McCarthy’s Field Guide to Grammar by Michael McCarthy – Book Review
McCarthy’s Field Guide to Grammar by Michael McCarthy – Book Review
McCarthy’s Field Guide to Grammar
Natural English Usage and Style
Author – Michael McCarthy
Publisher – Chambers
Pages – 224
Released – 9th December 2021
ISBN-13 – 978-1529393514
Format – ebook, hardcover
Rating – 4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
This post contains affiliate links.
Synopsis
Remember all those grammar rules from school? No? Most of us don’t. Mike McCarthy, renowned corpus linguist and co-author of the 900-page Cambridge Grammar of English answers the awkward questions that regularly bother us about English grammar. In this helpful A-Z field guide, McCarthy tells us what the conventional rules are as well as shows us what people are writing or saying now and gives simple reasons why you might choose one or the other so that you can speak and write with confidence.
Through witty and entertaining examples pulled from 50 years of teaching, 40 years of field notes picked from books, newspapers, letters, radio and TV, etc., and shamelessly eavesdropping on people’s conversations in public spaces, and a British and American English computer database, McCarthy has created a book to browse and enjoy, as well as a useful reference to keep on your bookshelf.
Why a Field Guide to grammar?
– A to Z format makes it easy to access and to find what you’re looking for
– Presents solutions to a host of common, everyday grammatical problems
– References current events to bring relevance to the grammar (fronted adverbials anyone?)
– Looks at historical usage to illustrate how the English language has evolved, and continues to evolve
– Gives guidance on appropriate usage where more than one way of saying something exists
– Distinguishes between spoken and written grammar where appropriate
– includes advice on vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation and style
– Compares North American and British grammar, and includes Englishes from around the world
– Charming drawings to illustrate the playfulness in the English language
– Grammar guide backed by data and research
True to the Chambers name, this field guide is as much quirky as it is informative. It is the perfect gift for any language lover, student, teacher, struggling parent or carer supporting their child’s schooling, the grammar purist or the grammar descriptivist.
Review by Stacey
McCarthy’s Field Guide to Grammar: Natural English Usage and Style is written by Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham Michael McCarthy. The author wrote the book after hearing about how many parents were struggling to home school their children in English Grammar as they had either never learned it or had forgotten.
Over the years I have read, looked at, and scanned a few grammar books but as the author notes in this one, some are dull and I agree. What Michael McCarthy has done with his book is to try to make grammar fun and interesting as well as move with the times.
It is written alphabetically and covers all the subjects areas that are relevant to English grammar, such as adjectives, verbs, nouns, apostrophes, exclamation marks, etc alongside words and phrases that are relevant to the English language today.
Each segment is written in easy to understand text and gets right to the point, no going around the houses to try to get you to understand something that can be easily explained in one sentence. This is what I like. I don’t like books that make learning boring and include lots of filler. This is clear and concise.
Before you begin exploring/learning the author states that if you are not that familiar with grammar terms then head to the back of the book for an introduction to basic terminology. This is a clever idea as people who already know most of the terminology don’t want to have to sift through the information they know, they can get straight down to business.
This is a book I will most likely dip in and out of when I need help with something. A bit like keeping a dictionary handy. It is quite small in size (about the size of a paperback book) and so can be easily transported in a work/school bag.
I’ve never been the greatest when it comes to grammar, I get all my blog posts proofread before they are posted and I don’t think there has been a single post where I haven’t done something wrong, hopefully, I can learn and with McCarthy’s Field Guide to Grammar sitting on my desk I’m sure I’ll manage to one day.
