Advanced English Grammar Books
English is a language that is easy to pick up because it has gone through a long period of simplification. It is a very easy language to pick up. But, as any student trying to master English will tell you, it is a very difficult language to perfect. The reason is that there were a lot of forces at work in the creation of
modern English and this has produced a language which seems simple on the surface but has a very complex substructure stemming from tens of languages that have made contributions to how it functions. There is however hope, English is fun with lots of opportunities to practice and there have been some very good books written about the more tricky bits of it. Those below are a small selection of
the books on Spiralcat.
Advanced Grammar in Use
The advanced version of the Murphy. Set out in the usual easy to use way with a grammar rule explanation on one page followed by exercises on the next. It is a very thick and intricate book and can be read for pleasure by those who are truly interested in grammar
Swan
The book that I think of as the exceptions to the rules in most grammar books. It tuns out the book with the exceptions is much thicker than books with the grammar rules. It is so huge that it is really more of a reference book and belongs on the shelf with your thesaurus and dictionary.
Much Ado About English
Much Ado about English is an enjoyable read that gives a surprisingly in depth insight into the history and construction of the English Language. The English language is such a convoluted and illogical thing that a book like this can not help but be entertaining and informative.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
A recent Christmas best seller in England. She tells us what we need to know about punctuation, but in a funny way. English punctuation is such a contradictory mishmash that even native speakers have no end of trouble with it, and as can be seen in the title this can have hilarious consequences.