pbA straightforward guide to understanding English grammarbp pThis book is for people who have never thought about syntax, and who don't know anything about grammar, but who want to learn. Assuming a blank slate on the part of the reader, the book treats English grammar as a product of the speaker's mind, and builds up student skills by exploring phrases and sentences with more and more complexity, as the chapters proceed.p pThis practical guide excites and empowers readers by guiding them step by step through each chapter with intermittent exercises. In order to capitalize on the reader's confidence as a personal authority on English, iUnderstanding Sentence Structurei assumes an inclusive definition of English, taking dialect variation and structures common amongst millions of English speakers to be a fact of natural language.p ul liSituates grammar as part of what the student already unconsciously knowsli liPresupposes no prior instruction, not even in prescriptive grammarli liBegin