Rating: 
Summary: A Well-Written Reference to English Grammar
Review: As a teacher of English as a Foreign Language I use Michael Swan's book often. It is organized alphabetically by topic and provides clear explanations to various types of usage. Need to find out about the use of the subjunctive form in English or whether it is permitted to use they/them/their to refer to a single indefinite person? This reference can answer those as well as many other elementary or advanced questions that may come up. The only source of confusion I have found was his partial omitting the terms 0,1,2,3 and Mixed Conditional tenses, grouping these all instead under "if". Many students learn the conditional tenses using the 0-M system and find it quite handy and useful in learning the various structures and meanings. The author mentions types 1-3 on pages 245-6, and then goes on to insist quite correctly that there are many different structures for "if". However, he fails to mention the "0" and "M" conditionals, which would account for most of the rest (including conditional sentences that do not use "if"). In all this could be a rather minor irritant to at least some users of this book. To repeat my view, this is an excellent reference and one I recommend to my advanced students.
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written Reference to English Grammar
Review: As a teacher of English as a Foreign Language I use Michael Swan's book often. It is organized alphabetically by topic and provides clear explanations to various types of usage. Need to find out about the use of the subjunctive form in English or whether it is permitted to use they/them/their to refer to a single indefinite person? This reference can answer those as well as many other elementary or advanced questions that may come up. The only source of confusion I have found was his partial omitting the terms 0,1,2,3 and Mixed Conditional tenses, grouping these all instead under "if". Many students learn the conditional tenses using the 0-M system and find it quite handy and useful in learning the various structures and meanings. The author mentions types 1-3 on pages 245-6, and then goes on to insist quite correctly that there are many different structures for "if". However, he fails to mention the "0" and "M" conditionals, which would account for most of the rest (including conditional sentences that do not use "if"). In all this could be a rather minor irritant to at least some users of this book. To repeat my view, this is an excellent reference and one I recommend to my advanced students.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable Resource for English Teachers and Students
Review: As an English teacher, I can't live without this book. For many English speakers, it is difficult to explain some of the more esoteric points of grammar. In my experience, I've found that most grammar books are too basic, are filled with lots of unnecessary grammar exercises, or are difficult to use. This book, however, is easy to use and is created for the English teaching professional rather than for the English student. It's a breeze to check up on difficult points. All of the grammar points are listed in alphabetical order in an encyclopedic manner. In my teaching career, I've been asked many difficult questions that were difficult for me to answer. Every time, Swan's Practical English Usage came to my rescue. Every English teacher should have a copy of this one.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable Resource for English Teachers and Students
Review: As an English teacher, I can't live without this book. For many English speakers, it is difficult to explain some of the more esoteric points of grammar. In my experience, I've found that most grammar books are too basic, are filled with lots of unnecessary grammar exercises, or are difficult to use. This book, however, is easy to use and is created for the English teaching professional rather than for the English student. It's a breeze to check up on difficult points. All of the grammar points are listed in alphabetical order in an encyclopedic manner. In my teaching career, I've been asked many difficult questions that were difficult for me to answer. Every time, Swan's Practical English Usage came to my rescue. Every English teacher should have a copy of this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for "English as a foreign language students"
Review: I didn't read the book from the begining to the end, mainly I used it a reference when I got stuck with a word o prepositions (most of the time). My English teacher asked me to buy it because it would be very useful. I liked that every word mentioned comes with examples of its american, british, canadian or australian usage. It was convenient to me because I studied in a British English school, but I've only been to the USA, so I had trouble communicating because of the difference in vocabulary and spelling. This book helped me a lot. Laura Fernández
Rating:
Summary: an excellent reference book!
Review: I have a copy of Practical English Usage on my desk at school. I have other grammar reference books, such as Quirk and Greenbaum, at home, but this is by far the most useful for a teacher of English as a foreign language. Swan's style is to focus on the problem points of learners, and explain them and in simple, pithy and purposeful, everyday language to the extent that an advanced learner would be able to understand. As a teacher, you can often save yourself a lot of hassle simply by quoting from it. I like Practical English Usage because the examples are real, living English taken from the British National Corpus, or are realistic enough to be acceptable as such. Too many grammar books borrow their English from the past, or from the dialects of ivory-tower academics. This book redresses this imbalance. If you are not British, fear not, as another feature is its thorough coverage of the differences between British and American usage. (Other dialects are not covered.) If you are a teacher of English as a foreign language, or a smart student, you will not be disappointed with this Practical English Usage.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent reference book!
Review: I have a copy of Practical English Usage on my desk at school. I have other grammar reference books, such as Quirk and Greenbaum, at home, but this is by far the most useful for a teacher of English as a foreign language. Swan's style is to focus on the problem points of learners, and explain them and in simple, pithy and purposeful, everyday language to the extent that an advanced learner would be able to understand. As a teacher, you can often save yourself a lot of hassle simply by quoting from it. I like Practical English Usage because the examples are real, living English taken from the British National Corpus, or are realistic enough to be acceptable as such. Too many grammar books borrow their English from the past, or from the dialects of ivory-tower academics. This book redresses this imbalance. If you are not British, fear not, as another feature is its thorough coverage of the differences between British and American usage. (Other dialects are not covered.) If you are a teacher of English as a foreign language, or a smart student, you will not be disappointed with this Practical English Usage.
Rating:
Summary: Highly useful reference on English grammar
Review: I have used this book a lot while studying English and I think IT IS WORTH BUYING for everybody who regularly uses English language and wants to speak and write correctly. Practical English Usage contains hundreds of entries on English grammar, from elementary to advanced topics and some entries on other issues (pronunciation, usage of problematic words, style etc.). The entries are well selected with and well indexed, so I found answers for the vast majority of questions I have ever tried to look up. Keep in mind, however, that the book can be used primarily as a REFERENCE. It is NOT structured for systematic, regular study and it is too dry for that purpose. If you want to learn English grammar, I recommend that you get this book, together with Basic English Grammar by Eastwood and Mackin (with the exercises). Use Eastwood and Mackin's book for systematic study and complement it with Swan's book whenever you have any specific question. These books together cover ALL you'll ever need on English grammar (except if you need to be a professional in the field - such as a translator, university professor etc.).
Rating:
Summary: Great work!
Review: I purchased this book at the beginning of this year, and I have used it very often. I study English as a second language, whereby I have the tendency to get to the bottem of it. Up to now, the book has answered all of my guestions. The book is very well organized, and subjects are easy to find. Furthermore, it covers about everything you want to know about grammar and style. Among the enormous collection of books you find in the bookstore, this one is its money more than worth.
Rating:
Summary: The best reference book for English grammer
Review: If you are looking for a good reference book on English usage, look no further. Just buy this book and you will be glad that you did it.
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