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Grammar Reference book

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optilang  #518317  Sat, 24 May 08 10:01 AM
Can anyone recommend an English Grammar book that can be used as a reference, rather than one that has excercises to practice - I mean something like the Bescherelle grammar books found in France.

Many thanks 

  
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Marius Hancu  #518333  Sat, 24 May 08 11:32 AM
This is free, and a classic, esp for BrE:

The King's English
H.W. Fowler
http://www.bartleby.com/116/index.html

It may be old in some areas.

I'm also using:

Curme, George O. (1977). "A Grammar of the English Language". Verbatim. ISBN 0-930454-01-4 (reprint of 1931 edition from D. C. Heath and Company).

The best treatment of subjunctive and verbs I know.  The book recommended by many prescriptivists.  

 

  • Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; Svartik, Jan (1985). "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language". Longman. ISBN 0-582-51734-6
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  • The modern bible. More up to date, but I prefer Curme. Both quite expensive.  
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    Marius Hancu  #518338  Sat, 24 May 08 11:41 AM
    Try some of these links (sorry, don't have time to clean them up):

             <DT><A href="http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm" ADD_DATE="1070762926" LAST_VISIT="1211503896" LAST_MODIFIED="1070762918" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$ddeSu">Darling's Guide to Grammar and Writing</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/mainindex_wide.html" ADD_DATE="1164154996" LAST_VISIT="1211504117" LAST_MODIFIED="1164155067" LAST_CHARSET="windows-1252" ID="rdf:#$9gxIJ2">British Council: Grammar</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/index.shtml" ADD_DATE="1171546197" LAST_VISIT="1171700754" LAST_MODIFIED="1171546359" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$QtiGD1">BBC: Learn it - archive </A>
            <DT><A href="http://ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/discourse&grammar/" ADD_DATE="1206633762" LAST_MODIFIED="1206633791" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$utbOL3">Discourse and Grammar in English: Erdmann</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Grammar-of-English-Grammars.html" ADD_DATE="1165714245" LAST_VISIT="1171902160" LAST_MODIFIED="1165714365" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8" ID="rdf:#$xJei41">The Grammar of English Grammars by Gould Brown - 1856</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary.html" ADD_DATE="1145375344" LAST_VISIT="1210805037" LAST_MODIFIED="1145375377" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$lhwzC">Glossary of Grammar Terms</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/Index.htm" ADD_DATE="1175007728" LAST_VISIT="1210761018" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$jqV241">Glossary of linguistic terms</A>
            <DT><A href="http://englishplus.com/grammar/glossary.htm" ADD_DATE="1166451764" LAST_VISIT="1210760928" LAST_MODIFIED="1166452414" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$gepCg2">Glossary of Grammatical Terms - EnglishPlus</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/fun/welsh/Glossary.html" ADD_DATE="1166452328" LAST_VISIT="1210760982" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$hepCg2">Glossary of Grammatical Terms</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.orlapubs.com/AL/TOC.html#grammar" ADD_DATE="1144636313" LAST_VISIT="1166451293" LAST_MODIFIED="1144636342" LAST_CHARSET="windows-1252" ID="rdf:#$8n.Iv1">Bailey Grammar</A>
            <DT><A href="http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/engl_126/book126.htm" ADD_DATE="1113656509" LAST_VISIT="1113656629" LAST_MODIFIED="1113656532" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$ntMlH2">Modern English Grammar</A>
            <DT><A href="http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html" ADD_DATE="1009479489" LAST_VISIT="1211504147" LAST_MODIFIED="1009479478" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$edeSu">Lynch, Guide to Grammar and Style</A>
            <DT><A href="http://home.bluemarble.net/~langmin/categories.html#pringram" ADD_DATE="1159291832" LAST_MODIFIED="1159291864" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$ch+tv">Language Miniatures</A>
            <DT><A href="http://englishplus.com/grammar/contents.htm" ADD_DATE="1105879344" LAST_VISIT="1211504430" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$la0De1">Grammar Slammer Complete Contents</A>
            <DT><A href="http://thegrammarexchange.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/340600179" ADD_DATE="1143592734" LAST_VISIT="1211621054" LAST_MODIFIED="1143592773" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8" ID="rdf:#$mhj8R1">The Grammar Exchange</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramtoc.html" ADD_DATE="1160085694" LAST_VISIT="1168089233" LAST_MODIFIED="1160085725" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1" ID="rdf:#$JA28c2">Ansell: English Grammar</A>
            <DT><A href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/" ADD_DATE="1108931625" LAST_VISIT="1150776559" LAST_MODIFIED="1108931700" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8" ID="rdf:#$Xyk5c2">John Lawler - AUE</A>

     

      
    optilang  #518339  Sat, 24 May 08 11:41 AM
     Thanks a lot MH
      
    Marius Hancu  #518346  Sat, 24 May 08 11:52 AM
     This is a good reference, all books here are great:

    http://owlcroft.com/english/list.shtml

      
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