Making Sense

In Making Sense, David Crystal confronts the foe of many: grammar. Once taught relentlessly to all students in the English-speaking world, grammar disappeared from most school curricula, so that terms such as preposition and conjunction now often confound children and adults alike.

Explaining the nuts and bolts of grammar presents a special challenge, because - far more than is the case with spelling and punctuation - the subject is burdened with a centuries-old history of educational practice that many will recall as anything but glamorous. One of the world's foremost authorities on the English language, Crystal sets out to rid grammar of its undeserved reputation as a dry and intimidating subject, pointing out how essential grammar is to clear and effective speech and writing. He moves briskly through the stages by which children acquire grammar, along the way demystifying grammar's rules and irregularities and showing us how to navigate its snares and pitfalls. He offers the fascinating history of grammar, explaining how it has evolved from the first grammarians in ancient Greece to our 21st century digital environment of blogging, emailing, and texting.

Many find grammar to be a daunting subject, but in this breezy, entertaining book, Crystal proves that grammar doesn't need to make us uneasy-we can all make sense of how we make sense.


A celebrated historian of the English language takes us on an entertaining stroll through the history of our grammar--from the beginning to last week. Throughout, the author is a gifted, agile, and amusing teacher.--Kirkus

[David Crystal's] goal is not to flex his language knowledge, but to help clean up all the mess that prescriptive grammar teaching has caused... Crystal is on point.--Popmatters

A surprisingly entertaining historical and scholarly tour of the mechanics of English... [Making Sense is a] masterly telling of why a living language's grammar, like its vocabulary, is not only unfinished, it is unfinishable. One could not have a more genial guide for such a tour.--New York Times Book Review

For those new to grammar, Crystal's systematic, avuncular exposition painlessly introduces concepts, keywords, and grammatical reasoning. For aficionados, Crystal provides depth and perspective--and for teachers new ideas... Essential.--CHOICE Reviews

For those new to grammar, Crystal's systematic, avuncular exposition painlessly introduces concepts, keywords, and grammatical reasoning. For aficionados, Crystal provides depth and perspective--and for teachers new ideas. The book first introduces parts of speech, clauses, and grammatical functions by tracing the language development of Crystal's daughter. Next comes a set of chapters on the role of grammar in communication and the importance of semantics and context. Crystal rounds out the book by discussing grammar change (and resistance to change) and the educational consequences of do-as-I-say-ism. Many chapters offers interludes, as the author calls them, in which the history of grammar and grammar teaching are brought to life. Making Sense ends with a summary of ten principles about grammar--not grammar rules but rather key ideas that encapsulate Crystal's view of grammar as an intellectual enterprise--along with an appendix on grammar teaching and testing. --Choice

Crystal is the rock star of English linguistics studies, a writer and editor of more than 100 books targeted to both academics and civilians... Lucky for us, he writes with wit and charm, and is at home contextualizing language in the time of the Greeks as well as in the era of texting.--Journal of Magazine Media