Description
Book SynopsisPacked with clear guidance on the nuts and bolts of grammar and plenty of examples, this text will help students master the fundamentals of English grammar and tackle written assignments with confidence. 60+ bite-sized units help students overcome common areas of difficulty, such as forming different tenses, using connectives to link ideas and build an argument, punctuating sentences and choosing the right words. Each unit is presented on a double-page spread, making it easy for students to flick through the book and quickly find the unit they need. Short, focused exercises at the end of each unit - with answers provided at the back of the book - make this text ideal for both self-study and classroom use. This 3rd edition contains four new units on hedging, being critical and collocation.
Improve Your Grammar is an essential resource for students of all disciplines and levels wanting to excel at writing, and can be used as a self-study workbook or on tutor-led grammar modules.
Trade Review‘
Improve Your Grammar' is a straightforward, jargon-free, easy-to-use book, written by people who have clearly spent many years noting the main problems that writers have, and who have produced a focused, well-presented book designed to solve those problems.’ -- Mary Jane Hogan * English Australia Journal (review of previous edition) *
‘This book is an extremely welcome addition to the Bloomsbury Study Skills series. The coverage is comprehensive, but it is presented in a straightforward and clearly accessible way. Not a centimetre of space in the 150 pages is wasted and the authors have packed in lots of instructive, informative but also interesting content.’ -- Christine Daly * Education and Training (review of previous edition) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction How to use this book
KEY TERMS Unit 1: Parts of speech Unit 2: Parts of a sentence
KEY GRAMMAR Unit 3: Singular or plural subjects and verbs Unit 4: Correct tense formation Unit 5: Using more than one verb tense Unit 6: Modal verbs Unit 7: Using the passive Unit 8: Direct and indirect questions Unit 9: Conditionals (If...) Unit 10: Using adverbs Unit 11: Emphasising Unit 12: Negative words and phrases Unit 13: Gerunds and infinitives Unit 14: Articles: a/an, the Unit 15: Relative clauses: who, which, that, etc. Unit 16: Comparing and contrasting Unit 17: Describing similarities and differences Unit 18: Using noun phrases
KEY PUNCTUATION Unit 19: Commas (1): correct uses Unit 20: Commas (2): incorrect uses Unit 21: Colons and semicolons Unit 22: Hyphens, dashes and brackets Unit 23: Apostrophes Unit 24: Inverted commas Unit 25: Capital letters
CONNECTIONS WITHIN SENTENCES Unit 26: Linking: contrasting Unit 27: Linking: adding Unit 28: Linking: causes Unit 29: Linking: results Unit 30: Signposting Unit 31: Using pronouns correctly Unit 32: Avoiding repetition of words
PRODUCING GOOD SENTENCES Unit 33: Parallel structures Unit 34: Participles Unit 35: Incomplete sentences Unit 36: Avoiding long and disorganised sentences Unit 37: Avoiding too many short sentences Unit 38: Building successful long sentences
FEATURES OF WRITING Unit 39: Hedging (1); with verbs and adverbs Unit 40: Hedging (2): with adjectives and phrases Unit 41: Giving a definition Unit 42: Introducing an example Unit 43: Citing Unit 44: Paraphrasing Unit 45: Incorporating data Unit 46: Formal language (1) Unit 47: Formal language (2) Unit 48: The language of argument
USING THE RIGHT WORDS Unit 49: The language of critique Unit 50: Using prepositions (1) Unit 51: Using prepositions (2) Unit 52: Creating longer words Unit 53: Using single words for impact Unit 54: Using phrasal verbs Unit 55: Collocations (1) Unit 56: Collocations (2) Unit 57: Commonly misused words Unit 58: Commonly confused words: homonyms Unit 59: Key spelling rules Unit 60: Common spelling mistakes Unit 61: Writing an email to your tutor Unit 62: Covering letters and CVs Key Index
