Making Sense of Grammar

by David Crystal

* Moves the analysis of grammar and language structure onto the next stage -- interpreting it from a semantic and pragmatic point of view. * Clearly shows how grammar works in different literary contexts -- literary, non-literary, spoken and written. * Explores a wide range of linguistic themes, including sociolinguistics, language acquisition and register. * Provides guidance on how people can put their knowledge of grammar into daily practice and how this is interpreted by others. * Organised in the same way as Rediscover Grammar for quick reference. Unique, lively writing and clear explanations from the world-class grammar expert.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics, Writing, History, Audiobook, Education

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

David Crystal works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, he spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary's College. He read English at University College London (1959-62), specialised in English language studies, did some research there at the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk (1962-3), then joined academic life as a lecturer in linguistics, first at Bangor, then at Reading. He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics, and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational and clinical contexts, notably in the development of a range of linguistic profiling techniques for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. These days he divides his time between work on language and work on internet applications.

source: http://www.davidcrystal.com/

Reviews

[Katerina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Какой-то завистливый дурачок назвал Дэвида Кристала il capo dei capi of the linguistic mafia, но что поделать, он ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНО САМЫЙ КРУТОЙ — и самый понятный, for that matter. Я постараюсь подробнее написать, пока же чуть ли не плачу от радости. Книжка по английской грамматике рискует стать моей книгой года!

***
Итак, это самая захватывающая книга о грамматике, которую я читала - а я обожаю читать про языки, это мое comfort reading, как Энн Тайлер. Я слушала эту книгу и постоянно внутренне улыбалась и кивала; было ощущение, что попал на лекцию к невероятно приятному и умному коллеге.

Часть серии научно-популярных работ про английский язык (Making a Point про пунктуацию, Spell It Out про орфографию, Sounds Appealing про произношение), Making Sense на примере дочери Кристала рассказывает, как человек овладевает языком и осваивает грамматику.

Кристал (божечки, как же повезло уважаемому профессору с фамилией!) элегантно и виртуозно демонстрирует, как знание грамматики улучшает качество жизни. Рассказывает о частях речи и их использовании, о разных функциональных стилях, о непременной связи грамматики с семантикой (смыслом) и прагматикой (контекстом).

Мне ужасно нравится, что он совсем не дидактичен и не категоричен, в отличие от некоторых его коллег, которых он мягко и ненавязчиво журит в одной из глав. Странно, говорит Кристал, запрещать людям использовать пассивный залог, при этом три раза используя пассивные формы в рамках одного короткого абзаца. Если бы что-то грамматическое носителям было не нужно, оно бы уже заранее отвалилось (как отвалилась перфектная связка в русском языке, например).

Один из таких популяризаторов и прескриптивистов как-то, сетует Кристал, назвал его “the capo di tutti capi [the boss of all bosses] of the linguistic Cosa Nostra”.

Ну что я могу сказать, доктор Кристал? You ARE the boss.

[Maricruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque los capítulos iniciales me resultaron un poco menos interesantes, porque me daba la impresión de estar haciendo un repaso de la gramática aprendida en el colegio y el instituto, David Crystal explica todo taaaan bien y de manera tan amena que me daba un poco igual. Al final, aunque el tema central sea el aprendizaje y la enseñanza de la gramática inglesa (aunque buena parte de lo que dice se puede hacer extensiva a cualquier idioma), acaba abordándolo desde perspectivas muy variadas: la adquisición de la lengua por parte de los niños, cómo se aprende el inglés como lengua extranjera (ahora entiendo por qué mi generación aprendió tan poco y tan mal en ese sentido), las particularidades gramaticales del inglés de otros países angloparlantes y del de internet, o cómo algunas de las «aberraciones modernas» que denuncian los puristas (que curiosamente no suelen tener una formación filológica) pueden encontrarse ya en Beowulf o en Chaucer. Cualquiera que tenga aunque sea un mínimo interés en la lengua, inglesa o no, encontrará interesante este libro, porque es la prueba fehaciente de lo que pretende explicar: la gramática es apasionante y está llena de glamour. David Crystal tiene en mí a una nueva fan.

[Pennie Larina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Сплошной восторг и чистая радость. Дэвид Гринберг от филологии.

