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English Grammar for Students of German: The Study Guide for Those Learning German
Relates German grammatical terms to corresponding terms in English, covering verb conjugation, objects, modifiers, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and gender.
168 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 27, 2020
An informative and also essential supplemental grammar help guide for especially first year (read novice) students of German (with English as a first or main language, of course), Cecile Zorach and Charlotte Melin's English Grammar for Students of German presents a handy little tome which not only does an amazing job succinctly presenting the necessary basics of English grammar, it also (and naturally) then compares and contrasts these with and to German grammar (detailing both similarities and main differences with regard to grammatical cases, syntax, verb forms and the like). And indeed, after realising that I am often being forced to teach my first year German language students basic and remedial English grammar before even considering introducing German grammatical cases, sentence structure, and sometimes even just simple verb conjugations (sadly and in my opinion because grammar, syntax and language mechanics often seem to no longer be actively taught especially at the secondary school level), I have started recommending English Grammar for Students of German to my enrolled students as an at home and additional study and homework guide.
Now while I would of course never make English Grammar for Students of German compulsory reading for my introductory German language classes, the students who do make the effort to purchase English Grammar for Students of German or who borrow it from the university library, they will indeed more often than not have considerably less issues learning and understanding the intricacies of German grammar, and many have actually and in fact told me that even their grasp of English grammar, that their English language writing skills have also and equally been much improved. Most highly recommended (and there actually are similar such comparative grammar books available for students of Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and other languages). One major caveat though, that interested individuals should strongly if not totally consider editions of English Grammar for Students of German published post 2000, post the German language orthographical reforms (and really, for many if not for most language learning books, the most recent editions are and should generally be considered as the most desirable and the most up-to-date).
Now while I would of course never make English Grammar for Students of German compulsory reading for my introductory German language classes, the students who do make the effort to purchase English Grammar for Students of German or who borrow it from the university library, they will indeed more often than not have considerably less issues learning and understanding the intricacies of German grammar, and many have actually and in fact told me that even their grasp of English grammar, that their English language writing skills have also and equally been much improved. Most highly recommended (and there actually are similar such comparative grammar books available for students of Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and other languages). One major caveat though, that interested individuals should strongly if not totally consider editions of English Grammar for Students of German published post 2000, post the German language orthographical reforms (and really, for many if not for most language learning books, the most recent editions are and should generally be considered as the most desirable and the most up-to-date).
September 11, 2024
Very entertaining to see that every chapter's English section is a couple of sentences explaining how this grammar point doesn't really matter in English, followed by six pages of explanations and tables of the 8 different possible rules in German and all their exceptions.
January 18, 2019
This book was optional for my first course in German. However, it became essential to my understanding of German in comparison to English and awakened an interest in both languages that I could not have imagined happening. I am not implying that this is a book that one simply reads. Yet, when one needs an alternative explanation from the course text, this book is an excellent go-to. The note I wrote in the cover of the book twelve years ago reads as follows: "perhaps the best tool in my German-learning toolkit because of its ability to explain (or fill in the gaps of the explanations in) my textbook. A must for the non-immersion student's first contact with German."
January 3, 2012
A concise and non-intimidating guide to grammar. The idea is, concepts of English grammar are reintroduced and compared with the German, presumably because the poor student had a teaching-disabled teacher in their formative years (extremely common, to be sure) and thus didn't learn the grammar of their own language thoroughly enough, or at all.
It's unfortunate that it has come to this, but it's a welcome aid.
It's unfortunate that it has come to this, but it's a welcome aid.
October 23, 2008
suprisingly helpful especially when dealing with prefix and infinitive splitting in verb fronted statements. wunderbar!
September 6, 2014
This little book is very useful for native English speakers learning German. The juxtaposition of English grammar explanations with their German counterparts is incredibly useful. I found the explanations in this book far exceed the utility of those in the typically assigned German textbook. The book is broken down into many chapters that focus narrowly on a particular grammatical element. This is quite useful to the language learner who is learning a new concept or struggling with an old one. It is well worth the price and will remain a reference book for us indefinitely.
P.S. We have the paperback version and find it so small and easy to carry along when needed!
P.S. We have the paperback version and find it so small and easy to carry along when needed!
