Excellent reference book for questions of English usage

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	• Practical English Usage Michael Swan Oxford University Press, USA, 2005 - 658 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent reference book for questions of English usage

This book is very, very good. It is well structured, written in a simple, effective style and it is authoritative. It deals with questions like "should I use 'may' or 'might' in a particular context" and "when should I use 'that' and when 'which'".
I cannot recommend this book highly enough to those people who are interested in having a reference book to answer such questions.

A Well-Written Reference to English Grammar

As a teacher of English as a Foreign Language I use Michael Swan's book often. It is organized alphabetically by topic and provides clear explanations to various types of usage. Need to find out about the use of the subjunctive form in English or whether it is permitted to use they/them/their to refer to a single indefinite person? This reference can answer those as well as many other elementary or advanced questions that may come up. The only source of confusion I have found was his partial omitting the terms 0,1,2,3 and Mixed Conditional tenses, grouping these all instead under "if". Many students learn the conditional tenses using the 0-M system and find it quite handy and useful in learning the various structures and meanings. The author mentions types 1-3 on pages 245-6, and then goes on to insist quite correctly that there are many different structures for "if". However, he fails to mention the "0" and "M" conditionals, which would account for most of the rest (including conditional sentences that do not use "if"). In all this could be a rather minor irritant to at least some users of this book.

To repeat my view, this is an excellent reference and one I recommend to my advanced students.

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Bible for the TEFL/TESOL Educator

This is the bible for the TEFL educator. This is the most complete guide I've ever seen. Not only because of the amount of information it has, but how it's organized. You can find the answer to what you're looking for very quickly by using the index and alphabetized organization of the book. I learn a lot about the English language from the students' questions. This is the ultimate reference guide, because it not only provides the answers, but provides the explanation for the answer. Must have for the TESOL/TEFL instructor.

useful handbook

This is a quick reference guide for everyday gammar use..

I really like this book. Obviously it would be helpful for a foreign language speaker to learn the correct pattern of grammar

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A PATIENT AND INVALUABLE GUIDE

This "Practical English Usage" deserves gratitude for the invaluable guidance it has given to millions of learners. It is a useful resource whose step-by-step method of teaching facilitates comprehension.
Michael Swan did a good job in authoring this practical guide. However, this edition which first appeared in 1995, needs to be reviewed and updated. But that apart, it remains a useful and dependable learning guide.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7

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