The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style

Cover......Page 1
Copyright page......Page 6
Contents at a Glance......Page 7
Contents......Page 11
Foreword......Page 23
What You\'ll Learn in This Book......Page 25
Acknowledgments......Page 27
Trademarks......Page 28
Part 1: No Uncertain Terms......Page 29
1  Are You Grammarphobic?......Page 31
How Can You Tell If You\'re Grammarphobic?......Page 32
War of the Words......Page 33
The Force Be with You......Page 34
What Is Usage?......Page 35
What Is Style?......Page 38
A Civil Tongue: Standards for Effective Communication......Page 39
Sweet Dreams Aren\'t Made of These......Page 41
Has It Come to This?......Page 42
Perversity Rules......Page 43
Let Me \'Splain It to You, Lucy......Page 46
Personal Writing Inventory......Page 48
Mission Possible......Page 51
Part 2: Under the Grammar Hammer......Page 53
Nouns: Prime-Time Players......Page 55
Possess It!......Page 57
Too Much of a Good Thing?......Page 59
Combo Platter......Page 62
A Note on Nouns for Non-Native Speakers......Page 63
Action Verbs: Jumping Jack Flash......Page 64
Verb-O-Rama......Page 65
All Tied Up......Page 67
Fit to Be Tied......Page 69
Prepositions: Good Things Come in Small Packages......Page 70
Joined at the Hip......Page 71
A Note on Prepositions for Non-Native Speakers......Page 72
Adjectives: Happy Little Clouds......Page 75
Spice Up Your Sentences with Adjectives......Page 76
And in This Corner.........Page 77
Adverbs: Who Ya Gonna Call?......Page 78
Conjunctive Adverbs: An Adverb Disguised as a Conjunction......Page 79
Hunt and Peck......Page 80
Pronouns: Pinch Hitters......Page 81
Face the Music......Page 83
Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Take a Shower.........Page 84
Seventh-lnning Stretch......Page 85
5  Altered States: Verbs......Page 87
Verb Tense: Nothing a Little Prozac Wouldn\'t Cure......Page 88
A Class Act: Forming Past Tenses......Page 89
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep......Page 92
Party Pooper: Test Time......Page 93
All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly......Page 94
Past Tense......Page 95
A Note on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers......Page 96
It\'s All in the Timing......Page 98
Person, Number, and Mood......Page 99
Mood......Page 100
Active and Passive Voice: A Mistake Has Been Made......Page 101
Not So Fast.........Page 102
Why Can\'t a Pronoun Be More Like a Noun?......Page 105
Head Case: The Three Cases......Page 106
The Rules......Page 107
Sorry, Wrong Number......Page 111
Seventh-Inning Stretch......Page 112
Who Versus Whom (or Should I Just Shoot Myself Now?)......Page 113
I Dare You......Page 114
Seventh-lnning Stretch......Page 115
7  Multiple-Vehicle Wrecks: Pronoun Reference......Page 117
How\'s That Again?......Page 118
The Numbers Game......Page 119
Tag, You\'re It......Page 120
Location, Location, Location: Placement of Pronouns......Page 121
It\'s a Lock......Page 122
It and They......Page 123
It Mania......Page 124
Who\'s on First?......Page 125
8  How to Write and Speak Good: Adjectives Versus Adverbs......Page 127
Graphic Proof......Page 128
I\'m Ready for My Close-Up Now, Mr. DeMille......Page 129
Three Degrees of Separation......Page 130
Size Does Matter......Page 131
Good, Gooder, Goodest: Irregular Adjectives and Adverbs......Page 132
Other and Else......Page 133
Good News; Well News......Page 134
Once More into the Breach, Dear Friends......Page 135
Don\'t Use No Double Negatives......Page 136
Don\'t Be Making No Mistakes......Page 137
9  Reaching an Agreement: Matching Sentence Parts......Page 139
Singular Subjects and Verbs......Page 140
Plural Subjects and Verbs......Page 141
Seventh-lnning Stretch......Page 142
Collective Nouns......Page 143
Indefinite Pronouns......Page 144
The Pause That Refreshes......Page 146
Hide and Seek......Page 147
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match......Page 148
Mix and Match......Page 149
