Grammar is a word that all too often strikes terror and a sense of panic into the breasts of modern language students. Grammar presents a cold, clinical, unemotional exterior – not exciting, straightforward and vibrant like vocabulary, especially when the latter tends towards the informal and slang. The mortar of language (grammar) is never so interesting as the bricks (vocabulary). Grammar is often seen as an obstacle to free expression – it makes you linger and dither over whether to use one preposition rather than another, whether an agreement is required or not – whereas you would rather press on, get your meaning across, communicate. Anything that impedes or slows down that expression is annoying and needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, or even ignored. But bricks without mortar are ugly and lack style, are in danger of collapsing and not fulfilling the purpose for which they were erected in the first place. What can we do about it?

First of all, there's no avoiding it – we need a grammar book. It's no good sticking your head in the sand – mortar is essential, the right consistency, the right thickness for maximum effect and to perform its job efficiently and discreetly. Secondly, we need a grammar book that is easy to use, that helps us identify our problems, that has a very clear and easily accessible index, that guides us to the right solution for us and explains what we need to know, expressed in language we can understand.