Using Functional Grammar: An explorer’s guide, now to be published in a revised 3rd edition, is an invaluable resource for students and teachers of English as a first, second or foreign language. This third edition includes a new opening chapter covering some basic concepts of traditional grammar for those who have either forgotten what they learned in the past or who have never had the opportunity to gain the elementary knowledge of such things as word classes and basic sentence or clause structures. From there, this new edition, as with its predecessors, introduces the general notion of language in context and text types, before progressing to a step-by-step exploration of the three metafunctions of language: experience, interpersonal exchange and textual organisation. The two final chapters, new to this edition, concentrate on practical applications of functional grammar theory for language education, analysis of multimodality in texts, literature, and professional contexts such as psychotherapy.

Key features:

• Incorporates end of chapter material on how to use the chapter’s specific aspect of grammar in practice.
• Provides exercises at the end of each chapter to consolidate understanding.
• Incorporates a number of assorted appendices at the end of the book which include paradigms of nouns and pronouns, summary of metalanguage for each analysis, and templates for summarising different meanings.
• Increased relevancy to current units in teaching English skills.
• Updated content in line with the new Australian Curriculum.

About the Authors

David Butt, Rhondda Fahey, Susan Feez and Sue Spinks

David Butt is an Associate Professor of Linguistics as well as the Director of the Centre for Language in Social Life at Macquarie University.

Rhondda Fahey retired from Linguistics at Macquarie University at the end of 2005. She is now living in Melbourne and applying her grammatical knowledge to theology while studying for a Master of Divinity at the MCD University of Divinity, Australia`s first specialised university.

Susan Feez is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at UNE. She specialises in English language and literacy education, TESOL, and educational linguistics.

Sue Spinks is a Senior Lecturer of Linguistics at Macquarie University. She also coordinates the Macquarie University Writing Skills Program for undergraduate students and, in 2010, received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) citation for excellence in teaching.