efficacy in understanding and application of grammar across different contexts. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar achieves these goals by providing learners with an active language-learning experience. Content, commentary and practice engage students in not only building the knowledge they need to understand grammar but also in facilitating an investigation into best practices in light of an ever-changing language.' Rachel Smydra, Oakland University

A new edition of a successful undergraduate textbook on contemporary international Standard English grammar, based on Huddleston and Pullum's earlier award-winning work, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002). The analyses defended there are outlined here more briefly, in an engagingly accessible and informal style. Errors of the older tradition of English grammar are noted and corrected, and the excesses of prescriptive usage manuals are firmly rebutted in specially highlighted notes that explain what older authorities have called 'incorrect' and show why those authorities are mistaken. Intended for students in colleges or universities who have little or no background in grammar or linguistics, this teaching resource contains numerous exercises and online resources suitable for any course on the structure of English in either linguistics or English departments. A thoroughly modern undergraduate textbook, rewritten in an easy-to-read conversational style with a minimum of technical and theoretical terminology.

Preface for the student
Preface for the instructor
1. Introduction
2. Overview of the book
3. Verbs and verb phrases
4. Complements in clauses
5. Nouns and determinatives
6. Adjectives and adverbs
7. Prepositions and particles
8. Adjuncts: modifiers and supplements
9. Negation
10. Clause type
11. Subordinate clauses
12. Relative constructions
13. Comparatives and superlatives
14. Non-finite clauses
15. Coordinations
16. Information structure
Index.

Subject Areas: ELT grammar, vocabulary & pronunciation [ELG], Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Usage & grammar guides [CBG]