The Article Book: Practice toward Mastering a, an, and the [Paperback]

Tom Cole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0472086391 | ISBN-13: 978-0472086399 | Edition: Revised Edition

A comprehensive guide and workbook for improving ESL/EFL students' understanding of English articles, The Article Book can be used as either a supplement to any ESL/EFL core text or as a self-study tool for intermediate through advanced learners. Cole involves students in "learning by doing" through an integrated approach to skill acquisition that includes other grammar structures, reading, vocabulary, and speaking.
Each chapter of the book is organized into teachable units or lessons and includes presentation of a grammatical rule with examples, exercises, quizzes, and a comprehensive test. While the fifty rules (and fifteen exceptions) are taught to provide a logical framework for the text and serve as a handy reference, students will learn through guided practice instead of memorization.
Fish Trek is a well-designed interactive computer game designed specifically to help teach English article usage. It offers six game levels, ten levels of difficulty, and a comprehensive practice session. While Fish Trek software supports The Article Book, the book and the software can be used separately.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This comprehensive guide and workbook for improving students' understanding of English articles, first teaches the most common elements of article use and then the more advanced use of articles Fish Trek: An Adventure in Articles(see p. 147)is feature-laden, arcade-style MAC software that supports The Article Book, or the text can be used alone. Games A-J correspond to Parts A-J in the book. The Article Book; -puts articles in real contexts -reinforces many intermediate grammar objectives -provides a variety of activities and extensive reading at an intermediate level -includes quizzes, tests and an answer key -is supported by software --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press/ESL; Revised Edition edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472086391
• ISBN-13: 978-0472086399
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helful for Asian ESL students, March 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Article Book: Practice Toward Mastering - a, an, and the (Paperback)

Using the right English article is the most challenging part of the English language for those Asian students whose native languages do not exercise articles as distinctivey as the English does. (Plural/singular words is the next hardest part.) Even for those who have achieved considerable skills in English as the second language confess a trouble with articles. This book does a great job removing the haze in association with the use of articles. As a Korean student, I have been looking for a book like this for years. I sincerely thank the author for having introduced this book although I wish he had covered more extensively with this subject in this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but too many unnatural example sentences., December 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Article Book: Practice Toward Mastering - a, an, and the (Paperback)

As far as I'm aware, this is the only book of its type. As such it is a valuable tool for the student trying to improve his/her ability with articles. However, too many of the example sentences used in the book are decidedly unnatural. Also, some of the rules are too dogmatic - English is rather more flexible than the author allows. Finally, the book has a number of misprints and errors. Not enough to seriously undermine the text, but enough to make you wary.

To sum up, a reasonable text, which covers most of the ground. Some updated examples and a greater attention to detail would help greatly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it is very helpful, February 22, 2008

By 

Happy "Sunshine" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Article Book: Practice toward Mastering a, an, and the (Paperback)

I am a Chinese and have learned English for almost 20 years. I am OK with most English grammars, but still I have a lot of trouble with articles. I found this book is very helpful. Although it did not explain why, it provides a lot of useful rules and the exercises corresponding to the rules are very helpful. I recommend this book.