Customer Reviews

Essentials of English Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of English

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this book. This is a thin book so easy to carry and has almost everything that you need in your day to day work. The book is extremely handy and essential if you are writing essays or even letters. English is not my first language so sometimes I use it. To be honest everyday. I like the book. The other good thing is that it is succint and do not take you through 50 pages of example. Very practical book> But this is not for the ones who are majoring in Enlgish language and wants to write a thesis on literature. So please judge your purpose and then buy it

Overall I recommend the book but it does contain several glaring problems.

The first is trying to be politically correct by substituting "his or her" for "his." English is based in large part on the Romance languages, which are quite comforatble with applying gender to nouns. In English, the "generic noun" is masculine and so "his" should be used, not "his or hers." I do not propose that language should not evolve but not all advancements are necessarily progress.

The second is that in many examples, "I think" is substituted for "I believe". "To think" is to go through the process of reasoning. "To believe" is to have a specific conviction. If the context is that of dissenting with another's opinion, one does not think that someone is wrong, he believes that person is wrong.

Last is the incorret use of qualifiers. It is not "Chicago has a population of over 7.5 million;" it is "Chicago has a population of more than 7.5 million." "Over" is used to define a spatial location, as are "below", "beside", etc. "More" is used to define the relative status of one quantity versus another.

Again, this is a good reference but be aware it is does have problems of which you should be aware.

"Essentials of English Grammar" is a nice introduction to grammar for beginning writers. It begins by going over the basics of grammar and then eventually builds up to more complex constructions. Towards the end of the book, there is a short section on style. This gives beginning writers some tips on how to make their writing a little more professional. Finally, there is a useful section on words that are easily mistaken for each other. I found that section to be very useful even for advanced students. Basically this is a book for beginning writers. It would be a good reference for high schools students, college freshmen who haven't had much experience in writing, and students who are studying English as a second or foreign language. If you have lots of writing experience, you won't find anything new here. Give it as a gift to a high school student and their writing skills will improve if they read it.

A little unwieldy at times, but it is thorough and concise, easier for an English-speaking adult than for its possible needed audience. Useful but not thrilling.

As a beginner in the subject I found this book to be very helpful giving nice tips about grammar, usage, and style for the English language.

My order arrived on time and in the condition described by the seller. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

I found the book very useful for my kids, they were having a lot of trouble with grammar at school and this book gave them a new and plenty of fun way to learn.

It should say A Quick Guide To "Proper" English not "Good" English. Apparently the author of this book needs to study English Grammar.