EASY ADVANCED GRAMMAR a gagné le prix INDEPENDENT CANADIAN PUBLISHER RESOURCE à la conférence TESL tenue à Niagara Falls en juin 2017.
Preface written by
Dr. Dianne Tyers, MA, MBA, PhD, FBEI
President & CEO
Advance Consulting for Education, Inc.
I am a huge fan of Easy Advanced Grammar, New Edition, from Quebec-based Canadian publisher Les Editions Shakespeare. The book is a practical, easy-to-use English grammar reference tool that is appropriate for a wide variety of users—from those training to be English language teachers, to advanced language students in school boards, colleges, universities and private language school programs.
The design of Easy Advanced Grammar is unique. A lot of thought went into every aspect of the structure of the book to make it easy to navigate. Each section, relating to a different element of English grammar, is colour-coded, with the coding explained in a chart on the back cover. Each section also has a different page width, with section titles written on the vertical sides of the pages, allowing users to easily flip from one section to another without having to check a table of contents.
Approximately the size of a tablet, and only a few millimetres thick, Easy Advanced Grammar is light and portable. Users can easily carry it in their laptop bags or backpacks, to have it on hand at all times. This is a grammar reference tool that gets used on a daily basis, rather than being stashed away on a book shelf to gather dust! And it is also affordable.
Focusing on how English structures are used in real life, Easy Advanced Grammar provides example sentences that are not tied to a particular regional or cultural context. This makes it relevant to users across Canada and internationally. Explanations are given significant visual support with tables, charts, pictures and diagrams illustrating how to construct the key structures and how they are used. The authors made strategic choices about which grammar structures to include, striking the right balance between simplicity and complexity, and frequent use and exceptions.
Having evaluated grammar reference tools and resources for almost three decades, I can say without hesitation that Easy Advanced Grammar is a reference book that teachers, advanced learners and language programs should have in their resource libraries.