It is unusual among grammar books, in that it has been written so that, rather than being used only for reference, its chapters can be read. Each chapter represents a coherent, and developing argument, exemplified by reference to an enormous number of examples. For native speakers of English, it provides an invaluable and clear insight into the way of looking at English which is essential if the material is to be presented to someone whose native language is not English. Native speakers simply do not think of the Primary Distinctions which the author introduces in chapter 2, but it is these distinctions which underlie many of the grammatical choices which are intrinsic to English. For the non-native speaker, the book provides a wealth of detailed information and examples, but more importantly demonstrates some of the hierarchically more important distinctions of English, and shows how these fundamental distinctions re-occur in different disguises in quite different parts of the grammatical system. The author constantly has in mind the importance of a coherent over-view of grammar.
Three features of the book remain outstanding contributions to the understanding of English grammar for both native and non-native speakers:
1. The author shows clearly that grammar is more than a mass of detail, and that certain Primary Distinctions of thought provide a coherence and system which many other approaches to grammar fail to develop. Seeing grammar from this point of view is intellectually satisfying, practically reassuring, and seems to have radical implications for the way grammar might be presented in text books and classrooms.
2. The author’s presentation of the verb system shows a clear, coherent over view. Instead of a seemingly endless string of tenses, the author shows that a simple set of symmetric contrasts ensures that the English verb system is simple, regular and, again, much more easily understood than many grammatical presentations would suggest.
On a personal note, I would add that reading this book some years ago was the inspiration for my own attempt to understand the English verb as a coherent whole, which ultimately resulted in publication of The English Verb, LTP, 1986.
3. Much grammar is a matter of fact - we say children, not childs, bought not buyed; and the learner needs to choose between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ language. That matter is, of course, well known to all teachers and learners.
One of the most remarkable features of this book, however, is the author’s introduction of the idea of Grammar as Choice, where the language user has a choice between two possible ‘right’ sentences, in the sense of grammatically well-formed, but where each has a slightly different meaning
- We stopped in/at London fo r two hours; I live/am living in Powell Road.
The distinction between objective Grammar as Fact, and subjective Grammar as Choice is, I think, the author’s own original, and very powerful insight. Its importance reappears numerous times throughout the book.
It has been a great pleasure to prepare this new revised edition. It is a book which profoundly influenced me, and I am delighted that it will now be available to a new generation of readers. Read it carefully and with reflection, and it will reward you with an understanding that English is simpler, more logical and systematic, and in that intellectually satisfying sense, more beautiful
than may have been apparent to you before.
Michael Lewis
