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
