The best Grammar Reference eBooks: Reddit reviews

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You may find Seely and Henshall’s “The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Characters” (2016) to be interesting. The authors give etymologies for all the common Jōyō characters, and are very responsible about citing the authorities for each explanation and presenting alternate theories when the scholars disagree. It also has pictures of the oracle bone script and seal script versions of characters, when attested. I have found the kindle version very useful to keep on my phone for quick lookup via the search function. Please find the Amazon link below: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Japanese-Kanji-Understanding-ebook/dp/B01DIF7RBI/ref=nodl_

This is a really wide open question. There are theories, but no one has any truly strong evidence. Steven Pinker is an evolutionary psychologist and linguist, and wrote an excellent book on the subject. It goes into several of the more common theories, and then lays out his own theory. Much of the book may be fairly dry if you don't have a real interest in language itself (how language works, as opposed to how it evolved), but I found it very worthwhile and fascinating.

I read a great book called Words on the Move that explains this and many other things, and it's made it a lot easier for me to chill out about the way other people use language.

Here is the book I read that finally made me resign myself to the evolution of 'literally': Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)

Edited to add: And a related article I was trying to find the link to!

http://www.genetickanji.com/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DIF7RBI?ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NTCQEK67SAG7RNGM5G56

But, to be honest, etymology doesn't really help (if only as a mnemonic device) — been there. Meanings of semantic components are often unclear or disputed, and phonetic components (being related to 1000 years old pronunciations of some obscure Chinese words) don't help at all.

When I was in Japan I bought this book. It includes all 2136 Joyo kanji, gives ON and KUN yomi, gives a few vocabulary for each, has a list of around 200 radicals (if remember correctly) and explains how this particular kanji came to be what it is now. It also gives out some mnemonics. Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but hope this helps !

Alternatively, if you like the idea of graded readers but feel like the one i pointed to is still too high a level then start with this

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0796WLNBP/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The idea is the same is the same. Doesn't take you as far obviously but it starts from basically absolute zero and is much more conducive for beginners. The vocabulary for each story is right there in the book as well as english translations for all but the last couple stories. There's free audio as well. By the time you're done with it, you'll definitely be able to jump to the other one.

Well good luck on your journey.

As you might imagine, I’m a fan of the book <em>Eats, shoots &amp; Leaves.</em>

Steven Pinker writes really well. I recommed his book on good writing: The Sense of Style

https://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-解答【第3版】-ebook/dp/B08LCV7TH4/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&amp;keywords=genki+answer+key&amp;qid=1614132506&amp;sr=8-2

> I havent made it very far in my Kanji studying

That's why you're still bothered by "images" and "meanings". The truth is they're next to irrelevant. You can buy Seeley &amp; Henshall's book, but I assure you, if you don't use it as the main learning course, you will stop constantly looking at etymologies after maybe a hundred learned kanjis or so. An excerpt from the book:

> [...] left-hand shows skeletal remains (possibly occipital bone); right-hand (person) is phonetic with associated sense i] ‘flesh rots and drops to ground’, giving ‘corpse turns to bleached bones free of flesh’ (Katō), or ii] ‘divided up into small pieces’, giving ‘die and bones come apart’ (Tōdō). In ancient China a person was only seen as dead when the corpse became a clean skeleton after exposure to weather (Mizukami). By block script, left-hand changed to 歹, and right-hand to 匕. Modern form comprises , known as ‘meatless bones’ (cf ‘meaty bone’ 骨 877), with ‘fallen person’ 匕 (see 258).

I've been reading this one and it's good if you're interested in traditional folk tales: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0796WLNBP/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1

It comes with an audio disc.

https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Stories-Language-Learners-Downloadable-ebook/dp/B0796WLNBP/ref=zg_bs_158212011_20?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=Z6MDJ53ZGZP2Q0T7FVB0 This is the Korean Folktale I first started reading. It was pretty basic and easy in the beginning. As you progress towards the end, the folktale is less altered, and becomes harder and longer. It's not hard to the point that your eyes will bleed xD, I would say like above beginner to low intermediate. On top of that I repeat the audio that comes with it, so I can improve my listening comprehension. Moving on, I bought 2 kids book that were only like ~20 pages. I wouldn't recommend them tho tbh. Right now I'm beginning to read books that are 100-200 pages. Not too short and not too long. Hopefully after those, I can progress to even harder text. Reply if you have anymore questions!

Yes there are a lot of contracted words that I have come across with while learning Korean for about 1 month. Like 것을 is contracted to 걸. 것이 is contracted to 게. There are many more that I want to tell you, but it's probably too advance for you to know... Also tbh I wouldn't say you have to focus on grammar books, but I recommend reading graded reading books for kids or learners. Once in a while try to look at the grammar form to understand what they mean. Also I wouldn't only focus on songs as they have slangs and they change up some of the words to make it sound nice. I'm currently on this book and I'm on the last 3 stories. I would definitely recommend it https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Stories-Language-Learners-Downloadable-ebook/dp/B0796WLNBP/ref=zg_bs_158212011_18?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=3MHP1FR1S3K89W4JV1DC. Please read a lot of reading books and listen a lot. Practice speaking when you get comfortable. Also if you have any questions, feel free to ask. 하실 수 있으세요

Its is the possessive form, it's always means it is. This is an entertaining book about punctuation https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation-ebook/dp/B000OIZSVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1517055704&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=eats+shoots+and+leaves

Well, there is this list of the most common radicals, which would also help you. http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/radicals.php

And if you are learning simplified hanzi, you can consider using this book: https://www.amazon.com.br/Tuttle-Learning-Chinese-Characters-Revolutionary-ebook/dp/B00KV1SK1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1478521960&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=chinese+characters+tuttle

It always introduces a non-compound character before using it in a compound character

Strunk and White is a classic but I'm really enjoying Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style, which has several critiques of Strunk and White (and other style books).

Pinker's basic premise is that we should understand why certain things are stylistically better, rather than just giving rules that appear to be arbitrary. The book is loaded with plenty of examples of great writing and he does a great job of elucidating what makes it work.

Commas are the biggest distraction I see. You use just a few too many commas, but it's an easy issue to correct. Good luck and keep writing!

A copy of Strunk & White for Kindle (or any Kindle app) is available for $0.99 from Amazon here.

That's the Australian Amazon site - but I assume it will redirect you to your own countries version.

I'm a big fan of Schaum's Outline series. They explain everything concisely and even offer tips for memorizing things.

http://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Grammar-Foreign-Language-ebook/dp/B00D86G2FA

If you want something more dynamic, you could try French Duolingo. It's free, and it teaches a lot of basic vocabulary. If you do that, I strongly suggest using Anki flashcards to record and review the new vocabulary. I have a description on my blog of what I think is the best way to use Anki flashcards if you haven't seen Anki before.

Or do a combination of all three. Use Duolingo to get more vocabulary and to practice the grammar. Use Schaum's for explanations about the grammar. Use Anki to drill the vocabulary.