[Tomohiro Kuwabara · Rating 5 out of 5]

True significance of Grammar

This is a creative nonfiction work written by David Crystal, a professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, targeting widely from linguistics expert to those who with little or no grammatical knowledge of English. Like many English learners, I found learning English grammar challenging and not entertaining through what the author calls “unhappy learning experience.” Why was learning grammar not interesting? To begin with, what is grammar? Where did grammar come from? Why do we need to study grammar? Readers should find answers to those fundamental questions. Reading through this book was like a long journey through time and space to find out how the present English grammar has been established, full of surprises and new discoveries.

The first significance of the book is its attention-drawing organizational technique. To be honest, it was a big challenge for me to read out this book mainly because of the presence of the unfamiliar abstract terminology. Nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, and dative are some of the examples, and they were still workable because at least, I knew or could understand the notion of the terms in my mother tongue, Japanese. However, when it came to “iambic pentameter”, “syntax” or “morphology”, I was forced to stop reading to search for the meaning of the concept they possess or to read their explanations repeatedly. In addition, reading the old English for me was like learning a foreign language in a foreign language. Assuming probably that readers should face those challenges, the author prompts different approaches to avoid losing readers’ attention. The obvious example is at the beginning of the book, starting with a shocking story that the author was asked by one of his university’s English native students in Liverpool, “What’s a preposition?”, making him “gobsmacked”. Another example is observed where describing the process of the development of grammar since ancient time was explained along with the detailed process of how little children acquire English grammar. This combination is highly creative, making the story line entertaining. The third example is found where the progressive form of the verb “know” is deliberately used in the context of explaining that more progressive forms are used recently. By putting the controversial use of “knowing” in his writing, he succeeded in making his point clear and again, entertaining.

The second significance of the book is his multitiered approach to describe the present state of English grammar and its characteristics. After explaining the history of the birth and transition of English grammar over the past centuries, the author points out the gradualness in transition of grammar in comparison with words. As sputnik became a universal word in 1957 overnight, the speed of words’ transition is quite fast; on the other hand, grammar takes more than at least a year or sometimes over a hundred years to change. Then the presence of grammatical distinctive characters among different occupations is explored. The uniqueness of religious, legal, sports, and journalism English are some of the clear examples. Also, readers will observe the vast diversity of English across the world at present. The different use of verbs and nouns, and the difference in their conjugations between England and U.S. are well-known; however, how many people know that, in different locations of England, there are alternatives to express you are when addressing a single person, such as thou are, thee art, thou is, you be, or you bin? How many people know that it is widespread in South East Asia to add la, lo, or ma at the end of the sentence to express that speakers are in rapport, speaking informally, being amicable?

The third significance of this book is its fair view on how grammar and the way it is learned are supposed to be. On one hand, the author points out that everyone who receives a school education needs to learn to read and write standard English grammar to facilitate inter-regional communication in today’s highly diversified society. But on the other hand, he acknowledges the presence and the importance of the non-standard grammar that enables groups of people to express their regional or cultural identity, adding that this needs to be respected. As for the learning, although it has been repeated that the extreme prescriptive approach --- the kind of pedantry which insists that there are unique rules which must be followed in any case --- was the major factor causing the confusion among even native English users today, the author acknowledges the necessity of prescriptive grammar if it is based on English linguistic reality. He states, “grammar should never be divorced from meaning.”

Looking back over all the themes, examples, and messages covered in the book, I sensed that the author’s strong desire and the book’s prime purpose is to transform the dominant negative perception towards grammar, which is typically coming from the “unhappy leaning experience”, into something highly relevant and useful in everyday life. Everybody wants to be understood. This book told me that grammar is the right tool to help that, by conveying our messages precisely. After reading, I searched for the opportunities to learn more about English grammar. From this fact, I judge the purpose of the book has been achieved.

[Rillene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already thought grammar was wonderfully interesting, but now I know it's glamorous!

Grammar nerds will love Crystals no nonsense approach to how words work. His descriptive, pragmatic approach is a breath of fresh air in what can be a very restrictive, prescriptive environment.

As a teacher, I appreciated the advice he gives on how to make grammar authentic and, shall we say, glamourous to our students. The appendix to the book is a jewel! Research based best practices are discussed. Professional development ideas are given. Teachers will appreciate the help.

I can't wait to read this again.

