science

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English rather than just read about it. In short: Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (LGSWE) is a descriptive grammar of English written by Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan, first published by Longman in 1999. It is an authoritative description of modern English, a successor to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (ComGEL) published in 1985 and a predecessor of the Cambridge Grammar of the English…

Key takeaways

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (LGSWE) is a descriptive grammar of English written by Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan, first published by Longman in 1999. It is an authoritative description of modern English, a successor to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (ComGEL) published in 1985 and a predecessor of the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CamGEL) published in 2002. The authors and some reviewers consider it a complement rather than a replacement of the former since it follows – with few exceptions (for example in the typology of adverbials) – the grammatical framework and concepts from ComGEL, which is also corroborated by the fact that one of LGSWE's authors, Geoffrey Leech, is also a co-author of ComGEL. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English represents a large-scale corpus-based grammar focussing in its grammatical description of English mainly on "functional interpretation of the quantitative findings" (p. 41). These interpretations and findings are presented consistently throughout the book, with an emphasis on four major registers (functional styles), conversation, fiction, news, and academic prose, occasionally supplemented by examples from two supplementary registers: general prose (non-fiction) and non-conversational speech (e.g. lectures, sermons). Covering both British and American varieties of English in all of these registers but the last one, the descriptions in LGSWE are based on a language corpus exceeding 40 million words and as such this grammar has been widely praised as a new milestone in corpus-based grammatical studies. While targeting "English language students and researchers" (p. 45), an abridged version of the grammar was released in 2002, Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English, together with a workbook entitled Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Workbook, to be used by students on university and teacher-training courses.

Reviews Görlach, M.: "Review of D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan, Longman grammar of spoken and written English (Harlow: Pearson Education, 1999)", Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 25/2, 2000, pp. 257–260. Hirst, G.: Review of 'The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English', Computational Linguistics 27/1, 2001, pp. 132–139. Krug, M.: "Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan, Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman, 1999. Hardback 9p. xii + 1,204. ISBN 0 582 23725 4.", English Language and Linguistics Volume 6/2, pp. 379–416 [1]. Mukherjee, J.: "Corpus linguistics and English reference grammars" in A. Renouf (Ed.): The Changing Face of Corpus Linguistics: Papers from the 24th International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 24), Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 337–354 [2]. Parker, F.: "Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. By Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan. Essex, England: Pearson Education Ltd., 1999. xxviii + 1204. ISBN 0-58-223725-4", Journal of English Linguistics 31/1, pp. 90–97 [3]. Schmid, H.-J.: "Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English: Review of Douglas Biber, Stig Johannson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, 1999. xxviii+1204 pages", Journal of Pragmatics 35/8, 2003, pp. 1265–1269 [4] [5]. Schneider, E. W.: "Review of "Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English" by Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan", English World-Wide 22/1, 2001, pp. 137–143 [6]. Williams, H. "Review. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. D Biber, S Johansson, G Leech, S Conrad, E Finegan", ELT Journal 55/2, 2001, pp. 208–210 [7] [8].

See also A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language

Notes

References D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan: Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Harlow: Pearson Education, 1999. D. Biber, S. Conrad, G. Leech: Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Harlow: Pearson Education, 2002 (ISBN 9780582237261). S. Conrad, D. Biber, G. Leech: Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Workbook, Harlow: Pearson Education, 2002 (978-0582539426).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English

In research: Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 non-fiction books, Corpus linguistics, English grammar books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English in simple terms?

Why does Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English.