Fundamentals of English Grammar, Full Text

Rating:
Summary: The best book for teaching English grammars to foreigners...
Review: This book is exhaustive but it gets the job done for any student on a plateau. It should be used after a simpler book like Side by Side 3. The goal is to reinforce and consolidate the skills learned in the simpler communicative learning books. TESL/TEFL apologists for ESL students obviously have not integrated this book because their students are not ready for it yet. It is a social matter of lower-educated working adults or a motivated language learner. It is for immediate students and will polish their skills in general. Spoken language is not very directly correlated with reading and writing. If you can not speak well, then do a simpler book. Then practice, practice, practice...and do this book as you practice speaking only. You will move off the plateau in a few weeks to a couple of months. When you are finished, my experience with private students is profound. You are ready for advanced ESL classes in community college or local university. Advanced-level English is not for academic students, it is a bare minimum for the functional English literacy in this society. You'll still need spell check and grammar assistance, but you'll be so much more confident. You'll distinguish your language skills in spoken, reading and in your general everyday writing. You can't skip to near-native speaker with this book, and slang books alone are not a short cut. This is a time saver.

Rating:
Summary: Drill and Learn
Review: This book is exhaustive but it gets the job done for any student on a plateau. It should be used after a simpler book like Side by Side 3. The goal is to reinforce and consolidate the skills learned in the simpler communicative learning books. TESL/TEFL apologists for ESL students obviously have not integrated this book because their students are not ready for it yet. It is a social matter of lower-educated working adults or a motivated language learner. It is for immediate students and will polish their skills in general. Spoken language is not very directly correlated with reading and writing. If you can not speak well, then do a simpler book. Then practice, practice, practice...and do this book as you practice speaking only. You will move off the plateau in a few weeks to a couple of months. When you are finished, my experience with private students is profound. You are ready for advanced ESL classes in community college or local university. Advanced-level English is not for academic students, it is a bare minimum for the functional English literacy in this society. You'll still need spell check and grammar assistance, but you'll be so much more confident. You'll distinguish your language skills in spoken, reading and in your general everyday writing. You can't skip to near-native speaker with this book, and slang books alone are not a short cut. This is a time saver.

Rating:
Summary: contingent on appropriate use
Review: This is not a good book if you are a student just beginning to learn English. For heaven's sake, don't buy this as a textbook unless the student for whom it is intended is very academic! However, it is an excellent resource for teachers, especially native English speakers. We don't know our own grammar from a hole in the ground.
I used the edition of this with the blue cover. It has the most wonderful diagrams I've ever seen showing how English verb tenses work. I can't find a picture of a blue one or I'd buy it again.

Rating:
Summary: contingent on appropriate use
Review: This is not a good book if you are a student just beginning to learn English. For heaven's sake, don't buy this as a textbook unless the student for whom it is intended is very academic! However, it is an excellent resource for teachers, especially native English speakers. We don't know our own grammar from a hole in the ground.
I used the edition of this with the blue cover. It has the most wonderful diagrams I've ever seen showing how English verb tenses work. I can't find a picture of a blue one or I'd buy it again.