Patricia,
There are three I’d recommend, depending on the approach
you want to take. Craig Hancock’s Meaning-Centered Grammar (Equinox
Publishing (UK) (December 30, 2005)) is well-written, gently paced, and hews
pretty closely to what writing students need. Max Morenberg’s Doing
Grammar (Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (January 3, 2002)) is
a very rigorous, analytic approach that covers a wide range of structures and
makes extensive use of phrase structure trees that the author has
augmented in interesting and useful ways. If you’re looking for such
a very analytic approach, I’ve found his very effective. And then,
of course, Martha Kolln’s Rhetorical Grammar (Longman; 5 edition
(March 13, 2006)) presents grammar very much from the perspective of rhetoric
and does a very good job of it. I’ve used it effectively especially
in grammar workshops for writing teachers.
Herb
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patricia
A Moody
Sent: 2009-06-03 14:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Grammar texts
My apologies, because I distinctly remember this listserv having
"been here, done that," yet I persist. It's time to order texts
for the fall, and I seek the advice of my esteemed colleagues. The course
is an upper-level course on history and varieties of English, required of
English secondary-ed majors. I use Crystal's The Stories of English as the main
text. Though grammar should be a separate course, I feel obliged to begin
with grammar, and I would like a text that approaches grammar the way the
majority of the discussions on this listserv do, as fascinating study of living
language. If my students have been taught grammar at all, they've been
taught some diagramming in 5th or 6th grade, and error
correction/avoidance. Can anyone offer suggestions for a text?
Patricia
Moody
English
Department
Syracuse
University
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