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English Grammar Boot Camp
- Narrated by: Anne Curzan
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Grammar! For many of us, the word triggers memories of finger-wagging schoolteachers, and of wrestling with the ambiguous and complicated rules of using formal language. But what is grammar? In fact, it's the integral basis of how we speak and write.
As such, a refined awareness of grammar opens a world of possibilities for both your pleasure in the English language and your skill in using it, in both speech and the written word. As a foundation for writing, a detailed grounding in grammar and usage will hugely expand your resources for meaningful verbal expression, for navigating the subtleties of the language, and for achieving clarity of communication and stylistic power.
In English Grammar Boot Camp, linguist and popular Great Courses instructor Professor Curzan takes you on an enjoyable exploration of the essential aspects of English grammar. These 24 spirited and accessible lectures offer you a comprehensive core training - a linguistic "boot camp," by which we mean a thorough immersion in all of the key elements of English grammar and usage, in their most immediate, practical application.
Here you get a breadth of perspective and context you won't find elsewhere, leaving you with a more choices and rich verbal resources for your own use of the language. In discussing the different parts of speech, Professor Curzan directs your attention to how the element at hand evolved. Highlighting reflections from 18th- and 19th-century usage guides as well as from multiple modern commentators, she guides you in examining real-world language use in a variety of contexts, helping you develop a sophisticated frame of reference and a deep awareness of the idiosyncrasies of English.
This delightful and superbly insightful course offers you a unique opportunity to explore the linguistic riches of the English language, and to significantly deepen your mastery of grammar, usage, and style.
What listeners say about English Grammar Boot Camp
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-04-18
This book is mostly about the history of grammar
I was expecting an intense grammar course, but instead it is mostly about the history of grammar. In my opinion, the title is misleading.
55 people found this helpful
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- D. R. Anderson
- 12-06-18
not a bootcamp more like assorted dissertations
Hard to follow if you don't know all the terms. She explains some, but if you aren't paying razor sharp attention and taking notes it's hard to follow. And it's no kind of boot camp it's more like assorted English professor rambles. Some of it's pretty amusing but I am giving up on this. Personally I'd like something a little more patient and explainative really. Or more like a drill sergeant at boot camp. This is more like a starry eyed gym teacher marveling at the aspects and usage of exercise than a boot camp.
44 people found this helpful
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- Quaker
- 09-24-16
Spectacular
Where does English Grammar Boot Camp rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Among The Great Courses series on language, which are all excellent, I rate this one in the middle of the pack. It depends on what type of learning you want.
What other book might you compare English Grammar Boot Camp to and why?
Anne Curzan's first audio series "The Secret Life of Words" is one of my favorites titles on Audible, so I was both excited to listen this new course, and curious: How would this descriptivist linguist, who's quick to point out that English has many grammars, teach a English Grammar Boot Camp?
I am pleased to report that Professor Curzan navigates the territory with great ease. Yes, she reminds us, the English language is not static. No, there is not one authoritative grammar. But there is a concept of "standard English," and while much of that has changed over time and debate persists over certain rules, you're listening to this series because you want to understand those rules and potential pitfalls, and Curzan brilliantly covers it all with humor, humility, and insight.
You will learn the rules of usage, and you will also learn the origins of those rules, the logic behind them (if there is any), and how the rules of what's considered proper may be changing over time.
It should also surprise no one familiar with Curzan's other courses that you will learn the differences between spoken English and written English, and how what's considered proper in one form may be unacceptable in the other.
Which scene was your favorite?
I love Curzan's descriptions of the things she learns from her students. She describes how she frequently calls on them, as young users of the language, to help her document changes in usage as those changes enter the mainstream.
She describes, among other things, how texting has its own grammar and punctuation, and makes the point that while some of us might view this as simply "bad english," there are in fact meaningful rules that are unique to the medium.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Absolutely not. It's quite long, and dense with information. I typically listened to two chapters a day.
Any additional comments?
For those who are prescriptivists looking to hone your sense of "proper" usage, you will no doubt find everything you're looking for, but prepare to also be humbled. It is inevitable that some rule you were taught in school and remembered all these years will be questioned.
