English grammar in use elementary review

I have found the book has some excellent lessons that I use as supplemental material for an ESL class that I teach as a volunteer.

The BEST english grammar book ever!

Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago

English is not my native language and I know very well how difficult is to learn a second language without proper education. I have studied Murphy's books for a long time and recommend his books for everybody. There are a lot of good books out there (I have purchased a whole bunch of them!), but no one bits this one. This book is for elementary students. There are also the intermediate grammar and the advanced grammar - all them are great! It is a must have! Buy with confidence!

A Valuable Resource

Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago

As an English teacher, I use this book as my grammar bible. This book comes in two volumes: one for beginners and one for intermediate students. Each book covers over 100 grammar points. Each point gets two pages. On one page there is an excellent explanation of the grammar point along with examples. On the facing page, lots of grammar exercises are provided. I don't use this as my classroom text since the activities don't lend themselves to communication. However, the communicative texts I do use either have poor or non-existant grammar explanations. When students have difficult questions about grammar, I often check with this book, since the explanations are quite clear and easy to understand. If students request some grammar practice homework, then I let them do the grammar activities as homework. It really helps students improve their accuracy. I definitely recommend this to English teachers and students who are studying English. It would be a great reference book, and a good self-study supplement for students. If you can only afford one volume, I recommend the intermediate one because it answers some really diffult grammar questions well.

A helpful tool for Teaching English

Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago

Teaching English as a Second Language is challenging. I have used this book many times and my students find it easy to study and use. The format with explanations on one side and the exercises on the other is helpful and attractive. For beginners, this is great.

Excellent self study english grammar book lots of examples

Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago

I teach English to foreign students. They all rate this book very highly and I have no hesitation in recommending it to students and teachers alike. It is very well laid out with lots of examples and exercises to test knowledge.

Technically, Murphy's book is A self-study reference and practice book for intermediate students of English but I would estimate that at least 50% of its users are actually EFL teachers looking for guidance, or for exercises for their classes, and this is acknowledged in the preface where there is a letter addressed to teachers right after the one to students.

The book is aimed at Intermediate students (lesser known elementary and advanced versions are also available) and it is written entirely in English meaning you do need that pre-existing basic knowledge of the language to benefit from it. It is laid out in numbered units and the contents refers to these rather than page numbers, which is a bit confusing at first. Each unit covers a two page spread, with a page of language focus and explanation, followed by a page of exercises that practice the recently introduced language. A typical unit might look like this:

· Name of structure and example e.g. Past continuous (I was doing)

· An example situation, often with an illustration

· The formula for forming this structure, e.g I + was + playing

· An explanation of the circumstances when the structure is used

· A timeline, useful for showing when something happened and any other actions mentioned in reference to it

· A comparison with other similar structures e.g. the difference between I was playing tennis and I played tennis

· Exercises with controlled and/or semi-controlled practice of the structure. Answers for these, either definite or suggested, are available at the back of the book.

The whole thing is remarkably well put together. The instructions and explanations are simple, and since every unit follows the same structure, you become familiar with the layout easily. The book is aimed at intermediate students but also goes back to basics: it starts with the present tense and works through past, future, perfect and continuous forms in the order a student is most likely to learn them, i.e. you have simple present and past before you have the perfect present and past tenses. There are also sections on modals, conditionals, passives, articles, nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs – pretty much everything you need to speak a language to a reasonable level, making it suitable for more advanced students too.

Following the units and their exercises there are various useful appendices with reference tables of regular and irregular verbs, spellings and further comparisons between tenses that were first introduced individually in different units. Next come a set of additional exercises which combine different structures. These are especially useful for more advanced students who know the different forms but need to know which are used in which circumstances. It is a more authentic language practice with everything mixed in together rather than a set of exercises on, say, the present perfect, which you could complete without really understanding how and when the structure is used. Each of these exercises covers the learning from between two and 17 different units, so there's a lot to remember, but it's good practice.

Perhaps unusually, the self-assessment guide comes near the end of the book, but it is sign-posted from the first few pages. This is useful for individual students working alone with the book who are not sure which areas they most need to revise. It takes the form of a multiple choice quiz with answers at the end, and each question has a unit reference so you can work out which pages you need to look at from the answers you get wrong. It's not the best placement test I've ever seen, because in order for a student to self-mark, it understandably needs to have a selection of answers to choose from allowing for an if-in-doubt-guess approach, but it's probably the most practical way to self-administer a level assessment, and anyway it's only for guidance.

I have used this book in many ways – for teaching myself the grammar before I teach my students, for using in class for a clear explanation of structures, and for providing my students with further practice of a structure beyond what their text books offer. I also use it for inspiration for speaking exercises when I need a lot of examples of the same structure and am not feeling especially imaginative. The book itself is not a classroom textbook as it focuses on only grammar and not on receptive or productive skills, but it is a great additional resource to call upon as needed when you're trying to improve grammatical accuracy rather than communicative fluency.

I only have a few niggles with it. One is that it sometimes doesn't mention some of the widely-used structure names, e.g first conditional. I can look up conditionals and if statements in either the contents or index, but not the actual terminology first conditional or second conditional. I could tell my students to revise these for homework, but if they were using this book they might not be able to find the relevant units to study. Additionally, the book has a British English focus, with only a couple of pages dedicated to the differences between American and British varieties. These pull together various points that perhaps would be more useful if they were included in the units to which they refer. It's not a problem as long as you know this section is at the back, but I imagine some students could miss it. Finally, some of the exercises do not require much thinking and are a bit repetitive, so as a teacher you pick and choose which ones to use and maybe don't take a whole page of exercises without chopping a bit.

I'm just being picky though, because I think this is an excellent book and invaluable to me for teaching and to my students for self-directed learning. You don't need to be a grammar whiz to be an EFL teacher - you just need a good reference book, and this is as good as they come. Add in a book on technique such as Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener and you'll be all set.

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Magda said:

Oh, I so agree! it's the best grammar book I have ever used, both when learning English and when attempting to teach it too.

What level of English grammar is in use?

Trusted by millions, right for your students Raymond Murphy's English Grammar in Use is the world's best-selling grammar book for learners of English at intermediate level.

What level is essential grammar in use for?

This Essential Grammar in Use eBook, authored by Raymond Murphy, is the first choice for elementary level (CEFR A1-B1) learners. It is perfect for students who are learning on their own but can also be used to support teacher-led English language courses.

What is the latest edition of essential grammar in use?

Essential Grammar in Use Fourth edition retains all the key features of clarity and ease-of-use that have made the book so popular with learners and teachers alike. A fresh new design, with revised and updated examples, makes the book even more accessible.

How many pages are in the essential grammar in use?

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