Agree to Disagree......Page 150
Nose to the Grindstone......Page 152
10  Dazed and Confused: Common Usage Dilemmas......Page 153
Help Is on the Way......Page 154
Man the Battle Stations......Page 155
Misplaced Modifiers: Lost and Found......Page 156
It Says What?......Page 157
Quiz Show......Page 158
Mixed Metaphors: A Dollar Late and a Day Short......Page 159
Split Infinitives: To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Goes......Page 161
Like/As......Page 162
Ending with a Preposition......Page 163
Part 3: Usage and Abusage......Page 165
Phrases of the Moon......Page 167
Prepositional Phrases: The Big Daddy of Phrases......Page 168
Offspring 1: Adjectival Phrases......Page 169
Appositives: Something More for Your Money......Page 170
Appositive Phrases......Page 171
The Moment of Truth......Page 172
Verbal Phrases: Talk Soup......Page 173
Part and Participle......Page 174
Gerund Phrases......Page 175
Infinitive Phrases: The Final Frontier......Page 176
Clauses: Phrases on Steroids......Page 179
Independent Clauses: Top Dogs......Page 180
Subordinating Conjunctions Link \'Em Together......Page 181
Looking for Love in All the Right Places......Page 182
Follow the Leader......Page 184
Adjective Clauses: Paint by Numbers......Page 185
Relative Clauses: It\'s All Relative......Page 186
Noun Clauses: What\'s in a Name?......Page 187
Getting Down and Dirty......Page 188
13  Sentence and Sensibility......Page 193
Seek and Ye Shall Find......Page 194
Sentence Structure: The Fab Four......Page 195
Simple Sentences: Simple Isn\'t as Simple Does......Page 196
Complex Sentences: Not So Complex at All......Page 197
The Choice Is Yours......Page 198
Face the Music......Page 199
Alley Oops......Page 200
Fragments: Lost in Place......Page 201
Run-Ons and Comma Splices: It Could Be a Stretch......Page 202
Seventh-Inning Stretch......Page 203
14  Coordination and Subordination: What to Say When the Cops Come......Page 205
Coordination: All the Right Moves......Page 206
Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek......Page 207
Don\'t String Me Along......Page 208
Why Not Give It a Shot?......Page 209
Subordination: What I Did for Love......Page 210
Follow the Leader......Page 211
Double Dare......Page 212
Duke It Out: Coordination Versus Subordination......Page 213
Parallel Structure: Trod the Straight and Narrow......Page 214
Time to Face Old Sparky......Page 215
Part 4: Tools of the Trade......Page 219
Pencil Pusher......Page 221
Using the Dictionary: You Could Look It Up......Page 222
Who You Gonna Call?......Page 223
Shop \'Till You Drop......Page 224
Specialized Dictionaries: Everyone\'s an Expert......Page 226
Computer Spell Checkers: Marvels of Technology......Page 227
Electronic Grammar Software: Help Is Only a Button Away......Page 228
The Thesaurus: War of the Words......Page 229
Whiz-Bang Thesaurus Programs......Page 230
Punctuation Matters......Page 231
Show Me the Money......Page 232
Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark: The End of the Line......Page 233
The Question Mark: Inquiring Minds Want to Know......Page 234
The Pause That Refreshes......Page 235
First Impressions Count......Page 237
Sentence Interruptus......Page 238
Bean Counters......Page 239
Constant Commas......Page 240
The Colon: What a Party Animal......Page 241
Semi-Tough......Page 242
Quotation Marks: Quote/Unquote......Page 243
A Little Dabba Do Ya......Page 244
The Dash: Long and Lean......Page 245
Parentheses and Brackets: Bosom Buddies......Page 246
Slash and Burn......Page 247
Apostrophes......Page 248
Once More, Dear Friends......Page 249
Capitalization: A Capital Idea......Page 251
Capital Punishment......Page 252
Rules to Capitalize By......Page 253
Capital Investment......Page 256
Abbreviations: Good Things Come in Small Packages......Page 257
18  Guide to Spelling: Hooked on Phonics......Page 261
Bee a Good Speller......Page 262
Quick and Dirty Tricks of the Trade......Page 263
Attaching Suffixes: Rear-End Collision......Page 265
