English Grammar for Dummies

Why does grammar make everyone so nervous? Probably because English teachers, for decades – no, for centuries – have been making a big deal out of grammar in classrooms, diagramming sentences and drilling the parts of speech, clauses, and verbals into students until they beg for mercy. Happily, you don't have to learn all those technical terms of English grammar – and you certainly don't have to diagram sentences – in order to speak and write correct English.

So rest assured – English Grammar For Dummies will probably never make your English teacher's top-ten list of must-read books, because you won't have to diagram a single sentence. What you will discover are fun and easy strategies that can help you when you're faced with such grammatical dilemmas as the choice between "I" and "me," "had gone" and "went," and "who" and "whom." With English Grammar For Dummies, you won't have to memorize a long list of meaningless rules (well, maybe a couple in the punctuation chapter!), because when you understand the reason for a particular word choice, you'll pick the correct word automatically.

English Grammar For Dummies covers many other topics as well, such as the following:

• Verbs, adjectives, and adverbs – oh my!
• Preposition propositions and pronoun pronouncements
• Punctuation: The lowdown on periods, commas, colons, and all those other squiggly marks
• Possession: It's nine-tenths of grammatical law
• Avoiding those double negative vibes
• How to spice up really boring sentences (like this one)
• Top Ten lists on improving your proofreading skills and ways to learn better grammar

Just think how improving your speaking and writing skills will help you in everyday situations, such as writing a paper for school, giving a presentation to your company's big wigs, or communicating effectively with your family. You will not only gain the confidence in knowing you're speaking or writing well, but you'll also make a good impression on those around you!

I highly recommend this book to anyone thinking of buying it!

I am a writer, and while my first novel was edited by others, I'd like to try editing my next one without an intitial edit job...this book is my only hope! :-)(...)


an excellent study guide for the SAT writing section   June 29, 2006
rk from ny (ny, of course)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Since grammar is not routinely taught or emphasized in the classrooms, it is imperative that high school students destined to take the SATs have a comprehensive guide to grammar which is simple but complete. This is a great grammar teaching/learning tool, and produced great results.


best book I've seen on this topic so far   December 3, 2001
26 out of 31 found this review helpful

I haven't seen a better book on this topic. Very well-written with interesting examples. I use it often.