0
Blanche Fleur Posted 20 years ago
Linguistics Studies

A good book on grammar

I have desperately been looking for a good book on grammar. I don not mean the practical grammar in use, but a book on grammar as an element of the linguistic system. It should contain topics like:

  1. syntactic units

  2. syntactic relations

  3. syntactic functions

  4. verb phrases

  5. morphological categories

  6. noun phrase

  7. etc.
I have gotten many book recommendations on this topic, but I have not been satisfied, because I do not know which one is the best. Some of the recommendations are:

  1. Sidney Greenbaum: An Introduction to English Grammar, Longman

  2. S. Greenbaum / R. Quirk: A Student's Grammar of the English Language, Longman
I am absolutely not sure which one I should buy and which one I should leave in the book store. Maybe you could help me with this question.

Thank you beforehand
  

Top answer

Hi, First of all, what do you mean by 'grammar'? Do you mean the 'status of mind (ie. an innate set of phonological and syntactic rules) which enables speaker of a language to interpret and generate speech "of her language"', or do you refer to 'a set of rules generalised by grammarians as to how the sentences of a particular language is formed'?

— Randy_Tam

  • Hi, First of all, what do you mean by 'grammar'?
  • Do you mean the 'status of mind (ie.
  • an innate set of phonological and syntactic rules) which enables speaker of a language to interpret and generate speech "of her language"', or do you refer to 'a set of rules generalised by grammarians as to how the sentences of a particular language is formed'?
  • This is of paramount importance in deciding 'which (kind of) book(s) to choose'.
  • It also depends on what kind of work you are currently engaged in: for example, if you are really doing some kind of postgraduate research, 'an introduction to Hallidayan Functional Grammar' would certainly not have been the right choice!
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

6 Answers
0
Hi,

First of all, what do you mean by 'grammar'? Do you mean the 'status of mind (ie. an innate set of phonological and syntactic rules) which enables speaker of a language to interpret and generate speech "of her language"', or do you refer to 'a set of rules generalised by grammarians as to how the sentences of a particular language is formed'? This is of paramount importance in decidin
0
0
Right now I need a book only for an introduction course on English grammar, so I think that I refer to 'a set of rules generalised by grammarians as to how the sentence of a particular language is formed'. In this course we will have a look on word classes with their affixes, sufixes and functions for example. I am not doing any research. I just want to pass this introduction course on English gra
0
0
If it's not too late...

In 1983, I bought a copy of Quirk and Greenbaum's "Student Grammar of the English Language." I covered it with cheap blue wrapping paper to protect it and it still sits on my desk 23 years later. I do not "know" it from cover to cover, but I use it frequently to check on matters of a grammatical nature. With that and my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, I'
0
0
" An Introductory to English Grammer" by Norman C. Stageberg is a very useful book. I've taken it during my gradute study. I hope it helps.[H]
0
0
You're right dear sister Mythical Lady about your advice that means to us your lovely and laoyality in saying good things to help

Thanks very much for your sharing us useful things

And please Accept my regards
0
0

I covered it with cheap blue wrapping paper to protect it and it still sits on my desk 23 years later.
Are you sure you didn't nick that line from Lynne Truss? Funny as it appears word for word in her book, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves".

PJ
0

Related Questions