導讀： 簡介: IntroductionThis book is for nonnative speakers of English who have already attainedextensive fl uency in classroom English. It is designed to help you moveto the next level of functioning comfort 簡介:


Introduction
This book is for nonnative speakers of English who have already attained
extensive fl uency in classroom English. It is designed to help you move
to the next level of functioning comfortably in a fully English-speaking
environment. For example, your job may take you to an English-speaking
country, or your duties may require you to interact extensively with native
English speakers in person, on the telephone, or on the Internet.
Even though the book includes many topics covered in other ESL books,
it is not a textbook. It is an advanced-level reference work designed to give
you instant access to detailed information about specifi c topics that you
need to know and apply now. Each section of the book is a self-contained
module. Unlike with a textbook, you do not need to start on page 1. Just
use the table of contents or the index to locate the topic you need, and then
go right to it.
The most important feature of this book is the immense amount of
information about English grammar in general and about four specifi c
areas of English grammar that are most likely to cause diffi culties:
• Areas of unusual grammatical complexity. Nonnative speakers fi nd
certain areas of grammar especially diffi cult to master. The reason is simple:
the grammatical mechanisms involved are indeed quite complicated.
Unless you fully understand how these mechanisms work, you will never
master the areas they govern. This book explains these mechanisms in
much greater detail than most ESL textbooks attempt to do.
• Areas of unusual irregularity. Many grammatical options are controlled
by particular words, often verbs. This book is full of lists that tell the reader
which words control which specifi c grammatical structures. For example,
it is impossible to predict in general whether a particular verb will permit
a gerund, an infi nitive, or both as an object. The only way you can tell is to
look at the lists provided to see which construction is allowable. No other
book (outside specialized linguistic reference works) provides such extensive
listings of idiosyncratic, word-controlled grammatical structures.
• Areas in which native speakers routinely use special forms in conversational
English. If your only use of English is as a formal, written language
(as is the case for many nonnative speakers), and you don’t foresee
any need to ever talk to a native speaker of English under fi fty years old,
then this area is not a concern for you.
For everybody else, however, this may well be the most diffi cult of the
four areas. Unless you have had extensive direct contact with native speakers
of English in informal situations, you simply have not had the opportunity
to acquire this type of English. It is not just a matter of contractions
and rapid speech (though these will cause you plenty of problems); there
are also well-established, predictable shifts in grammar that take place in
casual conversation. Here’s an illustration:
In formal English, the standard passive is formed with the helping verb
be. For example:
We were interrupted.
In informal conversational English, most native speakers actually use the
helping verb get instead of be. For example:
We got interrupted.
One of the key features of this book is the discussion of this kind of grammatical
substitution wherever it is signifi cant. (This occurs surprisingly
often.)
• Areas in which both native and nonnative speakers often make mistakes.
As you become more like a native speaker, you are bound to start
making the same mistakes that native speakers do. For example, like native
speakers, you will have problems distinguishing between restrictive and
nonrestrictive adjective clauses in more complicated sentences. You will
also have problems knowing when and how to use direct and indirect quotation.
This book has extensive treatments of these predictable problem
areas, far beyond what you would ever encounter in an ESL textbook (and
most books for native speakers, for that matter).
This book is divided into three parts: Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases, and
Sentences.
Part I, Noun Phrases: Noun phrases (nouns together with all their
modifi ers) are one of the fundamental building blocks of English. Noun
phrases function as the subjects of sentences, the objects or complements
of verbs, and the objects of prepositions. Part I addresses the various components
that make up noun phrases. The fi rst four chapters describe nouns
and noun modifi ers. The remaining three chapters discuss grammatical
entities other than nouns that can also function as noun phrases. They are
pronouns, gerund and infi nitive phrases, and noun clauses.
Part II, Verb Phrases: Part II is devoted to verb phrases, the second of
the two fundamental building blocks of English. Verb phrases are verbs
together with all of the verbs’ complements (structures required by particular
verbs) and optional modifi ers. The fi rst three chapters deal specifi
cally with verb forms and verb tenses. The next three chapters deal
with verb complements: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and other grammatical
structures that are required by particular verbs and predicate adjectives to
form complete sentences. The fi nal two chapters deal with optional adverb
modifi ers of verbs.
Part III, Sentences: In this section we will examine three topics that
affect entire sentences. These topics have been picked for two reasons:
they are a major part of English grammar, but even more important, they
pose certain diffi culties for nonnative speakers. Chapter 16 explores conjunctions:
ways in which words, phrases, and entire independent clauses
(sentences) are joined together. Chapter 17 focuses on how questions are
formed. We conclude with a study of the passive in Chapter 18.
Note: Throughout the text, X signifi es ungrammatical, ? signifi es questionable,
X? signifi es borderline ungrammatical, and // signifi es the
sound of a letter.