An Introduction to Functional Grammar

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Summary: A grammar that's about Meaning
Review: Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar, now in its revised and improved Second Edition, is the best book you can read if you want to understand how English grammar is a resource for making meaning. Most formal grammar is just about syntax -- how words get put together grammatically, with no consideration of how people use language to communicate a meaning. This book has been the basis for many of the most successful applications of linguistics to education, language teaching, and studies of culture, communication, mass media, politics, etc. It's a book to read, use, and keep.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be a stranger
Review: It often happens when you read an introduction into a linguistic theory, whichever linguistic theory, that you lose track somewhere halfway page 3 or so. The terminology that gets thrown at you is confusing and before you know it you decide that you are not a welcome visitor in this particular area of linguistics. That is one thing that will not happen to you when reading Halliday's Introduction into Systemtic Functional Grammar. The book is clear, well-written and provides a lot of examples which are analyzed in detail. With regard to the theory that is discussed in the book, one may feel compelled to attack the necessity of some of the concepts that Halliday has thought up; one may want to contest the definition of other concepts (especially the concept of Theme is heatedly debated), or one may want to vehemently disagree with their application (I certainly do at times). But when you are looking for a quick and clear introduction into this theory (for instance, because you would like to join the discussion on Theme), this is the book to get your hands on.