I know--what a nerd

[Iryna Donchenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an easy and pleasant read. Grammar might be fun if served in a right way 🤗

[Jen de R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was hard to get into. The writer spends a long time describing how small children pick up and put together the elements of language - a topic I fully expected to find interesting but didn't. Maybe having watched a bunch of my own children through this process removed any sense of novelty from my reading about it.
Then it got interesting. There were chapters about:
- Seeing different styles of grammar usage in various uses such as sports commentary, legal documents, news headlines, and advertising.
- Current grammatical changes underway with the increasing use of progressive verb forms (e.g. I'm living in Brussels instead of I live in Brussels)
- Grammatical changes through old, middle, and early modern English
- Regional and international idiosyncrasies of grammar
All of which were engaging and illuminating. Glad I persevered, overall.

[Akbar Madan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The truth of grammar always lies in knowing its uses in life, so linguists, including David Crystal, always prefer that children learn language through language “linguistics”, if children understand why we learn language and how language is beautiful and useful in life, then its impact will be more severe for them.
This book “Making sense of grammar” is similar to the book “Qatar Al-Nada” in the beauty of presenting grammatical rules / their origins / their forms / the changes that occurred to them in all stages of language formation, and their aesthetic necessity in language.

[Ellen Cutler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books that explore about language, grammar and writing are my guilty pleasure. I consider the injunctions presented as I am absorbed by the text, trying to figure out if the writers are following their own instructions. I also hope that I will learning something from them I can use in my own efforts.

It has also become clear that the circle of writers who produce these books know each other (or at least each other’s efforts) and constitute a genteelly competitive lot. There are nods to one another and the occasional dig. Language and usage evolve—some writers are more conservative, others more comfortable with change.

Some writers too, are more prescriptive (specifying what is correct and incorrect in terms of usage) and others more descriptive (more focused on the meaning expressed in a sentence). The former emphasizes the parts of speech and the rules that apply to them. The latter starts with the communication intended and determines the syntax that best gets the job done.

David Crystal makes his partisanship clear in the title: Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar (Oxford University Press, 2017). He believes in the teaching and discussion of grammar, just not for its own sake. His fascination with the discipline is evident from the start as he provides, between preface and introduction, a brief demonstration of the etymological twinship of “grammar” and “glamour/glamor”: “secret knowledge” becomes “charm, attractiveness, physical allure.”

Crystal’s approach follows the cognitive development of his daughter Suzie and how her grammar develops from sentences of a single verb or noun when she is about eighteen months old to more precise and subtle locutions when she is three or four or five years old. In doing so she demonstrations how grammar transforms ambiguity into clarity.

In doing so he also presents the problem of applying Latin rules, the rules associated with a morphological grammar in which word endings and spellings (inflections) demonstrate relationships and convey meanings, to a language that is obdurately uninflected. As he points out,
We’re still trying to get rid of the pernicious influence of Latin on the way we think about English grammar. Several of the worries people have about ‘correct’ usage are the consequence of being condition to think about English as if it were Latin. (p.32)

The further I read, the more I realized that I myself am something of a prescriptivist and that when I correct essays in my art history classes I provide explanations that are more focused on the “correctness” of the usage than the reasons why the errors students make obscure and subvert their intended meaning. I have a lot of Asian students already struggling with working in a language as different as English is from Chinese or Korean. I also have a lot of learning-disabled students or just ill-educated students whose ability to write coherent English is limited.

Hmmm. That definitely gives me something to think about.

Recognizing my failures in this way is only the first step to rectifying them. Unfortunately, as Crystal points out in the preface, pedagogical suggestions have been excised from this book. Those suggestions on grammar-teaching, focused as they were on the situation in the United Kingdom, “were felt by the publisher to be too parochial for an international readership.” (p. x) He has, however, made them available on his website, so I plan to take a look.

Where does this book fit on the shelves dedicated to the English language and writing? Not sure but the space is there.

[R.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book worthing to be read by people interested on the subject, but while it's not difficult, I think it's too specific for an averrage reader to seek out for it...
I read it in the course of several weeks, reading a chapter now, a chapter then, a few pages later and so on...The subject matter just didn't call me back...

I liked very much the relaxed attitude of David Crystal towards grammar, him focusing on a "desriptive" grammar rather than a "prescriptive" one and trying to encourrage teachers, journalists, academics and people in general to see the language as a living thing versus a dry set of rules.
It was nice to be reminded of basic elements of English grammar and I enjoyed sparks of humor in the book, while I found some of the interludes very interesting.

Still, I apologise to the author for not finding the glamour in grammar that he seems to find... Grammar remains a rather dull subject to me... Maybe that's exactly due to been Greek and been teached grammar exactly using the techniques that the author critises on the book... Too late to change my bad feelings towards grammar...

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much liked the beginning, but it stopped engaging me quite so much as it approached the ending—I'm not sure why. Can't bring myself to give it 4 stars (quite a high grade from me).

