How Grammar Works : A Self-Teaching Guide

by Osborn, Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780471243885
• ISBN10: 0471243884
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-02-10
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Your English teacher wasn't kidding. Nothing says more about you than your command of language. Here is a quick and easy way to brush up on the intricate system of grammar that powers the English language. The updated and expanded edition of this proven guide is a painless way to master parts of speech, syntax, and all the rules of good usage. Best of all, the self-teaching format enables you to learn at your own pace, when it is convenient for you. Now you can learn to write and speak Standard American English effectively. The task is easier if you have a solid understanding of how and why grammar "works" than if you try to memorize lists of rules. That's why author Patricia Osborn emphasizes grammar in action, taking the rules out of the classroom and into everyday language. She explains the functions performed by the various parts of speech and provides a new glossary of frequently misused word pairs. You'll discover: * How grammar works to make communication clear and effective * Techniques for improving your writing skills * Simple ways to remember the rules and use them in everyday language * The "magic" of word order in an English sentence. Were you daydreaming in your English class? No one will ever have to know. This self-teaching guide takes all the confusion and mystery out of grammar. You'll learn to speak and write with assurance, which is the first step in building confidence in yourself, in your personal life, and in your career.

Author Biography

PATRICIA OSBORN, a professional editor and writer, taught grammar for many years and was chair of the English Department at Bowsher High School in Toledo, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Revised Edition	ix	(2)
How to Use This Book	xi	(2)
Sources	xiii
I The Essentials of Language	3	(76)
1 What Is Grammar, Anyway?	3	(3)
2 Nouns: The Building Blocks of Sentences	6	(9)
Nouns Come First	6	(2)
What Is a Noun?	8	(2)
Using Determiners to Identify Nouns	10	(2)
The Subject: The Key to Understanding	12	(2)
Self-Test	14	(1)
3 Verbs: The Energy of Sentences	15	(13)
What Is a Verb?	15	(1)
How Subjects and Verbs Work Together	16	(2)
Tense: How Verbs Tell Time	18	(1)
Regular Verbs	19	(1)
Irregular Verbs	20	(2)
Helping Verbs	22	(2)
How Verbs Agree with Their Subjects	24	(2)
Self-Test	26	(2)
4 Complements: The Completion of the Verb	28	(7)
Finding the Complement	29	(3)
What Makes Up Complete Subjects and Predicates	32	(1)
Self-Test	33	(2)
5 Pronouns: Getting Personal	35	(6)
Speaking Personally	35	(1)
How Pronouns Express Person and Number	36	(2)
The Need for Agreement	38	(1)
Personal Pronouns: Making the Right Choices	39	(1)
Self-Test	40	(1)
6 Adjectives: The First Add-On	41	(6)
How Adjectives Modify	41	(1)
How to Find an Adjective	42	(2)
Adjective or Noun?	44	(1)
Adjectives That Limit by Number	44	(1)
Self-Test	45	(2)
7 Adverbs: Add-On Number Two	47	(7)
Adverbs That Modify Verbs	47	(2)
Adverb or Noun? Adverb or Adjective?	49	(1)
Adverbs Also Modify Adjectives and Other Adverbs	50	(2)
A Word about Careful Usage	52	(1)
Self-Test	52	(2)
8 Prepositions: Relating One Word to Another	54	(10)
Prepositions in Action	54	(3)
How Words Serve as Phrases	57	(3)
When Is a Preposition Not a Preposition?	60	(1)
Some Advice About Usage	61	(1)
Self-Test	62	(2)
9 Coordinating Conjunctions: One and One Makes Two	64	(15)
The Most Common Conjunction: And	64	(3)
Compound Sentences, Compound Parts	67	(3)
More Coordinating Conjunctions	70	(1)
Paired Conjunctions	71	(1)
Using Punctuation with Conjunctions	72	(1)
Self-Test	73	(6)
II Action and Interaction: The System at Work	79	(176)
10 Word Order Is Part of Meaning	79	(8)
Subjects Naturally Come First	79	(1)
Identifying Sentences by Purpose	80	(2)
How Changing Word Order Changes Purpose	82	(2)
Self-Test	84	(3)
11 Just Enough Punctuation	87	(12)
Using End Punctuation	87	(2)
Punctuating Within Sentences	89	(5)
Avoiding Fragments and Run-Ons	94	(2)
Punctuation to Use, but Not Overuse	96	(1)
Self-Test	97	(2)
12 The Five Ws and an H	99	(6)
Using the Five Ws and an H	99	(2)
Putting Your Knowledge of Grammar to Work	101	(1)
Self-Test	101	(4)
13 The Amazing Word Be and Its Many Faces	105	(12)
A Defective Verb	105	(1)
Uses of Be	106	(2)
How the Word There Works With Be	108	(2)
Progressive Verb Phrases	110	(3)
The Voice of Verbs: Active or Passive	113	(3)
Self-Test	116	(1)
14 More about Pronouns and Nouns	117	(13)
Case	117	(3)
More about the Objective Case	120	(4)
Possessives	124	(3)
Self-Test	127	(3)
15 Introducing the Verbals	130	(13)
Participles at Work	130	(4)
The Gerund: Another Versatile Verbal	134	(3)
To Be or Not to Be: The Infinitive	137	(3)
Grammar to the Rescue	140	(1)
Self-Test	140	(3)
16 More Punctuation: I Said, "May I Have Your Attention, Please?"	143	(9)
Quotation Marks	143	(5)
Italic Letters	148	(1)
The Colon	149	(2)
Self-Test	151	(1)
17 Combining Sentences	152	(22)
What Makes a Sentence Complex	152	(1)
The Adverb Clause	153	(4)
The Adjective Clause	157	(7)
Forming Complex Sentences	164	(3)
The Noun Clause	167	(5)
Self-Test	172	(2)
18 Keeping It Simple, Even When Sentences Get Complex	174	(7)
What Good Is a Complex Sentence?	175	(1)
The Sound of Language	176	(1)
Grammar in Action	177	(1)
What Makes Grammar Important?	178	(1)
Self-Test	179	(2)
19 Verbs Do More: The Fine Points of Using Verbs	181	(17)
Verbs Also Have Moods	182	(3)
Common Verbs That Cause Uncommon Confusion	185	(7)
One Negative Is Enough	192	(1)
Be Careful of Of	192	(1)
Infinitives: To Split or To Not Split?	193	(1)
Making Perfect Use of Perfect Tenses	194	(3)
Self-Test	197	(1)
20 Questions of Usage: How Can Words Agree When People Don't?	198	(13)
Indefinite Pronouns and Nouns	198	(5)
Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives	203	(1)
Compound Personal Pronouns	204	(2)
Agreement between Subjects and Verbs	206	(4)
Self-Test	210	(1)
21 Forming Comparisons Correctly: A Matter of Degree	211	(7)
The Degrees of Comparison	212	(3)
Comparing the Comparative and Superlative Degrees	215	(1)
Self-Test	216	(2)
22 The Complete Sentence: Putting It All Together	218	(8)
Ellipses: When Something Is Missing	218	(2)
How Simple or Complex?	220	(1)
Ten Rules for Writing Good Sentences	221	(3)
A Paragraph--More or Less--about Paragraphs	224	(1)
Self-Test	224	(2)
23 Making the Right Choices	226	(29)
Going by the Rules	226	(3)
Problem Area 1: When You Speak	229	(12)
Problem Area 2: When You Write	241	(13)
Working to Improve	254	(1)
Index	255