A grammar course for Sri Lankan learners of English, written by a teacher who worked at the subject for most of his career. Norman Saranaweera graduated in English from the University of Peradeniya and later took a Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language, and he taught the language in several schools over a long career. He is visually impaired, and he wrote this book first in Braille; it was transcribed into print afterwards.
The approach is set out plainly: grammar is treated as the main tool for mastering English, rather than as a set of rules to be learned apart from use. The chapters are arranged from simple to more complex topics, beginning with matters such as subject–verb agreement and working through to relative clauses. Throughout, the explanations are accompanied by examples of errors learners commonly make, together with the corrected forms. That pairing — the mistake alongside the repair — is the method the book returns to again and again, and it reflects the kind of thing a classroom teacher sees in exercise books year after year.
A second part of the book turns from grammar to composition. It covers comprehension work, story writing, paragraph writing and letter writing, the forms most often required of students sitting examinations in Sri Lanka and of anyone who has to produce written English for work or study.
The intended reader is a student or self-learner whose first language is Sinhala or Tamil and who wants a single book to work through in order, rather than a reference to dip into. Teachers looking for a structured sequence of topics and ready examples of error correction will find it usable in that way too. The explanations are in English throughout.
When the book appeared, the Sri Lankan press reported that a portion of the proceeds was to go to the Self-Strength United Alliance of Disabled People.
Godage International Publishers is an established Colombo house publishing in Sinhala and English across education, literature and general non-fiction, and this title sits in the part of its list aimed at English language learning in Sri Lankan schools and homes.
- Author: Norman Saranaweera
- Publisher: Godage International Publishers
- Language: English
- Pages: 463
- ISBN: 9789553061836
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