Tweet Ebooks PDF For McGraw-Hill's Essential ESL Grammar: A Handbook for Intermediate and Advanced ESL Students

By: Mark Lester, Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 21, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0071496424, PDF size: 2.08 MB

ESL grammar is quite different from the traditional English grammar that Americans get--it uses different terminology, covers different subjects, and it is much more thorough. This becomes evident quickly when nonnative speakers ask native speakers grammar questions about determiners or phrasal verbs, for example.

This book covers all the important subjects in detail, and it would be very good for intermediate/advanced ESL students as well as ESL tutors who need a quick reference guide with concise and clear explanations. The Introductions says "This book is for nonnative speakers of English who have already attained extensive fluency is classroom English. It is designed to help you move to the next level of functioning comfortably in a fully English-speaking environment . . . . The most important feature of this book is the immense amount of information about English grammar in general and about four specific areas of English grammar that are mostly likely to cause difficulties:

*Areas of unusual grammatical complexity.
*Areas of unusual irregularity.
*Areas in which native speakers routinely use special forms in conversational English.
*Areas in which both native and nonnative speakers of English often make mistakes."

The book is divided into three sections: Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases, and Sentences. Like his other books, this one reads well, the explanations are in depth and clear, and there are hundreds of sample sentences to clarify the concepts. (The tone isn't as zaney as his previous books--no example sentences about Senator Fogg or the Seven Dwarves here, sorry.) Lester packs a lot in these 340+ pages.

I keep looking for the One True Grammar Book handed down from on high that covers all contingencies, but there is no such thing. But this book does a pretty good job, considering its affordable price and small size. The truth is that educators need many different weapons in their arsenals, and this is a good one.

Download Link