Do You Know This Man

**ACME** · 28-06-2013, 12:43 PM

.

v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
Now look at this picture , there is a clue

I am sure that you read one of his famous book in your
studying or teaching English
His name is
Raymond Murphy
~~~~~~~~~~

Here is an interesting interview with world's best grammar book wirter
//////////
On May 24-26, 2012, the National Association of Teachers
of English held its 18th annual conference. This year it was
called “Rivers of Language, Rivers of Learning” and it was
hosted by Yaroslavl State University. The issues discussed
in numerous sessions were autonomous learning in ESP,
information technologies, assessment and testing, teacher
development, intercultural awareness, research in language
theory and practice, best practices in teaching young learners,
translation and interpreting skills in the 21st century, and
many other aspects of ELT profession. The event was covered
by the regional media including local television. As is
usual at NATE conferences, there were several British and
American key-note speakers. The unusual aspect was participation
of Raymond Murphy, the famous grammar guru
from the UK. The Yaroslavl City TV Channel reported: “Several
hundred teachers have come to our city from all over the
country to the conference on modern methods of teaching
English. During the breaks teachers were queuing to be photographed
with the famous Raymond Murphy, author of the
most popular English grammar book in the world. His book
has come out in the 4th edition and he says he is happy that
teachers and students find it effective”.
Yes indeed, out of many grammar books, ‘English Grammar
in Use’ published by Cambridge University Press, has
always been most popular with teachers and students worldwide.
Two years ago it celebrated its 25th anniversary, and
it is still the world’s champion. One of the secrets of its longevity
is continuous renovation: it went digital, then mobile,
and now is online. This does not mean that the technical side
is more important than the language: continuous language
change analysed by the author and reflected in the book is
what keeps it up-to-date.
Ray Murphy made a plenary presentation “Love Language,
Love Choice, Love Grammar”, answered several questions of
the audience and gave an interview to English magazine.
Dr Murphy, when and how did you decide to write a grammar
book?
It was around 1980 when I was teaching English at a language
school in the UK. I had been working as a teacher for more
than a decade when I decided to collect into a book the simple
grammar explanations and practice activities I had written for
my students. I wanted to share my ideas with other teachers,
but the initial response from publishers was not encouraging.
What kind of students were you teaching at that time?
My students were mainly intermediate level and they came
from all over the world – mixed nationalities and mixed first
language backgrounds. They were also mixed in other ways:
mixed educational experiences, learning expectations and attitudes
to grammar.
Were your students successful in learning grammar?
Not quite. They had some problems and questions, confusions,
gaps in their knowledge, and they wanted me to recommend
them a grammar book that might address their problems. Most
of the grammar books available at that time seemed too academic.
I don’t think they were really written with the leaner in
mind.

So you decided to help your students?
Yes, I wrote a series of worksheets that covered concrete
grammar points. They were kept in a school library and worked
very well.
How, in the long run, did you have your book published?
A friend of mine recommended that I should send the manuscript
to Cambridge University Press. They responded positively
and accepted it for publication. So, I wrote a book based
on those worksheets.
Did you expect that the book would gain such a smashing
success and eventually become ‘a bible’ in ELT?
No, never. The success of ‘English Grammar in Use’ took me
by surprise. My main fear in writing the book was that nobody
would buy it anywhere. So when a few thousand copies were
sold, I was very relieved – I realised that many teachers had
the same problems and my book could be helpful in solving
them.
There have been four editions of ‘English Grammar in
Use’? Did you change much in every new edition?
It was great to have an opportunity to improve and correct
and refine things, make explanations a bit clearer and reword
something, and I quite enjoyed doing that. It was also
very important to regularly update things from the language
point of view. Moreover, there has been a lot of change
in culture and lifestyles during the last 25 years and that
has to be reflected in the book as well. The technical side
has been renovated too: when the CD-ROM appeared, it
contained a lot of extra practice and an audio recording
of all the exercises. Now there’s an online version, really
the biggest feature of the fourth edition. Students have an
opportunity to access ‘English Grammar in Use’ online as
well as in print. There are also mobile apps young people
enjoy using.
What other books have you written?
Later on I wrote ‘Essential Grammar in Use’ which is now available
in the third edition, and also Supplementary exercises to
both books. In fact, they were the only books I ever wanted to
write and I am happy I did them.
An article in The Guardian published earlier this year says
that your books have been used by 100 million learners of
English in the world. Congratulations on that and thank
you very much for the interview!
You are welcome.
/////////
To get the last edition of his famous book , English Grammar In Use
You can download it from this link
http://www.mediafire.com/download/aa...2012+4-ed..rar
I hope you enjoyed reading the interview
My Regards
ACME
.