A Student's Advanced Grammar of English (SAGE)

Whatever kind of high-level language user you are - college or university student, serving language teacher, or advanced school learner - A Students Advanced Grammar of English (SAGE) offers you support, information, and further training. SAGE is a reference work as well as a programmed refresher course with exercises on the accompanying website, and a structured teaching aid. It serves as a spot-check in specific cases of uncertainty. But it also answers broader queries and provides comprehensive insights into the major structural areas of English. Its concern is not simply grammar, but above all usage. SAGE is easy to comprehend and non-specialist in method. All grammatical terminology is explained in a simple and straightforward manner. On the other hand, SAGE takes account of current research in language studies. In catering especially for the user with a native German background, SAGE treats many areas of English from a contrastive point of view, highlighting those phenomena which cause typical problems in a German-based learning context. The second edition has been thoroughly revised.

Dr. Peter Fenn lehrt an der PH Ludwigsburg.

Chapter 1 Introduction – Elements of English 001 On grammar 002 The character of English 003 Some basic concepts in language study Chapter 2 Nouns 2.1 Basic features: introduction 004 Main grammatical features 005 Main semantic features 2.2 From singular to plural 006 Regular plural formation 007 Irregular plural formation 008 Number, countability and meaning: details of use 2.3 The genitive 009 The s-genitive: form and syntax 010 The of-genitive: form and syntax 011 The genitive in general use 012 Some specific uses of the genitive 013 Summary: s-genitive and of-genitive in contrast 2.4 Noun forms 014 Common suffixes 015 Prefixes 016 Compound nouns 017 Compound nouns: summary and points of difficulty 018 Some other processes of noun formation Chapter 3 Pronouns, Determiners and Quantifiers 3.1 Pronouns 019 Main grammatical features 020 Pronoun types 3.2 Determiners 021 Main grammatical and semantic features 022 Determiner types 3.3 Quantifiers 023 Main grammatical and semantic features 024 Distributives 025 Indefinite quantifiers Chapter 4 Adjectives 026 Basic features 027 The syntax of adjectives 028 Adjective meaning and adjective grammar 029 Adjective forms 030 Aspects of usage 031 Comparison Chapter 5 Adverbs 032 Basic features 033 Adverb meaning 034 Adverb forms Chapter 6 Prepositions 035 Basic features 036 Individual prepositions and their meanings Chapter 7 Conjunctions 037 Basic features 038 Individual conjunctions and their meanings 039 Conjunction clauses and sentence syntax Chapter 8 Verbs: Basic Features, Syntax and Forms 040 Basic features 041 Syntax: the verb in the sentence 042 Forms of verbs Chapter 9 Verbs: The Present and Past Tenses 043 Overview 044 The primary non-perfect tenses and their aspects Chapter 10 Verbs: The Perfect Tenses 045 Introduction 046 The present perfect 047 The past perfect Chapter 11 Verbs: Future and Conditional Meaning, Indirect Speech, the Passive 11.1 Future meaning 048 Introduction 049 The forms of future reference 11.2 Conditional meaning 050 Introduction 051 Conditional meaning and conditional forms 11.3 Indirect (reported) speech 052 Introduction: direct and indirect speech 053 The forms of indirect speech 11.4 The passive voice 054 Introduction: active and passive voice 055 Forming and using the passive Chapter 12 Verbs: Modal Verbs 056 Modal verbs: types and forms 057 Modal meanings Chapter 13 Verbs: Non-finite Verbs 058 Basic features 13.1 The infinitive 059 Forms 060 Infinitive constructions 13.2 The gerund 061 Form, syntax, general meaning 062 Gerund constructions 13.3 The participles 063 Form, syntax, general meaning 064 The participles in use Chapter 14 Phrase and Clause at Complex Level 14.1 The complex phrase 065 Introduction 066 Postmodification in the noun phrase 067 Complex adjective and prepositional phrases 14.2 Aspects of the complex sentence 068 Forms and functions Index