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
