Edward McLachlan Knihy

David Crystal explains grammar's rules and irregularities, shows how to navigate its snares and pitfalls, and explores its history and varieties. He gives practical guidance on how grammar may be used for different purposes and in different settings. He provides a series of insights into the stages by which children acquire grammar and shows how this can be used to guide its early instruction. He casts a mordant eye on what learned people have said about English grammar over the centuries and what they continue to say now. People have always been uneasy about points of grammar and worried that what they say may not always be what they mean. Grammar is complex but, Professor Crystal shows, it need not be daunting: the more we understand it, he argues, the more sense we shall make. Making Sense is as entertaining as it is instructive. David Crystal unites investigations of its nature, variations, history, learning, and teaching with a host of practical advice. Like its three companion volumes it will appeal to everyone interested in the English language and how to use it.

paperback

The proven success of Kernel Lessons Intermediate (Robert O'Neill, Roy Kingsbury, Tony Yeadon, Longman/Eurocentre 1971) has shown the need for further and more demanding language practice for older and adult students. Kernel Lessons Plus contains a further 15 units, of 8 pages each, which retain the successful features of the earlier course, but cover very different areas of interest, such as crime and punishment, inflation, the Third World, and industrial progress. A small group of central characters - a manager, a journalist and a secretary recurs in each unit and it is their experiences which provide the setting for most of the language work in this course. Students starting to use Kernel Lessons Plus will have mastered the basic patterns and structures of English. This new course takes them from that point through the work needed for the Lower Certificate, and prepares them for more advanced studies. Kernel Lessons Plus comprises tapes, both for language practice (including intensive listening and comprehension), work, tests, and a Teacher's Book.