Customer Reviews

Grammar in Use Intermediate with Answers: Self-study Reference and Practice for Students of English

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Raymond Murphy's "Grammar in Use" series (Cambridge University Press) provides concise exercises, clear examples, a simple format, and a systematic approach to learning English grammar. It's almost ideal for self-study since each lesson (unit) can stand alone and unit answers can be easily found and understood.

Plus, the "Grammar in Use" books cost about half as much as the other "classsic" texts like Betty Azar's overrated and impractical "Fundamentals of English Grammar." Administrators and teachers, especially ones working with immigrants and refugees, should consider price and practicality when choosing texts.

Just compare "Grammar in Use" with Azar's "Fundamentals of English Grammar." Murphy's text uses 340 pages to explain esential grammar points while Azar takes almost 600 pages to overwhelm students with exceptions to rules. Murphy's book focuses on common expressions and everyday language; Azar's thick book offers the drill and kill approach to learning languages.

Granted, many ESL teachers have an almost religious faith in the Azar series. They can recycle their grammar lessons year after year. But the Azar series costs far too much, weighs too much, and contains far too many impractical exercises of limited practicality. ESL Teachers may find the Azar's grammar charts fascinating, but adult students will find Murphy's series helps them actually using English at work, school, home, and shopping. What is the goal, anyway?

Since immigrants and refugees don't need, want, or have the time to master these often silly grammar distinctions without a difference, I strongly recommend Cambridge University' "Grammar in Use" series. Don't busy adult students deserve an accessible, practical grammar text?

I don't usually like requiring grammar books for adult ESL classes. The desire to speak "correct" English can sometimes morph into a strange cult of some idealized English that one can't find spoken in American cities. Still, Murphy's clear exercises avoid this common pitfall by focusing on essential grammar points, using practical examples, and skipping over the peculiar oddities that mesmerize too many grammar fundamentalists. This affordable book lives up to its title and helps students learn English by using the language.

Finally, "Grammar In Use" stands out as the most student-friendly grammar series that I've seen in a decade of teaching English composition and ESL. Buy it.

As a teacher of ESL, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Murphy books as a grammar reference. The clear explanations and succint, usable exercises promote understanding and don't bog students down with less-than-useful detail. It works well for self-study and especially for homework exercises. Murphy might also be useful for the beginning teacher of ESL, who often is expected to teach grammar that he/she is unprepared to explain. Overall, the book does exactly what it sets out to do.

This book does *not* teach English the way academics say it ought to be spoken and written; it teaches English the way most people speak it. (For instance, it teaches students to write "None of them are. . ." instead of "None of them is. . .", a classic usage mistake very common among native speakers.) Whether this is good or bad depends on the goals of your students.

I have taught from this book for four years, but have never come to rely on it fully, because it is a bad fit for any student who is preparing for college in the U.S. The SAT Writing (and many other high-stakes exams) require *academically correct* grammar. So do most high school and college instructors.

Since absolute, academic correctness is not the primary goal of this book, it does not go into the detail of Azar's Fundamentals of Grammar. On the one hand, this makes it a less informative, less complete text. On the other hand, it's a much friendlier, easy-to-understand introduction.

I often teach a concept from this book first, and then, if necessary, I go over the same concept in Azar's Fundamentals of Grammar. However, that's an expensive option because it requires two textbooks. I would say that this book is your best bet *if* you are looking for an intermediate textbook geared toward "getting along" in the English language. However, if your students are aiming to excel in the U.S. education system, you should look elsewhere.

This is a great book for those who have exposed themselves in English speaking environment for quite a while and have got a basic English grammar knowledge, but always get confused by some "casual" grammar problems or something out of the expectations that you have learned from those "regular" grammar rules. In a word, this book rather focus on those "irregular"English grammar phenomenon that used by those native speakers in their everyday life.

For example, I had had big trouble of using or not using THE. And this book gives you a clear and complete explanation for all the cases involved. For sure, I could not master this right after reading this book, but when I get trouble, I know where to find my answer.

Every situation is well explained by words and examples. By doing the carefully chosen exercises, you can easily teach yourself at home ( as I have been doing).

I am a Chinese and I have been living in the United States for more than five years and I had learned basic grammar before I came to this country. I feel very grateful for having this book and wish those who got the similar puzzles as I did, have chance to meet this great book and enjoy it as I do.

I realy like to read this textbook.It will help me to know more new grammer from the English language.I would want to tell much thanks to the authors,for this nice textbook.I am so proud of you,thanks for everything which you write inside this book and to share to other people.I always want to study more new vocabulary and grammar too from the English,because I really liked to learn more.And it is good practise to know more new things from the English languadge too.I would want also to buy this book for me,because i need to use now here in the US.
God bless all of you!

I am an ESL teacher for adult students. This is the best and most concise and uncomplicated grammar book on the market. It is clear, with explanations on one page, and exercises on the facing page. I recommend it to anyone teaching English or learning English. R. Cameron San Diego

This is the best English grammar textbook I know. It is very clear and concise. It is perfect to learn and useful as a reference book. The exercices are related to everyday life situations, which is very helpful. If you want to improve your English, I also recommend The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Good luck!

I'M A SPANISH SPEAKER THAT WAS SEEKING FOR A BOOK THAT BEGINS ABOVE THE BEGINNERS LEVEL. THIS BOOK BEGINS WITH MORE COMPLEX GRAMMAR.

If you are an intermediate or advanced student and you feel you need reliable English grammar information and practice, you should buy this book.

If you are an ESL instructor and you are looking for materials that will help you answer the questions your students keep asking you, you owe it to yourself and your students to look at this book.

There is no better grammar practice book for upper-intermediate to advanced students of American English available than Grammar in Use.

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As a longtime ESL professional with many years of experience both in the USA and abroad, I have been working with various Cambridge University Press "In Use" titles since the beginning of my career. At present, I work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as an adult ESL instructor for Allegheny County's community-based adult program and I also do corporate ESL training on a contracted basis.

Grammar In Use is my standard grammar reference text for all upper-intermediate to advanced ESL groups working to learn English for general purposes. I ask practically all my private students at these levels to buy this book, or I buy it for them. The majority find that it is the best investment in their English language learning they have ever made.

The order of things in the English language teaching world today is that the majority of US-trained ESL instructors tend to use the Azar series for regular grammar supplementation theory and exercises, while British-trained instructors prefer the "In Use" titles. I've used both over the years. Another reviewer on this site, in an excellent technical review, has already outlined all my primary objections to the Azar series and touched on the main reasons why far too many US-based ESL instructors continue to rely on these titles as much as they do. It may seem strange that two professionals would explicitly mention the Azar titles in a negative context in reviews for another book, but I can only say in response to this question that I am very thankful it has been years since the last time I was asked to adopt the Azar books as set texts in an ESL class.

I only wish that I had had the chance to read something like this or had been able to use it to discuss grammar supplementation policies with some of the ESL managers I worked with in the earlier years of my own career, and that's why I've written and posted it here.

My children studied the basic version of Grammar in Use. As non-English speaking family, I am happy that our children are enrolled in GT classes or in a Magnet school. They have gotten 'A's in Reading and/or English. Now they are learning this version. Well organized expressions and rich examples are guiding them to the 'fast track'.