Don Ringe has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students for more than thirty years. In addition to historical linguistics and comparative Indo-European linguistics, he has taught a wide range of ancient and mediaeval languages. In 2012 he won the Ira Abrams Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author or co-author of half a dozen linguistics books.

• How to use this book; 1. Introduction; 2. Sentences, clauses, and their verbs; 3. Subjects; 4. Noun phrases; 5. Pronouns and subject-verb agreement; 6. Direct objects; 7. Double-object verbs; 8. 'Linking' verbs; 9. Personal pronoun systems; 10. Reflexives and passives; 11. Possession; 12. Gender, concord, and noun classifications; 13. Case systems and adpositions: the Latin system; 14. Tense, aspect, and auxiliary verbs: the English verb system; 15. Tense, aspect, and mood: the Spanish verb system; 16. The Latin verb system; 17. The Hebrew verb system; 18. The Navajo verb system; 19. The Mandarin verb system; 20. Negation; 21. Questions; 22. Adjectives and relative clauses; 23. Articles, demonstratives, and quantifiers; 24. Subordinate clauses, infinitives, and verbal nouns; 25. Participles; 26. Comparative constructions; 27. The segmental sounds of human languages; 28. Prosody; 29. Writing systems; 30. The lexicon; Epilogue: 'bad grammar'; Answers to the exercises; Glossary of technical terms; Languages used as examples in the exercises; References; Index.

'This excellent book represents a new approach to languages and how to learn them. It takes the reader through the wonderful peculiarities and challenges of real language with minimal jargon and maximum common sense. It is packed with insight and practical tips on how to start understanding grammar.' Stephen Colvin, University College London