Why I Read This Book
A number of the same comments I had to make about About Language are true for this book as well. In general terms, I read this book because as an English teacher I'm always trying to improve my own grammatical knowledge. But in more specific terms, this is one of the recommended books for the Delta course. So it also counts as part of my Delta reading list.
The Review
As I also mentioned in my review of About Language, it's hard to study grammar rules from a book. There's a tendency for my eyes to glaze over, and to absorb nothing of what I've read.
Martin Parrott attempts to solve this problem by having consolidation exercises at the end of every chapter. So after you read about the grammar rule, you have some exercises to help you focus on how the rule actually works. And then you can check your answers in the back of the book.
This is similar to the approach of About Language, which also functioned as a workbook for teachers. But About Language was all workbook exercises.
Given the two approaches, I preferred Martin Parrott's. This probably just comes down to personal preference and personal learning styles, but I thought it made more sense to first read about the grammar rule and then practice, rather than first practice the rule and then read the explanation (which was the inductive approach used in About Language).
That being said, I experienced the same frustrations with this book that I did for About Language. I wasn't reading this book for pleasure--I was trying to systematically work through this book as part of my commitment to professional development. And so, because this book was total broccoli for me, part of me resented all the time it took to work through all the grammar exercises at the end of each chapter.
Plus, as with About Language, all the written exercises in the book meant that I couldn't read it casually in between classes or while eating a sandwich during lunch--I had to sit down at a table with a pencil and a pad of paper in order to do the written exercises. Which meant that it was hard to find time to set aside to work through this book. Which meant that, as with About Language, this book took me forever to finish. (I think I started reading this book roughly about a year ago, and I'm only now just finishing it up.)
Now that I'm completely finished with the book, I'm going over and re-reading some of the early chapters, and I'm disappointed to discover how little of it I remembered. It was all clear and straightforward enough as I was reading it, but I'm sorry to say that probably very little of these explanations of grammar rules have entered my long term memory.
This may well be my own fault rather than the book's. It also may be unrealistic to expect to be able to carry around in my conscious memory all the grammar rules of the language. I believe that in Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener mentions that even after years of teaching, he still makes it a point to read up on the target grammar point the night before class. And perhaps that's how this book should be most useful to me in the future. Instead of reading it cover to cover again, it might be useful to just keep this book as a reference, and use it to read up on the grammar point I'm going to be teaching before that particular class.
But despite the fact that I didn't remember half of what I read in this book, it was very easy to understand as I was reading it. Each chapter is laid out in a similar fashion: first explaining the form and function of the grammar point, then moving on to a section listing typical difficulties for learners of English. (This section is particular useful for English teachers). And then the consolidation exercises at the end of the chapter.
Some of the consolidation exercises I found really useful. Others took up a lot of my time, but I thought were not so useful. But that's the nature of a book like this. With 29 chapters, and about 5 consolidation exercises at the end of each chapter, it's too much to expect that they all be pure gold, I suppose. (There are also a few typos in the answer keys to the consolidation exercises, but I guess that's also to be expected with a book this size.)
Link of the Day
Obama's Historic Move
Also, for an excellent article about Noam Chomsky (instead of by Chomsky), check out: Noam Chomsky--Infuriating and Necessary
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