CREATESPACE Word Order in English Sentences

An indispensable resource for learners and language enthusiasts seeking to master English sentence structure.

I wish I had purchased this book years ago, it's so informative. The exercises and examples make the concepts fall into place.

Prescriptive rules do not cover a number of grammatical constructions that have been widely used in standard varieties of English, and most grammar books and usage guides characterised by a decidedly descriptive approach have not addressed a number of grammatical issues either, so that students and teachers of English usually have to analyse and understand some grammatical structures that may not be supported by hard and fast rules. Hence, grammars and usage guides that provide useful information on both firm and ‘loose’ rules are very welcome. Phil Williams provided readers with very useful information on word order and sentence structure, and he did not restrict himself to describing the so-called 'rules of grammar’. In several sections of the book he discussed the flexibility of some grammatical constructions and patterns, apart from highlighting that some rules might well be regarded as ‘loose rules.’ For instance, he pointed out (section 6.4) that there might be a lot of exceptions to the grammatical rules concerning the position of adjectives, when we use several adjectives in a noun group, so that these rules would not represent ‘firm rules.’ As to genuine rules, he stated that we should put ‘not’ after the auxiliary verb in ‘I did not understand the test’, and he did not mention any flexibility in this pattern because there is no flexibility in this case: we cannot say ‘I not did understand the test’ or ‘I did understand not the test.’ In addition, the tables are very informative and self-explanatory. I believe this guide should not only help learners understand how English works in terms of word order and sentence structure, but it could also encourage learners and teachers to study or teach English in an effective and more realistic manner.

Honestly, I expected more. There are not many books on the topic - which is absolutely essential for learning the lingo. This book neglects important issues like pronouns and phrase lengths. All exercises are just about rearranging sentences. I was at that point before I got this book. But like I said, there is nothing much to be had at all for SPO (apart from hardcore linguistics), so in dubio pro reo - four stars.

The book is designed as a reference book, something to be pulled out and easily consulted . A rare book about this topic. Finally, the way in which it’s organized, make this book highly useful particularly for a young audience or for adults learning English as a second language.