<P>This thoroughly revised third edition of <I>Finnish: An Essential Grammar</I> is grounded in fundamental insights of modern linguistics and incorporates some of the latest achievements in the description of written and spoken Finnish.</P><P>It gives a systematic account of the structures of the written language and offers increased attention to the key characteristics of present-day colloquial Finnish. No prior knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader and grammatical rules are clearly explained without jargon.</P><P>Features of this new edition include:</P><P>¿ pronunciation guide, including the tendencies in present-day colloquial Finnish</P><P>¿ thorough descriptions of morphology (word structure) and syntax (sentence structure)</P><P>¿ clear rules and an abundance of concrete examples, from both written and colloquial Finnish</P><P>¿ updated vocabulary in the examples</P><P>¿ an effective new scheme for detecting the morphological structure of any word form</P><P>¿ sub