It was a sort of amalgam of a few things. It was not a grammar book (i.e. an instructive manual), it wasn't even really a history of grammar change, it was more a history of changes in the approach experts take toward the thinking-about or instruction-of grammar.

It did whet my appetite for more on the subject, and I would read more by the author ... one got the sense that the editors may have intervened unduly (unless they're the ones who helped cheer up the opening chapters!)

Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:

(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)

[Michael Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying (Crystal has a lot of say on that usage) this recent series of books that esteemed linguist David Crystal has been putting out. Grammar is not the most glamorous subject but one that is hugely important if we are to make sense of what people say and write, and if people are able to make sense of what we utter. Crystal's a descriptivist and that emphasis on describing English's ever-evolving grammar and its role in the making of meaning is what makes me enjoy this book so much. Well worth a read.

[Emily Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding as always. David Crystal does not disappoint in this latest installment. It's a fascinating and fun look into the history, social implications, and pedagogy of grammar!

[Helen Natasha Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book pretty mind blowing. Might I even say life changing?

It was not what I was expecting. I started reading it, hoping to be able to grasp more clearly the rules of English grammar, to learn the technical terms for parts of grammar that I didn’t already know, to fill in any gaps in my knowledge.

In the mid/late 1980s I studied Latin to A level and studied Spanish and ancient Greek to O level. In the late 1980s and early 1990s I studied French, German, and Italian at university. So I had a good grounding in grammar and especially that of dead languages. I loved dead languages because there were no colloquialisms to mess things up and threaten the integrity of what we know to be true!

This book upturned everything. There is no such thing as a fixed, definitive English grammar. The rules shift according to how we communicate, which is ever changing. I’d really not understood that at all. And this absolutely makes sense when the author shows us English from a thousand years ago, hundreds of years ago, last century; from Shakespeare and Chaucer; from various British regions, different English-speaking countries, and countries where the first language is not English; when he compares formal and informal use, and usage by professions such as law, sports commentary, broadcasting; and so on.

In 1910, a Board of Education circular on The Teaching of English in Secondary Schools stressed that English ‘is a living organism in process of constant change.’ Grammar needs to be descriptive, not prescriptive. What an amazing revelation this has been to me. And it’s so obvious when pointed out so humbly, intelligently, and entertainingly by the author. But I never would have got there on my own.

I wonder whether I can stop correcting people now ...?

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm unusual for my generation, but I definitely got a hefty dose of grammar instruction in my youth - after all, I did attend Catholic schools for much of my K-8 education and even took an English grammar class in high school [I'm sure it was for strategic standarized test-taking purposes] - and despite that [or maybe because of that?], I was excited to dive into this. Because, yeah, I diagramed the shit out of many a sentence in my youth and yet I still had so many lingering questions.

Fortunately, the author not only answered questions lingering from my prescriptivist grammar education (OMG, I finally know what part of speech, er, word class "that" is from, yaaaaay!), he introduced a whole new world of grammar "whys." Forgive me another OMG, but OMG, grammar isn't only about rules but also about sense-making and even style (if you must have the fancy words, semantics and pragmatics). Yessss! Standard grammar rules are important, but just one wee part of the grammar puzzle.

All this made me happy to learn. And chapter 29 in my edition summarized all this quite nicely... even if I found some of the language around standard/non-standard a bit uncomfortable (don't even get me started on the notion of prestige as used here, ummmm, awkward). Despite those feelings, I really appreciated the author's perspective on the whole wide notion of grammar. Above all, I'm glad this was my final non-fiction read for 2020.

[Lara Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess if you already know a lot about linguistics you might find this book a little boring - in some ways I felt that way about the first few chapters - but I really like it as a beginner's introduction to grammar in linguistics, especially since it reaches into more ambitious places as it goes on (and it treads the line between detail and readability really well, but this is David Crystal, so that goes without saying).

I'd especially recommend it to anyone who is doing / about to do English Language A level, or if you're going into Linguistics at university and don't have any background in English Language. There's no getting around it, you're going to need a decent grasp of grammar, and lots of people teach it in a boring way. Crystal does not. This book does a really good job of actually explaining why grammar analysis can be important, which I think is something you really have to understand from the beginning if you're going to study grammar without losing the will to live.

You also need to read this if you're one of those people who are really into Religiously Following Grammatical Rules For No Reason Except Someone Said You Have To (and you enjoy telling other people off for not following them). Trust me, you'll love grammatical rules even more when you actually understand why they exist (spoiler alert: it's mostly the Romans.)