This very review, up through the previous sentence, is filled with grammar and punctuation that defies some conventional rules, yet falls into the category of modern acceptable usage. Curzan explains those distinctions, with particular focus on those words and rules that tend to trip us up the most, such as:
That rule about never ending a sentence with a proposition
Apostrophes, dashes, semicolons, and the oxford comma
Who, whom, pronoun agreement, and all the other prounoun issues that trip us up
Which vs. that, and relative pronouns
Octopuses or octopi, and all the ways plurals trip us up
Lie vs. lay, past tense vs. past participle
Helping verbs, shall, can, may etc.
Passive voice
Adverbs
Conjunctives
Dangling modifiers
etc.
She will often stop short of declaring that a common usage is correct or incorrect, but will point out that if you make certain choices -- particularly in writing -- prepare to be judged.
It's a unique, refreshing, and entertaining approach to grammar study. Highly recommended for the usage nerd in us all.
338 people found this helpful
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- mark
- 05-01-19
Not a Boot Camp
I don't believe any native English speaker would benefit from listening to this. I was looking for material to help me improve my writing, but this is far from able to help me do so. After 6 hours of listening the only useful point was the use of "less" vs "fewer" as it pertains to items. I was hoping for more of a writing theory than a bunch of anecdotes, and I won't waste another 6 hours to hear more of them.
19 people found this helpful
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- ThomasK
- 04-24-18
What grammar and what boot camp?
Lecturer provides no prescriptive guidance. She provides justification for almost every type of usage, under the pretense that the commonly accepted rule is out of date or the rules have relaxed over time. What is the point of a boot camp if you don't set any rules of the road?
31 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 04-21-17
The best lecture series what I have ever heard
Firstly, this isn’t really a grammar boot camp – a boot camp would be the ‘basic training’ undertaken by people who join the army. This course is beyond basic. It only spends a very little time explaining the different components of grammar – Most of the lecture series is about acceptable usage of English, and assumes a reasonable amount of prior familiarity with grammatical terminology, rather than being a basic description of how grammar works.
It deals with all the old chestnuts - like split infinitives, prepositions at the end of a sentence, dangling modifiers, double negatives and apostrophes, but the take-home message from this book is that these issues are rarely black-and-white.
For example, is it always wrong to split an infinitive, such as in Captain Kirk’s ‘to boldly go’? No – it isn’t always wrong – usually it’s fine, but don’t pack too many words in between the ‘to’ and the ‘go’. Is it always wrong to put a preposition at the end of a sentence? E.g. ‘The strange woman he was dancing with.’ No - it isn’t always wrong. Putting the preposition at the end can sound a bit clumsy and is often considered to be bad writing stylistically, but it isn’t necessarily wrong and it sometimes sounds better than the alternative: ‘The strange woman with whom he was dancing.’
So how can we find out if something is bad grammar, or bad usage, or perfectly OK? There are at least four ways: Firstly, we can look at the history of the language and see how it has been used over time; secondly, we can consult key grammar texts (such as Fowler’s ‘Modern English Usage’ and Strunk and White’s ‘Elements of Style’); thirdly, there are databases of the current English usage of established writers. We can search these to see if a particular construction is acceptable. If a large body of educated writers are splitting their infinitives, it must be OK. Finally, we can consult the online Usage Panel, a group of 200 experts who are surveyed annually to gauge the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
The result of all this searching is that it is rare to find a clear-cut case of ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ usage. Usually it will only provide a guide to what would be better stylistically, and this will depend on the context. Obviously you can get away with a lot more in casual conversation than you could in formal writing.
It was fascinating to explore these different issues and get a better insight into how the language works. From now on, this will give me more confidence to write with.
175 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-08-19
So disappointing
This is NOT a grammar boot camp. It is the meandering thoughts of a linguistics professor on various points of grammar. Wandering, directionless, not instructive on grammar. I rarely stop listening unfinished, but I did on this because I wasn’t getting anything out of it. Her presentation would lead one to believe there are very few actual rules of grammar.
36 people found this helpful
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- Owen T.
- 12-22-16
more than I expected
instead of just a dry guide or handbook she went into the history and stories behind it.
33 people found this helpful
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- Louise Anderson
- 03-13-19
Not for Improving Grammar Usage
I bought this hoping to learn how to improve my grammar as I have never had formal teaching. I was so disappointed to hear lecture after lecture about how everything is ok. Any thing we think is poor grammar is supported. Not helpful at all.
