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ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
I very much liked the beginning, but it stopped engaging me quite so much as it approached the ending—I'm not sure why. Can't bring myself to give it 4 stars (quite a high grade from me).
It was a sort of amalgam of a few things. It was not a grammar book (i.e. an instructive manual), it wasn't even really a history of grammar change, it was more a history of changes in the approach experts take toward the thinking-about or instruction-of grammar.
It did whet my appetite for more on the subject, and I would read more by the author ... one got the sense that the editors may have intervened unduly (unless they're the ones who helped cheer up the opening chapters!)
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
It was a sort of amalgam of a few things. It was not a grammar book (i.e. an instructive manual), it wasn't even really a history of grammar change, it was more a history of changes in the approach experts take toward the thinking-about or instruction-of grammar.
It did whet my appetite for more on the subject, and I would read more by the author ... one got the sense that the editors may have intervened unduly (unless they're the ones who helped cheer up the opening chapters!)
Note: I have written a novel (not yet published), so now I will suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. In my subjective opinion, the stars suggest:
(5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = actually disappointing, and 1* = hated it. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
ithaka2022's review against another edition
5.0
Сплошной восторг и чистая радость. Дэвид Гринберг от филологии.
robinwalter's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Crystal's books on English are always interesting, informative and well-constructed, this one is no exception. Right from the very start, learning that "glamour" and "grammar" are siblings, this book was very educational for me. I highly recommend it.
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