This elementary textbook provides a succinct step-by-step account of all the most important and central English construction and categories. Rodney Huddleston's earlier work,An Introduction to the Grammar of English, was praised by reviewers for its clarity, and that is a particular strength of this new textbook as well.

The book draws on descriptive and theoretical advances made in modern linguistics, but any significant departures from traditional grammar are pointed out. An important feature of the book is that it explains the major grammatical categories at both a language-particular level (specifically for English) and a general level, so that it could be used as a concise reference work for English by students taking courses in language typology.