Improve Your Grammar

Students will master the fundamentals of English grammar and tackle their written assignments with confidence with the help of this handy pocket guide. 60+ bite-sized units offer examples and exercises to help students overcome common areas of difficulty, such as forming different tenses, using connectives to link ideas and build an argument, punctuating sentences and choosing the right words. Included in this 3rd edition are new units on hedging, being critical and collocation. Improve Your Grammar is both easy-to-navigate and easy-to-use. It is suitable for home and international students across all disciplines, from A level to degree-level study.

Vanessa Jakeman has co-ordinated English Language and EAP programmes and worked extensively in the field of English Language Testing, in the UK and overseas.

Introduction How to use this book KEY TERMS Unit 1: Parts of speech Unit 2: Parts of a sentence KEY GRAMMAR Unit 3: Singular or plural subjects and verbs Unit 4: Correct tense formation Unit 5: Using more than one verb tense Unit 6: Modal verbs Unit 7: Using the passive Unit 8: Direct and indirect questions Unit 9: Conditionals (If...) Unit 10: Using adverbs Unit 11: Emphasising Unit 12: Negative words and phrases Unit 13: Gerunds and infinitives Unit 14: Articles: a/an, the Unit 15: Relative clauses: who, which, that, etc. Unit 16: Comparing and contrasting Unit 17: Describing similarities and differences Unit 18: Using noun phrases KEY PUNCTUATION Unit 19: Commas (1): correct uses Unit 20: Commas (2): incorrect uses Unit 21: Colons and semicolons Unit 22: Hyphens, dashes and brackets Unit 23: Apostrophes Unit 24: Inverted commas Unit 25: Capital letters CONNECTIONS WITHIN SENTENCES Unit 26: Linking: contrasting Unit 27: Linking: adding Unit 28: Linking: causes Unit 29: Linking: results Unit 30: Signposting Unit 31: Using pronouns correctly Unit 32: Avoiding repetition of words PRODUCING GOOD SENTENCES Unit 33: Parallel structures Unit 34: Participles Unit 35: Incomplete sentences Unit 36: Avoiding long and disorganised sentences Unit 37: Avoiding too many short sentences Unit 38: Building successful long sentences FEATURES OF WRITING Unit 39: Hedging (1); with verbs and adverbs Unit 40: Hedging (2): with adjectives and phrases Unit 41: Giving a definition Unit 42: Introducing an example Unit 43: Citing Unit 44: Paraphrasing Unit 45: Incorporating data Unit 46: Formal language (1) Unit 47: Formal language (2) Unit 48: The language of argument USING THE RIGHT WORDS Unit 49: The language of critique Unit 50: Using prepositions (1) Unit 51: Using prepositions (2) Unit 52: Creating longer words Unit 53: Using single words for impact Unit 54: Using phrasal verbs Unit 55: Collocations (1) Unit 56: Collocations (2) Unit 57: Commonly misused words Unit 58: Commonly confused words: homonyms Unit 59: Key spelling rules Unit 60: Common spelling mistakes Unit 61: Writing an email to your tutor Unit 62: Covering letters and CVs Key Index