Előszó
INTRODUCTION
The common problems of English language structure have to
be overcome by all students, and the difficulties they find are
similar in all parts of the world. Regional differences can
always be dealt with by the teacher, who should be aware of
the particular problems of his students. The following general
principles are self-evident:
1. All students want to speak, write and read the normal
accepted English of today.
2. This can only be achieved by constant practice of
existing forms, with some rational explanation of the gram-
matical devices employed, wherever this is possible.
The exercises in this book have been devised over a period
of eight years, and are the results of practical experience with
classes of foreign adults, including students of Latin, Teutonic,
Slavonic, and Arabic origin. All the exercises have been tried
out and found practicable, and I hope they will prove useful
and valuable to many other teachers of English*
How the book should be used
This book is an attempt to answer the foreign student's
grammatical problems empirically, and to give him a large
number of appropriate exercises to practise them. An English
schoolboy does "grammar" as an analytical exercise, but the
foreign student needs to learn the mechanics of the language.
Most existing grammar books are designed for the English
schoolboy, and even a large number of those that are intended
for foreigners have not managed to free themselves entirely
from the purely analytical point of view.
Teachers will find in this book a great deal that is unconven-
tional, perhaps even revolutionary, for it does not pretend to
tell the student what he Ought to Say in English, but tries to
show him what Is Actually Said. Many of the exercises are
based on the results of personal "structure-counts"—in
o &
vu
Vissza