May I Quote You on That?: A Guide to Grammar and Usage

Here's a different approach to learning grammar, one that's less rules guided and much more a demonstration of grammar in actual sentences. Considering that few students enter college with more than a rudimentary understanding of how clear sentences work, and their knowledge of the subject is often confused, this would be a first-rate introduction. Let's face it, ungrammatical sentences make anyone's work look pathetic.

What makes this book so valuable is that it is fun and engaging as well as being instructive and authoritative. Grammar books can be boring and intimidating to many English students, especially those whose native tongue is not English. "May I Quote You on That?" does not suffer from these two shortcomings. I highly recommend it for your children, your students, or even yourself.

I started to read this book expecting it to be a boring grammar book, but it's not at all. In fact, I have trouble putting it down when it's time for bed. The quotes from famous people make it extremely interesting and I'm learning from them at the same time. I highly recommend the book for everyone, but particularly for those who want to sound professional in their writing. It would also be especially helpful for those doing job interviews or for people who speak English as a second language.

It's a clever grammar book that's fun to use.

"You may find that some of these quotations are memorable. That's good, because if you remember them, you can model your own sentences on them." And it's true.This book is based on quotations to help you understand the grammar rules through examples and famous words. But it's also a lot more.Sure it helps you to know how to use "Further" or "Farther", "Pendantic" or "Didactic" and give you tools to remember when to use "May" or "Can": "Here is a rule that I'll bet you've heard: if you can do something, you have the ability to do it; if you may do it, you have the permission."But it also help you with punctuation if you are into editing and using the correct abreviations. You learn about the common nowadays mistakes. Like with "Kudos" that is a singular Latin noun, everybody thinks is plural. :-)Honestly, it's not a book you read before bed. But It's one, I was enjoying opening in the Métro to improve, review my vocabulary or just to enjoy the quotes.I've also appreciated all the side informations given by the author to make the grammar fun. It's like someone is telling you an historical or a practical story that you are able to understand easily.It's a really cool read if you are into words and learning how to use them correctly.A great Christmas present too.

What fun! For anyone looking for an innovative way to learn and retain the rules of grammar and improve communication, I can't praise this book enough. Stephen Spector's conversational writing style made this seem more like a game than a lecture. using quotations to kick off lesson, while also giving the background of the grammar rules, drew me into the details and made it easier to put things into perspective. I think that this book would be beneficial on so many levels, but especially valuable for people interested in writing and speaking correctly.*I received my copy through NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book for those who are interested in the subtleties of language. Spector illustrates the answers to tricky questions using modern, funny quotes (think J.J. Abrams, Woody Allen, Mila Kunis, etc.).The explanations are clear and simple, so everyone should be able to learn a lot: from newbies through experts.The author doesn’t play everything as “by-the-book” as you might expect; for example, take a look at page 68 for a surprising discussion of ending sentences with prepositions.He does a good job at keeping what could be a dry topic interesting and fun, by pointing out things like the fact that movie villains often have impeccable grammar (“It was I who did it!”).Great for grammarholics and those who love quotes. I think it would work well as a companion text for a high school or college English class too.

There are countless books of the same genre. I had read tens of them as a Hong Kong born Chinese since primary school. What distinguished this from the rest is its great choice of quotations and examples that interests and helps readers to move on, page by page. I would strongly recommend it to all non native English speakers. You will thank me for that.

Excellent

通時的・共時的な観点から規範・記述主義の両極端に陥らず中立的な立場に立って語法を眺めた語法辞典である。対象は英語のネイティブスピーカーであるが、我々日本人が利用しても十分役立つ。ただ構成が複雑なので、辞書ではあるが見出し語検索するよりも、巻末の索引を利用する方が手っ取り早い。たとえば、If somebody calls, tell them to call me backに見られるような、「単数の」theyはHE or THRY after ANYODY,EVERYONE. SOMEBODY or A PERSON, ETC.という見出しに収められていて、かつてはhe で受けることが普通であったことが実例を挙げて証明されている。その後フェミニズムの台頭により、heにかわる語（句）がいくつか登場しtheyが普通になってきたが、文法上の「数」を気にする保守的な人々の反対もいまだに根強いことが指摘されている。結論としては「くだけた話しことば（informal speech）では、somebodyなどの不定代名詞やperson, individual のような単数名詞を受けて、they を使うことに躊躇する必要はないが、フォーマルな文脈（formal context）ではこれを避けた方がよいだろう」と言った趣旨のことが述べられている。Theyを避ける方法もいくつか述べられていて参考になる。全体として特に目新しいし指摘はないが、通読してみると、現実の語法と保守的な英米人の考え方が一致しない場合が多々あること。このような場合どう対処すべきか、いろいろ有益な情報が得られる。語法に関心のある方に一読をお勧めする。