The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage Review

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(More customer reviews)Broadly speaking, this is an excellent handbook, a superb handbook. The concepts are explained clearly and the examples are very instructive. What is in the handbook is treated very lucidly and thoroughly and with considerable depth. I personally was impressed at the depth and detail in which some of the grammar is covered.
The only real problems with the handbook don't concern what is in the book--it's what isn't. There are nuances in subject-verb agreement which aren't included, areas such as impersonal expressions are absent, and there is no mention of the subjunctive. If one is preparing for the TOEFL, this is a good book to get but I would not make it the only text you study, since it is not exhaustive by any means.
Still, there is a good amount of very useful information excellently explained here. I would offer a warm qualified recommendation to ESL students, one a bit nuanced. For the ESL student with absolutely no interest in the subject, who feels that study of English in general is one big long painful injection in the gluteus maximus, a tortuous experience only to be endured and not enjoyed in any way, this book is going to come off nebulous and long-winded. Granted, the book does not give one simply the bare bones of a concept and leave enough alone; for the student who wants merely to ratchet together enough knowledge to pass a few tests and move on, this book might be a bit too dedicated to its subject material. For the student with some real interest in learning English and learning it well, however, this book definitely rewards a patient and attentive reader because ideas are not merely presented but amply explained, and in handsome detail. If one is preparing for the TOEFL, be sure to buy the TOEFL preparation book by Barron's, which will explain a host of tricks presented on the test but which are notably absent in this book. This book is excellent for the concepts it covers, but it doesn't cover enough for the testtaker, so be sure to purchase other sources for your test preparation.

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Those pesky dangling modifiers, split infinitives, and comma splices­­they infect our spoken and written language with such frequency that even native English speakers find it difficult to determine what's right and what's wrong!

The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage shows you how to fix these everyday English language mistakes. With commonsense, easy-to-remember usage tips throughout, this handbook features incorrect and correct grammatical examples, a short review of basic grammar, a glossary, and more.

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Practice Makes Perfect: English Grammar for ESL Learners (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you have/are a student who needs focused practice with the basics of English grammar, this book is a good choice. It doesn't really focus on usage, context, etc. That's fine, though--its purpose is practice and review. It's particularly useful for beginner/false beginner students who never learned or have forgotten basic grammar terms (transitive verb, etc.). Of course,these terms and rules should NOT be the focus of any modern ESL/EFL course. (Why? Because that's not how people actually learn to use language.) Nonetheless, the rules and terms are useful for discussing grammar problems, explaining the differences between a student's home languages and English, etc. Get this book as a supplement for a comprehensive, communicative textbook such as _Interchange_ or _Out and About_.
In terms of design and planning, it has lots of white space and a good balance of questions and explanations. Most other grammar-focused books use explanations that are too wordy and hard to understand, and present text-filled pages that are overwhelming to beginners.
As an example, I have a client who is an adult from Japan. He studied English for a year or two in junior high and at a conversation school. Because he had a fair amount of vocabulary and could handle basic conversations ("How are you?" etc.), we started off using an Interchange book. However, I eventually realized that he didn't know terms such as "adjective," which sometimes made it hard for me to explain why a sentence he had written needed to be changed. I picked up this book, and he's really appreciated adding some focused grammar work to our otherwise functional/conversational sessions. We've been following up the grammar work with Mad Libs so that things don't get too boring. He loves the book and uses its nice amount of questions in each section as self-guided homework.
As a bonus, this book is quite inexpensive and thus good for private teaching situations or for self-study.

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Continuing the success of the bestselling Practice Makes Perfect series, Practice Makes Perfect English Grammar for ESL Learners features well-organized presentations, skill-building exercises, and a focus on practical conversational skills. Here you will find clear explanations accompanied by highlighted examples and boxed summaries of key points. You also get numerous exercises in a variety of formats, including fill-inthe-blank sentences and passages, translations, multiple-choice questions, sentence rewriting, and creative writing exercises. Answers to all questions are provided in the back of the book.

