English Grammar for Students of French: The Study Guide for Those Learning French

by Jacqueline Morton

Sixth edition of this popular self-study guide for students of French. Each chapter covers a grammar i.e., a part of speech (noun, verb, pronoun), a word's function in a sentence (subject, direct object, indirect object), a grammatical term (tense, conjugation, gender, agreement). Each chapter is divided into two sections. 1. In grammar is explained as it relates to English, anticipating concepts necessary for French. 2. In grammar is explained as it relates to French, with examples and explanations of the rules applied. Points out similarities, differences, and alerts students to pitfalls. Study how to learn vocabulary, memorize verb conjugations.... Downloads 1. Review booklet with Answer key 2. Correlations to popular 1st year college French textbooks indicating the pages to be read in preparation for each lesson. Part of the O&H Study Guide series for students of foreign languages. Experience has shown that students using the O&H French Study Guide improve their performance in French grammar thanks to a better understanding of English grammar. Teachers can devote more class time to developing communicative skills.

Genres: France, Reference, Language, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Linguistics, Collections

178 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Brodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my "French learning" life! Whenever I am struggling to understand something we are doing in class (yeah looking at you COD and COI!) I go to the relevant section of this book and it helps so much. If only I knew of it when I was studying in France and feeling stupid compared to all the young whippersnappers in my class who were acing it. Worth every cent!

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacqueline Morton’s English Grammar for Students of French may appear, at first glance, to be a contrast to the typical grammar books I use as an instructor of English. Yet it became one of the most unexpectedly valuable resources in my teaching career.

The book’s central premise—that learners benefit from understanding the grammar of their own language before mapping new structures onto it—helped reshape the way I approached English grammar instruction more broadly.

What struck me immediately was Morton’s unique comparative method. Although the text is designed for English-speaking students studying French, the way it frames English grammar is refreshingly precise.

It breaks down English functions—not merely as isolated rules, but as systems that gain meaning when juxtaposed with another linguistic structure. This comparative clarity sharpened my own awareness of English grammar’s internal logic. It made me a better explainer, because it encouraged me to justify rules, not simply state them.

While teaching, I found that Morton’s way of defining terms—subject, complement, infinitive, mood, aspect—helped me to standardise my classroom vocabulary.

Many grammar books assume that learners automatically understand these labels; Morton does not. She anticipates confusion and addresses it head-on. Incorporating this into my teaching significantly reduced my students’ uncertainty about grammatical terminology. Lessons became smoother because we shared a stronger conceptual foundation.

Another aspect from which I profited immensely was the book’s emphasis on function over memorisation.

Morton focuses on why a construction is used, not just how it is formed. This encouraged me to revise my lesson plans so that students explored meaning, intention, and usage. I started designing activities where learners compared structures not across languages, but across contexts—formal vs. informal, narrative vs. academic, spoken vs. written.

This deepened their understanding in a way purely rule-based instruction never could.

The clarity of Morton’s examples further influenced my teaching. She uses concise, everyday sentences that isolate the grammatical idea without distracting the reader.

This inspired me to simplify my own examples and to rely more on parallel sentence frames. The result was greater student comprehension and fewer misunderstandings.

Perhaps the greatest benefit came from the book’s pedagogical humility. Morton never assumes that grammar is obvious. She respects the learner’s perspective, and in doing so reminded me that effective teaching begins with empathy.

This perspective shift helped me immensely as an instructor: it made my explanations more patient, my lessons more structured, and my teaching of English grammar more humane.

Most recommended.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had taken "pride" for a long time in not giving a shit about grammar, especially in English, because of assholes on the internet and OkCupid profile clichés circa 2011-13 referencing pet peeves about the misuse of their/there/they're—etc—which, also, for a long time meant that I did not know the basic parts of the English language AS someone who graduated with an English degree—😬. It seemed sufficient to rely on my ear, what sounds natural, winging it for the rest of my life, until you are trying to learn another language 😅.

Thus, I am so glad this book (and the others in the series) exists. It was a really good way to catch up with the English grammar that I had skipped out on and it was actually so ~riveting~ that I was determined, but failed, to read this in one sitting. Now I can recognize partitive articles, interrogative pronouns, tag questions, possessive adjectives that I thought were called pronouns, demonstrative adjectives, disjunctive pronouns—🆒. There are also some great study tips for anyone creating flash card decks that I could have probably used earlier on but still helpful.

[Sean O · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best part of this book is it teaches enough English grammar so you can understand the French grammar with more context. Do you know what a demonstrative pronoun is? No? It’s “this, that, these, and those.” If you know what each of the English words do, then it’s pretty simple to learn the French constructions.

I suppose one could learn it without the grammar lesson, but it makes it easier to find next time you’re looking something up.

Another book suggested I read a French grammar “quickly.” Two months is not a quick read, but I learned a lot.

Five stars because I’m definitely going to read it again.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise book of comparative grammar bound in a slim volume. It weeds out the excess and gets to the bare bones of the language. This is a must have reference for any language student's shelf. The series offers several other languages as well: Russian, Spanish, Italian, for example.

[Cherisa B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Spanish volume (no listing in GoodReads) by Emily Spinelli and it was terrific. Very clear explanations in both English (great refresher!) and how the Spanish differs. Perfect for my level of learning Spanish (started 8 months ago).

[Joy Ashwell Callaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book that 100% improved my grammar knowledge. The information is laid out very clearly and I feel a lot more confident with relative pronouns now! My only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner!

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good companion book to the main verb you're using to teach yourself (or be in a course being taught) French reading comprehension. The exercises are very hard though.

