For once, I will break my own rule not to contribute to Goanet. Wren and Martin is an excellent source book on grammar. For my sins, I have often taught grammar privately to English kids who since the 1960s get no grammar at school whatsoever. Middle class parents and academics despair over the poverty of grammar among lots of students including university students and some English university staff too. Despite looking for something comparable and good to the material from Wren and Martin, I have failed to find it but regret not buying a pretty good grammar book by a woman author that I found at Mumbai airport in 2005.
Now, I ask Frederick Noronha to enlighten me please about any English grammar book that I can use that is better than the original 1935 Wren and Martin. Grammar rules do not really change (except in the odd fashion case as in the split infinitive) and I would suggest further that as a journalist if Frederick drew on Wren and Martin, his own English ( and I say this kindly/supportively) would be much more grammatical and even perhaps idiomatic than it sometimes tends to be! Cornel ________________________________ From: Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, 26 March, 2010 19:33:53 Subject: [Goanet] Wren and Martin Was: Re: Writing slowly and getting confused by one's own words? (was Obama etc) My god, you guys are living in the past, men! Apparently, this blessed book: * Was published in 1935. * Is dated due to semantic change and advances in theoretical linguistics * Was written primarily for the children of British officers resident in India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_&_Martin JC, please put me out of my agony and confirm that your comments below were just in jest! FN PS: Here's more about your PC Wren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._C._Wren On 26 March 2010 18:20, Nascy Caldeira <[email protected]> wrote: > Excuse me for not writing: Jose-bab! I like to be simple and modern. > Your mention of 'Wren and Martin', suddenly jolted me awake. > I would recommend this book to all students of English in Goa and in India > as a whole. That way their comprehension will profoundly improve.... >> JC: Ite missa est ! >> >> jc >> recommended book for English Comprehension : Wren and >> Martin -- -- Frederick Noronha Books from Goa :: http://goa1556.goa-india.org