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McGraw-Hill's Essential ESL Grammar: A Handbook for Intermediate and Advanced ESL Students (McGraw-Hill ESL References) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am not an ESL student; I am an English speaking US citizen. I was looking for a grammar refresher, and could not find a decent book that went through the grammar structures I was looking for.
I started to look at ESL grammar books that helped ESL students, because I am about to take a Spanish immersion class and needed to know very specific grammar structure definitions to translate into Spanish.
For example, I needed to know the verb type infinitive, future perfect, etc, and I could not recall what those meant from my earlier years.
I couldn't find a single decent American guide out there. But the ESL guides cover them all in great detail.
If you are looking for a great grammar guide and are not even an ESL student, I highly recommend the ESL Grammar guides. This one in particular is fantastic.
I wish I could have purchased this in physical format, but I don't have the room to take it with me to Mexico. But on Kindle, I can do searches, etc, so it works out great for me.

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Master American English and communicate with confidence

As an experienced student of English, you know the language can be a tricky one to learn with its complex grammar and its many "exceptions to the rule" rules.

Written by ESL guru Mark Lester--author of Grammar and Usage in the Classroom--this authoritative reference unravels these mysteries so you can take your English-language skills to the next level. You'll gain the confidence to speak English in any setting: in the workplace, at school, in social situations, and at home.

Master those troublesome subjects that baffle even native speakers of English:articles * determiners * predicate adjective complements * post-noun modifiers * conjunctions * word order * verb tenses * modals * noun clauses

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Correct Your English Errors: How to Avoid 99% of the Common Mistakes Made by Learners of English Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fantastic resource for English learners. The author has admirably condensed decades of his experience with teaching English (and teaching teachers of English) into an easy-to-use guide that explains the commonest errors, why they're wrong, and how to correct them. What really shines through on every page is Dr. Collins' empathy for and patience with speakers of other languages: his explanations are straightforward and uncluttered: he just wants the reader to understand what the problem is and how to correct it. I recommend this book to any learner of English who wants to "go native," speaking and writing as if English were your first language.

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Speak and write English as if it were your native tongue!

Are you tired of making the same mistakes in English again and again? End the bad habits that can leave the people you talk to confused. Correct Your English Errors warns you of hundreds of typical errors learners make and explains the reasons behind the mistakes, so you can correct yourself in the future.

Improve your English skills with this fun and comprehensive guide and avoid all the common mistakes, such as:

Mispronouncing and misspelling words
Applying your native language's grammar patterns to English
Putting verbs in the wrong tense
Using incorrect prepositions in expressions
Confusing subject-verb agreement

Correct Your English Errors offers exercises covering all parts of grammar and provides review passages to check that you are error-free. Soon, biting your nails will be your only bad habit!

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Practice Makes Perfect: English Pronouns and Prepositions (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)It is a great help. I use it all the time! English being my second language, I tend to have lots of doubts when trying to use prepositions. I always turn my sentences around, so that I don't have to deal with them too much. This helps me immensely!

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A quick, painless way for ESL learners to master English pronouns and prepositions

This new addition to the Practice Makes Perfect series makes it easier than ever for ESL learners to get the hang of English pronouns and prepositions. In clear, straightforward language, and with the help of numerous everyday examples, language teacher Ed Swick demystifies English pronouns and prepositions, and he provides dozens of skill-building exercises. The numerous exercises include a variety of formats, such as fill-in-the-blank sentences, sentence rewriting, writing original sentences, and more.

An indispensable resource for advanced-beginner and intermediate-level ESL learners, this workbook:

Details all aspects of English pronoun and preposition usage
Clarifies the subtleties of usage that often escape ESL learners
Employs practical, high-frequency vocabulary throughout

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Just Enough Spanish Grammar Illustrated Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good book if you need a simple review of grammar. The explanations are easy to understand and the illustrations are helpful for remembering new vocabulary words. However, the illustrations are not very easy to read on Kindle, largely because the image isn't in color. Some of the text boxes overlap the right edge of the screen and are lost to the reader forever.
For this particular book, I would recommend getting it in print.

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Verb! Plural noun! Adjective! See language in action and never forget a grammar point again!

Through fun illustrations and colorful diagrams, you'll learn the essential points of grammar. Just Enough Spanish Grammar Illustrated gives you visual cues to the parts of speech and their usage, so next time you are speaking or writing in Spanish, you'll know how to use them correctly.

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