Sandra N. Elbaum’s goal in writing the Grammar in Context series was to present grammar in the context of American culture. Having grown up as the interpreter of American culture for her immigrant parents, Elbaum has extended that role to ESL teachers who often are the only source, or at least the primary source, of cultural context for their students. By connecting grammar with cultural context, Elbaum hopes that students will have a meaningful basis for their language learning.

To achieve this goal, each lesson introduces the grammatical topic in a reading about American people and American themes. Some of her themes include having pets, celebrating various holidays, having jury duty, and being a "senior single." A grammar chart explains the structure with examples in an easy to read format. Language notes explain the structure in depth, including do’s and don’ts about its usage. Practice exercises follow, targeting a variety of learning styles: filling in the blanks, forming questions and giving short answers, responding to item checklists and then surveying other students for responses, adding the targeted structure to existing sentences, unscrambling sentences, and free writing about the topic and structure focused on in that lesson. Several sections comprise each lesson, which are all summarized near the end of the lesson. A helpful feature of the summary is editing advice that alerts students about common writing mistakes made with the particular structure. A section by section test follows, reviewing all aspects of the grammatical point studied. Expansion activities provide more opportunities for students to improve their speaking and writing skills. These activities may include surveys, small group discussions, jokes, various writing tasks, and observation activities followed by discussion or writing. Finally, the expansion activities include finding related information on the Internet.

The expansion activities in this text should definitely be utilized because they provide high interest, fun, and meaningful ways to use grammar. These activities could be used in conjunction with other skill classes, or even to supplement other grammar texts. In any case, the various tasks in Grammar in Context 2 follow the basic idea that learning grammar should be holistic learning, incorporating grammar in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Elbaum seems to have had this tenet of language learning in her mind as she composed this book. The book invites learners to expand their grammar knowledge through an interesting array of pictures, articles, and trivia. This is a text that students will be able to continue to use on their own after the class is over. The appendix in Book 2 contains a wealth of information for students to peruse and use. Spelling and capitalization rules, article usage, and the many meanings of "get" comprise some of the more "expected" material of the appendix. Some unexpected but still useful topics are also found, including metric conversion tables and a U.S. map.

The appendix was not the only unexpected feature of this text to me. At first I was not sure if this book presented enough information about grammar structure and usage. As I delved into this book and began to use its exercises as supplements in my grammar class, I began to discover its positive attributes. Grammar in Context 2 can be used to build a substantial and practical grammar knowledge base for students. It does not provide an in-depth study of the form and meaning of grammatical structures. This is not the "ultimate" grammar book, and I’m sure that most of us have not seen one. There’s a lot to be said for pulling information from various sources; students that may have had difficulty in understanding one text’s explanation can be inspired by another text’s coverage. If a grammar book that is student friendly, comprehensive, straightforwardly presented, and practical is appealing, this text deserves a second look and third look, and a promise to use its many meaningful, context-based ideas.

Following the same scope and sequence as Grammar in Context 2 is the workbook More Grammar Practice 2. Each two-page practice section in the workbook, which corresponds with each section in the textbook, reviews the target structures with explanations and examples in a neat and colorful grammar box. Each section follows the format of grammar box and three practice exercises. Because of the format, this workbook could also be used alone or it could be used to supplement other grammar texts, as well as reading and writing texts. It’s a helpful tool that students can use to review and extend their grammar knowledge. If your students are like mine, they will ask for more practice exercises, so I would recommend it be used as a companion to the textbook.