BOOK REVIEW: English for Research: Usage, Style, and Grammar

Abstract

English for Research, a book on various aspects of English language, is organized into 28 chapters. On the whole, the book can be divided into two sections. The first section (chapters 1-15) is an endeavor to tackle grammatical issues as related to research papers. In this part only those issues closely related to writing are the major concerns of the author. Consequently, one should not expect to find answers to his problems for instance with ‘wish sentences', ‘if sentences', ‘reported speech', and so forth. In the second section of the book (chapters 16-28), the writer highlights sensitive aspects of writing and beautifully illustrates them via examples. He only emphasizes those aspects that are typically problematic and are generally found in research papers, for instance definite and indefinite articles. He also brings into light the delicate differences between present simple and past simple in presenting the results of any given research project. It is worth mentioning that the illustrative examples used have been taken from actual common mistakes made in real papers. Each chapter enjoys subdivisions and this makes it very convenient for the reader to have a vivid picture of the issues connected to the main grammatical item. In subdivisions, one can find numbered guidelines or rules that are sequentially presented, in logical order, from more to less important. Examples are also offered in sentences under Yes and No columns. The examples in ‘Yes' column are taken from native speakers; but those in ‘No' column are cases violating the respective rules. In addition to an index of grammatical terms, there are two appendices: a glossary and a list of problematic prepositions.