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 comprehensive 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 controversial forms.

In the fourth edition the main changes are as follows.

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 place, sentence adverbs, cleft sentences, prepositions, conjunctives, modal verbs, perfect tenses, infinitive constructions, the passive, purpose clauses and nouns.

3. Some material has been rearranged to make comparisons 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 commands, 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

1.The grammar book mentioned in this passage is not suitable for              .

A．a middle school teacher                  B．a primary school student

C．a senior high student                     D．a college student

2.According to the passage, we know that his grammar book              .

A．compares modern English with old English

B．gives a large number of examples to reduce difficulty

C．attaches more importance to conversational forms

D．pays little attention to strict grammatical forms

3.Which of the following statements about the changes is TRUE?

A．This book keeps up with the latest usages of the America English language.

B．This edition offers more information about pronouns.

C．It’s not easy for us to find the information we need in this book.

D．One particular chapter discusses verbs like “care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish”.

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 two parts before and after “~” are said by two different people

C．the second speaker repeats what the first speaker says

D．the topic is changed in the part after the sign “~”

5.In the last paragraph, the authors thank several people because              .

A．they have helped the authors with this edition

B．they have agreed to buy a lot of books from the authors

C．the authors want to make use of the fames of those people

D．those people will make advertisements for this book

 

Most people feel lonely sometimes, but it usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. This kind of loneliness is not serious. In fact, it is quite normal. For some people, though, loneliness can last for yeas. Now researchers say there are three different types of loneliness.

    The first kind of loneliness is temporary（暂时的）. This is the most common type. It usually disappears quickly and does not require any special attention. The second kind, situational loneliness, is a natural result of a particular situation, for example, family problem, the death of a loved one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can cause physical problems, such as headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year.

    The third kind of loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronic（长期的）usually lasts more than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual loneliness have problems socializing and becoming close to others. Unfortunately, many chronically lonely people think there is little or nothing they can do to improve their condition.

    Psychologists agree that one important factor in loneliness is a person's social contacts, e.g. friends, family members, co-workers, etc. we depend on various people for different reasons. For instance, our families give us emotional support, our parents and teachers give us guidance, and our friends share similar interests and activities. However, psychologists have found that, though lonely people may have many social contacts, they sometimes feel they should have more. They question their popularity.

    Psychologists are trying to find ways to help habitually lonely people for two reasons: they are unhappy and unable to socialize and there is a connection between chronic loneliness and serious illness such as heart disease. While temporary and situational loneliness can be normal, healthy part of life, chronic loneliness can be a very sad, and sometimes dangerous condition.

How would you treat temporary loneliness according to the passage?

A. Talk to friends                  B. Just ignore it

C. Go to see a doctor           D. Ask your teachers for guidance

A. one problem of loneliness is a person's social contacts

B. we depend on various people for different reasons

C. lonely people don't have many social problems

D. lonely people don't have many friends

Why do psychologists want to help chronically lonely people?

A. Chronic loneliness can cause family problems

B. Chronic loneliness can cause serious illness

C. Chronic loneliness can not be overcome

D. A, B and C are all correct

What is the best title for the passage?

A. Three Kinds of Loneliness

B. Loneliness and Diseases

C. Loneliness and Social Contacts

D. Chronic Loneliness

Pop music is the name for different forms of popular, commercial(商业) music. It had its beginning in the USA and spread throughout the whole world during the 1950s and 1960s. It is widely liked by the young people. The best known early form of pop music was “rock’ n’ roll”; another was “blues”. A more recent development is “folk-rock”. Pop music has taken the place of native music in many parts of the world; it has caused the number of people for jazz to become much smaller than it was in the 1950s and earlier, and it has now begun to rule musical stage productions. It’s a big industry. Much pop music is without artistic value, but the work of some pop singers, e.g. the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the groups like Floyd and Crosby, Stills and Nash, is on a higher musical level. And there is still a great interest in it today. Pop music concerts and festivals are held all over the world.

1.All of the following forms belong to pop music EXCEPT __________________.

A. blues                          B. rock’ n ’roll                 C. jazz                  D. folk-rock

2.According to the article, the number of people for jazz in the 1950s and earlier was ___________ it is today.

   A. much greater than   B. much smaller than    C. as great as     D. as small as

3.Which of the following is TRUE?

   A. No pop music is on a high musical level.

   B. Much pop music is very artistic.

   C. Pop music is highly artistic.

   D. Not all pop music is without artistic value.

4.“It is a big industry” means that _______________.

