Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009

THE authoritative and comprehensive English (note capital letter on
English) grammar is the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by
Huddleston and Pullum.  You can get it new from Cambridge for only
$190.
<http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521431468>.
Other sites may have it cheaper.

I suspect, however, that you don't really want or need a book that is
THAT comprehensive (almost 2,000 pages).  In that case, you might
consider the Oxford English Grammar, which you can purchase on
Amazon.com for around $30.00.  I haven't read it, but it looks like a
less-detailed analog to the Cambridge book, and it seems trustworthy.

Beyond that, there are always things like "English Grammar for
Dummies."  Whether they will help you is for you to decide.

In addition to reading lots of books on whatever interests you, be it
history, math or science, I suggest you hang around here. I think
you'll find that reading the posts helps and, if that doesn't always
work, you are free to ask questions.