HI everybody,
Talking about English usage, I've got Swan's "Practical English Usage" (I keep it for1st to 3rd edition). And, I've learnt from this forum that lots of people, including some gurus & native speakers of English, are using this book & quote it as reference to some points of grammar in dispute.This book seems to be the "Bible" of English usage when people want to turn to some book authoritative but handy in size.
My question is, when you'd like to make references to grammar, what grammar books would you turn to? I've heard about "A Communicative Grammar of English (3rd ed)" by Geoffrey Leech (Longman). It's about the same size as Swan's "Practical English Usage". By the way, I'm not very sure how good it is, whether it is as "authoritative" as Swan's "Practical English Usage" in the English-speaking community.
Could you let me know your views of that book (if you've used it), or what other grammar books (in similar size) you'd recommend?
Thanks.
Kathy