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The first two sections of this bibliography distinguish books dealing primarily with grammar from those about grammar in connection to writing. The difference is not always absolute.
Of the many textbooks on grammar, those listed here either are by ATEG members or have been suggested by them.
Berk, Lynn M. English Syntax: From Word to Discourse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. A concise but thorough and up-to-date presentation of English syntax and its links to semantics and discourse function.
Crystal, David. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press: 1997. Two one-volume works with readable, illustrated information on all aspects of language including traditional and modern grammar. Reasonably priced in their paperbound editions.
Haussamen, Brock, with Amy Benjamin, Martha Kolln, Rebecca S. Wheeler, and members of ATEG. Grammar Alive! A Guide for Teachers. National Council of Teachers of English, 2003. A resource of ideas for teaching grammar and information about it--for teachers who wonder what to do about grammar, how to use it in the classroom, and how to learn what they themselves were never taught.
Haussamen, Brock. Revising the Rules: Traditional Grammar and Modern Linguistics. 2nd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 2000. An historical approach to grammar, contrasting the history of the school grammar rules with recent linguistic perspectives.
Kanellas, Robert J., James Carifio, and Lorrain Dagostino. Improving the Expository Writing Skills of Adolescents. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998. A research study showing that the use of sentence combining exercises improved the expository writing of ninth grade biology students.
Kolln, Martha, and Robert Funk (contributor). Understanding English Grammar. 5th ed. Allyn and Bacon, 1997. An comprehensive and clear textbook describing English grammar. Also useful for teachers looking for models of the Kellogg-Reed sentence diagrams.
Morenberg, Max. Doing Grammar. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. A grammar textbook with tree diagrams that illustrate how our internal “grammar machine” arranges sentence constituents.
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1985. Widely regarded as the definitive description of current English. At nearly 1800 pages, certainly the most thorough.
Strong, William. Sentence Combining: A Composing Book. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Thompson, Geoff. Introducing Functional Grammar. London: Arnold, 1996. The approach to grammar through meaning and function rather than structure, originally developed by Michael Halliday in England.
Brathwaite, Rudolph. Writing Through Grammar. McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Burnette, Dawn. Daily Grammar Practice. Peachtree City, GA: DGP Publishing, 2003. A uniquely sequenced method of helping students understand, remember, and apply grammar concepts. Available for grades 1-12.
Dykstra, Pamela. An Easy Guide to Writing. A basic skills handbook offering students a fresh approach to writing. It explains grammar in easy-to-understand instruction (represented by the bike analogy) and includes the grammatical terminology students will need in future English classes (represented by the glossary).
------. Rhythms of Writing. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. A textbook integrating grammar and basic writing.
Epes, Mary, and Michael Southwell. Mastering Written English: The COMP-LAB Exercises. 6th. ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 2001. ISBN 0-13-030415-8. A textbook applying a pedagogical grammar to writing.
------. Mastering Written Sentences. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1998. ISBN 0-13-970774-3. A textbook applying a pedagogical syntax to writing.
Hunter, Susan, and Ray Wallace. The Place of Grammar in Writing Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1995. Sixteen essays on the past, present, and future of grammar and writing. Diverse and scholarly essays from the perspectives of composition teachers, writing center directors, rhetoricians, and others engaged in writing.
Kischner, Michael, and Edith Wollin. Writers' Choices: Grammar to Improve Style. Harcourt, 2002. Using models along with sentence combining and other exercises, this text shows writers many ways they can use the basic syntactic structures to improve their writing style.
Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 3rd ed. Allyn and Bacon, 1998. A writing text that shows students the effects of choices of word, structure, and punctuation on such rhetorical qualities as cohesion, emphasis, and tone.
Lester, Mark. Grammar in the Classroom. New York: Macmillan. 1999. Coverage of many issues surrounding pedagogical grammar, and extensive use of traditional sentence diagrams.
Morenberg, Max, and Jeff Sommers with Donald A. Daiker and Andrew Kerek. The Writer’s Options: Lessons in Style and Arrangement. 6th ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999. A textbook applying sentence combining to all phases of the writing process, from drafting to revisions for tone and emphasis.
Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. 1999. Concepts and strategies for teaching writing through grammar and its images, from a veteran eighth-grade teacher.
Noguchi, Rei. Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1991. A guide to a minimalist grammar and student-friendly methods for using one’s intuitive sentence sense to find basic sentence components and avoid errors.
Shaughnessy, Mina P. Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing. Oxford University Press; 1977. The classic humane and detailed study of the error patterns of basic writers at the college level.
Weaver, Constance. Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1996. Surveys the literature on what works and what doesn’t work in teaching grammar and provides many suggestions for sensible classroom approaches.
------------, editor. Lessons to Share on Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1998. Essays by eighteen teachers on teaching grammar in K-12.
Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2000. A rigorous textbook and rich guide to the grammatical features that improve prose style.
Beason, Larry. “Ethos and Error: How Business People React to Errors.” College Composition and Communication, Vol. 53, No. 1; Sept. 2001. 33-64. An article exploring the negative images about writers that 14 business professionals derived from examples of different errors.