September 18, 2008
nett geschriebene grammatik. nicht angsteinflößend aufgemacht, sondern fängt bei null an und vergleicht deutsche und englische grammatikalische strukturen (In English: bla bla bla. In German: grosser AHA-Effekt für mich!). Ich sehe die Grammatik momentan als kleine Entdeckungsreise in meine Muttersprache! fun and crumpets! (in German: Spass und Tee-Teilchen! ;-)
January 21, 2012
This book reviews formal concepts of grammar and comparatively presents them in English and German. If you don't know off the top of your head the difference between case and voice, or the distinction between the present perfect and past tenses, this book will aid you immensely. Highly recommended for any English-speaking student of German.
December 2, 2014
Quickly read through this before my exam, very helpful! With the sections on the subjunctive and passive were beefed up a little bit more, though!
February 13, 2016
Very clear, very comprehensive, and extremely helpful. Friendly, logical, thorough, all in all a real asset to anyone learning German.
September 12, 2012
This little book is worth its weight in gold! Great resource to have on hand.
January 2, 2013
Clear comparison of English grammar and German grammar rules. I learned a lot by reading this book!
May 8, 2013
This is a terrific grammar book.
November 30, 2015
A useful overview of German and it also provides concise comparisons and useful tips for learning various grammatical paradigms. A good brief starting point for learning German Grammar.
February 19, 2017
This was so helpful!
July 19, 2021
As you might be able to tell from my shelves lately, I'm immersing myself in the German culture, and learning the language as well as anyone of my advanced years can.
My father was born on the border of the Nederlands and Germany. Literally, the border ran down the middle of one of the streets in his hometown. He spoke both Limburgish and German as a result. Now, when he came here he was forced to assimilate into the local culture, and as a result I apparently spoke both English and Limburgish until I was maybe two, and then that had to stop, because the local people here are resignedly and steadfastly racist.
Interestingly (well, I think it's interesting, but, then, I am talking about myself, and we always think things about ourselves interesting, don't we?), when I was in Primary School, being a bit of an isolate, dear reader, I invented these imaginary lands and cultures, the way that bookish children left alone with nothing to amuse themselves except books and a bucket of clothes pegs do. I also invented languages and alphabets and the like, and along the way I came up with a few things that I thought were clever, and that should be in English.
I told Dad that instead of saying "in the" we should just say "iv", where the "v" was a shortcut for "the".
'Yeah, or you could say "im", like in German.'
Oh.
Then I got sick of saying "double U", and decided we should say "way" instead. Like how we say "kay" and jay".
'Yeah, or you could just say "vay", like in German.'
Oh.
So I often wonder how much of my fathertongue I still have hidden inside my brain without me knowing it. Occasionally popping out, like inadvertently recovered memories.
At Primary School, for some reason, we used to say, "Have a gook at this!" instead of "have a look at this!"
The German word for "look"? "Guck", pronounced "gook".
And I mean "we", not just me. When that word came up in my studies of German I had a bit of a think about the people I grew up with. Specifically their surnames.
German, Dutch, Austrian...
For some reason there was a bunch of what I like to call "Northern Europeans" (i.e. Germans, Dutch, and Austrians) living around where I grew up.
And nobody ever mentioned this.
I wish they had. It would have been nice to know that we were potentially a language community.
So now I'm trying to reconnect with my father's heritage, because I'm of that age and he's died and I've realised that I never really knew anything much about him, partly because his heritage at home was being a refugee and trying not to either starve to death or freeze to death or be bombed to death.
I've settled on German as the language to do that through, because it's pretty near impossible to find anywhere to study even that language, let alone Dutch.
Let well alone Limburgish.
I did ask him about his language a few times, but he didn't like to talk about it all, the homeland. But he did say once that there was no real Dutch language. When he was at dances with his mates, they could tell which village - not region, village! - a girl was from just by the words she used. That was how much variance there was in the dialects.
I guess when you are an indigenous people who have lived in the one place for tens of thousands of years, you can get that degree of variance.
In Germany there are different dialects, too, of course. Hochdeutsch is the official language, but there's also Plattdeutsch and heaps others. It's a tricky and diverse language group, Germanic.
But it is one of the easiest for English speakers to learn. Not THE easiest - that's apparently Dutch, I found out four years into learning German - but certainly easier than many others.
And they say that you should learn a language, to help - among all the many advantages of learning a language - stop your brain turning to foam as you age.
Problem is, now I have two vocabularies to keep track of. And now I'm starting to forget the English words for... things.
And that's the true story of me learning German. The end.
My father was born on the border of the Nederlands and Germany. Literally, the border ran down the middle of one of the streets in his hometown. He spoke both Limburgish and German as a result. Now, when he came here he was forced to assimilate into the local culture, and as a result I apparently spoke both English and Limburgish until I was maybe two, and then that had to stop, because the local people here are resignedly and steadfastly racist.
