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Rating: Summary: What a grammar book should be Review: 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. My one complaint about the book is not about its content but about its production quality. My copy, at least, is printed on cheap paper and the few graphics are not the sharpest. I expect more from a $45 book.
Rating: Summary: Thorough treatment of English Grammar. Not a usage guide. Review: 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 otherhand, if you're just curious about grammar, as I was, it can be very educational.
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