First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"My endeavor has been, without neglecting investigation into the details of the languages known to me, to give due prominence to the great principles underlying the grammars of all languages, and thus to make my contribution to a grammatical science based at the same time on sound psychology, on sane logic, and on solid facts of linguistic history," wrote the great linguistic scholar Otto Jesperson, when he made this important study forty years ago. He had become convinced of the necessity of studying language through the observation of living speech and only secondarily by examination of...

This early work by Otto Jespersen was originally published in 1933 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Essentials of English Grammar is an informative work on linguistics and includes chapters on Sounds, Spelling, Definitive Pronouns, and much more. Otto Jespersen was born in Randers, Denmark on 16th July 1869. He worked as an academic at Copenhagen University and rose to the position of professor of English, a post he held from 1893 to 1925. Jespersen made a considerable contribution to the study of linguistics and some of his works are still used as the...

This early work by Otto Jespersen was originally published in 1909 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. A Modern English Grammar - On Historical Principles - Part I - Sounds and Spellings is an informative work on linguistics and includes chapters on Vowels and Diphtongs, The Great Vowel Shift, Present English Sounds, and much more. Otto Jespersen was born in Randers, Denmark on 16th July 1869. He worked as an academic at Copenhagen University and rose to the position of professor of English, a post he held from 1893 to 1925. Jespersen made a considerable...

This early work by Otto Jespersen was originally published in 1931 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. A Modern English Grammar - On Historical Principles - Part IV - Syntax (Third Volume) is an informative work on linguistics and includes chapters on Present Tense, The Pluperfect, Indirect Speech, and much more. Otto Jespersen was born in Randers, Denmark on 16th July 1869. He worked as an academic at Copenhagen University and rose to the position of professor of English, a post he held from 1893 to 1925. Jespersen made a considerable contribution to the...

This early work by Otto Jespersen was originally published in the early 20th century and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. A Modern English Grammar - On Historical Principles - Part II - Syntax (First Volume) is an informative work on linguistics and includes chapters on The Unchanged Plural, Substantives, Adjectives as Principals, and much more. Otto Jespersen was born in Randers, Denmark on 16th July 1869. He worked as an academic at Copenhagen University and rose to the position of professor of English, a post he held from 1893 to 1925. Jespersen made a...