I bought this at the recommendation of Classical Conversations. I thought it was helpful and interesting to read as a companion to the Essentials guide. My only complaint is that there wasn't more about the history of the English language.
Not the biggest fan of this book. Religion appeared to be forcefully added and unnecessary, in my opinion. Wish there was more history of the English Language. I enjoyed the tidbits that were provided. Once you get past those parts, then this book does a great job in serving as a refresher of grammar. If I was taught grammar this way (outside the religious talk) rather than drill and kill, I believe I would have fallen in love with grammar and language.
A great review for older writers to 'fill in the gaps' and explain all those technical grammatical terms. Could also be used as a base text to teach grammar and sentence diagramming to students. Teacher intensive unless used for high school.
This is a great refresher or simple course for school kids. It is basic, but it is also thorough and deals with some more complex topics in the last few unit. This is great as a stand alone, but it is really helpful as a supplement for Classical Conversations curriculum.
This book is formatted in such a lovely way; it was truly enjoyable to use. I really loved all the quotations at the start of each lesson and the added English language history. However, I found several points of disagreement along the way. Sometimes I didn’t think her explanations were thorough enough, sometimes I disagreed with the answer key, sometimes I thought her rules were too narrow. Overall, it served as a good “other” resource to complement our language study, reiterating what my daughter was already learning, as well as giving us another perspective and points of interaction. After a couple years of deep English language study, this is all review, but it gives some good extra sentences to practice diagramming.
There are many things that I enjoyed about this text (personal style, accessible exercises, simple explanations), but I'm not sure that I will use it again. Primarily, the book is too basic for those who already possess a solid foundation in grammar, but not comprehensive enough for those who lack a background in English grammar.