[LY N · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Grammar is a system of systems, within which we make choices that convey meanings and effects. It should never be studied in isolation from other properties of language that contribute to meaningful and effective communication - in particular, the perspectives provided by semantics and pragmatics. It is these that show us how to relate structures and uses, take grammar beyond the basic level of "naming of parts" and mechanical parsing, and point us in the direction of explanations for our grammatical behavior that are intellectually stimulating and emotionally appealing. In a word, they give grammar its glamour. "

[Mike Gowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is topnotch. It is pitched to the reader who has some background in grammar and probably teaches English in an elementary school. It relates the history of teaching English grammar, from its bad beginnings, based on Latin grammar, to its rebirth in the study of the structure of the English.

I liked the examples, especially the character of Suzie as she learned how to construct sentences from words. It made me want to get out my Chaucer again, because I do recall that Middle English is a lot like Modern English in the way it works to make sense.

[Putu Sita Witari · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about a bit of grammar history and how grammar is perceived since hundred years ago. It's presented in very clear and concise way, by dividing the content into small units which each is wrapped with witty vintage illustrations.

Though hardly to tell if this book is special for a language learner or regular non-fiction reader, I still suggest you to pick it up for answering your question when learning English language in class: Why grammar is not easy? Why do I need to learn grammar?

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this could have been a whole lot better. It's a really intelligent overview of grammar and approaches to grammar teaching. Even where the information is not new, Crystal is impressive in his ability to synthesize and cross reference the different schools of thought. What weakens this book, though. is the "voiceover." Crystal's narratorial persona is fusty and a tad condescending, and the world he inhabits feels like an idealized version of 1950s Britain -- so no, not very relatable.

[Magdalena Golden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by David Crystal and I'm sure it's not going to be the last. In fact, I've already bought two more by him and they got bumped up to the top of my reading list.

This book is an absolutely fantastic introduction to grammar. A must-read for anyone with an interest in it and, in fact, for anyone who thinks they are not interested based on their miserable experience in school - prepare to be amazed!

[Bob Beaird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A witty and delightful introduction to modern grammar, with an anecdotal tour of the history of English grammar thrown in. One of the fascinating elements to the book’s structure is having the first nearly half of the book follow the development of grammar in children. Not only does this approach illuminate and enliven fundamental aspects of grammar, it should also prove valuable to readers with young children (or grandchildren).

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a little different grammar book. Before you start to snore, this is a fun one. Albeit this relates more to British English than to American there is still a lot​ of pertinent information for Americans. A lot of the history of grammar is outlined and I enjoyed the examples on how we gain grammar. If you’re looking for a list of rules this is not the book for you. But if you want to like learning grammar, this is a good starting place.

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars, read as an audiobook. An absolutely delightful, nerdy experience. The fact that it's read by the author really makes the difference, livening it up. I almost couldn't read it as my nighttime audiobook simply because I would stay up way too late, unable to turn it off because it was so fascinating (but I just had to keep using it as my nighttime audiobook... because it was so fascinating).

[Sevgi Ikinci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew that the languages are living things that they evolve and change all the time, but to see the examples of this living thing in this book was nice. Also, I really like to see the approaches to language teaching (please include meaning to grammar) and how social changes reflect on the languages.

[Catsalive · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved listening to David Crystal read his Glamorous Story of English Grammar. How lovely to have been taught by him. As it was, no grammar was taught when I was at school, you just picked it up as you learned to read, write, speak & listen. He lost me a couple of times but I clung on tenaciously. I've always found linguistics interesting.

[Steven Kolber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might be fun if you have never been taught or studies grammar, I felt by aiming at too broad an audience it made itself very skimmable. Lots of things were overexplained, always fun references to idiosyncrasies though. The anecdotes of childhood language development were especially joyous.

[Hanli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learn “English ”again by craystal.

As a failure chinese English learner, I ‘m so happy i can read the books of author, the first is spell it out, this book is also pretty well. My English teacher of China just told me grammar, but author taught me grammar

[Arina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting things, especially about the history of English grammar and its teaching and also about language acquisition in children. But I've found the parts about school education in Britain a bit boring since it does not concern me at all.

[Amy Trostle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the various elements and functions of grammar, and how English grammar has changed (and continues to change) over time. Thoroughly enjoyed how the author ties the understanding of how grammar works to the study of a particular language.