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Grammar
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Grammar |
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If you are uncertain about grammatical aspects of English,
you may wish to consult a grammar. A very good and reliable
place to turn to online is the Internet
Grammar of English, which was written and designed by the Survey
of English Usage. There is also an app
for Apple devices. |
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Valency |
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If you are uncertain whether you may use a specific English word in a particular
sentence structure, you now have the
opportunity to check in the Erlangen
Valency Patternbank, which lists all the valency patterns that
were identified for the 511 verbs, 544 adjectives and 274 nouns contained
in Herbst et al.'s Valency Dictionary of English.
Thus you will learn that the adjective alert
can indeed be used in the pattern adjective + in_V-ing.
The patterns at www.lexchecker.org
are less clear than those in the Valency Patternbank, but this is
counterbalanced by the fact that you get a large
number of examples from the British
National Corpus. |
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Mnemonics |
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You always mix
up since and for because you cannot remember which of the
two refers to a point in time and which one to a period? Then these mnemonics
are for you. In case you should already know the rules, the mnemonics are still fun to read.
One day, you might even be able to use them to help your future pupils remember grammar
rules more easily.
I have gathered most of these mnemonics from my students.
If you would like to let me know about others, please tell me
about them, and I will add them to the list. |
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Grammar
Rock |
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The so-called Grammar
Rock songs are real classics - and the cutest bit
of grammar I have ever seen! But caution:
you may not be able to get the tunes out of your mind again... |
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If you would
like to sing along, you can find the lyrics here.
For songs on other subjects, take a look at the Schoolhouse
Rock songs. |
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Reading |
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Recommended reading
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Grammars
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 | Foley, Mark and Diane Hall (2003): Longman Advanced Learners'
Grammar. A Self-Study Reference & Practice Book with Answers.
Edinburgh: Pearson.
[Provides you with explanation sections,
exercises and answers.] |
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| Hewings, Martin (2005): Advanced Grammar in Use. A Self-Study
Reference and Practice book for Advanced Students of English (With
Answers). 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP.
[Each double page consists of a one-page
overview of a particular grammatical phenomenon + one page of
corresponding exercises with solutions in the appendix.] |
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| Quirk, Randolph et al. (1985): A Comprehensive Grammar of the
English Language. London: Longman.
[Comprehensive indeed. This large volume
provides a well-researched linguistic background to English grammar.] |
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| Sammon, Geoff (2002): Exploring English Grammar. Berlin:
Cornelsen.
[If you like Cornelsen's Studium Kompakt
series, you may also like this book, which has the immense advantage
of being written explicitly for German learners of English.] |
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| Swan, Michael (2005): Practical English Usage. 3rd ed.
Oxford: OUP.
[Not the "typical" grammar book, it is
similar to dictionaries in having entries for many individual
phenomena. An indispensable reference in cases of doubt.] |
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| Ungerer, Friedrich et al. (1984): A Grammar of Present-Day
English.
Stuttgart: Klett.
[The well-structured classic for German learners
of English.] |
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Other useful books for improving your grammar
skills and knowledge
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| Addison, Tony and Chris Perkins (1997): Practice with
Prepositions. A Practice and Reference Book for German-Speaking
Learners of English. Southampton: Englang.
[Very useful exercise book if you find it hard
to use the correct English prepositions.] |
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| Herbst, Thomas, Rita Stoll and Rudolf Westermayr (1991): Terminologie
der Sprachbeschreibung: Ein Lernwörterbuch für das Anglistikstudium.
Ismaning: Hueber.
[Gives you a brief and readable overview of the
central grammatical aspects.] |
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| SEALING 2: Syntaxanalyse im Examen. Script. University of
Erlangen-Nuremberg.
[This script, which you can buy in the Anglistik
secretary's office C 5A5, will help you understand the structure of
English sentences.] |
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