Wendy M. Anderson - English Grammar Essentials For Dummies, 2020 Australian Edition

English Grammar Essentials For Dummies

Australian edition published by
Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
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Copyright 2020 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

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ISBN 978-0-730-38472-4

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1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 4
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 8
5. Chapter 10
6. Chapter 11

Chances are youre reading this book because youre not confident about what constitutes proper grammar. Perhaps you went to school in an era when teachers didnt believe in worrying kids about pedantic things like correct spelling and complete sentences. Or, maybe you did study grammar but you found it boring, switched off and have forgotten most of the rules. Now, you may feel that your language skills arent as good as they need to be. Feeling that you are being judged on your communication can be stressful and make you feel self-conscious. And its worse if everyone else seems to understand, or if you find to your horror that the boss or tutor is one of those people who even uses perfect grammar in text messages.

English grammar is not that scary. You dont have to memorise all of the technical terms and, once you get started, youll find that most of it is pretty logical. In this book we present you with strategies and tips that help you make the right decision when youre tossing up whether to use who or whom, or trying to remember if you should put the apostrophe in its. We explain what youre supposed to do when, tell you why a particular way of doing things is correct or incorrect, and even show you how to revise your sentences if your grammar checker puts a squiggly green line under some part of your sentence. Once you understand the reason for a particular grammar choice, youll pick the correct option automatically.

In this book, we concentrate on common errors and tell you whats what in the sentence, in logical, everyday English, not in obscure terminology. When we do use a key term, youll generally find it in italics with a definition or example (or both) close by. You dont have to read the chapters in order, but you can. And you dont have to read the whole book. Just browse through the table of contents and look for things that have always troubled you.

We assume that you, the reader, already speak English (although you may have learned it as a foreign language) and that you want to speak and write it better. We also assume that youre a busy person with better things to do than worry about what a relative clause looks like. You want to speak and write well, but you dont want to get a doctorate in English grammar. (Smart move. Doctorates in English dont move you very far up the salary scale.)

This book is for you if you aspire to

• achieving better marks for your essays
• landing a job with better pay or a higher status
• having your speech and writing present you as an educated, intelligent person
• being able to write and say exactly what you mean
• developing a sound understanding of good grammar.

Throughout this book you can find useful icons to help you note specific types of information. Heres what each icon means:

Have you ever been confused by the message your grammar checker gives you when it puts a wiggly line under a possible problem and asks you to consider revising some part of your sentence? Your days of confusion end here. This little fellow appears at the same points that a wiggly line would appear, and the information alongside it tells you exactly how to revise those troublesome sentences.

Wherever you see this icon, youll find helpful strategies for understanding the structure of the sentence or for choosing the correct word form.

Not every grammar trick has a built-in trap, but some do. This icon tells you how to avoid common mistakes as you unravel a sentence.

Before you get started, one last word. Actually, two last words. Trust yourself. You already know a lot. Youd be amazed how much grammar can be absorbed by osmosis from day-to-day language, even if you dont know the technical terms. So be brave. Dip a toe into the sea of grammar. The waters fine.