Book: Essential English Grammar (Second Edition) by Cambridge University Press
Author: Raymond Murphy
Drawings by Richard Deverell, Richard Eckford, Sue Hillwood-Harris and Amanda MacPhail.
Book design by Peter Ducker MSTD.
Book Review: A self-study reference and practice book for elementary students of English Language; this book is not recommended for complete beginners, it is designed for elementary students.
This ‘Essential English Grammar Book by Cambridge University Press‘ is suitable for children of 8 to 10 years, for students to revise their knowledge of English grammar, and elementary learners of English language.
The general idea of the book is to help students in practical use of English grammar and immensely helps the student in construction of accurate grammatical sentences.
The presentation of the book’s content has intelligent and immense creative understanding, in each unit or chapter the plan of the content and exercise changes according to the topic the unit is laying emphasis on.
There is a total of 114 units in the book with number of exercises ranging between 2-6 in each unit, and the number of questions in each exercise ranges from 4 to 15; imparting substantial knowledge and giving considerable practise to the student.
The content segment at the beginning of the book states the list of units; however it is wise to study the units according to the arrangement of unit numbers stated in the index part at the back of the book.
Each unit or chapter has two pages, the left–hand page is the information leaf to study, the information is subdivided into 2-5 smaller sections for lucid arrangement of the content, the content is explained through illustrations incorporated with speech balloons, and many examples of words and sentences. The right-hand leaf is the exercise part of the unit; the exercises are not difficult, on the contrary has substantial innovative aspect in its construction to keep the student intellectually interested or attracted.
Some of the grammar topics covered are: Adjectives, Adverbs, Apostrophe, Articles,Verbs, Prepositions, Tenses, etc.
The appendices segment is the extra or helpful reading or information material about active and passive forms, irregular verbs , short forms, spelling and phrasal verbs.
The concluding pages of the book contain few pages of additional exercises and key to exercises (to check answers).
The information content on the left-hand leaf of each unit is self-explanatory, thus requires minimum effort by the teacher or parent in explaining the content to the child.
‘Raymond Murphy’s Essential English Grammar Book for Elementary Students’, is a well- compiled book and focuses on the broad practical structure of learning English grammar.
Amazon link: Essential English Grammar with Answers – by
Very cool. With so many auto correct devices at our fingertips, going back to basics couldn’t hurt anyone, especially not me. LOL