English Grammar For Dummies

by Geraldine Woods

Overview

The fun and easy way to improve your grammar

Enhancing your speaking and writing skills helps in everyday situations, such as writing a paper for school, giving a presentation to a company's bigwigs, or communicating effectively with family and friends. English Grammar For Dummies, 2nd Edition gives you the latest techniques for improving your efficiency with English grammar and punctuation.

• Teaches the rules of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; prepositions, propositions, and pronoun pronouncements; punctuation; possessives; and proofreading skills for all communication
• Geraldine Woods is the author of English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, College Admission Essays For Dummies, Research Papers For Dummies, SAT I For Dummies, 6th Edition, AP English Literature For Dummies, and AP English Language For Dummies

For speakers and writers of all skill levels, English Grammar For Dummies, 2nd Edition provides easy-to-follow, practical information for improving your command of English grammar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470546642
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	02/02/2010
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Geraldine Woods teaches English and directs the independent study program at a high school for gifted students. She has more than 35 years of teaching experience and is the author of more than 40 books, including English Grammar Workbook For Dummies.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Down to Basics: The Parts of the Sentence 7

Chapter 1: I Already Know How to Talk. Why Should I Study Grammar? 9

Chapter 2: Verbs: The Heart of the Sentence 17

Chapter 3: Relax! Understanding Verb Tense 29

Chapter 4: Who's Doing What? How to Find the Subject 43

Chapter 5: Having It All: The Complete Sentence 55

Chapter 6: Handling Complements 73

Part II: Avoiding Common Errors 83

Chapter 7: Do You Feel Bad or Badly? The Lowdown on Adjectives and Adverbs 85

Chapter 8: Small Words, Big Trouble: Prepositions 101

Chapter 9: Everyone Brought Their Homework: Pronoun Errors 109

Chapter 10: Just Nod Your Head: About Agreement 121

Part III: No Garage, but Plenty of Mechanics 135

Chapter 11: Punctuation Law That Should Be Repealed: Apostrophes 137

Chapter 12: Quotations: More Rules Than the Internal Revenue Service 151

Chapter 13: The Pause That Refreshes: Commas 169

Chapter 14: Useful Little Marks: Dashes, Hyphens, and Colons 185

Chapter 15: CAPITAL LETTERS 195

Chapter 16: New Media, New Grammar Rules 207

Part IV: Polishing Without Wax — The Finer Points of Grammar 219

Chapter 17: Pronouns and Their Cases 221

Chapter 18: Fine-Tuning Verbs 235

Chapter 19: Saying What You Want to Say: Descriptive Words and Phrases 253

Chapter 20: Good, Better, Best: Comparisons 265

Chapter 21: Parallels Without the Lines 281

Part V: Rules Even Your Great-Aunt's Grammar Teacher Didn't Know 295

Chapter 22: The Last Word on Verbs 297

Chapter 23: The Last Word on Pronouns 309

Chapter 24: The Last Word on Sentence Structure 323

Part VI: The Part of Tens 343

Chapter 25: Ten Ways Two to Improve Your Proofreading 345

Chapter 26: Ten Ways to Learn Better Grammar 349

Index 353