Contractions: Suck It In......Page 269
Follow the Rules! Spelling Rules......Page 270
See and Say......Page 272
Tricky-Dickie Word Endings......Page 273
Ten Tough Spelling Words-and Ways to Make Them Tender......Page 274
Part 5: Style: All the Write Stuff......Page 277
Style: Write On!......Page 279
Consistency......Page 281
Coherence......Page 283
Clarity......Page 285
I\'ll Have What\'s on His Plate......Page 286
Lie Like a Rug......Page 289
Audience: People Who Need People......Page 291
I Share Your Pain......Page 292
Who\'s Who......Page 294
Culture Vulture......Page 296
Model Behavior......Page 297
Four Play......Page 298
Exposition: Writing That Explains......Page 299
Argumentation: Writing That Persuades......Page 300
Description: Writing That Describes......Page 301
21  Stylish Sentences......Page 303
Vary Sentence Types......Page 304
Vary Sentence Lengths......Page 305
Focus on the Subject......Page 307
Add Details......Page 308
Play with Pronouns......Page 311
Punctuation and Style: Little Things Matter a Lot......Page 312
Slash and Burn......Page 315
Thrift, Thrift, Thrift......Page 318
Eliminate Unneeded Words and Phrases......Page 319
Revise Sentences That Begin with Expletives......Page 322
Combine Sentences That Repeat Information......Page 323
Don\'t Say the Same Thing Twice......Page 324
Make Passive Sentences Active......Page 325
23  Diction: Find the Right Word, Not Its First Cousin......Page 327
Diction: Proper Words in Proper Places......Page 328
Slang......Page 329
Tone-on-Tone......Page 330
Ten Distinctions Worth Making (or at Least Worth Being Able to Make!)......Page 331
Twenty-Five Headaches......Page 333
You\'re On......Page 335
Homophones: Give Piece a Chance......Page 336
Grin and Bear It......Page 337
24  Don\'t Go There: Words and Expressions to Avoid......Page 339
Sexist Language: Political Roadkill......Page 340
On Thin Ice......Page 341
Nonsexist Language: Level the Playing Field......Page 342
Top of Your Game......Page 344
Spin Doctors......Page 345
Jargon: \"Phasers on Stun, Cap\'n\"......Page 346
Bureaucratic Language: Piled Higher and Deeper......Page 347
Euphemisms: Sleeping with the Fishes......Page 348
The Cliché Expert......Page 349
Gorgeous George......Page 351
A Note on Words and Expressions to Avoid for Non-Native Speakers......Page 352
Part 6: In Your Write Mind......Page 353
25  Business Writing: Write Angles......Page 355
Form and Function......Page 356
Resumés and Cover Letters: Get on the Fast Track......Page 358
Resumés......Page 359
Chronological Resumé......Page 360
Skills Resumé......Page 361
Cover Letters......Page 364
Bread-and-Butter Notes......Page 366
Good News, Bad News......Page 367
Bad News......Page 368
26  Personal Writing: In Your Write Mind......Page 373
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: I\'m Yours......Page 374
Model Letter......Page 375
I feel Your Pain: Letters of Condolence......Page 376
Complain, Complain, Complain......Page 378
My 2¢ Worth......Page 380
E-Mail: Instant Gratification......Page 381
Boot Up......Page 382
Think Before You Flame......Page 383
Appendix A: Glossary......Page 385
Resumés......Page 389
Cover Letter......Page 393
Thank You Letters......Page 394
Adjectives......Page 395
Adverbs......Page 396
Agreement of Subject and Verb......Page 397
Capitalization......Page 398
Case......Page 400
Comparative Adjectives and Adverbs......Page 401
Contractions......Page 402
Diction......Page 403
fragments......Page 404
Nonstandard English......Page 405
Periods......Page 406
Plural Nouns......Page 407
Prepositions......Page 409
Pronouns......Page 410
Punctuation......Page 411
Quotation Marks......Page 414
Sentence Types......Page 415
Subject and Verb Agreement......Page 416
Verb Tense......Page 417
Wordiness......Page 420
Words Often Confused......Page 421
A......Page 423
C......Page 424
E......Page 425
I......Page 426
N......Page 427
P......Page 428
R......Page 429
S......Page 430
V......Page 431
W......Page 432