[Jacqueline Sorokin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Studying French? You will kick yourself, like I did for not buying this when the teacher recommended it!

[Laurie Neighbors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful to combine with more detailed references, given the clear and straightforward comparisons and explanations.

[evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love french

[Abbie]

I'm currently going through this book as I self-study French. I took three years of French total in middle school and high school about ten years ago, and I've found this book to be a great grammar refresher. English and French are similar in a lot of ways (English was hugely impacted by Norman French from the Norman occupation of England, after all). This book directly compares grammatical concepts of each language using English as a jumping off point, which I think works extremely well. Clunky academic terms for grammatical concepts are necessary to fully understand the grammar of any language, and this book serves as a great crash course for those who have forgotten most of high school English class. This book explains what sort of familiar grammar rules work or don't work in French, and it has example sentences to show the grammar in action.

This book is more of a reference book, meant to be read in any order as needed, rather than intended as a straight read. The chapters are not ordered by difficulty (in my opinion, at least; see contents below). It's also a little dry to read through several chapters at once, but perfectly serviceable when used as a reference.

Here are the contents of this book:

Introduction
1. What is a Noun?
2. What is Meant by Gender?
3. What is Meant by Number?
4. What are Articles?
-Definite Articles
-Indefinite Articles
-Partitive Articles
5. What is the Possessive?
6. What is a Verb?
7. What is an Infinitive?
8. What are Auxiliary Verbs?
9. What is a Subject?
10. What is a Pronoun?
11. What is a Subject Pronoun?
12. What is a Verb Conjugation?
13. What are Affirmative and Negative Sentences?
14. What are Declarative and Interrogative Sentences?
15. What is Meant by Mood?
16. What is Meant by Tense?
17. What is the Present Tense?
18. What is the Imperative?
19. What is a Participle?
-Present Participle
-Past Participle
20. What is the Past Tense?
-Present Perfect(passé composé)
-Imperfect (imparfait)
-Selection of the passé composé or the imparfait
21. What is the Past Perfect Tense?
22. What is the Future Tense?
-Immediate Future
23. What is the Future Perfect Tense?
24. What is the Conditional?
-Present Conditional
-Past Conditional
-Sequence of Tenses
25. What is a Reflexive Verb?
26. What is Meant by Active and Passive Voice?
-Changing an Active Sentence to a Passive Sentence
-Avoiding the Passive Voice in French
27. What is the Subjunctive?
28. What is an Adjective?
29. What is a Descriptive Adjective?
30. What is a Possessive Adjective?
-Singular Possessor: my, your, his, her, its
-Plural Possessor: our, your, their
31. What is an Interrogative Adjective?
32. What is a Demonstrative Adjective?
33. What is Meant by Comparison of Adjectives?
-Comparative
-Superlative
34. What is an Adverb?
35. What is a Conjunction?
36. What is a Preposition?
37. What are Objects?
-Direct Object
-Indirect Object
-Object of a Preposition
What is an Object Pronoun?
-Direct Object Pronouns
-Indirect Object Pronouns
-Pronouns as Objects of a Preposition
-Disjunctive (Stressed) Pronouns
39. What is an Interrogative Pronoun?
-Subject
-Direct Object
-Indirect Object and Object of a Preposition
-"Which One, which ones"
40. What is a Possessive Pronoun?
-Singular Possessor: mine, yours, his, hers, its
-Plural Possessor: ours, yours, theirs
41. What is a Relative Pronoun?
-Subject of the Relative Clause
-Direct Object of the Relative Clause
-Indirect Object and Object of a Preposition in a Relative Clause
-Possessive Modifier "whose"
-Relative Pronouns without Antecedents
42. What is a Demonstrative Pronoun?
-"This one, that one" and "these, those"
-"The one, the ones" (celui qui)
-Celui de to Show Possession
Answer Key
Index

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only French grammar book in my library that I have read multiple times. It is so helpful. And as an added bonus, it is also a great review of English grammar.

I find that studying a language is like getting to know a city. To learn a city, one studies a map and then one goes into the city itself, getting lost, making mistakes, observing, etc. and then going back to the map.

Learning French is like that for me. I study grammar but then go and buy books and read them. In reading the book I get lost, frustrated, make mistakes, make observations, etc. Then I go back to the grammar book again. And the process repeats.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-have for any French student. I've taken it into all my French classes over the past few years and recommend it to everyone in the class. It provides answers to so many questions - why? how come? etc. - about grammar that we were taught in English school when we were much younger and now have to apply and understand to understand French grammar. It seems impossible to do, but this book helps lift some of that frustration.

[Lora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must have, along with others in this same wheelhouse. It helps you not only learn French, but for many Americans we have forgotten or never been taught proper grammar. This book is amazing in teaching both languages grammar rules. And many of the grammar concepts "translate" or transfer to learning the basics of other languages to.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

despite the confusing title of this book, it is an excellent way to teach french grammar to english speakers. actually, it is an excellent way to teach english grammar to english speakers, which often needs to be done before teaching french or any other grammar.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little guide. It's very straight forward and easy to read.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il faut que vous lisiez ce livre!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an succinct and straightforward guide to French grammar. Morton uses examples in English to reinforce understanding of the French. I find I reach for this often when doing my French studies.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO HELPFUL while I was taking French classes.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book if you are a student of French get it, and you know how when and why to use pronouns.

[Roos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps at its most useful to people who are natively English.

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are learning French... go buy this book.

[Thomas GOSSE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential if you need to refresh your English grammar as you study French.

[Aurora Dimitre]

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