Exercises in Contemporary English

These exercises have been designed to accompany A CONCISE GRAMMAR OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (CGCE) by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, with each exercise keyed to a section of that book.

The exercises fall into several groups. Some provide practice in using the grammatical categories and terms of CGCE by asking students to apply them in the analysis of sentences.

Some increase students' awareness of the structure of English and its grammatical flexibility.

Others call students' attention to usage problems, or provide the basis for a discussion of nuances between alternate grammatical forms.

Throughout the exercises, "grammar-book English" has been avoided in favor of natural, often colloquial, sentences.

While these exercises are compatible with transformational or other approaches to grammar, they view English primarily from the standpoint of an enlightened traditionalism.