English Grammar Understanding the Basics

What are the features of this book that will help you use it effectively?

• We assume no prior knowledge of English grammar. Depending on your background and interest, you can either work the book through from cover to cover or just read about selected topics.

• We utilize user-friendly, easy-to-understand language, avoiding excessive technical terminology.

• Information is presented in lesson format; most lessons are short, helping to make the material manageable.

• Numerous exercises allow you to test yourself after new information is presented; the exercises gradually incorporate more knowledge while building on prior information.

• Each exercise has a sample item done for you, to help you with the exercise.

• Each exercise is separated into two parts: Getting started and More practice. With each Getting started part, we provide a page reference to the answers, so you'll immediately know whether or not you're on the right track. For More practice items, answers are provided on the accompanying website.

• In addition to exercises, each lesson contains easy to find Quick tips. These provide convenient “tricks” to help you master the material or highlight the main concepts in each lesson.

• We've also included short sections called To enhance your understanding. These sections are intended for those of you who are interested in more than basic information. These sections can easily be skipped by beginners; they're not necessary for understanding any material later on in the book.

• Throughout the text, ungrammatical sentences are identified with an asterisk (*) at the beginning.