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    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking
    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking
    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking
    Ebook224 pages1 hour

    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking

    By Arlene Miller

    2.5/5

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    About this ebook

    According to a new report from the Department of Education, says Time magazine, "nearly half of all adult Americans read and write so poorly that they have trouble holding down decent jobs." The National Commission on Writing estimates that American businesses spend $3.1 billion annually training employees to write.

    "In today's economy and tight job market, it is even more important to put your best foot forward by communicating effectively in both writing and speaking," says Arlene Miller, author of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking, published by bigwords101.

    Finally, you can find all the answers to your grammar questions in one easy-to-understand book! Is it I or me? Who or whom? Affect or effect? Swam or swum? Do I put a comma here? How do I spell accommodate, anyway? It all makes me want to lie ― or is it lay ― down for a nap!

    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! puts all the common grammar confusions together in one well-organized and friendly book that includes a review of grammar, capitalization, and punctuation; commonly confused words and other common errors; lists of commonly misspelled and mispronounced words; a business writing lesson; a glossary of grammar terms; and an index. Additional topics include irregular verbs, agreement, parallel writing, things not to do, words that aren't words, and redundancy.

    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! is intended for ages 12 through adult. It is useful for students, homeschoolers, professionals, non native speakers, and anyone who would like to improve his or her grammar and writing skills.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateMay 1, 2010
    ISBN9780984331628
    The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking
    Author

    Arlene Miller

    Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva, is the  author of nine grammar books, a self-publishing book, and a novel: The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, first and second editions The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? Fifty Shades of Grammar Correct Me If I'm Wrong The Great Grammar Cheat Sheet Beyond Worksheets  The Best Grammar Workbook Ever I Wrote a Book: Now What? The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Self-Publishing Four College Girls and a Purple Boa Her grammar books are used by schools and colleges. The Best Little Grammar Book Ever won Best Reference Book from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association in 2011. The Best Grammar Workbook Ever won honorable mention at the New York Book Festival in 2016. And Fifty Shades of Grammar won Best Book Runner Up in 2016 from the Bay Area Independent Book Publishers Association. Arlene is from the Boston area, where she went to school and worked until 1993, when she and her family relocated to Sonoma County, California. She started her writing career as a newspaper reporter and editor before becoming a technical writer in the 1980s. She has won two awards of excellence from the Society of Technical Writers. More recently, Ms. Miller has been a freelance book editor and blogger. She also taught for the California public schools for 11 years. Arlene holds a B.A. in English and Journalism and an M.A. in Humanities, as well as teaching and school administration credentials. She conducts grammar and writing workshops based on her book. And if you don't believe that grammar can be humorous and entertaining, listen to one of her grammar talks! She is also an accomplished tap dancer and an award-winning poet. She has two grown children and currently lives in beautiful wine country, California. See her website at www.bigwords101.com for more information or to set up a workshop. Sign up to receive the weekly Grammar Diva Blog Post and get a free grammar mini-book download.

