Terence Wade et al. - A Comprehensive Russian Grammar

The Comprehensive Russian Grammar is meant for Englishspeakingpupils and students of Russian at the postintroductorystage. It is also a reference aid for teachers, translators andinterpreters and others who use the language in a professionalcapacity.The first new reference grammar of Russian to have been publishedin the United Kingdom since the 1950s, it is based on personalresearch and observation, long experience of teaching Russian at alllevels from beginners up to the Honours Degree and the Civil ServiceInterpretership, and on a close study of reference materials byRussian, British and American linguists.The approach is descriptive throughout, and rules of usage areconstantly measured against current practice as reflected incontemporary journalistic and literary sources. It is entirely practicalin conception and design and has no pretensions to theoreticaldisquisition. Particular emphasis is laid on problems which are ofespecial difficulty for the English speaker.The grammar provides comprehensive guidance to usage, withexhaustive tabulated material and succinct explanations. It ispresented in 484 sections which are further subdivided to takeaccount of finer points of usage. It provides mainstream rules forquick reference, as well as access to the subtleties of the language forthose who need more detailed information.The intention is to provide the essential facts of the language and totackle perennial problems such as adverbs and pronouns in and, agreement, animacy, conjugation, declension, gerunds, longand short adjectives, numerals, participles, the partitive genitive,verbs of motion, and so on, as well as problems which have oftenreceived less attention: the gender of acronyms, alphabetisms, softsignnouns, the differences between / and other key prepositions,and between and , the use of capital letters, particles, theprinciples of word order etc. Treatment of verbal aspectdifferentiates usage in the past, future, imperative and infinitive,thus throwing the rules into sharper relief. Special emphasis is givento stress patterns.Ease of reference is assured by comprehensive indexing of subjectheadings and Russian words, and by general adherence to thealphabetic principle throughout.