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    A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015)
    A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015)
    A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015)
    Ebook70 pages55 minutes

    A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015)

    By Les Johns

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    About this ebook

    Competency in the English language is an essential skill for students, employees and employers. The ability to read and write and a knowledge and understanding of grammar are skills that all should acquire. This book will put these abilities within reach of all who study this short volume. Its contents are as accessible to young pupils of 9 or 10 years as they are to university students and other adults.
    Reading and writing are the tools with which the language can be manipulated and used. The rules governing the use of these tools is the grammar.
    Many people are now computer literate but deficient in language skills. The book is best studied with a computer to hand. This is particularly the case with respect to the sections on reading and writing.
    The ability to read and to write are competencies usually acquired prior to the learning of grammar in any language. This natural progression is followed in this book. It will be found to be as useful for study whether English is the student's first or second language.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLes Johns
    Release dateMar 23, 2014
    ISBN9781311999726
    A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015)
    Author

    Les Johns

    The author has traveled widely on all continents and is still keen to visit new places and to meet new people. He has lived and/or worked in Europe, Africa, Australia and U.S.A. and has visited Asia frequently. He has moved from country to country frequently often with the whole family when the children (2) were young, under five, and when they were older. Children are flexible and adaptable and their education loses nothing from wide and varied experience. Over one period the family had made an international or intercontinental move every eighteen months. The reasons related to employment, political/social conditions and simple preference but there was always an eye on safety and the future of the children. Given the university and career successes of the children travel has been a great educator. The author is always looking for further adventures in different places meeting more friends.

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      Book preview

      A Short English Grammar (Revised Edition 2015) - Les Johns

      A SHORT ENGLISH GRAMMAR

      by

      Les Johns PhD

      Revised Edition

      SmashWords Edition

      All Rights Reserved © 2012 and 2015 Les Johns

      Table of Contents

      #Introduction – Illiteracy is Dangerous – Reasons – Informed Choice

      #Chapter 1 – Reading – The Alphabet – Sounds – Words – Sentences – And More

      #Chapter 2 – Writing – Handwriting – Uncial and Cursive Scripts – Style – Practice

      #Chapter 3 – Spelling – Rules

      #Chapter 4 – Grammar – Nouns – Pronouns – Adjectives – Verbs – Adverbs – Prepositions – Conjunctions – Interjections – Punctuation

      #Chapter 5 – Usage – British Variations – American Variations – Australian Variations – New Zealand Variations – Canadian Variations – Other Variations

      #Chapter 6 – Accents and Dialects – British – American – Australian – New Zealand – Canadian – Others

      #Chapter 7 – Profanities

      #Chapter 8 – Targeted Resources – Reading – Writing – Spelling – Grammar – Usage – Accents and Dialects – Profanities

      #Disclaimer

      #Cover Clipart

      #Privacy

      Introduction

      Illiteracy is Dangerous

      Language is a means of communication. It may be used audibly or graphically. This means, for human beings, the only species on the planet to have the capability of language, it may be spoken or written. Many animals can make noises. These noises probably convey simple messages but no animal sounds, however complex, can be reasonably considered to be concept-containing or idea-transmitting speech as are human utterances. No animal makes marks that could be considered to be writing. It is language that makes us unique and all-powerful.

      Humans do not have the capability of language naturally or instinctively. It is a learned skill. How well one acquires this skill determines the standard of living to which one may aspire. With just an ability in the use of language it is possible to achieve outstanding material success. With all other skills except in the use of language one can be an abject failure.

      If you are not profoundly illiterate but would like to improve your competence in the English language then you may like to advance to some of the other tabs on this site. A better understanding of grammar may increase your ability to use the language effectively. This could well enhance you career prospects or improve your school/high school/college results. The rest of this page and this site may interest or inspire you. If you are helping a friend overcome the disability of illiteracy read on to see how you can best be of assistance.

      As powerful as language is it is not perfect. There are many languages. Proficiency in one does not confer an understanding of another. Some languages are dead, some dying, others have a spoken form but no written system, others exist only in a textual form and in some cases the written form bears no relationship to the spoken word. There is a fine difference between a dead language and extinct one. We have no knowledge of the language of extinct peoples such as Neanderthals or even whether or not they possessed such a skill. Perhaps the lack of this facility contributed to their disappearance. If they were literate then their language is now truly extinct as are they. Some languages now exist only in a written format as impressions in clay or carved in stone. Speakers of such languages have long since died out. It is unlikely that we will ever know of the colloquial forms or slang expressions of their everyday use. Other languages have been superseded or replaced. This is the case with manynative American languages which have been overtaken by English, Portuguese, Spanish or French. The old Coptic language of the Middle East has been replaced by Arabic. Still other languages have fallen into common disuse but are retained for ritual, legal, scientific or ecclesiastical purposes. Latin, Coptic and Sanskrit are examples of such languages. Chinese is unusual in that it has no phonetic written form. Although speakers of the many dialects in use in China are not able to understand each other's speech, the written form of the language is accessible to all who are fully literate.

      There are just over 7000 languages in use in the world today. It is expected that in a little over fifty years the world's dominant languages will be English, Chinese and Spanish. Fortunately some people have an aptitude for learning languages other than their native tongue. Those of us who are competent

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