28 people found this helpful
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- Mervin Brown
- 11-15-16
I learned so much! Great job Anne!
It was as if I had gone back to my primary school days. I will be listening again and again.
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- IanW
- 01-23-18
Not really a grammar boot camp
What did you like best about English Grammar Boot Camp? What did you like least?
There is much to like in this course. Professor Curzan speaks well and has an obvious passion for novel words and usage, primarily from the US. Unfortunately that passion is where most of the course's emphasis lies. The first two hours felt like an extended introduction saying "Don't be too prescriptive." The course would be better described as a series on writing style covering US grammatical novelties and common controversies, all held together with grammatical tags: traditional grammar is there, but my impression is that it is used to provide the lecture headings and often only a modest proportion of a lecture's content.
What was most disappointing about The Great Courses’s story?
The overall content, and Professor Curzan's tendency to labour a point for far too long (the lengthy section on double negatives comes to mind).
Have you listened to any of Professor Anne Curzan’s other performances? How does this one compare?
No
Could you see English Grammar Boot Camp being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?
No
Any additional comments?
The course is understandably focused on US English. Given the heavy emphasis on new words and usage, a British English speaker could find the content disappointing.
25 people found this helpful
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- gill
- 04-14-17
Very interesting and engaging
Although the lecturer is American, this didn't detract from the usefulness. Clarified some areas of English grammar and exposed a lot of myths. It was particularly interesting to see how popularity of words changes over time and new words enter the language.
8 people found this helpful
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- AnnieB
- 04-05-17
Brilliant
This book has contextualised and explained grammar to me in a more effective way than any teacher I've ever had. I recommend this course to anyone who dreaded grammar lessons as a child, or anyone who wishes to explore grammar in more depth.
9 people found this helpful
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- Haoyu N.
- 10-02-19
mind set for language trending
the course set a very good mind set that language is changing, and we don't always have to have a "standard" usage.
2 people found this helpful
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- Alastair
- 05-04-18
Insomniac?
I didn't find this course particularly interesting and pales to her previous effort which was enriched with history snd more etymology. Quite basic.
2 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Larham
- 11-12-19
Technical and Accessible
The content of this audiobook is everything I hoped it would be: an in-depth analysis of English grammar presented in a relatable manner. I have listened to it twice already and will be enjoying it again soon.
1 person found this helpful
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- A. Gray
- 04-02-18
Excellent
Another brilliant course from Anne Curzon. Some of the grammar explains we're complex and possibly better understood if readvabout. She has such a great attitude to getting grammar right.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jacob
- 12-07-16
A good grammar book
Since English is my second language, I find English grammar audiobooks a great help in making me sound better when talking to native speakers.
What's more, this one managed not to annoy me even once ( which is not always the case with audiobooks ).
A good book, and a good performance overall
6 people found this helpful
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- AGNIESZKA
- 06-07-17
Like!
It is good to hear about grammar ! Would be great to remember .
3 people found this helpful
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- Chris T.
- 09-16-21
A comprehensive lecture on Grammar
A fun series of lectures on all things grammar. All of the lectures were informative, practical and entertaining.
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- Joseph Bertolini
- 11-21-19
A must- listen -to series of talks. Brilliant!
An extremely valuable overview of English grammar, masterfully presented. It cannot but improve your communication skills and make you confident of the grammar choices you make. I also looking forward to my next party.
1 person found this helpful
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- Eddie
- 12-15-16
Anything goes
Any additional comments?
I must admit I am disappointed by this book. I was hoping for a revision on English grammar but the theme all through the book was that if enough people approve a particular grammatical construct, then it should be legitimised even though it may not be logical or elegant. In contrast, I see English as a logical language. There is a certain symmetry and logic in how sentences are constructed, similar to the language of numbers, which is why we have conventional rules on grammar. By being too permissive and loose, we are effectively allowing colloquialism to dilute the elegance of written English. In summary, this book treats grammar as a popularity contest.
5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-24-17
Pretty useful
This book is pretty useful and interesting for an English learner. I really like it.
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- Bradley
- 05-18-17
Great grammar
Really easy to understand, really interesting presentation and learned a lot of new information. Recommend
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- Andrian Baratita
- 03-02-18
Ugliest grammar book ever made
It’s a waste of money. It talks differently from other grammar books and in the end nonsense.