Swan's 'Practical English Usage': Familiarisation exercise

by Tim Caudery

Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage . Third Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Swan is a book which can supplement other reference works such as dictionaries to help you with language usage information and solutions to problems. It often gives more detailed rules and examples than a dictionary for certain common areas of difficulty. It offers a more "practical" approach to language than descriptive grammars, since its aim is to tell you what you should do rather than to describe and analyse what the English language does. Note that although the book is a British publication, it makes frequent references to American English.

However, some people buy Swan and never get much use from it at all, often because they are not aware of when it might be helpful. You will get the best use from Swan if you build up an idea of what it contains, and particularly of the sections which are especially relevant for you because they explain things that give you difficulty. Then you can keep referring to these sections for guidance whenever necessary, until you find that you no longer need to look at them. To start getting an idea of the contents of the book and of the sections which could be helpful to you, you might find it useful to look at the pink "common mistakes" pages at the front of the book, particularly the mistakes frequently made by advanced and very advanced students. Not all the problems shown here will be in areas that give you difficulty, of course, but it’s very likely that some will be.

Similarly, the exercise below is designed to show you some of the sections in Swan which you may find useful, and also to give you insight into how to find information in the book. In doing this exercise, you’ll probably find that the most useful "key" to the contents is the index at the back, though the contents overview at the front can also be useful.

Exercise: Finding your way round Swan

Where in Swan can you find information on the following points? Note down the section numbers.

NB: The point of the exercise is to find out where things are in Swan, not just to answer the questions as points of language! Any questions about the exercise should be directed to Tim Caudery ( tim.caudery@hum.au.dk )

1. You have written "The politicians just shouted at one another as children". Your teacher has corrected this to "... like children". Why?
2. You want to know how to lay out a business letter. Where can you find help?
3. You want to write "He’s damn stupid", but you’re not sure how offensive it is. You’re also not sure if it should be "damned stupid". Can Swan help?
4. You want some guidelines on the meaning and use of perfect aspect in English. Are the explanations in Swan helpful?
5. You wrote: "The cat sat on it’s mat". The teacher corrected this to "... its mat". Why?
6. When can the dash (–) be used as a punctuation mark?
7. Your teacher has underlined this sentence in your work: "How long time did it take you?". Why, and what should it read?
8. You have written "a ten litres jug". How would your teacher prefer you to write this?
9. What’s the difference between a journey and a trip?
10. You often have difficulty with countable and uncountable nouns, in that you tend to write "She gave me an information" instead of "She gave me some information", etc. You’d like a list of common words that are likely to give you problems.
11. Jack and Jill own a cat. Should you refer to "Jack and Jill’s cat" or "Jack’s and Jill’s cat"?
12. You write "It’s hard to loose weight". Your teacher marks loose as a spelling error. What’s wrong with it?
13. What’s the difference in meaning between "I’ll shoot the cat in case it scratches the new sofa" and "I’ll shoot the cat if it scratches the new sofa"?
14. What does Swan have to say about the different features of more formal and less formal English?
15. Someone looks at you oddly when you tell them "I don’t hope it rains." Why?
16. 1 Find at least one section of the book that contains information you were uncertain about before.