Essential Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Elementary Students of English Paperback – 25 Jan. 2007

Over the last couple of years, I've been teaching English to students in Peru. Although trained as a TEFL teacher after I retired, I hated the focus on the communicative approach to teaching English as a foreign language. I much prefer the approach taken by the Spanish in teaching Spanish as a foreign language: a big, overt emphasis on grammar but with plenty of practice and production thrown in. Hence the two Murphy Books (this one and the Intermediate version) have become a major reference for me in preparing my lessons. They are brilliant. As previous reviewers have said, they're arranged in a logical order and appropriate for different learner levels. So, for example, he covers the use of articles (definite and indefinite) at a basic level in this Basic volume but comes back to the subject again in the Intermediate book where he refines our use of articles, so good for intermediate and upper intermediate students.If I could only take two books back to Peru it would be these. Thank you very much, Mr Murphy!

As described. I highly recommend this seller.

My students love this, as much as someone can love a grammar book! Its all in colour and everything is simply explained. The grammar points are broken down and put simply on a two page spread, a grammar point on page 2 and the exercises on page 3, no looking halfway down another page to finish the exercises or searching to find the explanation. Fantastic, and very organised with the content and the way everything is laid out.I only wish there were more exercises for each grammar topic, but then they did publish supplementary exercises which I also use. This is a good series, I recommend this book to anyone teaching English (or perhaps even learning by themselves).I do have another wish that there were grammar books of comparable quality for learning French, Spanish etc.. but nothing comes even close.Really recommended, A* !

As this is a very useful book for self-study or for homework for a class, it really can be described as an essential resource. Grammar is split into easy steps and students can practise points they aren't sure of and check their answers in the back. This latest edition now has colour which helps some students. It is a little difficult for beginners unless they are very academic but is fine for elementary and pre-intermediate. The Intermediate and Advanced versions are available for higher students.

Bought this for my auntie as I already had and used the intermediate one when I was learning! Great book, easy explanations, excellent exercises and has answers... so you can keep checking your language development. Highly recommend it!

This is an extremely useful study and teaching aid. It does away with scary grammatical explanations and instead leads the student through various models in common english to provide real experience. Each section comes with an exercise to cement ideas in the students' minds and these are not complicated and provide useful conversation points for lessons. On the whole a book which concentrates on 'when' we use as opposed to 'why' and while it is important for foreign language students to learn grammar, this is invaluable as a first step.

Really clear explanations and exercises to help test your understanding. This book also has a study guide at the back with a test. Once you've done the test, check your answers and if you get any wrong it directs you to the right unit. If you have quite a good understanding of grammar I'd recommend getting the Intermediate level (English Grammar in Use) which doesn't spend so much time on the basics and goes into more depth for more difficult concepts. My husband bought this about 4 years ago and still uses it to refer to!

This is an excellent book. I teach English as a foreign language privately and I've been using the book for years This copy I bought for a friend abroad who's also started teaching English. The grammatical topics are listed in a logical order. The left hand page has an explanation and the right hand page has exercises as practice.From the beginning, a certain amount of vocabulary is inevitably used so, if teaching someone who is a complete beginner, I type up a simple worksheet first as preparation.Although I also use other material, as a teacher of EFL, I can't imagine life without this book!