Preface to the fourth edition
A practical English Grammar is intended for intermediate(中级的) and post-intermediate students. We hope that more advanced learners and teachers will also find it useful.
The book is a prehensive survey of structures and forms, written in clear modern English and illustrated with numerous examples. Areas of particular difficulty have been given special attention. Differences between conversational usage and strict grammatical forms are shown but the emphasis is on conversational forms.
1. Explanation and examples have been brought up to date.
2. There is now more information on countable and uncountable nouns, attributive and predicative adjectives, adverbs of places, sentence adverbs, cleft sentences, prepositions, conjunctives, modal verbs, perfect tenses, infinitive constructions, the passive, purpose clauses and nouns.
In the fourth edition the main changes are as follows.
3. Some material has been rearranged to make parisons easier. For example, parts of chapters on can, may, must etc. are now grouped by functions; verbs of liking and preference have a chapter to themselves; suggestions and invitations have joined the chapter on mands, requests and advice.
4. The contents list now summaries every edition heading, and there is a new index containing many more entries references.
In this edition the sign “～” is frequently used to show a change of speaker in examples of dialogue. Note also that although the sign “＝”sometimes connects two words or expressions with the same meaning, it is often used more freely, e.g. to indicate a transformation from active to passive or direct to indirect speech.
We wish to thank all at Oxford University Press who have assisted in the preparation of the fourth edition. We would also like to thank Professor Egawa of Nihon University, Japan, Professor Rene Dirven of Duisburg University, West Germany and other colleagues for their friendly and helpful suggestions.
London, November 1985 A.J.T., A.VM
【小题1】The grammar book mentioned in this passage is not suitable for .A．a middle school teacherB．a college studentC．a senior high studentD．a primary school student【小题2】According to the passage, we know that this grammar book .A．pares modern English with old EnglishB．gives a large number of examples to reduce difficultyC．attaches more importance to conversational formsD．pays little attention to strict grammatical forms【小题3】Which of the following statements about the changes is TRUE?A．This book keeps up with the latest usages of the American English language.B．This edition offers more information about pronouns.C．One particular chapter discusses verbs like “care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish”.D．It’s not easy for us to find the information we need in this book.【小题4】When you see this line in the book, “Did you get a ticket? ～Yes, I managed to get one”, we can understand that .A．the two parts before and after the sign “～”mean the same.B．the topic is changed in the part after the sign “～”.C．the second speaker repeats what the first speaker says.D．the two parts before and after “～”are said by two different people.D
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(答案→)D
解析：本文是一本实用英语语法书的第四版的序言。介绍了该书的适用对象、特点和内容变化。对于编写本书给与帮助的出版社和各位同仁表达谢意。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第一段的意思（一本实用英语语法书适用于中级和中级以上的学生。我们希望更多高级的学习者和教师会觉得它有用。）判断小学生不合适。故选D。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据第二段的最后一句话的意思（展示的是对话形式和严格的语法形式的差异，但是重点在对话形式。）判断选C。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据3的内容（一些材料被重新安排是对比更容易。如情态动词的章节归类到功能类内；表示喜欢和偏好的动词有独立的章节；建议邀请章节放入请求、命令和建议章节内。）判断，选C。其他选项是对文章的片面理解。
【小题4】推理判断题。根据倒数第二段第一句话：In this edition the sign “～” is frequently used to show a change of speaker in examples of dialogue.（在这一版本中，“～”经常被用于表明在对话举例中说话人的变化。）判断选D。