English Grammar Books for Learners and Their Teachers

The place to start if you are a beginner working on your own. Raymond Murphy's elementary book covers roughly A1 to B1, and every unit is a two-page spread: a short explanation of one point on the left, exercises on it on the right. That layout means you can do a unit in one sitting and know exactly what you have practised. A Study Guide helps you find the units you actually need instead of working through from page one, which saves time for adults who already know some English. Buy the edition with answers for self-study; the version without answers is meant for classes.

Fifth edition, 2019 The intermediate book that most learners mean when they say "Murphy". It is aimed at B1 to B2, pairs clear explanations with practice exercises, and the edition with answers is built for self-study, so you can work through a weak area and check yourself without a teacher. Its strength is that it stays practical: the explanations are short enough to read before the exercises rather than instead of them. A separate book of 200 supplementary exercises, written to accompany this edition, is there if one round of practice is not enough. This is the British-published edition; learners aiming at American English should look at Grammar in Use Intermediate instead.

Fourth edition, 2018 The American counterpart to English Grammar in Use, written for intermediate learners at B1 to B2 who are aiming at American English: someone heading to a US university, working with American colleagues or simply hearing more US English than British. It keeps the same self-study approach of simple explanations and plenty of exercises. Extra pages of Additional Exercises mix points together, which is where learners find out whether they can actually choose between two structures. Check the cover before buying: it is sold both with and without an answer key, and only the first suits study on your own.

Fourth edition, 2023 Martin Hewings's book picks up where the intermediate Murphy leaves off, for learners at C1 to C2 who already know the rules and now need the finer distinctions. Its 105 units go into the areas that still trip up strong speakers, and the most recent edition added five units on grammar for academic purposes. Those academic units make it the better pick for anyone preparing for study in English or writing reports at work, rather than only polishing conversation. It comes with answers and an eBook, so it works for self-study as well as for a C1 or C2 exam class.

Updated edition, 2019 John Eastwood's intermediate book is the main alternative to Murphy, and some learners simply get on better with its explanations. Each unit covers one important grammar topic, and downloadable tests at the end of each unit or section show you how much has stuck. The feature that sets it apart is the exit test at the end, which tells you whether you are ready to move on to the advanced book in the same series. That makes it a good choice for anyone who wants a clear sense of progress rather than an open-ended reference. Buy the version with key if you are working alone.

Michael Swan and Catherine Walter's course comes in Basic, Intermediate and Advanced volumes, and it suits learners who like their grammar with a bit of colour. Explanations are short and easy to remember, examples are real, and illustrations and cartoons put each point in context. What lifts it above a plain drill book is the variety of practice: grammar in a text, grammar and vocabulary together, and pronunciation work on the rhythm, stress and intonation that grammar brings with it. The Basic volume grew out of the authors' earlier Good Grammar Book. Choose the editions with answers for self-study.

The American choice for upper-level learners, from the Azar-Hagen series that grew out of Betty Azar's original books. Its trademark is the grammar chart: each point is set out in a clear table with examples before the practice begins, which suits learners who like to see the whole pattern at once. It is the top of three levels in the series, above Basic English Grammar and Fundamentals of English Grammar, and it follows American English throughout. It has been revised several times since the edition pictured, and Pearson's current sixth edition adds speaking and writing activities and Key Points review, so buy that rather than an old copy. With plenty of teacher support, it often works best as a class book.

Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles's Destination books suit learners who want grammar and vocabulary practised in one volume rather than buying two. The series comes in three levels, B1, B2 and a combined C1 and C2, and B2 is the natural entry for an upper-intermediate student aiming to break through to advanced. It is a workbook first and a reference second: denser and more drill-heavy than Murphy, which is useful when you have a deadline and less so if you mainly want to look things up. Each level is sold with or without a key, so self-study learners should check the cover before buying.

Fourth edition Michael Swan's reference is the book teachers reach for when a student asks something the coursebook does not cover. Its 600-plus entries are built around the questions learners actually ask, and the fourth edition splits them into a grammar half and a vocabulary half, so you can look up a structure or a confusing pair of words with equal ease. It is written for teachers, trainee teachers and advanced students rather than beginners, and it is a book you look things up in rather than work through; Swan's grammar tests come as a separate companion. It covers British and American differences, which makes it a useful answer to "is this wrong, or just American?"

Fourth edition, 2017 COBUILD's grammar is built on evidence of how English is really used, drawn from the 4.5-billion-word Collins Corpus, so its examples sound like things people actually say and write rather than sentences made up to fit a rule. It is aimed at learners and teachers, and its explanations stay simple. Pick it over Practical English Usage if you want grammar organised as a system rather than as a set of problem entries. It sets out the key differences between British and American grammar, and two supplements cover the academic and business contexts where many adult learners use English most.

2006 Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy's reference is the one to reach for when the question is about spoken English. It gives speech as much attention as writing, drawing on recordings of everyday conversation, so it can explain the patterns learners hear around them but rarely find in a coursebook. It is pitched at advanced learners at C1 and C2 and the teachers who work with them, with more than 7,000 examples, guidance on avoiding common mistakes and clear notes on where British and American English differ. At close to a thousand pages it is a book to consult rather than read through.

Second edition, with Brett Reynolds A university textbook rather than a learner's book, for teachers and very advanced learners who want to know why English works as it does. Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum based it on their much larger Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, and it describes the language as it is used instead of laying down rules. That is its particular value here: highlighted notes take apart the excesses of prescriptive usage manuals, which helps a teacher tell a real rule from a superstition. The second edition was rewritten in a more conversational style with many more exercises, and its new co-author specialises in teaching English as a second language.

Second edition, 2010 Martin Parrott's book is written for teachers at any stage, from trainees to people with years in the classroom, and it is the one to read before teaching a structure rather than after a student has asked about it. Clear explanations come with practical ideas for planning lessons. Its most useful feature is the analysis of real learner errors drawn from the Cambridge International Corpus, which prepares you for the mistakes students actually make. Exercises using authentic material let you test the rules against real language, and a section on researching language helps you judge how published coursebooks handle grammar.

Second edition, 2017 Where Parrott explains grammar to teachers, Scott Thornbury makes them work it out. About Language is built from tasks that have you analyse real English and notice the patterns for yourself, which is slower than reading an explanation but sticks far better, and it is exactly the skill you need when a student hands you a sentence no book covers. The second edition was fully revised and adds material on varieties of English, models of grammar, phraseology and spoken grammar, so it goes beyond the written standard that most reference books describe. It suits teacher-training courses and study on your own, with a key at the back.

Where About Language sharpens a teacher's own understanding, Scott Thornbury's shorter handbook is about what to do in the classroom. It compares ways of presenting grammar, including inductive lessons where students work a rule out from examples and deductive ones where the rule comes first, and covers practice, testing, error correction and how grammar fits into communicative and task-based teaching. Sample lessons show those approaches applied to particular grammar points, which makes it easy to try one idea in your next class. It is also candid about how not to teach grammar. First published in 1999, it is a quick, practical read for anyone new to the job.