Practical English Usage by Michael Swan

Reference | Education

iOS

Practical English Usage is a world bestseller and a vital reference tool that helps teachers and higher-level learners with common language problems in English.

Practical English Usage provides instant answers to questions about the English language which both native and non-native speakers of English find difficult to explain: When do we use a past tense with a future meaning? When and why do English speakers use 'the'? Do I say 'big', 'large', or 'great'? What exactly is the difference between 'close' and 'shut'? How do I read out an email address?

The Practical English Usage app:
• Deals with spoken and written grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and differences between formal and informal language.
• Contains over 600 indexed entries covering all the important problems for learners of English.
• Offers clear simple explanations with corpus-informed examples.
• Includes notes on background topics such as letters and emails, politeness, standardisation and dialect grammar, the meaning of 'correctness', differences between spoken and written English, and changes in English.
• Covers differences between British and American English.
• Includes audio for the pronunciation discussed in the text.

You can:
• Access entries through the very complete Index, either by scrolling through the list or by keying in the language point you want to look up – e.g. future, conditionals, 'have'.
• Browse through the thematically-organised Contents Overview and the A-Z list of entries.
• Navigate immediately between related entries through the many cross-references.
• Create your own list of favourite entries.
• Go to ‘History’ to view your recent searches.

You can use the Practical English Usage app together with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app to look up words. Just tap on a word in Practical English Usage to bring up the dictionary entry.