Full Description
For nearly forty years, Understanding and Using English Grammar has been the go-to grammar resource for students and teachers alike. Its time-tested approach blends direct grammar instruction with carefully sequenced practice to develop all language skills.
New to This Edition
Pretests at the start of each chapter enable learners to check what they already know.
Updated grammar charts reflect current usage and highlight differences between written and spoken English.
A new chapter on article usage.
A variety of high-interest readings include reviews, articles on current topics, and blogs that focus on student success.
Additional incremental practice helps learners better grasp concepts, while thematic exercises and integrated tasks offer more contextualized language use.
Step-by-step writing activities are supported by writing tips and pre-writing and editing tasks.
New Essential Online Resources include Student Book audio, Student Book answer key, Grammar Coach videos, and self-assessments.
Contents
Preface to the Fifth Edition
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 PRESENT AND PAST; SIMPLE AND PROGRESSIVE
1-1 Simple Present and Present Progressive
1-2 Simple Present and Present Progressive: Affirmative, Negative, Question Forms
1-3 Verbs Not Usually Used in the Progressive (Stative Verbs)
1-4 Simple Past Tense
1-5 Simple Past vs. Past Progressive
1-6 Unfulfilled Intentions: Was/Were Going To
Chapter 2 PERFECT AND PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSES
2-1 Regular and Irregular Verbs
2-2 Irregular Verb List
2-3 Present Perfect: Since and For
2-4 Present Perfect: Unspecified Time and Repeated Events
2-5 Have and Has in Spoken English
2-6 Present Perfect vs. Simple Past
2-7 Present Perfect Progressive
2-8 Past Perfect
2-9 Hadin Spoken English
2-10 Past Perfect Progressive
Chapter 3 FUTURE TIME
3-1 Simple Future: Forms of Will and Be Going To
3-2 Will vs. Be Going To
3-3 Expressing the Future in Time Clauses
3-4 Using the Present Progressive and the Simple Present to Express Future Time
3-5 Future Progressive
3-6 Future Perfect and Future Perfect Progressive
Chapter 4 REVIEW OF VERB TENSES
Chapter 5 SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
5-1 Final -s/-es: Use and Spelling
5-2 Basic Subject-Verb Agreement
5-3 Collective Nouns
5-4 Subject-Verb Agreement: Using Expressions of Quantity
5-5 Subject-Verb Agreement: Using There + Be
5-6 Subject-Verb Agreement: Some Irregularities
Chapter 6 NOUNS
6-1 Regular and Irregular Plural Nouns
6-2 Nouns as Adjectives
6-3 Possessive Nouns
6-4 More About Expressing Possession
6-5 Count and Noncount Nouns
6-6 Noncount Nouns
6-7 Some Common Noncount Nouns
6-8 Expressions of Quantity Used with Count and Noncount Nouns
6-9 Using A Few and Few; A Little and Little
6-10 Singular Expressions of Quantity: One, Each, Every
6-11 Using Of in Expressions of Quantity
Chapter 7 ARTICLES
7-1 Articles (A, An, The) with Indefinite and Definite Nouns
7-2 Articles: Generic Nouns
7-3 Descriptive Information with Definite and Indefinite Nouns
7-4 General Guidelines for Article Usage
7-5 Using The or Ø with Titles and Geographic Names
Chapter 8 PRONOUNS
8-1 Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives
8-2 Agreement with Generic Nouns and Indefinite Pronouns
8-3 Personal Pronouns: Agreement with Collective Nouns
8-4 Reflexive Pronouns
8-5 Using You, One, and They as Impersonal Pronouns
8-6 Forms of Other
8-7 Common Expressions with Other
Chapter 9 MODALS, PART 1
9-1 Basic Modal Introduction
9-2 Expressing Necessity: Must, Have To, Have Got To
9-3 Lack of Necessity (Not Have To) and Prohibition (Must Not)
9-4 Advisability/Suggestions: Should, Ought To, Had Better, Could
9-5 Expectation: Be Supposed To/Should
9-6 Ability: Can, Know How To, and Be Able To
9-7 Possibility: Can, May, Might
9-8 Requests and Responses with Modals
9-9 Polite Requests with Would You Mind
9-10 Making Suggestions: Let's, Why Don't, Shall I /We
Chapter 10 MODALS, PART 2
10-1 Using Would to Express a Repeated Action in the Past
10-2 Expressing the Past: Necessity, Advice, Expectation
10-3 Expressing Past Ability
10-4 Degrees of Certainty: Present Time
10-5 Degrees of Certainty: Present Time Negative
10-6 Degrees of Certainty: Past Time
10-7 Degrees of Certainty: Future Time
10-8 Progressive Forms of Modals
10-9 Combining Modals with Phrasal Modals
10-10 Expressing Preference: Would Rather
10-11 Summary Chart of Modals and Similar Expressions
Chapter 11 THE PASSIVE
11-1 Active vs. Passive
11-2 Tense Forms of the Passive
11-3 Using the Passive
11-4 The Passive Form of Modals and Phrasal Modals
11-5 Stative (Non-Progressive) Passive
11-6 Common Stative (Non-Progressive) Passive Verbs + Prepositions
11-7 The Passive with Get
11-8 -ed/-ing Adjectives
Appendix SUPPLEMENTARY GRAMMAR CHARTS
Unit A: Basic Grammar Terminology
A-1 Subjects, Verbs, and Objects
A-2 Adjectives
A-3 Adverbs
A-4 Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
A-5 Preposition Combinations with Adjectives and Adverbs
Unit B: Questions
B-1 Forms of Yes /No and Information Questions
B-2 Question Words
B-3 Shortened Yes/No Questions
B-4 Negative Questions
B-5 Tag Questions
Unit C: Contractions
Unit D: Negatives
D-1 Using Not and Other Negative Words
D-2 Avoiding Double Negatives
D-3 Beginning a Sentence with a Negative Word
Unit E: Verbs
E-1 The Verb Be
E-2 Spelling of -ing and -ed Verb Forms
E-3 Overview of Verb Tenses
E-4 Summary of Verb Tenses
E-5 Regular Verbs: Pronunciation of -ed Endings
E-6 Pronunciation of Final -s in Verbs and Nouns
E-7 Linking Verbs
E-8 Troublesome Verbs: Raise/Rise, Set/Sit, Lay/Lie
E-9 Irregular Verbs: An Alphabetical Reference List
Listening Script
Index
