Lisa McLendon - The Perfect English Grammar Workbook: Simple Rules and Quizzes to Master Todays English

Copyright 2017 Lisa McLendon

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ISBN: Print 978-1-62315-796-8 | eBook 978-1-62315-797-5

COLOR KEY: PRINCIPLES COMPOSITION STRUCTURE WORDS PUNCTUATION USAGE AND STYLE

HOW TO USE THIS WORKBOOK ON AN EBOOK DEVICE

This workbook is meant to be interactive. If youre reading this on a touch-screen device, you can add notes to this ebook and highlight text just like you would in a physical workbook.

Some sections will prompt you to write in answers or personal responses. Its easygive it a try right here: ___________.

With your finger, tap and hold for a few moments on the line above. Depending on the device youre using, an icon such as a magnifying glass will appear. Lift your finger and youll see an options menu. Select Note to add and save your own text. When youre done, an icon or highlighted area will remain, which you can always return to and tap if you want to reopen and read or edit your note.

The same tap-and-hold options menu offers Highlight or Color, which you can select if you want to highlight a passage or check a box. Experiment with it: By swiping your finger before releasing you can select entire sentences or paragraphs. The options menu also offers Bookmark for when you want quick access back to certain pages.

This method is the same on nearly all touch-screen ebook devices, but some have slight variations. If youd like more information specific to the device youre holding in your hands, a quick online search will yield best results.

A s a linguist, an editor, and now a teacherand a person who has loved words her whole lifeI love taking language apart to see how it works, playing with it, and seeing what I can do with it. I spent years in graduate school studying Slavic languages and then more years in journalism; now I teach news editing at a university. Im a total geek about grammar, and Im not ashamed to admit it. But Im definitely not a grammar cop. I like the label grammar cheerleader a lot better, because grammar is a remarkable thing and a great tool for us, so we should give it a hearty hoorah from time to time.

Having worked in both academia and journalism, I approach language from several points of view: scholar, writer, and reader. I recognize that living languages change, so grammar advice from a century or even a couple of decades ago may not still be applicable today. But I also recognize that when youre trying to communicate clearly, with credibility and authority, theres a set of current standards you need to follow so that readers focus on what youre saying rather than how youre saying it. (Anyone whos ever made a typo on the Internet understands this.)

Teaching has given me new insight on grammar, though: Many people are apprehensive about writing and public speaking because theyre not confident in their grammar skills. The fact that some guidebooks are complicated or snobby doesnt help. So Ive made it a priority to demystify grammar:

Its just a machine we all use already that occasionally has some tricky parts. Once you learn the tricky parts, you can use that machine like a pro.

A poster in my office reads, Grammar is not a secret code. It is a code, sort of, but its certainly not a secret. Grammar is for everyone, and everyone deserves to feel confident using it. The bigger point is that I wrote this book not to scold, but to support. Its for writers who want to learn more about language and how to use it according to current professional standards. Grammar doesnt have to be confusing and it doesnt have to be technical. It does take some practicethats what this book offersand with practice, youll be perfect.

This book is designed to quickly explain grammar rules and guidelines and to give you practice with them. The individual topics are sorted into seventeen chapters, which you dont have to do in order. In fact, you can skip around however youd like. Search for something specific or browse the table of contents to see what you want to work on.

Each topic includes a brief explanation and a few examples, and most have a practice exercise for you to try. At the end of each chapter, theres a quiz that covers material from the whole chapter. The practice exercises and chapter quizzes are designed to make it fast and easy for you to check your workall the answers are provided at the end of the book ().

Grammar is a big, broad subject, and a book of this type cant cover it all. The topics in this book were chosen because theyre the most common areas where people get confused or make mistakes. For an easy-to-use reference guide, the original Perfect English Grammar handbook is a great choice (this book was written as a companion to it). For deeper or more comprehensive questions, consult the Further Reading section .

A note about Muphrys Law (no, thats not a typo): This law states that any given piece of writing that attempts to offer language advice or correct mistakes in language will itself contain an error. Everything has been done to present you with a perfect book about perfect grammar, but any time human beings are involved, theres the possibility for error. I offer apologies in advance if a mistake slipped through.