# Wanted:  A Good Grammar Textbook

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 23, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392 "2002-11-23T21:24:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/1 "2002-11-23T21:24:29Z")

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Not a chatty compendium of grammatical errors such as _Strictly Speaking_ but an advanced collegiate English-major bedrock guide to English grammar structure and rules.

{Gaudere has struck twice. I never misspell “grammar” and I’ve managed to mistype it as “grammer” THREE times here now, including in this very #@ sentence}

One with historical background to the rules and structural elements would be good. Please recommend your favorites, thanks!

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**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/2 "2002-11-23T21:35:39Z")

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I teach at a university.

A college-level book devoted to the fundamentals of grammatical prose should not be a textbook, but should simply be a pithy guide. I recommend _The Elements of Grammar_ (Shertzer) and _The Elements of Style_ (Strunk and White), both published by Macmillan/Collier.

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**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/3 "2002-11-23T23:15:13Z")

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Elements of Style is of course the all-time classic. Also see Fowler; that’s pretty good, on the opposite end of the length scale from S&W. A more recent textbook I like is the Random House Handbook edited by Crewes. (Crews?)

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/4 "2002-11-24T00:51:57Z")

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Strunk and White has never steered me wrong. Absorb its lessons and become a better writer.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/5 "2002-11-24T03:05:40Z")

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If you really mean what you said in the original post, the best by far is Quirk and Greenbaum’s [A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0155129309/qid=1038107250/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/002-0832693-2039268?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

Little historical background, but a very detailed listing of the rules.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-a-good-grammar-textbook/138392/6 "2002-11-24T04:27:02Z")

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Thanks!