The Big Beasts of English Grammar: An Exploration of Form and Function in Conversations
Christian Jones and Graham Burton
(Positive Pedagogical Praxis Series)

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What do we really know about how the grammar topics that seem to dominate language teaching are used in conversation? In this book, the authors explore some of the ‘big beasts’ of English grammar—those familiar structures like conditionals and reported speech that are often emphasised in syllabuses and textbooks. Drawing on a corpus of conversation data, the book provides new insights into how these structures actually function in real-life conversations, revealing how grammar teaching often overlooks key contextual uses.
 
Aimed at teachers, researchers, and curriculum designers, the book encourages readers to rethink grammar explanations and instruction. It challenges long-standing rules and assumptions, also offering practical ideas on how to better incorporate grammar into lessons that focus on spoken English. Covering important grammar areas such as modal verbs, quantifiers, and comparatives, it’s a valuable resource for those interested in how grammar operates in real-world dialogue.

Media and events

Book Launch, 24th February, 2025
Video recording of the event
Authors' slides
Asynchronous Q&A with the authors on social media 13th - 20th January, 2025
X: https://x.com/hashtag/bigbeastsgrammar
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/hashtag/bigbeastsgrammar
Linguistics workshop, Mersin Üniversitesi Dilbilim Topluluğu, Turkey, 7th November, 2024
Video recording

Endorsements

"The best books about language are the ones that challenge you to think differently about what you thought you knew – this book does that admirably.  There are countless fascinating corpus insights, but it is the cumulative picture which is telling: how language is shaped by conversational concerns and the interaction of lexis and grammar. The implications for the classroom sections are measured and thought-provoking.  Highly recommended for practice-oriented researchers and research-oriented practitioners."
Ivor Timmis

"This is a book I’ve been hoping, for a very long time now, that someone would write. Any educator, whether teacher, trainer or materials writer, who has thought twice about the canonical syllabus and its ‘big beasts’ (or ‘sacred cows’ as I like to think of them), will be as grateful as I am that someone has at last taken the trouble (and a lot of trouble!) to drill down into the way English is actually used, resulting in a  book that has important applications in terms of curriculum design and pedagogical grammar. It will (or ‘it is going to’?) change the way we think about the canonical grammar syllabus."
Scott Thornbury

About the authors

Christian Jones is a reader in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Liverpool. He has been involved in English language teaching for over 25 years and has worked in China, Japan, Thailand and the UK, as a teacher, teacher-trainer and researcher. His main research interests are connected to spoken language. He has published widely in this area, with work related to spoken corpora, lexis, lexico-grammar and instructed second language acquisition. He is the co-author (with Daniel Waller) of Corpus linguistics for grammar: A guide for research (Routledge, 2015), (with Shelley Byrne and Nicola Halenko) of Successful spoken English: Findings from learner corpora (Routledge, 2018) and author of Conversation strategies and communicative competence (Candlin & Mynard, 2021). He is editor of Practice in second language learning and Literature, spoken language and speaking skills in second language learning (Cambridge University Press, 2018, 2019).
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Graham Burton is an assistant professor at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy). He has worked in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics for around 25 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, materials author and editor, and researcher. He has taught in the UK, Italy and Greece. His main research interests are applications of corpus linguistics to language teaching, materials development, pedagogic grammar, academic writing and multilingualism. He is the author of Grammar in ELT and ELT Materials: Evaluating its History and Current Practice (Multilingual Matters, 2023), Corpus Linguistics for Curriculum Design (Routledge, forthcoming) as well as numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He is also the author of a number of teaching publications, including Personal Best B1+ (Richmond ELT, 2017), Cambridge English Empower B1 (as co-author: Cambridge University Press, 2015) and Collins Academic Skills Series: Presenting (HarperCollins, 2013).

Contents

  • Foreword by Geraldine Mark
  1. Introduction
  2. Going to and will
  3. Relative clauses
  4. Comparatives and superlatives
  5. Quantifiers
  6. Modal verbs
  7. Reported speech
  8. Conclusion
  • ​Glossary
  • ​Index

Publication details

Publication date: December 15th, 2024
Print book ISBN 9798301685910, 308 pages, $29.99
Ebook ISBN 9798230357049: $19.99
​DOI: https://doi.org/10.47908/35 
Series: Positive Pedagogical Praxis