Grammar workbook 2 potx

English Grammar Workbook For DummiesPublished by Wiley Publishing, Inc.. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

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Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Author

Geraldine Woods began her education when teachers still supplied ink wells to their

stu-dents She credits her 35-year career as an English teacher to a set of ultra-strict nuns armed with thick grammar books She lives in New York City, where with great difficulty she refrains from correcting signs containing messages such as “Bagel’s for sale.” She is the author of

more than 40 books, including English Grammar For Dummies, Research Papers For Dummies, College Admission Essays For Dummies, and The SAT I Reasoning Test For Dummies.

For the students who labor (and occasionally smile) in the grammar portion of my English classes

Author’s Acknowledgments

I owe thanks to my colleagues at the Horace Mann School, who are always willing to discuss the finer points of grammar I appreciate the work of Kristin DeMint, Sarah Faulkner, and Neil Johnson, editors whose attention and intelligence guided my writing I also appreciate the efforts of Lisa Queen, my agent, and of Roxanne Cerda and Kathy Cox, Wiley acquisi-tions editors

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Kristin DeMint Acquisitions Editor: Kathleen M Cox Copy Editors: Sarah Faulkner, E Neil Johnson Editorial Program Coordinator: Hanna K Scott Technical Editor: Sue Williams, PhD

Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich Editorial Assistant: Nadine Bell

Cover Photos: © Getty Images Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

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Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez Layout and Graphics: Denny Hager,

Stephanie D Jumper, Lynsey Osborn, Melanee Prendergast, Heather Ryan

Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer,

Henry Lazarek, Joe Niesen, Dwight Ramsey

Indexer: Joan Griffitts

Special Help

Michelle Hacker

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

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Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a Glance

Introduction 1

Part I: Laying Out the Concrete Slab: Grammar Basics 7

Chapter 1: Placing the Proper Verb in the Proper Place 9

Chapter 2: Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Pairing Subjects and Verbs Correctly 23

Chapter 3: Who Is She, and What Is It? The Lowdown on Pronouns 35

Chapter 4: Finishing What You Start: Writing Complete Sentences 49

Part II: Mastering Mechanics 65

Chapter 5: Exercising Comma Sense 67

Chapter 6: Made You Look! Punctuation Marks That Demand Attention 81

Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes 91

Chapter 8: “Let Me Speak!“ Quotation Marks 101

Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters 113

Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use 125

Chapter 10: The Case of It (And Other Pronouns) 127

Chapter 11: Choosing the Best Pronoun for a Tricky Sentence 141

Chapter 12: Traveling in Time: Tricky Verb-Tense Situations 155

Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood? 167

Part IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptions and Comparisons 177

Chapter 14: Writing Good or Well: Adjectives and Adverbs 179

Chapter 15: Going on Location: Placing Descriptions Correctly 189

Chapter 16: For Better or Worse: Forming Comparisons 205

Chapter 17: Apples and Oranges: Improper Comparisons 215

Part V: Writing with Style 227

Chapter 18: Practicing Parallel Structure 229

Chapter 19: Spicing Up and Trimming Down Your Sentences 243

Chapter 20: Steering Clear of Tricky Word Traps 255

Part VI: The Part of Tens 267

Chapter 21: Ten Overcorrections 269

Chapter 22: Ten Errors to Avoid at All Cost 273

Appendix: Grabbing Grammar Goofs 277

Index 293