Doing Grammar [Paperback]

Max Morenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0195138406 | ISBN-13: 978-0195138405 | Edition: 3

This practical and compact guide is invaluable for students in advanced grammar courses and essential for all readers seeking to discover how the English language works. The author employs insights from contemporary linguistic theories and builds them into a coherent system firmly rooted in traditional models. Focusing on the idea that students learn grammar by actually "doing grammar," he provides down-to-earth explanations about the composition of English sentences, illustrating them at every step with diagrams and other visual models. The author constructs a sensible, even hospitable, approach to grammar. Doing Grammar, 3/e , features real, provocative, and intelligent sentences as examples and exercises. This new edition offers expanded coverage of parts of speech, using both traditional and descriptive explanations to provide definitions of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. It also features updated sentence exercises, clear diagrams, and an appendix containing answers to half the exercises.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I love it and the students love it! We especially like the 50 practice sentences at the end of each chapter. A good practical approach to syntactic analysis."--Lori P. Altmann, Georgia State University

"At last, a formal grammar book useful in my advanced grammar class. It can be used as a workbook as well as a handbook--concise, clear, and coherent. I will adopt."--Harvey Solganick, Missouri Baptist College

"A unique, discovery-based approach."--Ben Rafoth, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

"An excellent book with clear, direct explanations of difficult topics. I especially like the exercises for students. I especially like the exercises for students. Glaser's discussion of 'deadwood' in student writing is one of my favorite parts of the book."--Mason Smith, Eastern Kentucky University

"This second edition makes a good book even better. It has style and substance and helps students to make sense of the structure of the language they speak and write."--John F. Savage, Boston College

"A superb textbook for helping students to understand the syntactic structure of English. It goes beyond fundamentals to reveal unsolved problems and interesting dilemmas where readers can exercise their own intuitive knowledge and critical thinking."--Ben Rafoth, Indiana University of Pennsylvania --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Max Morenberg is at Miami University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (January 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195138406
• ISBN-13: 978-0195138405
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate introduction, but a few problems, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Doing Grammar (Paperback)

Morenberg sets out to show you English grammar the way it really works, and not as a bunch of mindless, unconnected rules. Its real strength is that it starts from a fairly basic level (it helps to understand basic parts of speech, but that's all you really need), and by the end gives you the tools to analyze most sentences in the real world with a scheme that sticks generally to traditional terms, although it has been updated with more recent insights from linguistics. The coverage of the more complex structures is, to my mind, invaluable, since syntactic understanding becomes truly useful when it can help real-world writing problems, and that means being able to cope with any structure that might come your way. Morenberg's treatment of tense alone sets it far above traditional grammars without delving into the formidable technical apparatus of linguistic theory. I've used the 2nd edition of this book for several years to teach grammar to future teachers, and it has worked well, but the more I teach it, the more I have problems with some of Morenberg's presentations. One of his major themes in the book, is the importance of constituency (the way words, phrases, etc. work together as units). This is a key concept in syntax, and his stress on this point is one of the book's strengths. But he doesn't always follow his own principles. His treatment of the "main verb," for example follows the (flawed) understanding of traditional grammar, even when some of his own example sentences make it clear that what he treats as a constituent does not, in fact, function as a unit. In a few other places, e.g., his treatment of gerunds, he adds what seem to be needless complexities without fully explaining the motivation. If he had borrowed a few more ideas from contemporary linguistics, his presentation could have been more consistent. The third edition doesn't touch these problems, but does add fuller explanation to many other points, as well as answers to fully half the exercises. Despite my reservations, which are minor, this remains the best book I know of for its purpose. The explanations and exercises suit the book for use in self-study.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn Max Morenberg's grammar & double your writing options, October 3, 2001

By 

Shawn Berry (Redwood City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doing Grammar (Paperback)

To any fellow grammar atheists:

I hated grammar as a kid. I was taught grammar by traditionalists in a manner reminiscent of morality lessons. And I was the grammar atheist. The results were ugly.

And so I expected grade school to end my grammar career.

But then, this summer, I decided to apply to Ph.D. programs in business and this requires taking the GMAT. So I registered for the test, took a pretest, and 80% of my errors were - you guessed it - grammar errors.

So I wandered through my local Border's grammar section and I found one book that looked a little different - blue, and written by a guy named Max. So I sat down with my cappuccino and inside Max's book I found a grammarian with a mathematical mind. He said screw trying to memorize grammar; instead, understand grammar as the system by which the English language operates.

Max said that you know twice the grammar that you think you do. If you are a native speaker, all you really need to add to your current knowledge is the system by which grammar works. And so I have learned Max's system and I recommend it to you.

If that's sufficient for you to add 'Doing Grammar' to your cart, great. But there's more.

Eight weeks after that purchase, I got a perfect 800 score on the GMAT. And I now teach other people how to improve their GMAT scores (if you live in the Palo Alto CA area, email me for details).

But more important than my GMAT score is that I am now cognizant of twice as many options in my writing. It's said that H.L. Mencken learned the English language inside out to be acutely aware of his options. Well, I'm on my way to understanding my options too. Thanks Max.

Shawn Berry
[e-mail]

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this if you want to know more than the parts of speech., April 23, 2002

By 

John P. (Kennett Square, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doing Grammar (Paperback)

*Doing Grammar* is an excellent instructional manual for anyone who already knows the basic differences between nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc., and really wants to understand how sentences are put together (and how to take them apart). Although it's presented in textbook format, with exercises at the end of each chapter, don't let that turn you off. The writing is clear and unpretentious (with a fair number of typos, however), and the learning progresses at a satisfyingly fast rate. Accessible, intelligent, and rewarding.