PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR 2ND EDITION

A.J. Thomson, A.V. Martinet

A PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR 2ND EDITION

A classic grammar reference with clear explanations of grammatical structures and forms.

London 1977

 273 pages

This book deals with the construction of English from elementary to advanced level and is intended for intermediate and advanced students of English as a foreign language. Though written chiefly for adults it is suitable also for senior forms in schools. It is hoped also that teachers of English as a foreign language may find it useful as a reference book.

Special features of the book are:

1 A very comprehensive index, which should make this Grammar easy to use
as a book of reference. 

2 A very careful and detailed treatment of those points which students of English
find particularly difficult, e.g. auxiliary verbs, the use of the present perfect
and simple past tenses, the difference between certain similar words such as
*during' and 'for', &c. 

3 A new treatment of the future. 

4 Indication where necessary of the difference between ordinary conversational usage and strict grammatical form.

5 A list of over 300 of the more important of the verb + preposition/adverb combinations (e.g. give up, take off, &c.). 

6 A chapter on spelling rules. 

7 The use of the simplest possible English for all explanations so as to present the minimum difficulty to students who have not yet learned to read English easily. 

8 Copious examples in good modern English. Those using this Grammar as a textbook are warned that it is not a graded course, and that the chapters are not presented in order of difficulty. Difficult sections may therefore be met with in any part of the book, and intermediate students may prefer to omit these on the first reading. It is not, of course, necessary to study the chapters in the order given.

There are six booklets of exercises based on this grammar. The exercises are graded and can be had with or without key. Certain sections, e.g. the conditional, the gerund, the passive, participles and indirect speech, have been xpanded so as to present a clearer and more compre­hensive picture of each structure. Various other additions have also been made which we hope will be of assistance to teachers and students using this book. The paragraph structure of the first edition has been retained as far as possible.

Contents

1 Articles   1-5                                                                          1

the indefinite article the definite article

2 Nouns   6-11                                                                          7

kinds

gender

plurals

cases

the possessive case

3 Adjectives   12-19                                                                12

kinds agreement position comparison adjectives of quality

4 Adjectives and Pronouns   20-30                                        16

demonstrative distributive quantitative a and one, some and any, no and none, many and much, little and few

5 Interrogatives   31-6                                                           21

adjectives and pronouns

who?, whom?, whose?

what? and which? adverbs why?, how?, &c.

6 Possessive Adjectives, Personal and                                   25

Other Pronouns   37-48

possessive adjectives and pronouns

personal pronouns

it

one

reflexive and emphasizing pronouns

so and not

7 Relative Pronouns   49-62                                                      31

in defining relative clauses, who, whom, whose, which, that in non-defining relative clauses, who, whom, whose, which relative adverbs, when, where, why

8 Adverbs   63-76                                                                     38

kinds form

comparison position of adverbs

of manner

of place

of time

of frequency

of degree fairly and rather quite much hardly, barely, and scarcely

9 Prepositions   77-90                                                               46

Omission of to and for before indirect objects some useful prepositions pairs of prepositions easily confused gerunds after prepositions prepositions used as adverbs

10 Conjunctions   91-5                                                               53

though/although, nevertheless, however, in spite of like and as for and because both, either, neither, nor and so when, as, and while

11 Introduction to Verbs   96-108                                            57

ordinary verbs, tense formation auxiliary verbs

general rules

general conversational use

12 The Auxiliaries 'Be' and 'Have'   109-20                           64

be in the formation of tenses the be + infinitive construction be as an ordinary verb

there is/there are

it is/ there is

have in the formation of tenses have expressing obligation got used with have

the have -f object -f past participle construction have as an ordinary verb meaning 'possess', Sec.

13 The Auxiliaries 'Do', 'May', and 'Can' 121-33                  73

do may

expressing permission may/might expressing possibility can

expressing permission expressing possibility expressing ability can/am able, could/was able

14 'Must','Have to', and'Need'   134-53                                  82

positive obligation negative obligation absence of obligation deduction (must and can)

15 The Auxiliaries 'Ought', 'Dare', and 'Used'    154-9          89

16 The Present Tenses   160-71                                               93

the present continuous

verbs not normally used in continuous form

the simple present tense

17 The Past and Perfect Tenses   172-92                               100

the simple past

the past continuous

the present perfect

the present perfect continuous

the past perfect

the past perfect continuous

18 The Future   193-210                                                           118

expressed by: the simple present the present continuous the going to form the future tense future with intention

the going to form and will + infinitive compared the future continuous the future perfect

19 Sequence of Tenses   211-12                                              129

20 The Conditional   213-23                                                    130

the present conditional the perfect conditional conditional sentences

21 Other Uses of •Will', 'Would'/ShalT, and 'Should'  [zasłonięte]224-368 will

for invitations for requests for commands for habits

for obstinate insistence introducing an assumption would

used with like/care, rather and sooner for polite requests

shall I/we? in requests for orders or advice shall with second and third persons

to express a command should

to express obligation

that. .. should used after certain verbs

22 The Infinitive   237-51     147

verbs followed by the infinitive

verbs followed by the infinitive without to

other uses of the infinitive

the infinitive as subject

the perfect infinitive

23 The Gerund   252-62                                                           158

as subject

after prepositions

after certain verbs

verbs followed by either gerund or infinitive

ing form after verbs of sensation

possessives or accusatives with gerunds

the perfect gerund

the passive gerund

24 The Participles   263-7                                                        166

tne present participle the past participle

25 The Imperative   268-9                                                        170

26 The Subjunctive   270-2                                                      171

27 The Passive Voice   273-5                                                  174

28 Reported Speech 276-87                                                     178

statements

questions

commands

other ways of expressing indirect commands

mixed types of sentences in reported speech

say, ask and tell

must and needn't

could

29 Clauses of Purpose, Comparison, Reason, Time, Result, and Concession   288-95          194

30 List of Irregular Verbs   296                                                201