The copy I have of *Grammar in the Classroom* (1990) by Mark Lester is published by Macmillan Publishing Company, a Simon & Schuster Company. However, it seems to be out of print. It appears that he has a newer text called *Grammar and Usage in the Classroom* (2000) that is published by Longman. Perhaps this is the same text but revised and updated (and here I am gabbing on about an out of print text all this time, tsk tsk). Larry, I don't see a Lester grammar text published by Allyn and Bacon. Am I missing one? If so, I'd love to look at it! John Alexander On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Larry Beason <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > The publisher is Allyn and Bacon. > > Larry Beason > Associate Professor & Composition Director > Dept. of English, 240 HUMB > Univ. of South Alabama > Mobile AL 36688 > (251) 460-7861 > > >>> "Castilleja, Janet" <[log in to unmask]> 03/24/09 3:54 PM >>> > I looked for his book as possible text since I don't like the book I am > using, but I couldn't find it. Who publishes it? > > Thanks > > Janet > > -----Original Message----- > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Larry Beason > Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:39 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Lester's text in the classroom (was: Phrasal Verb Overview) > > I'm a little biased because I've co-authored a grammar handbook with > Mark Lester, but I've used his Grammar in the Classroom for many years > and found it effective as well. I can tell you that indeed he wrote it > so that it would match pretty well with traditional grammar instruction, > though he also adds various twists on it. > > One problem deals with a few production errors in terms of typos, esp in > the answer key. Not all the corrections he made were actually put into > the book, even in a printing that came out a couple of years ago. > > Larry Beason > > Larry Beason > Associate Professor & Composition Director > Dept. of English, 240 HUMB > Univ. of South Alabama > Mobile AL 36688 > (251) 460-7861 > > >>> "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> 03/24/09 11:52 AM >>> > John, > > > > I've used Lester's book a number of times in a course here for future > English teachers. Overall, I'd say there's one major problem with it, > but otherwise it's extremely good. The problem is that he doesn't make a > clear form/function distinction. I'm not sure why he doesn't - it could > be that he's trying to stick to the K-12 school grammar tradition, which > is understandable, but the lack of that distinction is one of the things > that constantly causes problems for anyone trying to teach the material > ("You said only nouns could be plural, but in 'accounts receivable,' the > adjective is"). > > > > The book is so good in other respects that I've continued to use it, > using handouts to deal with the form/function distinction. But, of > course, then the students get annoyed because I'm disagreeing with the > textbook, and I get annoyed with them because the last thing future > teachers should do is view a textbook (or their instructor's comments!) > as Holy Writ. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Bill Spruiell > > > > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Dews-Alexander > Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 8:00 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Phrasal Verb Overview > > > > Greetings, ATEGers! > > > > Someone (I believe it was Herb) recently suggested a book to me: Mark > Lester's (1990) Grammar in the Classroom. I'm not sure why I haven't > discovered this book before, but I quite like it and would suggest it to > anyone reviewing grammar texts. Even if you can't use it in your > classroom, you and/or your students might enjoy knowing about it as a > reference text. I find Lester's writing to be straightforward and > uncluttered. Has anyone actually used this as a classroom text for > teachers-in-training? If so, I'd be interested to hear about your > experiences. > > > > I went to the text specifically to find some more information on phrasal > verbs, information that wasn't overly technical for non-linguistic > students but also not overly simplified so as to ignore descriptive > facts. I thought I'd share here a few of the main points about phrasal > verbs that Lester includes. > > > > * Lester suggests that phrasal verbs are part of Latin and > Germanic languages' process of creating new words by adding prepositions > (functional words) to verb stems. Latin languages tended to add the > preposition to the beginning of the verb stem with Germanic languages > adding them to the end. (example, "devour" from "de-" (down) and "voro" > (swollow) in Latin) > * When English forms a new word by adding a preposition to the > beginning of a verb stem (example, "bypass" "offset"), it is more > quickly and easily recognized as a new word; people forget that it used > to be a phrasal verb/verb +preposition combination because, > orthographically, it is written without a space. However, English tends > to leave the space when the preposition is added to the end of the verb > stem. (example, "give up") > * While a sentence like "I give up" may look like a pronoun, a > tensed verb, and an adverbial preposition, it is in fact a pronoun and a > phrasal verb (note: I always learned to call the preposition that has > become attached to a verb in such a way a "particle," but Lester > continues to call it a preposition, which doesn't bother me at all). > Lester points out a fun test for phrasal verbs -- can you replace the > unit with a single word (almost always of Latin origin) and retain the > meaning? In this case, "I give up" becomes "I surrender." (Lester points > out the irony in the fact that "surrender" was once itself a phrasal > verb in Latin!) > * Phrasal verbs can be transitive; this can mark the difference > between a phrasal verb and a verb+preposition combo even more. For > example, > > John turned out the light. (Noun subject+phrasal verb+noun > phrase object) > > John turned at the light. (Noun subject+verb+adverbial > prepositional phrase) > > > > Say the sentences out loud and notice the stress. In phrasal > verbs the preposition is stressed while it is not in the PP. > > * Phrasal verbs can have more than one preposition/particle: look > down on, talk back to, walk out on, etc. > * Lester points out that phrasal verbs were dumped from > traditional school grammars because the word "preposition" in Latin > literally means "to place before," and it was reasoned that prepositions > couldn't be connected to verbs if they came after them. Sometimes > phrasal verbs were treated as idioms. > * Structural linguists have noted the difference between separable > and inseparable phrasal verbs.Separable phrasal verbs have prepositions > that can be moved to a position after the object noun phrase (example, > "I gave up the game" vs "I gave the game up" or "I gave it up"). > Inseparable phrasal verbs have prepositions that cannot be moved > (example, "I depend on the income" vs *"I depend the income on" or *"I > depend it on"). > * As you can see from the above examples, when the object of a > separable transitive phrasal verb is a pronoun, the movement of the > preposition is obligatory. You would always say "I gave it up" and never > *"I gave up it." (I think I would cringe if I heard this avoided with > some clunky construction like, "Up it is that I gave it.") In this > sense, it is actually ungrammatical to NOT end a sentence with a > preposition. > > Hope all the grammar nerds enjoy this as much as I did! > > > > Regards, > > > > John Alexander > > Austin, Texas > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select > "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/