Overview

Do you worry that your understanding of English grammar isn’t what it should be? It may not be your fault. For hundreds of years, vague and confused ideas about how to state the rules have been passed down from one generation to the next. The available books for the general reader – thousands of them, shamelessly plagiarizing each other – repeat the same misguided definitions and generalizations that appeared in the schoolbooks used by your great-great-grandparents. Geoffrey K. Pullum thinks you deserve better. In this book he breaks away from the tradition. Presupposing no prior knowledge or technical terms, he provides an informal introduction to the essential concepts underlying grammar and usage. With his foundation, you will be equipped to understand the classification of words, the structure of phrases and clauses, and why some supposed grammar rules are really just myths. Also covered are some of the key points about spelling, apostrophes, hyphens, capitalization, and punctuation. Illuminating, witty, and incisive, The Truth About English Grammar is a vital book for all who love writing, reading, and thinking about English.

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9781509560547

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Reviews

“Who isn’t curious about how English works? About how it conveys subtle shades of meaning, or delights us with good style, or flaunts both mathematical elegance and human quirkiness? Geoffrey K. Pullum is not just an erudite scientist of English but one of its best living writers. With clarity and verve, he explains a new understanding of the language which is more sensible and satisfying than the traditional folklore most of us were taught.” Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct and The Sense of Style “The Truth will set you free – from the tangled web of traditional misinformation and superstition. Geoffrey K. Pullum's book transported this language nerd back to English class, this time for the pleasure of learning a grammar system that makes sense.” Jan Freeman, former Boston Globe language columnist “Geoffrey K. Pullum may be iconoclastic, but he's also sensible and companionable here. He's boiled down years of study into this edifying and entertaining treatment of grammar. Whoever you may be, whatever your background, you'll search in vain for a page in this book that doesn't teach you something. I'm sure he was joshing when he said to me, about the time he was completing the manuscript, ‘Bryan, if they have any questions after reading it, they should write to you or I.’ In principle, I agree: you're welcome to write to him or me. If you do, feel free to be accusative.” Bryan A. Garner, author of Garner’s Modern English Usage “We who learned the traditional schoolroom grammar are uneasily aware that much of it is creaky and a good deal is rubbish. Happily, Geoffrey K. Pullum, the distinguished linguist, gives us The Truth About English Grammar, a lucid guide that conforms to modern linguistic understanding. Read only his chapter on passive constructions and you will be the better for it.” John E. McIntyre, former copy desk chief of The Baltimore Sun  “Pullum’s readable, lively book fills an important need and does so elegantly and efficiently. The need is for a work that explains the principles of English grammar for the intelligent and interested layperson.” Ben Yagoda, University of Delaware

“Who isn’t curious about how English works? About how it conveys subtle shades of meaning, or delights us with good style, or flaunts both mathematical elegance and human quirkiness? Geoffrey K. Pullum is not just an erudite scientist of English but one of its best living writers. With clarity and verve, he explains a new understanding of the language which is more sensible and satisfying than the traditional folklore most of us were taught.” Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct and The Sense of Style “The Truth will set you free – from the tangled web of traditional misinformation and superstition. Geoffrey K. Pullum's book transported this language nerd back to English class, this time for the pleasure of learning a grammar system that makes sense.” Jan Freeman, former Boston Globe language columnist “Geoffrey K. Pullum may be iconoclastic, but he's also sensible and companionable here. He's boiled down years of study into this edifying and entertaining treatment of grammar. Whoever you may be, whatever your background, you'll search in vain for a page in this book that doesn't teach you something. I'm sure he was joshing when he said to me, about the time he was completing the manuscript, ‘Bryan, if they have any questions after reading it, they should write to you or I.’ In principle, I agree: you're welcome to write to him or me. If you do, feel free to be accusative.” Bryan A. Garner, author of Garner’s Modern English Usage “We who learned the traditional schoolroom grammar are uneasily aware that much of it is creaky and a good deal is rubbish. Happily, Geoffrey K. Pullum, the distinguished linguist, gives us The Truth About English Grammar, a lucid guide that conforms to modern linguistic understanding. Read only his chapter on passive constructions and you will be the better for it.” John E. McIntyre, former copy desk chief of The Baltimore Sun  “Pullum’s readable, lively book fills an important need and does so elegantly and efficiently. The need is for a work that explains the principles of English grammar for the intelligent and interested layperson.” Ben Yagoda, University of Delaware “stimulating … this will give grammarians much to ponder.” Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Geoff Pullum is the author of Linguistics: Why It Matters. He has taught linguistics and English grammar for decades on both sides of the Atlantic, and is a coauthor (with Rodney Huddleston) of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.  In addition to many academic articles and books, he has published satirical and humorous writing on language and linguistics.

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