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      Book preview

      The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! - Arlene Miller

      Contents

      Introduction

      How to Use This Book

      Chapter 1   The Basics: Parts of Speech

      1. Nouns

      2. Pronouns

      3. Verbs

      4. Adjectives

      5. Adverbs

      6. Prepositions

      7. Conjunctions

      8. Interjections

      Chapter 2   The Basics: Sentence Structure

      9. Subjects

      10. Predicates

      11. Objects

      12. Phrases

      13. Clauses

      14. Types of Sentences

      15. Not a Sentence: Fragments and Run-Ons

      16. Sentence Variety Patterns

      Chapter 3   The Basics: Punctuation and Capitalization

      17. Periods and Other Ending Marks

      18. Commas

      19. Semicolons

      20. Colons

      21. Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces

      22. Hyphens and Dashes

      23. Italics

      24. Quotation Marks

      25. Capitalization

      Chapter 4   Things Not to Use

      26. Dead Words

      27. Anywheres, Anyways

      28. As yet

      29. Wasted Words

      30. Kind of, Sort of

      31. A Comma to Separate Sentences

      32. Contractions

      33. Could of/Should of/Would of

      34. Conjunction to Start a Sentence

      35. Each and every

      36. Abbreviations

      37. Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, Lastly

      38. Double Negatives

      39. Try and

      40. Irregardless

      41. Apostrophes in Plurals

      42. Comma Between Subject and Verb

      43. Unclear Pronouns and Antecedents

      44. Got Instead of Have

      45. Redundancy: Repeating Yourself

      Chapter 5  Confusing Things

      46. Advice/Advise

      47. Affect/Effect

      48. Already/All ready

      49. Alright/All right

      50. Among/Between

      51. Bad/Badly

      52. Good/Well

      53. Compliment/Complement

      54. Data

      55. Desert/Dessert

      56. Further/Farther, Toward/Towards

      57. However and Therefore

      58. I/Me and Who/Whom

      59. Imply/Infer

      60. Punctuation of Abbreviations

      61. Its/It’s

      62. This/Those With Kind and Type

      63. Lay/Lie

      64. Leave/Let

      65. Less/ Fewer

      66. Like/As if

      67. Lose/Loose

      68. Only: Where to Put It

      69. Percent

      70. Principal/Principle

      71. Titles: Italics or Quotes?

      72. Real/Really

      73. Rise/Raise

      74. Shall/Will

      75. Sit/Set

      76. Stationary/Stationery

      77. Than/Then

      78. That/Who/Which

      79. They’re/Their/There

      80. To/Too/Two

      81. Who’s/Whose

      82. Close/Clothes

      83. Vice versa

      Chapter 6  Some Grammar Issues

      84. Agreement

      85. Comparison

      86. Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

      87. Possessives

      88. Active and Passive Voices

      89. Using Strong Verbs

      90. Verb Tense Consistency

      91. Irregular Verb Forms

      92. Linking/Action Verbs with Pronouns

      93. Parallel Structure

      94. Verbals: Participles and Gerunds

      Chapter 7  Finishing Touches

      95. Capitalization in Titles

      96. Series and Lists

      97. Keeping It Simple

      98. Numbers: When to Spell Them Out

      99. Commonly Misspelled Words

      100. Commonly Mispronounced Words

      101. The Big Kahuna: Writing!!!

      Appendix A   Glossary

      Index

      Introduction

      Okay. I admit it. Whenever I hear the word I used instead of me, or see the word your instead of you’re, it is like hearing chalk squeaking across a blackboard! Years ago such grammatical mistakes wouldn’t have bothered me, if indeed I noticed them at all. However, many years of writing, editing, and teaching English have polished up my skills and made me sensitive to such errors. During my years as a technical writer and editor, book editor, and now English teacher, I have seen the same errors, questions, and problems come up repeatedly. I decided to put these grammatical issues together in a book that would be different from the usual grammar book.

      Although it does contain a review of grammar, this book is not a grammar textbook, nor is it a complete grammar reference. It is intended to address those issues that are most confusing to people when they write or speak. This book will be helpful to almost anyone who wants to write and speak (and even e-mail) correctly—students from junior high school through college; anyone looking for that first job, a better job, or a new career; career professionals; those whose native language may not be English; and just about anyone else who has ever had a question related to grammar or writing.

      Arlene Miller, M.A.

      Petaluma, California

      How to Use This Book

      The Best Little Grammar Book Ever contains both a grammar review (Chapters 1, 2, and 3) and common mistakes and problems in writing and speaking (Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7). It is neither a complete grammar textbook nor a complete grammar reference; if it were, it would be called The Best Big Grammar Book Ever!  I decided to focus on the topics that cause the most confusion, questions, and errors.

      I recommend, therefore, that the best way to use this book is to first read through it. After you have read it and know what it contains, you can use it as a reference book to remind you of what you learned. There is a short quiz at the beginning of each chapter with the answers on the following page. Take these fun quizzes to see how much you already know before you read the chapters!

      The first three chapters of the book present a grammar review. Chapter 1 is all about the parts of speech. You probably learned them in grammar school, but maybe you have forgotten some of them. The parts of speech are the basic elements of the English language. Chapter 2 discusses sentence structure: What is the function of each word in a sentence? What is the difference between a sentence and a fragment? How can you write good sentences? What are phrases and clauses? Chapter 3 reviews capitalization and punctuation, those little symbols that allow you to understand the writing.

      You do not need to memorize all the information contained in Chapters 1, 2, and 3. However, it is helpful to have an idea of what is contained in these chapters because the same concepts come up in the other chapters of the book. Do take time to learn any information that is contained in the Helpful Hints, which directly affect your writing and speaking.

      Chapter 4 begins the discussion of common problems in grammar. In this chapter you will learn some things not to do in your writing and speaking. Chapter 5 talks about confusing words—those words that are similar but not the same—and tells you which is which. You will never again confuse your and you’re! In Chapter 6 you will find a host of other common grammar issues including how to write possessives and how to write in a parallel structure. Chapter 7 contains the finishing touches: how to write numbers, how to write series and lists, the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced words, and, finally, how to write a paragraph and a multi-paragraph letter or essay.

      You are holding this book. You are now on your way to becoming a more impressive writer and speaker. Take the quizzes, read on, and impress everyone with your knowledge of grammar!

      If you have any comments on this book, or if you have a question about something that is not included here (and you think it should be), please contact me. I can be reached at bigwords101@ yahoo.com. Visit my website at www.bigwords101.com.

      Arlene Miller

      Conventions Used in This Book

      1. I have used boldface type for emphasis in examples and to indicate grammar vocabulary.

      2. I have used boldface italics when I have used a word as itself, rather than as part of the sentence.

      3. Notes are boxed with a dotted line and contain important information.

      4. Helpful Hints are boxed with a solid line and contain information that will improve your writing and speaking.

      5. I have used a conversational tone in this book to make it easy to read. In some cases you might notice I have done something

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