GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: A RESOURCE BOOK FOR STUDENTS

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GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: A RESOURCE BOOK FOR STUDENTS. Howard Jackson. London: Routledge, 2002. Pp. vii + 202. $25.95 paper.

This volume provides a readable, interactive, and complete introduction to basic areas of English grammar that includes words and sentences, parts of speech and their role in sentences, verb patterns, clauses and phrases, and areas of vocabulary including word class, word formation, and jargon. The text aims “to encourage [students] to analyze the language that [they] hear and read in [their] daily life” (pp. vii–viii). It does so in two ways. First, concepts are presented inductively; that is, readers are asked to work with language samples—many authentic excerpts of written and spoken text—in order to understand the concepts before the author explains key ideas. These interactive tasks encourage readers to play with language, drawing on and extending what they already know about English grammar and vocabulary. Second, it uses grammar terminology consistently and sparingly, a wise decision given that the book's target readers are new to the field.