Caroline Taggart - Collins Little Book of Grammar Secrets

Published by Collins

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Westerhill Road

Bishopbriggs

Glasgow

G64 2QT

First Edition 2014

Caroline Taggart 2014

eBook Edition August 2014 ISBN 978-0-00-759131-2
Version: 2014-09-08

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Author
Caroline Taggart

Let me let you in on a secret. Or, in fact, several dozen of them. Some of them are the absolute basics of grammar, some are subtleties and a few are ways of working round a problem when the correct answer is tricky. These Grammar Secrets are what this book is all about. It points out a number of common errors and explains why they are wrong, and it tells us when we need to be meticulous and what we can be a bit more relaxed about.

Its a sad fact that lots of us are scared of grammar, and for a very good reason: we were never taught it. At some point in the twentieth century, some bright spark decided that we didnt need to study our own language, so grammar disappeared from the school curriculum. It led to a whole generation having a vague feeling that The boy done good wasnt quite right, without understanding why, and to another generation being in danger of not thinking there was anything wrong with it at all.

This is, to put it mildly, a shame. Its a shame because language, used well, is beautiful. Its the reason we admire the plays of Shakespeare and Stoppard, read the novels of Austen and Tolkien, or laugh at Gavin and Stacey and The Simpsons. Language, used well, is also effective. It tells people what we mean without our having to say, Well, you know what I mean.

This may not matter much on a day-to-day basis, because people we are chatting to in person, online and in texts probably do know what we mean. But it does matter when we come to write down something that is longer than 140 characters or speak to someone in a formal setting. It matters in school projects, job applications, business reports, presentations, legal documents and much more. It matters because, rightly or wrongly, people judge us on the way we speak and write. Given that, as the saying goes, we have only one chance to make a first impression, we need to be able to make that impression clearly, accurately and unambiguously.

Those are a few reasons for learning grammar. But perhaps its also worth clarifying what it is.

The strict definition of grammar has words like syntax and morphology in it, so lets not go there. Lets content ourselves with saying it is the structure of a language, the rules that govern the way a language works. It tells us what job a word is performing, how it relates to other words and how to put groups of words together to form sentences. It shows us how moving a single word from one position to another, or adding or omitting a comma, can change the meaning entirely. Yes, it involves rules. It involves learning what is right, what is wrong and what may be acceptable in one situation but not in another.

Whether we want to learn grammar from scratch or brush up skills we havent thought about lately; whether we want to write a letter, take part in a debate or just express a coherent opinion, Grammar Secrets will help us on our way. And heres another secret: it doesnt have to be scary. It can even be quite fun.