ABSTRACT

Leech and Svartvik's (1975) Communicalive Grammar of English, which is arranged according to function rather than structure. That this grammar was conceived with the interests of non-native learners in mind in no way disqualifies it for first-language users - rather the reverse. But whichever grammar is employed, few students whose interests are primarily literary will regard it as bedside reading, or settle down to systematic study of it at any other moment. However, they can be encouraged to develop a useful familiarity with it over time if we show them that it is possible to draw on it selectively as part of a Spitzerian circle.