about horan books -

It is just on one hundred years since J.C. Nesfield published his Manual of English Grammar and Composition, the book becoming the main reference text on the functioning of the English language. In his work Nesfield provided a most comprehensive analysis of the function of the parts of speech and guidance on style and other aspects of English usage in his day.

While Nesfield’s work remained the main guide on grammar, other writers composed books that have also served as valuable reference. The best-known is Fowler’s Modern English Usage, regarded by many as the final arbiter on all manner of English language puzzles. Fowler’s book takes up the discussion of various difficulties encountered in the use of English. Grammatical questions find their place, but there is no attempt at a complete analysis such as Nesfield’s.

There are available texts that devote themselves to the perplexing field of
English spelling. There are also books that have as their subject matter the presentation of the origins of the English vocabulary; of the different levels of language or of questions of style. Great omnibuses take up aspects of the English tongue alphabetically rather than having a comprehensive approach along a particular line. And then there are the workbooks affording practice in a certain area after a brief coverage.

There are indeed many components to the English language and many hundreds of books have been published concerning them. Why then does this book make its appearance at the end of the twentieth century? The reason is that of the hundreds, possibly thousands, no modern book has done precisely what Exploring English does.

The book’s basic aim is to present a comprehensive analysis of the grammar of modern English in a practical manner. While the same bases are operative as far as the eight parts of speech are concerned as in Nesfield’s day a century ago, there have been changes in the functions of words, account of which has not been fully taken up in the updating of older works. Further, it was considered that a more simple, concise and cohesive approach was possible than that forming the construction of the many other texts. A ponderous, convoluted style is not a sine qua non in an exploration of English grammar. The material could be presented in a fluid and uncomplicated way; In being comprehensive, a work does not have to be ponderous. In such guise this grammar of the English language is presented, treating all aspects of operative usage today.

Firstly, detailed attention is paid to the eight parts of speech, the grammatical function of each being described together with its syntactic relation to another word or other words in the sentence. Thus will it be possible to parse each word in order to ensure that one’s sentences hold together. Special attention is given to words that afford syntactical difficulty.