Grammar Essentials for Dummies

The Essentials For Dummies Series
Dummies is proud to present our new series, The Essentials For Dummies. Now students who are prepping for exams, preparing to study new material, or who just need a refresher can have a concise, easy-to-understand review guide that covers an entire course by concentrating solely on the most important concepts. From algebra and chemistry to grammar and Spanish, our expert authors focus on the skills students most need to succeed in a subject.

Geraldine Woods has more than 35 years of teaching experience and is the author of more than 50 books, including English Grammar Workbook For Dummies and Research Papers For Dummies.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Where to Go from Here 3

Chapter 1: Grasping Grammar Nitty-Gritty 5

Grammar: What it is! 6

The Big Ideas of Grammar 7

Making the right word choices 7

Arranging words for optimal understanding 9

Pinpointing punctuation 10

Putting Grammar to Work in the Real World 11

Chapter 2: Making Peace between Subjects and Verbs 13

Getting Reacquainted with Verbs 14

Linking verbs: The giant equal sign 14

Action verbs: The go-getters 16

Helping verbs: The do-gooders 16

Doubling your money: Compound verbs 17

Infinitives: Verb imposters 17

Identifying Subjects 18

Getting two for the price of one: Compound subjects 19

Figuring out you-understood 19

Finding subjects when words are missing 20

Grappling with unusual word order 21

Searching for the subject in questions 21

Tossing fake subjects aside 22

Give Peace a Chance: Making Subjects and Verbs Agree 22

No mixing allowed: Singles and plurals 23

Verbs that change and verbs that don’t 23

Dealing with negative statements 25

Cutting through distractions 26

Coming to an Agreement with Difficult Subjects 27

Spotting five little pronouns that break the rules 28

Finding problems here and there 29

Meeting the ones, the things, and the bodies 29

Figuring out either and neither 30

Chapter 3: Perfecting Your Pronoun Usage 33

Playing Matchmaker with Pronouns and Nouns 33

Selecting Singular or Plural Pronouns 35

Letting your ear be your guide 36

Treating companies as singular nouns 36

Steering clear of “person” problems 37

Getting Possessive with Your Pronouns 37

Keeping Your Pronouns and Antecedents Close 38

Pairing Pronouns with Pronoun Antecedents 40

Wrestling with everybody, somebody, and no one 41

Following each and every rule 42

Examining either and neither 42

Avoiding Sexist Pronouns 43

Chapter 4: Constructing a Complete Sentence 45

Creating Complete Sentences from Complete Thoughts 46

Locating subject-verb pairs 46

Not relying on context 47

Fishing for complements 48

Banning Fragments from Formal Writing 51

Enough is Enough: Avoiding Run-ons 52

Getting your endmarks in place 52

Fixing comma splices 54

Attaching Sentences Legally 54

Employing coordinate conjunctions 54

Relying on semicolons 56

Connecting Unequal Ideas 56

Giving subordinate clauses a job 57

Finding homes for your subordinate clauses 58

Making connections with subordinate conjunctions 59

Combining Sentences with Pronouns 61

Don’t Keep Your Audience Hanging: Removing Danglers 62

Dangling participles 62

Dangling infinitives 63

Chapter 5: Drawing Parallels (Without the Lines) 65

Seeking Balance 65

Striving for Consistency 68

Matching verb tenses 68

Staying active (or passive) 69

Being true to your person 70

Using Conjunction Pairs Correctly 72

Constructing Proper Comparisons 73

Chapter 6: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Comparisons 75

Spotting Adjectives 75

Describing nouns and pronouns 76

Working hand in hand with linking verbs 76

Recognizing articles as adjectives 77

Locating adjectives 78

Hunting for Adverbs 79

Sprucing up verbs 79

Modifying adjectives and other adverbs 80

Locating adverbs 80

Sorting through Some Sticky Choices 81

Choosing between “good” and “well” 81

Do you feel “bad” or “badly”? 82

