The two most popular books are:
- Grammar In Use Intermediate for students who have trouble getting it right. If your student makes a lot of grammar mistakes, In Use Int will help them speak correctly.
- Oxford Advanced for students who tend to speak correctly but make unnatural/awkward/unclear sentences. Oxford Adv will help them speak more clearly, more naturally and more efficiently.
Let's look at how each book presents the perfect progressive tense—either the present or past.
(Note: the sections have been chosen to best represent what the book can do well. They are not the same grammar points, they are rather comparable grammar points that highlight the book well.)
Grammar In Use Intermediate
As you can see, the book is visually clear and has minimum examples. The examples are uncluttered.
Some of the In Use Int book can seem childish, so it takes some humility to study for some students. It can also give students high school flashbacks. And, (not shown here) the exercises too can be a bit elementary. But if those hurdles are overcome, it's a good choice for many students.
Oxford Advanced
p48:
And p50:
As you can see, the Oxford Advanced book gives the student examples of how the tenses are actually used.
The exercises are a bit short and the explanations can be overly brief, so teachers should expand on them. But rarely will the student not understand what's in the book.
Grammar In Use Advanced
Use rules and examples in the In Use Advanced book can be a bit cluttered and overly specific. Also, at times, it does not give enough detail for what students should actually use.
The In Use Advanced book does a lot of error correction for mistakes that your student may not actually make (more in other lessons than this one). Furthermore, it teaches a lot of alternative phrases. The sum of this means some students can end up with a cluttered view of grammar rules and be hesitant to actually use new grammar structures.
On the plus side, there are impressive structures in the In Use Advanced book, so if your student is interested in sounding more academic or generally more sophisticated, it can be a good book.
Oxford Grammar Intermediate
We can see that the Oxford Grammar Intermediate book is not as visually clear as the In Use book. The rules are also often vague and imprecise (we use the present perfect mostly for finished actions). The teacher tends to have to fill in the blanks in the rules, which typically leads to more tiring lessons compared to the In Use Intermediate book.
On the plus side, if a student is lower level and just wants to talk like native English speakers really talk, then Oxford Intermediate is the book for them. However, they would probably gain more confidence in the In Use book.
Grammar In Use Beginner
If your student can't speak English enough to form most basic sentences, use the In Use Beginner book.
We won't use screenshots for Grammar In Use Beginner book because the application is clear and there are no competing books.
All books can be used and taught well, or students can switch
Some students are on books that are not perfectly aligned to their needs. That's okay—it's where the teacher comes in and teaches the book well.
If you want your student to change books, you can drag and drop the screenshots onto your desktop and then into the chat window.
Switching should happen early in the book. Do not switch grammar books after your student has invested time and effort into their book. In that case, adapt the material as you see fit.