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Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners | |
Publisher: McGraw Hill
Author: Robin Torres-Gouzerth
US$11.95 (approx)
ISBN 3-3074-0028-3380
These days there is a trend for EFL books to be increasingly specialized. For example, books teaching business English are common, and you can even get books specializing in particular types of business English. It is in fact quite difficult to find a book that offers all aspects of English learning within its covers. This book, written by a Texas-based academic, does not go quite this far. But it does better than most in being a complete grammar reference and a workbook. It is also the A4 large-sized type of EFL book which is becoming less common in a 'pocket-sized' era. The motto at the top of the cover 'Practice makes perfect' explains the basic idea. Once you have learned a new point of grammar, the next thing you should do is practice it. And this book sticks to this idea from beginning to end. There is a short grammar explanation of a particular point, exercises, and then the next explanation and so on.
The exercise and grammar explanations make up 170 pages of the 200 pages of content. Apart from some brief front-matter (preface, contents etc) most of the remainder is taken up by an appendix of review exercises and the answer key. The pages have no illustrations and the paper is not glossy. After these economies, it is strange that the book has a lot of white space (meaning that the amount of page which is actually written on is small in proportion to the page). Sometimes at the end of a chapter, half a page or so is simply blank.
As you would expect of an Intermediate book, the writer assumes that the reader knows what verbs and nouns are and begins with 'Sentences'. This explains noun phrases and modifiers and then gives a set of exercises. The approach is occasionally confusing - verb phrases are introduced in Chapter 1 although Chapter 2 is entitled 'Verb Phrases' and Chapter 3 is 'Verbs' while subject-verb agreement has to wait until Chapter 14.
Overall the book does give a good overview of English grammar. It covers the tenses, verb and noun forms and structures such as conditionals. The size of the book and the space given for exercises means that the explanations have to be short. The exercises are always sentences which need to be written or re-written to practice the grammar point just explained. There are no other activities.
Who is this book for? A learner will need more than this book because the explanations are too brief to explain each grammar point fully. A teacher can explain more fully, but most teachers prefer that student textbooks do not have an answer key, as this book has. The short, lucid explanations and follow-up exercises make this an excellent book to use for revision, for example just before an Intermediate-level exam. Personal tutors for individual students may also find this useful for presenting basic grammar with exercises, though because it is a textbook and workbook combined, this book can only be used with one student once.
Verdict: Good for revision
Assessment 6/10