Winner of the Swedish National Language Council's Erik Wellander Prize, 2003

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is an award-winning complete reference guide to modern Swedish grammar. Systematic and accessible, the volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Swedish grammar, presenting the complexities of Swedish in a concise and readable form. Explanations are full, clear and free of jargon, and an extensive index, numbered paragraphs, cross-references and summary charts provide readers with easy access to the information they require.

Now in its third edition, the text has been comprehensively updated to conform to new standards set in the description of language and to reflect the recommendations of the Language Council of Sweden. It offers an improved layout, completely revised index and more user-friendly paragraph structure. Continuing the tradition of previous editions, the emphasis remains fixed on Swedish in everyday communication, drawing on modern corpus material, the internet and the media to provide high frequency words and expressions. Examples have been modernised throughout and new content takes account of recent trends resulting from the increasing democratisation of written Swedish.

Features include:

• detailed treatment of grammatical structures and parts of speech
• a wealth of examples from present-day Swedish
• particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty for learners
• Swedish/English contrasts highlighted throughout the book
• chapters on word formation, orthography and punctuation.

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is the most thorough and detailed Swedish grammar available in English and is an essential reference source for the learner and user of Swedish, irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.

About the Author
Philip Holmes is Reader Emeritus in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Hull, UK, and is now a freelance translator. Ian Hinchliffe, a former lecturer in Swedish, is a freelance translator, copywriter and founder member of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators.

Reviews

Praise for the first edition

'This grammar has great assets. The first is that it is compiled by English-speaking people who have an excellent command of Swedish but who know at first hand where the difficulties of learning Swedish lie ... The second is that it represents contemporary Swedish and draws attention to different styles and registers ... a good reliable guide to modern Swedish and should serve as a standard reference of many years.' - Scandinavica

"The strong points of this grammar are: (a) it concentrates on everyday informal language; (b) it gives a wealth of examples; (c) by being "unashamedly comparative" it highlights some aspects of the Swedish language that are hardly ever touched upon in Swedish grammars written by native speakers."- Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek

Praise for the second edition

'A vital contribution to the presentation of Swedish to an international audience. The book adopts a valuable external perspective on Swedish, from which native speakers of Swedish can also benefit, and is a major source of knowledge for all of those either within or outside Sweden who teach Swedish as a second language or as a foreign language.' -The Swedish Language Council

'We have in Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar an extraordinarily workable teaching and reference tool that should continue to be a source of linguistic enrichment for many years to come.' - Marilyn Johns Blackwell, Ohio State University

'(T)his is a reference work of the first rank ... Above all, however, this book constitutes the most important international work of reference for everyone with an interest in linguistics in search of detailed information about the morphology and syntax of Swedish.' - Skandinavistik

Praise for the first edition

'This grammar has great assets. The first is that it is compiled by English-speaking people who have an excellent command of Swedish but who know at first hand where the difficulties of learning Swedish lie ... The second is that it represents contemporary Swedish and draws attention to different styles and registers ... a good reliable guide to modern Swedish and should serve as a standard reference of many years.' - Scandinavica

'The strong points of this grammar are: (a) it concentrates on everyday informal language; (b) it gives a wealth of examples; (c) by being "unashamedly comparative" it highlights some aspects of the Swedish language that are hardly ever touched upon in Swedish grammars written by native speakers.'- Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek

Praise for the second edition

'A vital contribution to the presentation of Swedish to an international audience. The book adopts a valuable external perspective on Swedish, from which native speakers of Swedish can also benefit, and is a major source of knowledge for all of those either within or outside Sweden who teach Swedish as a second language or as a foreign language.' -The Swedish Language Council

'We have in Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar an extraordinarily workable teaching and reference tool that should continue to be a source of linguistic enrichment for many years to come.' - Marilyn Johns Blackwell, Ohio State University

'(T)his is a reference work of the first rank ... Above all, however, this book constitutes the most important international work of reference for everyone with an interest in linguistics in search of detailed information about the morphology and syntax of Swedish.' - Skandinavistik

Praise for the third edition

'A thorough, clear guide to the rules of Swedish grammar... Holmes and Hinchliffe cover everything from basics such as nouns and adjectives to more advanced topics such as interjections and prepositions, and they do it all with ease and clarity. Javisst, this is the best reference book to Swedish grammar you'll find in English.'- B.J. Epstein, University of East Anglia, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9780415669252
Author Philip Holmes
Format Paperback
Page Count 728
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 1133g