Aims

Grammar for English Language Teachers has two primary aims:

• • to help you develop your overall knowledge and understanding of English grammar

• • to provide a quick source of reference in planning lessons or clarifying learners’ problems.

The book provides a broader perspective of grammar than that presented to students in course materials. It encourages you to appreciate the complexity (and, where relevant, the ambiguity) of grammatical description, and to recognise the limitations of the ‘rules of thumb’ presented to learners in course materials.

It also seeks to nourish a love for and fascination with English grammar.

Who this book is for

This book is intended for:

• • prospective and practising teachers studying language as part of a degree in English or on courses such as those leading to teaching certificates and diplomas

• • teachers who want to continue learning and exploring the grammar of English on their own

• • teachers who do and teachers who do not speak English as a first language.

Content and organisation

People sometimes associate the term ‘grammar’ with the different parts of speech or ‘word classes’ that words can belong to (adjective, noun, preposition etc.). Materials produced for studying English over the last three decades have, however, refl ected and promoted an obsession with another aspect of grammar – the verb phrase (tenses, conditionals, etc.).

The chapters in Part A look at grammar from the starting point of word class, and those in Part B deal with the verb phrase. Parts C and D, however, look at more neglected aspects of grammar, and you may want to take more time to work through these parts of the book progressively and systematically. Each of these four parts begins with a general introduction to the topic.

Each chapter in Parts A–D begins with a review of ‘Key considerations’ relating to its topic. It explores the topic in depth in the subsequent sections, including the ‘Typical difficulties for learners’ that this area of grammar causes.

Each chapter ends with exercises to help you consolidate what you have learned. These ‘Consolidation exercises’ use real texts, transcriptions of conversation and examples of learners’ writing; possible answers to each of the exercises are also suggested.