Interestingly (well, I think it's interesting, but, then, I am talking about myself, and we always think things about ourselves interesting, don't we?), when I was in Primary School, being a bit of an isolate, dear reader, I invented these imaginary lands and cultures, the way that bookish children left alone with nothing to amuse themselves except books and a bucket of clothes pegs do. I also invented languages and alphabets and the like, and along the way I came up with a few things that I thought were clever, and that should be in English.
I told Dad that instead of saying "in the" we should just say "iv", where the "v" was a shortcut for "the".
'Yeah, or you could say "im", like in German.'
Oh.
Then I got sick of saying "double U", and decided we should say "way" instead. Like how we say "kay" and jay".
'Yeah, or you could just say "vay", like in German.'
Oh.
So I often wonder how much of my fathertongue I still have hidden inside my brain without me knowing it. Occasionally popping out, like inadvertently recovered memories.
At Primary School, for some reason, we used to say, "Have a gook at this!" instead of "have a look at this!"
The German word for "look"? "Guck", pronounced "gook".
And I mean "we", not just me. When that word came up in my studies of German I had a bit of a think about the people I grew up with. Specifically their surnames.
German, Dutch, Austrian...
For some reason there was a bunch of what I like to call "Northern Europeans" (i.e. Germans, Dutch, and Austrians) living around where I grew up.
And nobody ever mentioned this.
I wish they had. It would have been nice to know that we were potentially a language community.
So now I'm trying to reconnect with my father's heritage, because I'm of that age and he's died and I've realised that I never really knew anything much about him, partly because his heritage at home was being a refugee and trying not to either starve to death or freeze to death or be bombed to death.
I've settled on German as the language to do that through, because it's pretty near impossible to find anywhere to study even that language, let alone Dutch.
Let well alone Limburgish.
I did ask him about his language a few times, but he didn't like to talk about it all, the homeland. But he did say once that there was no real Dutch language. When he was at dances with his mates, they could tell which village - not region, village! - a girl was from just by the words she used. That was how much variance there was in the dialects.
I guess when you are an indigenous people who have lived in the one place for tens of thousands of years, you can get that degree of variance.
In Germany there are different dialects, too, of course. Hochdeutsch is the official language, but there's also Plattdeutsch and heaps others. It's a tricky and diverse language group, Germanic.
But it is one of the easiest for English speakers to learn. Not THE easiest - that's apparently Dutch, I found out four years into learning German - but certainly easier than many others.
And they say that you should learn a language, to help - among all the many advantages of learning a language - stop your brain turning to foam as you age.
Problem is, now I have two vocabularies to keep track of. And now I'm starting to forget the English words for... things.
And that's the true story of me learning German. The end.
December 12, 2022
Participles alone are worth it
As you learn German you find more information about the mysteries of English. When I went to college, they said I had a rather good grasp of English and would be wasting my time on English 101 and dangling participles. Then it came time to acquire German. This book opened a whole new world as I learned the fundamentals of German, I also found the parallel principal s of English. This book by placing the differences and similarities side by side helped me to better understand both languages. I am not sure I will get it down pat, but without this book, I would be dead in the water.
Some sample contents:
What is a Noun?
What are Indefinite and Definite Articles?
What is meant by gender?
What is a Participle?
Appendix A - Noun Gender Reference List
This is indispensable knowledge of "English Grammar for Students of German"
As you learn German you find more information about the mysteries of English. When I went to college, they said I had a rather good grasp of English and would be wasting my time on English 101 and dangling participles. Then it came time to acquire German. This book opened a whole new world as I learned the fundamentals of German, I also found the parallel principal s of English. This book by placing the differences and similarities side by side helped me to better understand both languages. I am not sure I will get it down pat, but without this book, I would be dead in the water.
Some sample contents:
What is a Noun?
What are Indefinite and Definite Articles?
What is meant by gender?
What is a Participle?
Appendix A - Noun Gender Reference List
This is indispensable knowledge of "English Grammar for Students of German"
July 2, 2020
This book use simple word to explain the differences between english grammar and german grammar without making you dizzy. However, this book will be more suitable as an additional book beside your main textbook. They focus more on the comparison view between grammar so in some part they dont explain the grammar in detail.
June 20, 2021
Yes it’s packed with some great stuff, comparing English to German. Good read and subsequent reference book.
abandoned
February 27, 2023(german learning definitely on hold)
Read
December 17, 2024""
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2009
When you are trying to learn German, start here!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews