For anyone who wants to become a more effective writer, a more perceptive reader, and a more precise thinker, an understanding of English sentence structure is indispensable. This book shows you how to begin. Using clear and engaging examples from English, it introduces the basic concepts of syntactic structure to readers with no background in linguistics. Starting with simple, familiar phrases, and progressing to more complex sentences, it builds on what we already intuitively know, to provide a step-by-step account of why we understand these examples as we do. It then shows how that understanding can be applied to writing, helping us to avoid some of the common hallmarks of ‘bad writing’, such as ambiguity, redundancy and vagueness. A unique and valuable resource, this book will enrich your understanding of English in ways that will make you a more effective user of the language.
Robert Freidin is a professor of linguistics, emeritus at Princeton University, where he taught from 1984 to 2016. He is also the author of “Syntax: Basic Concepts and Applications.”
This event was recorded on September 21, 2020.