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A debate on English grammar | ||
Tags: Grammar books | English | ||
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| Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4278 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes  Speaks: Cantonese* | Message 1 of 5 08 May 2013 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I came across criticism on Amazon of "Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive
Guide". The comments on the perfect tense were not actually a debate but some people made it like one. I don't quite catch what's going on there, and would like help on the grammar points. Here is the link to the "discussion": http://www.ama zon.com/review/R3FPSSIRJF7FSY/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt? ie=UTF8&ASIN=3125343313&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=#wasThisHelpfu l I have not read the book mentioned myself. I don't see any problem in the examples Johnston quoted from the book. The explanations by Black are what I was taught. The last comment by Johnston seemed to be against Black, but I am not sure what he's trying to convey. The criticism by Johnston caught my attention. I have not formally studied English grammar yet, so I would know others' opinions. Edited by Paco on 08 May 2013 at 6:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 5 08 May 2013 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Neither do I. I suggest that you ignore that entire comment thread. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4669 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 3 of 5 09 May 2013 at 4:27am | IP Logged | ||
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I wish there were a grammar of US English, made for L2 learners of English.
99% of grammars are published in the UK and many times they advocate usage which is marginal in the US (like using ''recommend someone to do something'' instead of ''recommend that someone do something''). Edited by Medulin on 09 May 2013 at 4:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 5 09 May 2013 at 8:41am | IP Logged | ||
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I think the author of the criticism in http://www.amazon.com/review/R3FPSSIRJF7FSY/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt ?ie=UTF8&ASIN=3125343313 is mostly incorrect. You do make create the present perfect by putting the present tense of "to have" with the past participle as was done in each of the examples cited. Also, the past perfect is done as the examples. The past tense of "to have" is used with the past participle.
I can't comment on the book itself, but the grammar criticism seems out of place. This looks to me to be a good explanation of the past perfect. Perhaps this website would be more useful than the book. Edited by luke on 09 May 2013 at 8:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| wber Groupie United States Joined 4302 days ago 45 posts - 77 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Vietnamese, French | Message 5 of 5 29 May 2013 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have also seen his reviews on other grammar books and the best choice is to ignore him. He either does not know what he is talking about or he seems to have a superiority complex and deems it necessary that he is the only one who knows anything about correct usage of English grammar or maybe both. This might also be a possibility, there are a few company trolls, which are people from competing companies that give a book a bad review to discourage others from buying that book and recommend another one.
Also, if you do assume he is correct, look at it this way: if 99% of the population has changed the rules of English, then he is now using wrong English no matter what he claims, he has to move on no matter how much he whines about it. Language is a living thing, it will always change. Just compare Chaucer vs Shakespeare vs Today's English. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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