Longman

English

Grammar

L G.Alexander

Consultant- R A. Close, CBE

Pearson Education Limited,

Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,

Essex CM20 2JE, England

and Associated Companies throughout the world

www longman com

© Longman Group UK Limited 1988

All rights reserved, no part of the publication

may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

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Distributed in the United States of America by
Longman publishing, New York

First published 1988
Twentieth impression 2003

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Alexander L G

Longman English Grammar

1 English language - Text-books for

foreign speakers

1 Title

428 2'4              PE1128

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Alexander, L G

Longman English Grammar/L G Alexander, consultant, R A Close
p cm

Includes index

ISBN 0-582-55892-1

1  English language - Grammar - 1950- 2 English language -
Text-books for foreign speakers         1 Close, R A II Title
PE1112A43       1988
428 2'4-dc19              87-22519 CIP

Set in 8 on 9 1/2pt Linotron 202 Helvetica

Printed in China
SWTC/20

Louis Alexander was born in London in 1932 He was educated at
Godalming Grammar School and London University He taught English
in Germany (1954-56) and Greece (1956-65), where he was Head of
the English Department of the Protypon Lykeion, Athens He was
adviser to the Deutscher Volkshochschulverband (1968-78) and
contributed to the design of two important English examinations in
German Adult Education He was a member of the Council of Europe
Committee on Modern Language Teaching (1973-78) and is one of the
authors of The Threshold Level (1975) and Waystage (1977) These
modern syllabuses are the basis of many communicative language
courses He is also one of the authors of English Grammatical Structure
(1975), a basic syllabus for grading structures for teaching/learning
purposes In 1986-88 he was adviser to the University of Cambridge
Local Examinations Syndicate for the Cambridge Certificate in English
for International Communication

Louis Alexander is best known as the author of innovative works like
First Things First (1967), which set new standards in course-design He
has written

Courses, such as New Concept English (1967), Look, Listen and Learn

(1968-71), Target (1972-74), Mainline (1973-81), Follow Me

(1979-80) and Plain English (1987-88)
Language Practice Books such as A First Book in Comprehension

(1964), Question and Answer (1967) and For and Against (1968)
Readers, such as Operation Mastermind (1971), K's First Case (1975),

Dangerous Game (1977) and Foul Play (1983)

He created the blueprint for the self-study series in modern languages,
Survive (1980-83) and has published language courses in the field
of computer-assisted language learning

The Longman English Grammar is the culmination of more than thirty
years' work in English as a foreign language

mi

Contents

Introduction             

1              The sentence

Sentence word order              1

The simple sentence              4

The compound sentence              10

The complex sentence              12

Introduction              12

Noun clauses              13

Relative pronouns and clauses 16

Adverbial clauses              24

Participle constructions              30

2              Nouns

One-word nouns              34

Compound nouns              35
Countable/uncountable nouns      38

Number (singular and plural)              43

Gender              49

The genitive              51

3              Articles

General information              55

The indefinite article a/an              57

The definite article the              61

The zero article              65

4              Pronouns

General information              72

Personal pronouns              73

One              76

It              78
Possessive adjectives/pronouns   80

Reflexive pronouns              82
Demonstrative adjectives/

pronouns              85

Indefinite pronouns              86

5              Quantity

General introduction              88

Particular quantifiers              91

Distributives              98

6              Adjectives

Formation of adjectives              106
Types of adjectives and their

uses              107
The comparison of adjectives      116

7              Adverbs

General information              122

The comparison of adverbs              123

Adverbs of manner              124

Adverbs of place              127

Adverbs of time              128

Adverbs of frequency              133

Adverbs of degree              135

Intensifies              139

Focus adverbs              141
Viewpoint adverbs and

connectives              142

Inversion after adverbs              142

8              Prepositions, adverb particles
and phrasal verbs

General information              144

Movement and position              146

Time              149

Particular uses              150

Verb + preposition/particle              152

9              Verbs, verb tenses, imperatives

General information              159

The sequence of tenses              161

Simple present              162

Present progressive              164

Simple past              166

Past progressive              170

Simple present perfect              171

Simple past perfect              174
Present/past perfect progressive 176

Simple future              178

Future progressive              180
Future perfect simple/

progressive              181

The'going to'-future              181
Other ways of expressing the

future              183

Future-in-the-past              184

The imperative              184

10              Be, Have, Do

Be, Have, Do as auxiliary verbs              187

Be as a full verb              188

There + be              194

Verbs related in meaning to be              196

Have ('possess') and ...