Quirk's Grammar

gdwdwrkr · Post by **gdwdwrkr** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:08 pm

Quirk's Grammar of Contemporary English...I see it referred-to in a Safire book. Any links to it in WW? I'm having trouble finding out about it.

zmjezhd · Post by **zmjezhd** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:36 pm

There are two books of similar title: (1) Randolph Quirk. 1973. A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English. Harcourt, ISBN: 0155129309, 484pp., and (2) Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik. 1972. A Grammar Of Contemporary English. Longman, ISBN: 058252444X, 1132pp. There is also a later book, (3) Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik. 1983. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, ISBN: 0582517346, 1779pp. The third is still in print (Amazon.com), while the previous two can be found used via Abebooks.

gdwdwrkr · Post by **gdwdwrkr** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:04 am

The third is the book referred-to, I believe. Thanks for the additional information.

Ken Greenwald · Post by **Ken Greenwald** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:24 am

For anyone interested in the shorter 484 page version - the one I own - is also called A University Grammar of English by Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973, published by Longman, ISBN: 0582552079, and is available at Amazon.com.
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Ken G – May13, 2007

Post by **Phil White** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:27 pm

Yes, the third has for many years been pretty well the standard reference work - at least for UK English. I use the one Ken quoted, which is in principle a condensation of the second Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik listed by Jim and was compiled "... to satisfy the needs of university students who require the comprehensiveness of the original work but not its detail or extensive theoretical discussion or wealth of exemplification."

zmjezhd · Post by **zmjezhd** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:53 pm

There's also Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. I own it and the second grammar mentioned above. I also find Otto Jespersen. 1909ff. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles, 7 volumes, rather good, too.

mongrowl · Post by **mongrowl** » Tue May 15, 2007 1:25 am

This topic, started by gdwrkr, is flagging at me but I fail to see justification for the forum choice. Is there some kind of paradigm shift I am unaware of?
Lneil

Erik_Kowal · Post by **Erik_Kowal** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:09 am

Good point. I am moving it to 'Oh, and have you read..?'

gdwdwrkr · Post by **gdwdwrkr** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:09 am

Yes, it makes sense to move it here.