grammar usage

New, revised and updated version of the author’s successful English Grammar: Your Questions Answered

• A to Z format makes it easy to access and to find what you’re looking for.

• Tells you in simple, plain language the difference between things that look similar (for example, alternate versus alternative, made of versus made from, its versus it’s).

• Explains how to avoid going wrong with issues such as agreement between subjects and verbs or the choice of pronouns after prepositions.

• Presents solutions to a host of common, everyday grammar and usage problems.

• Gives guidance on appropriate usage where more than one way of saying something exists.

• Distinguishes between spoken and written usage where appropriate.

• Includes advice on vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation and style.

The author: Professor Michael McCarthy

Internationally renowned applied linguist, co-author of the 900-page Cambridge Grammar of English, author, co-author and editor of more than 50 books and over 100 articles on the English language and the teaching of English, Mike McCarthy tells you what the traditional rules of usage are as well as what people are writing or saying now, and gives reasons why you might choose one or the other.
He sees English as a living, evolving organism, which he demonstrates with occasional glances at grammars written in the distant and recent past. He respects the many accents, varieties and dialects of English but tells you what the educated standard forms are, so that you can speak and write confidently and appropriately. This is a book to browse and enjoy, as well as being a useful reference work to keep on your bookshelf.