Korean grammar

I went on a book-shopping spree at the behest of my boss this past Friday. The reason for the spree was to help me come up with ideas for the third level of our grammar/vocabulary book series; the boss had said he wanted the third level to be a radical departure from how we had handled the previous two levels. So—ideas! "Go to Gangnam Gyobo Bookstore, spend a few hours there, and buy whatever books you think might be helpful," said the boss. This mission was, as you can imagine, an introverted bookworm's dream, so I left the office around lunchtime and headed over to Gangnam Gyobo. I used to hang around this bookstore back when I was teaching at the nearby English Channel Language Institute back around 2004; not much had changed when I saw it again for the first time in twelve years.

Of course, bookstores being as mentally aphrodisiacal as they are, there was no way I could restrain myself from also buying some books that I wanted. I finally settled on buying two books on Korean grammar—one a textbook, the other a workbook. A survey of the textbook's table of contents led me to believe the book wouldn't take me much beyond the basics, but given the many holes in my knowledge of Korean, a solid foundation in the basics struck me as a good idea. The book follows a standard structuralist approach, i.e., it goes from simple grammatical constructions and concepts to more complex ones. The workbook matches the chapters in the textbook point for point, so I can reinforce what I'm learning (or relearning) very quickly. It'll be good for me to slog my way through the textbook; I might even encounter material that I'll consider blog-worthy as I march forth into greater knowledge.