I've long been a fan of David Crystal's Rediscovering Grammar, but I've just been nosing around in Everyday Grammar, by John Seely, which is published by OUP, and I'm deeply impressed by how clearly he puts things: I think it's probably a good deal easier to use for those moments when you're flummoxed.

My knowledge of grammar isn't bad, considering I'm of the generation which wasn't taught English grammar, but only French and Latin, but this book explained all sorts of small holes and corners in everyday issues I've never understood or only got right on instinct and not understanding. But it's fundamentally descriptive not prescriptive: it completely recognises that colloquial and formal grammar are equally valid, and sets out very well how the building blocks of sentences fit together, which is the key to developing a fluent, flexible style, which doesn't just plod subject-verb-object over and over again, or conversely get so involved it just confuses.

And it satisfyingly debunks some of the favourite issues of the more obsessive, anally-retentive, (and sometimes just plain wrong) grammar police, like 'none' being followed by a singular verb, and split infinitives being the crime of crimes...

Emma