The Grammar Guru

Written in the form of a Socratic dialogue, *The Grammar Guru* is the first grammar book written to both instruct and entertain its readers—yes… entertain! Hirtle Walters, a.k.a. the Grammar Guru, is a retired linguistics professor who runs a pub-style restaurant not far from his former university campus. Louis Bonenfant is an English major and aspiring English teacher who one day seeks out the Guru’s help. Through a series of weekly encounters with the Guru, Louis learns the difference between:

• A verb's state and action usage.
• The simple and progressive forms, as seen in sentences such as “I take three pills a day” and “I’m taking three pills a day,” or “I like university” and “I’m liking university.”.
• The simple past and present perfect tenses, as in “I lost my assignment” and “I’ve lost my assignment.”.
• The present perfect and present perfect progressive forms, as in "Your python has escaped" and "Your python has been escaping.".
• The modals can, could, may, might, will, shall, etc.
• A real and an unreal condition.

Rather than overwhelm Louis with confusing rules and dull examples, the Guru teaches Louis the meaning behind the various grammatical forms. Through their interactions, Louis comes to realize that the Guru’s meaning-based approach to teaching grammar, combined with his playful personality, makes learning it much more rewarding and even fun. The book also includes a series of meaning-based exercises.