Provides a systematic account of grammatical forms and the way they are used in standard British English today. This guide emphasizes on meanings and how they govern the choice of grammatical pattern. Summaries at the start of each chapter review the topic as a whole and show users where to find the particular information they need.

Introduction; Acknowledgements; Key to symbols; SENTENCE AND TEXT; 1. English grammar; 2. The simple sentence; 3. Statements, questions, imperatives and exclamations; 4. Questions and answers; 5. Leaving out and replacing words; 6. Information and emphasis; 7. Spoken English and written English; VERB FORMS; 8. The verb phrase; 9. Verb tenses and aspects; 10. The future; 11. Be, have, and do; 12. Modal verbs; 13. The passive; INFINITIVE, GERUND AND PARTICIPLES; 14. The infinitive; 15. The gerund; 16. Participles; THE NOUN PHRASE; 17. Nouns and noun phrases; 18. Agreement; 19. The articles: a/an and the; 20. Possessives and demonstratives; 21. Quantifiers; 22. Pronouns; 23. Numbers and measurements; ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS AND PREPOSITIONS; 24. Adjectives; 25. Adverbials; 26. Comparison; 27. Prepositions; 28. Phrasal verbs and patterns with prepositions; MAIN CLAUSES AND SUB CLAUSES; 29. Sentences with more than one clause; 30. And, or, but, so etc; 31. Adverbial clauses; 32. Conditional clauses; 33. Noun clauses; 34. Direct and indirect speech; 35. Relative clauses; WORD FORMS; 36. Word-building; 37. Word endings: pronunciation and spelling; 38. Irregular noun plurals; 39. Irregular verb forms; APPENDIX; American English; Glossary; Index