Coping with adjectives and adverbs that look the same 83

Getting Picky about Word Placement 83

Placing “even” 83

Placing “almost” and “nearly” 85

Placing “only” and “just” 85

Creating Comparisons 86

Getting the hang of regular comparisons 86

Good, better, best: Working with irregular comparisons 88

Error alert: Using words that you can’t compare 90

Confusing your reader with incomplete comparisons 91

Chapter 7: Polishing Your Punctuation 93

More Rules Than the IRS: Using Apostrophes 93

Showing possession 94

Cutting it short: Contractions 97

Quoting Correctly 98

Punctuating your quotations 98

Identifying speaker changes 102

Using quotation marks in titles 102

Making Comma Sense 103

Placing commas in a series 104

Adding information to your sentence 104

Directly addressing someone 108

Presenting addresses and dates 109

Setting off introductory words 110

Punctuating with conjunctions 111

Mastering Dashes 111

Long dashes 112

Short dashes 112

Wielding Hyphens with Ease 113

Creating compound words 113

Hyphenating numbers 114

Connecting two-word descriptions 114

Creating a Stopping Point: Colons 114

Sprucing up a business letter 115

Inserting long lists 115

Introducing long quotations 115

Chapter 8: Capitalizing Correctly 117

Covering the Basic Rules 117

Capitalizing (Or Not) References to People 118

Treating a person’s titles with care 119

Handling family relationships 120

Tackling race and ethnicity 121

Getting a Geography Lesson: Places, Directions, and More 122

Locations and languages 122

Directions and areas 123

Looking at Seasons and Times of Day 123

Getting Schooled in Education Terms 123

Wrestling with Capitals in Titles 124

Writing about Events and Eras 125

Capitalizing Abbreviations 126

Chapter 9: Choosing the Right Words 127

One Word or Two? 127

Always opting for two 128

Picking your meaning 128

Separating Possessive Pronouns from Contractions 129

Its/it’s 129

Your/you’re 130

There/their/they’re 130

Whose/who’s 130

Using Words That Seem Interchangeable but Aren’t 131

Affect versus effect 131

Between versus among 132

Continual versus continuous 132

Due to versus because of 133

Farther versus further 133

Lie versus lay 134

Rise versus raise 134

Since versus because 135

Sit versus set 135

Suppose versus supposed 135

Whether versus if 136

Who versus whom 136

A Word and a Phrase to Avoid 137

Irregardless 137

Different than 138

Chapter 10: Tackling Other Troublemakers 139

Creating Noun Plurals 139

The -ies and -ys have it 140

Gooses? Childs? Forming irregular plurals 141

Making plurals with hyphenated nouns 142

Perfecting Prepositions 142

Expressing relationships 143

Eyeing the objects of prepositional phrases 144

Identifying the objects of prepositions 145

Paying attention to prepositions 145

Are you talking to I? Matching prepositions and pronouns 146

A good part of speech to end a sentence with? 147

Deleting Double Negatives 147

Chapter 11: Improving Your Writing 149

Identifying Your Audience 149

Keeping it formal 150

Knowing when conversational English will work 150

Cutting Ties with Your Computer Grammar Checker 151

Giving Your Writing Punch with Great Verbs 152

Staying active 152

Knowing when “there is” a problem 154

Recognizing that your writing “has” issues 154

Letting your subjects do more than “say” and “walk” 155

Deleting All That’s Extra 156

Spicing Up Boring Sentences 157

The clause that refreshes 158

Verbally speaking 159

Writing for Electronic Media 160

Scoping your audience 160

Being clear and concise 161

Structuring an e-mail message 163

Proofreading before you send 164

Chapter 12: Ten Ways to Improve Your Grammar Every Day 165

Pick Up a Good Book 165

Read the Newspaper 166

Sample Some Magazines 166

Delve into Strunk and White 166

Surf the Web 167

Review Style Manuals 167

Watch High-Quality TV Shows 168

Peruse the News 168

Download Podcasts 168

Listen to Authorities 169

Index 171

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