Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar

This book very effectively demolishes the traditional approach to English grammar, then replaces it with something less precise, and more difficult to grasp. That's unavoidable, since Crystal's emphasis is on the evolution of the study of grammar., which has changed radically over the last 50 years. He defines grammar as "the study of the way we bring words together in order to make sense". He traces the evolution of the study of grammar from the Greeks and Romans through the medieval period, up to the effort to codify English grammar in the early modern era. And here, Crystal argues, is where the study of English grammar went off track. The grammarians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries based their analysis of English grammar on the workings of Latin grammar, and the two are very, very different. The result was a rules-based, highly artificial system which pulled against much of the underlying tendency of the language. In the 1960's and 1970's, this became clear, and the formal study of English grammar went out the window. Now, Crystal shows, it is coming back, but in a far less rigid and regular form.The book is far more down to earth, and readable, than this lightning tour would suggest. Crystal uses language acquisition in children (one child, to be precise, chatty little Suzie) to explore the structures of English grammar. He looks at the was grammar has been taught, and the wars between prescriptivists and descriptivists. He looks at how English functions in various contexts and various countries. It is all very interesting, at least to anyone who is interested in the way our language works. It does not leave the reader with a firm sense of where grammar stands at present, which is a bit of a disappointment to one who grew up in a rules-based grammatical world. But is does show the richness and subtlety of English grammar.

Who would have believed it? Grammar is interesting, and fun. David Crystal cycles through a number of approaches to the subject -- how children acquire the ability to communicate (truly a remarkable achievement), the history of grammar and the remarkable centuries when the field was totally dominated by "experts" flogging an entirely wrong-headed insistence that English grammar should be just like Latin grammar, the battle between prescriptive grammar (don't split that infinitive) and descriptive grammar (everyone else does, so I will if I want to), and evolving trends in usage in the 21st Century. Gracefully written, and detailed enough to provide real information without outliving the welcome of any single subject.

Good natured, very clear, very step-by-step. You have to be a grammar/language fan, and have to be willing to be taken along from the beginning (on every point) but he moves quickly. Informative, often fascinating.

fascinating in the way it makes you aware of how you write and use English. Well worth the money and time to read it.

interesting book. was what I expected.

David Crystal is such an engaging writer that everything he publishes deserves to be read and thoroughly enjoyed.

Excellent book. A ease to read grammar book

As a failure chinese English learner, I ‘m so happy i can read the books of author, the first is spell it out, this book is also pretty well. My English teacher of China just told me grammar, but author taught me grammar

Do not be deceived by the clarity and apparent simplicity of David Crystal's explanations of the complete range of grammar issues. This is a master class in University level linguistics delivered in straightforward and even entertaining language replete with crucial imaginative examples. The author's significant accomplishment is to cover all the bases in his tour of grammar issues. You do not just get an explanation of English grammar. You get coverage of child language acquisition as a contributory part of your explanation of how grammar works. Then you get a history of the writing of grammar and a history of the teaching of grammar to help you get over some of those unresolved confusions you might have picked up in your own education and thinking. An antidote to all the beefs, bugbears and tub-thumbing of the political market place of half-digested language ideas. A medicine for and against the Rees-Moggs of our times.

I’m a huge David Crystal fan and have all his books on language so I admit to being rather biased! This is not a grammar book in the usual sense of the word, but rather a discussion of the way language and grammar change over time. I’m not sure where the glamour comes in! Well worth reading and as informative as David’s books always are.

David Crystal managed to write in an accesssble way about grammar that leaves you feeling better informed and more able to make the destinction between authoritative and authoritarian approaches to answering your questions about grammar. Linguistic choice is about style and self expression. This is a book written by someine who understands the need to understand the impact if our chiices on the audience rather than ignoring the huge variety of linguistic choices available in favour of narrow prescriptivism. Great Book!

Absolutely love this book, have even bought it on audible. Grammar used to scare me, I'm more of a mathematician, but this book actually makes grammar make sense to me, there is a logical progression to our learning of it that I never knew was there. I love watching children have lightbulb moments and through reading this book I have had a major lightbulb moment of my own. Thank you Mr Crystal for finally making this 46 year old understand grammar.

Gave up less than half way through. The author is obviously well qualified but I would think, from the way he writes, rather pleased with himself. More a history of the way his child absorbed English than a treatise on English Grammar. Not for me.