Essential Grammar in Use with Answers

Raymond Murphy's Grammar in Use series is, alongside Azar, one of the two grammar books the English teaching world actually agrees on. Essential Grammar in Use is the elementary level, sitting below English Grammar in Use for intermediate learners and Advanced Grammar in Use above that. Together they cover a learner from first year through near-native accuracy.

The format is the whole point. Every unit is exactly two facing pages. The left page explains one grammar point with clear examples and simple diagrams. The right page is exercises on that point. Nothing spills over, nothing requires you to have read the previous unit, and the units are indexed by problem rather than by syllabus order. That means a learner who is confused about the present perfect can go straight to the present perfect units, work through them, and stop, without committing to a course.

For homeschooling this makes it a different kind of tool from a course book. It works well as a reference kept on the shelf and consulted when something goes wrong in writing, and equally well as a systematic program if you simply start at unit one and go. This edition includes the answer key, which is essential for self-study and worth checking for, since Cambridge also sells a without-answers classroom edition at a similar price.

The examples are British English throughout. Vocabulary, spelling, and a handful of structures reflect that, so American learners will meet the occasional flat or lorry. This is a small nuisance rather than a real problem, and for anyone preparing for Cambridge or IELTS exams it is an advantage.

At around twenty seven dollars it is not cheap, but it is non-consumable and will serve several learners over several years.