   A. it makes a lot of musical instruments (乐器)

B. it is a big musical and commercial business

C. the pop singers are very hard-working

D. pop music is on a very high musical level

 

 

Here are five letters from readers listed in 1-5. All the greetings and signatures are left out. Suppose you are a secretary of the magazine CR (Crazy English Reader), for each one find a suitable reply from A-F. Mark the correct letter (A-F) on your answer sheet. There is one extra reply which you don’t need to use.

   1. I am a reader of CR. Recently I found students translate some articles of CR. I appreciate your offering an opportunity to us beginners to practise using English. So I want to ask how they can obtain these articles and translated them for you, and what qualities you require. Thank you.

   2. I love your Crazy English Reader magazine! It provides valuable data for work in our English teaching. My wife and I are teaching Conversational English so I’ve been giving you a bit of a plug at our middle school. I told the students to “get a copy!” It’s good stuff! Fantastic!

     3. I’m one of Yao’s fans from Guangzhou. I have read the Yao Ming articles in No.7 Crazy English Reader. I want to know his correspondence address and the official website. Could you please tell me? Thank you very much indeed.

     4. First of all, I must say thank you very much to all the CE Reader editors who gave us a really good English magazine. Secondly, I want to give you a piece of advice. In each passage, you gave us some new words with their Chinese translation. However, as far as my knowledge, I think you should give us not only the Chinese meaning but also the English meaning so as to know the words more accurately. Thank you!

     5. I am an editor of the English Monthly of our school. I have a question that is how to say the position of the paper e.g., 总编 责任编辑 and so on. I hope you can help me to tell me the word in English. The more the better. Thank you so much! I love the book very much. Now, I do this work, I need study more information about this work, if you have time, please email me. Thank you.

Thank you for your suggestion. We may try that in some future issues of CR. I think the best way to improve your reading vocabulary is to be able to guess the meaning of the word from the other words around it. Also, if you have an English dictionary, it’s good to look up the words and then mark them down in a notebook and review them later on. Then if you really want to learn how to use the words, try using them in conversation or in writing. Hope this helps.

The best way for you to learn the different positions in a newspaper or magazine is to get a copy of an all-English magazine or newspaper and then copy down the different positions. There are also titles such as Managing Editor, reporter, Copy Editor, Photo Editor and Layout Editor. I hope this helps. If you have some more specific questions, you can send them to me and I’ll try to answer.

C．The best way to reach Yao directly is through his home team, the Shanghai Sharks. You can write him at 2570 Xietu Road, Shanghai. For more information on Yao, you can look at the sports section in sina. com. I hope this helps. Another idea is that you can try to write Yao while he’s living and playing in Houston. You can try to reach Yao in the US at:   Yao Ming   Compaq Centre 10  Houston, TX 77046

Thank you for being such a careful reader of CR. Yes, you’re right we made a mistake in the writing of that Chinese word. Each issue we try to read very carefully each article and its translation to make sure there are no mistakes, but unfortunately a few mistakes always get by. But you encourage us to keep improving, so thank you.

Yes, we do have several students who help us translate some of the articles in our magazine. We contact these translators directly after interviewing their translation work. Afterwards we assign the articles to them for translation. If you are interested in being one of our translators you can send us some information about yourself and a sample of your translation work.

Thank you for helping us to promote CR. We’re glad it’s helpful to your students. We always try to include articles that reflect real life. It’s our hope that CR will not only improve student’s English but also open up a different worldview.

 

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 comprehensive 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 controversial forms.
In the fourth edition the main changes are as follows.
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 place, sentence adverbs, cleft sentences, prepositions, conjunctives, modal verbs, perfect tenses, infinitive constructions, the passive, purpose clauses and nouns.
3. Some material has been rearranged to make comparisons 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 commands, 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 teacher	B．a primary school student
C．a senior high student	D．a college student

【小题2】According to the passage, we know that his grammar book              .

A．compares modern English with old English

B．gives a large number of examples to reduce difficulty

C．attaches more importance to conversational forms

D．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 America English language.

B．This edition offers more information about pronouns.

C．It’s not easy for us to find the information we need in this book.

D．One particular chapter discusses verbs like “care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish”.

【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 two parts before and after “~” are said by two different people

C．the second speaker repeats what the first speaker says

D．the topic is changed in the part after the sign “~”

【小题5】In the last paragraph, the authors thank several people because              .

A．they have helped the authors with this edition

B．they have agreed to buy a lot of books from the authors

C．the authors want to make use of the fames of those people

D．those people will make advertisements for this book