A Student's Advanced Grammar of English (SAGE)

Whatever kind of high-level language user you are - college or university student, serving language teacher, or advanced school learner - A Student's Advanced Grammar of English (SAGE) offers you support, information, and further training.

SAGE is a reference work as well as a programmed refresher course with exercises on the accompanying website, and a structured teaching aid. It serves as a spot-check in specific cases of uncertainty. But it also answers broader queries and provides comprehensive insights into the major structural areas of English. Its concern is not simply grammar, but above all usage.

SAGE is easy to comprehend and non-specialist in method. All grammatical terminology is explained in a simple and straightforward manner. On the other hand, SAGE takes account of current research in language studies. In catering especially for the user with a native German background, SAGE treats many areas of English from a contrastive point of view, highlighting those phenomena which cause typical problems in a German-based learning context.

The second edition has been thoroughly revised.

Chapter 1 Introduction Elements of English
001 On grammar
002 The character of English
003 Some basic concepts in language study
Chapter 2 Nouns
2. 1 Basic features: introduction
004 Main grammatical features
005 Main semantic features
2. 2 From singular to plural
006 Regular plural formation
007 Irregular plural formation
008 Number, countability and meaning: details of use
2. 3 The genitive
009 The s-genitive: form and syntax
010 The of-genitive: form and syntax
011 The genitive in general use
012 Some specific uses of the genitive
013 Summary: s-genitive and of-genitive in contrast
2. 4 Noun forms
014 Common suffixes
015 Prefixes
016 Compound nouns
017 Compound nouns: summary and points of difficulty
018 Some other processes of noun formation
Chapter 3 Pronouns, Determiners and Quantifiers
3. 1 Pronouns
019 Main grammatical features
020 Pronoun types
3. 2 Determiners
021 Main grammatical and semantic features
022 Determiner types
3. 3 Quantifiers
023 Main grammatical and semantic features
024 Distributives
025 Indefinite quantifiers
Chapter 4 Adjectives
026 Basic features
027 The syntax of adjectives
028 Adjective meaning and adjective grammar
029 Adjective forms
030 Aspects of usage
031 Comparison
Chapter 5 Adverbs
032 Basic features
033 Adverb meaning
034 Adverb forms
Chapter 6 Prepositions
035 Basic features
036 Individual prepositions and their meanings
Chapter 7 Conjunctions
037 Basic features
038 Individual conjunctions and their meanings
039 Conjunction clauses and sentence syntax
Chapter 8 Verbs: Basic Features, Syntax and Forms
040 Basic features
041 Syntax: the verb in the sentence
042 Forms of verbs
Chapter 9 Verbs: The Present and Past Tenses
043 Overview
044 The primary non-perfect tenses and their aspects
Chapter 10 Verbs: The Perfect Tenses
045 Introduction
046 The present perfect
047 The past perfect
Chapter 11 Verbs: Future and Conditional Meaning, Indirect Speech, the Passive
11. 1 Future meaning
048 Introduction
049 The forms of future reference
11. 2 Conditional meaning
050 Introduction
051 Conditional meaning and conditional forms
11. 3 Indirect (reported) speech
052 Introduction: direct and indirect speech
053 The forms of indirect speech
11. 4 The passive voice
054 Introduction: active and passive voice
055 Forming and using the passive
Chapter 12 Verbs: Modal Verbs
056 Modal verbs: types and forms
057 Modal meanings
Chapter 13 Verbs: Non-finite Verbs
058 Basic features
13. 1 The infinitive
059 Forms
060 Infinitive constructions
13. 2 The gerund
061 Form, syntax, general meaning
062 Gerund constructions
13. 3 The participles
063 Form, syntax, general meaning
064 The participles in use
Chapter 14 Phrase and Clause at Complex Level
14. 1 The complex phrase
065 Introduction
066 Postmodification in the noun phrase
067 Complex adjective and prepositional phrases
14. 2 Aspects of the complex sentence
068 Forms and functions
Index