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When you’re a grammarian, people react to you in interesting — and
sometimes downright strange — ways. When the first edition of
English Grammar For Dummies came out in 2001, an elderly man asked
me about something that had puzzled him for eight decades: Why did his
church, St. Paul’s, include an apostrophe in its name? (For the answer, turn
to Chapter 11.) My nephew called to inquire whether his company’s sign in
Times Square should include a semicolon. I said no, though the notion of a
two-story-tall neon semicolon was tempting. Lots of people became tonguetied,
sure that I was judging their choice of who or whom. They worried needlessly,
because I consider myself off-duty when I’m not teaching or writing.
In this second edition of English Grammar For Dummies, I explain modern, upto-
the-minute usage. Grammar does change, though usually an elderly snail
moves faster than a grammarian pondering whether to drop a comma. As the
world is now texting, tweeting, and PowerPointing all over the place, this edition
of English Grammar For Dummies shows you how to handle all sorts of
electronic communications, with special attention to business situations. In
the current fragile economy, you need every possible edge, and proper grammar
is always an advantage. Besides, you don’t want to sit around deciding
how to create a grammatically correct bullet point when you could be lobbying
the boss for a raise.
If you’re at a desk and not getting paid, you still need good grammar. No
matter what subject you’re studying, teachers favor proper English. Also,
the SAT — that loveable exam facing college applicants — added a writing
section recently. It’s heavy on grammar and, ironically, light on writing.
This book covers all the material likely to be tested on the SAT and the ACT
(another fun hurdle of the college-admissions process) and alerts you to
exam favorites with a special new icon. If you’re aiming for higher education,
English Grammar For Dummies, 2nd Edition, will raise your standardized-test
scores.
As in the first edition, in this book, I tell you the tricks of the grammar trade,
the strategies that help you make the right decision when you’re facing such
grammatical dilemmas as the choice between I and me, had gone and went,
and so forth. I explain what you’re supposed to do, but I also tell you why a
particular word is correct or incorrect. You won’t have to memorize a list
of meaningless rules (well, maybe a couple from the punctuation chapter!)
because when you understand the reason for a particular choice, you’ll pick
the correct word automatically. |
