English for the Natives: Discover the Grammar You Don't Know You Know

by Harry Ritchie

'My first English lesson was grammar with the terrifying Mrs Petrie. She spent the entire time marching up and down the classroom, thwacking various items of school furniture with a ruler while she banged on about the ING part of the verb. I sat there, vibrating with fear, desperately trying to figure out what on earth she could mean. Irregular Negative Gerund? Intransitive Nominative Genitive? It was only years later, when I was teaching English to foreign students, that I realised that English grammar wasn't obscure and wilfully difficult but a fascinating subject which I was already brilliant at - and this book will prove that you are too.'Forget the little you think you know about English grammar and start afresh with this highly entertaining and accessible guide. English for the Natives outlines the rules and structures of our language as they are taught to foreign students - and have never before been explained to us. Harry Ritchie also examines the grammar of dialects as well as standard English and shows how non-standard forms are just as valid. With examples from a wide variety of sources, from Ali G to John Betjeman, Margaret Thatcher to Match of the Day, this essential book reveals some surprising truths about our language and teaches you all the things you didn't know you knew about grammar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Writing, Reference, Linguistics

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2013

About the author

Harry Ritchie (b. 1958) is a Scottish writer and journalist. He is the author of six books, and numerous newspaper articles and book reviews.

Ritchiee attended Kirkcaldy High School and the University of Edinburgh, then studied for a D.Phil. at Lincoln College, Oxford. His doctoral thesis on the literary scene of the 1950s was published by Faber as the book Success Stories in 1988. His subsequent works are the comic travel books Here We Go and The Last Pink Bits, the novels Friday Night Club and The Third Party, and a book about English grammar, English for the Natives (John Murray).

Ritchie edited the anthology New Scottish Writing, and contributed an essay to Nick Hornby's anthology of football writing, My Favourite Year, about his lifelong passion for Raith Rovers, his hometown football club.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I found some sections of this book (particularly the first two chapters about the origins of English) excellent and interesting, I found much of the rest of it confusing. I was left feeling more bemused about grammar than I was when I started.
I thought the book was supposed to be aimed at the non-linguistic layman, but I found it too technical and unwieldy. I was also bemused by the strong anti-Chomsky sentiment - perhaps this is a big thing in linguistic circles at the moment, but it felt rather vitriolic.

[ellu · Rating 1 out of 5]

pääsykoekirja

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!! I have just discovered that my memory that I don't know is worse than the grammar that I do! I read this book (but in hardback) six years ago!!!!!!

I obviously still feel bewildered by what I know, but don't know I know!!!
Yesterday, whilst still reading, I said this:
"Humorous and accessible, but I can't say I would be able to describe the intricacies of our grammatical quirks - thank goodness using "correct" grammar IS so instinctive."
I would also like to quote Ritchie himself -
It [a rule concerning Gerunds, but can I add the quote works for English grammar rules in general!!!!!] sounds complicated. And that's because it is, if you think about it, which English learners have to. Yet we obey this rule without giving it the least thought as we prattle on. p184

[Jessica Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to be angered, insulted and marginalised then this is the book for you. I could only manage the introduction and was left fuming at the blasphemy against Scripture and all the errors of grammar of which there are seven, conservatively speaking, in the introduction alone. These opening pages outline the authors’ basic attitudes which are retarded and infuriating. Do not bother opening this abomination of literature that is fit only to recycled or burnt.

[Victoria Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually cannot enjoy non-fiction books at all, but this one has been a really fascinating insight into our language - where it came from, how it is used, and why, and written in a really enjoyable style that makes you wonder how on earth you know all the things you don't know you know.

As an example here is one of my favourite passages from one of the latter sections on phrasal verbs (I didn't even know what they were)

"...Hence the British Rail verb for leaving a train - not 'get out' but 'alight'. (Alight? When, in all honestly, have you ever used the verb 'alight'?) 'Alight here for connections to Manchester...' It may be a strange verb for us to cope with, but how much worse for non-natives, left to flick hastily through their dictionaries while under the vague impression that they've just been told to set themselves on fire."

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the get go this book's strengths are resonant: the voice is pitched confidently, eloquently, and entirely conversationally, perfect for the subject; polemics are rife with information, sources, and juicy phrases, also perfect; and the mild self-depreciation of the subject is accompanied by a remarkably strong case for why it it as the same time so fascination. That said, Ritchie has front-loaded his most interesting material, and not even taking on the hobgoblins of gerunds and split infinitives can save the book's latter half from drooping, heavy under the weight of textbook exposition. Still a fantastic read on the subject, especially in its early passages.

[Dan Fearnley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts off quite well with language history then turns very dull.