DeBeaugrande, Robert. “Forward to the Basics: Getting Down to Grammar.” College Composition and Communication. October 1984. Vol. 35. Pp. 358-367. An early essay arguing for simple methods based on students’ existing language ability to help them identify the grammar essentials. Brief, practical, and comprehensive.
Devet, Bonnie. “Welcoming Grammar Back into the Writing Classroom.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 30.1 (2002): 8-17. Cited as a “notable article” by the editor of TETYC; included by NCTE on a “to-be-read” list.
Dykstra, Pamela. “The Patterns of Language: Perspective on Teaching Writing.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College, May 1997, 136-144. Phrases and clauses? We use them when talking, when writing, when listening, and when recalling information. This article summarizes the research indicating that we both process and produce language in phrases and clauses. The article then focuses on how we acquire language: by internalizing patterns. We learn, for example, the subject-verb-object pattern, not the subject-verb-object rule. These two insights can inform what we teach and how we teach it. The article can be found here.
Dykstra, Pamela. “Say It, Don’t Write It: Oral Structures as Framework for Teaching Writing.” Journal of Basic Writing, Spring 1994, 41-49. Writing and talking have different structures and involve different situations. Understanding these differences helps instructors teach and students write. Basic writers learn, for example, that if they are writing fragments and run-ons, they are writing the way they talk. They learn that the conventions of writing are not meaningless academic regulations but integral to communicating meaning to a reader, who is absent. They learn, in short, the logic of their error. This article gives instructors all they need to discuss these differences with students.
English Journal. November, 1996. Vol. 85, No. 7. An issue of the NCTE journal devoted entirely to grammar. Twenty useful articles on teaching grammar.
Wallace, David Foster. “Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage,” Harper's Magazine, April 2001. An extensive--and very entertaining--argument for the teaching of Standard English and against the linguist's descriptive approach to usage.
Wheeler, Rebecca S. “From Home Speech to School Speech: Vantages on Reducing the Achievement Gap in Inner City Schools,” Virginia English Bulletin, Vol. 51, No. 7, pp. 4-16. Discusses “a culturally and linguistaically informed pedagogical vantage and approach which holds promise for helping students transition from home speech to school speech.” Available online in PDF format here.
Wheeler, Rebecca S. and Rachel Swords. “‘My goldfish name is Scaley’ is what we say at home: Code-switching -- a potent tool for reducing the achievement gap in linguistically diverse classrooms,” submitted to Language Arts. Advocates contrasting rather than correcting to foster students’ code-switching. Available online in PDF format here.
Hajek, Ellen. HUMPTIES, Parts of Speech with "Eggceptional" Personalities. 1992 $8.95. Building Sentences with the HUMPTIES. 1992 $8.95. The "How To Write" Book. 1993 $15.95. DIAGRAMMING, the key to understanding grammar. 1994 $15.95. Add $3.00/book for shipping/handling. Hajek House, 12750 W. 6th Place, Golden, Colorado 80401.
Hunter, Anthony Devereux, Sr. The Hunter Writing
System: Sentence Sense. Loudonville, N.Y.: Hunter & Joyce Publishing Company,
1991, 1994. ISBN 0-9625839-4-4. Address: 21 Turner Ln., Loudonville, NY 12211.
(800)745-3377. Fax: (518)465-7994.
A hands-on grammar for junior high through developmental/remedial college--and for teachers.
E-mail: info@writingforkeeps.com
Anthony Hunter’s Sentence Sense
Writing System
Purser, Diana. Grammar in a Nutshell!. Nutshell Educational Products, 102 Hunter Road, Woodward, OK 73801. books: $14.95 ea.; puzzles: $4.95 ea.; cassettes: $4.95 ea.; videos: $14.95 ea. OK residents only add 8% tax; Add 10% shipping/handling.
Tuten, Nancy and Gayle Swanson. The First Fifty Tips, collected from the Get It Write website.
Van Goor, Wanda. Grammar - A Good Beginning. 4th ed. Largo, MD: Prince George’s Community College, 1993. (Address: Book Store, Prince George’s Community College, 301 Largo Rd., Largo, MD 20774. Estimated Price $15.)
Vavra, Ed. Teaching Grammar as a Liberating Art. Williamsport, PA: Rose Parisella Productions, 30 Marvin Circle, 17701. 1995. [$15 + $3 shipping & handling. PA Residents only: add 6% Sales Tax or PA Exemption Certificate.]
Wye, Margaret Enright. The Complete Guide to Punctuation: A Quick-Reference Deskbook. Prentice Hall, 1st ed. 1988; Ron Jon Publishers, 2nd ed. 1996. ISBN 1-56870-243-4.
Glauner, Jeff. Essentials of Grammar: A Textbook for Teachers, Editors, Secretaries, Writers, and Other Semiwilling Curmudgeons. This web text offers a minimal systematic grammar based on about 60 terms, with suggestions for elementary and secondary teaching.
Haist, Caroline. An Evaluation of Microsoft Word 97’s Grammar Checker. WARNING: This article contains many images and is long. It is also available in PDF format, but that file is even larger, nearly 3.5 megabytes.
McCleary, Bill. A Sixth Grade Unit Plan on “Goals and Aspirations”. This is a sample of a sixth grade unit that includes the teaching of language (PDF format).
Mulroy, David. The War against Grammar, reprinted from Wisconsin Interest
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