English Grammar Workbook For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Introduction
Good grammar pays. No, I’m not making a sentimental statement about the importance
of a job well done or the satisfaction of learning for learning’s sake, though I believe in
both of those values. I’m talking about cold, hard cash, the kind you fold and put into your
wallet. Don’t believe me? Fine. Try this little test: The next time you go to the movies, tear
yourself away from the story for a moment and concentrate on the dialogue. Chances are
the characters who have fancy jobs or piles of dough sound different from those who don’t.
I’m not making a value judgment here; I’m just describing reality. Proper English, either written
or spoken, tends to be associated with the upper social or economic classes. Tuning up
your grammar muscles doesn’t guarantee your entry into the Bill Gates income tax bracket,
but poor grammar may make it much harder to fight your way in.
Another payoff of good grammar is better grades and an edge in college admissions. Teachers
have always looked more favorably on nicely written sentences, and grammar has recently
become an additional hurdle that applicants must jump over or stumble through when they
sit for the SAT or the ACT, the two most important standardized tests for the college bound.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lifetime improving your English. Ten minutes
here, ten minutes there, and before you know it, your grammar muscles will be toned
to fighting strength. This book is the equivalent of a health-club membership for your writing
and speaking skills. Like a good health club, it doesn’t waste your time with lectures on
the physiology of flat abs. Instead, it sends you right to the mat and sets you up with the
exercises that actually do the job.
About This Book
English Grammar Workbook For Dummies doesn’t concentrate on what we English teachers
(yes, I confess I am one) call descriptive grammar — the kind where you circle all the nouns
and draw little triangles around the prepositions. A closely guarded English-teacher secret is
that you don’t need to know any of that terminology (well, hardly any) to master grammar.
Instead, English Grammar Workbook For Dummies concentrates on functional grammar — what
goes where in real-life speech and writing.
Each chapter begins with a quick explanation of the rules (don’t smoke, don’t stick your
chewing gum on the bedpost, be sure your sentence is complete, and so forth). Okay, I’m
kidding about the smoking and the chewing gum, but you get the idea. I start off telling you
what’s right and wrong in standard English usage. Next, I provide an example and then hit
you with ten or so quick questions. Just to make sure you know that I’m not wasting your
time, in every chapter I give you a sample from real-life English (with a fairly absurd situation,
just to keep your funny bone tingling), so you can see how proper grammar actually
aids communication.
After filling in the blanks, you can check your answers at the end of the chapter. In English
Grammar Workbook For Dummies, I also tell you why a particular choice is correct, not just
for the sake of learning a set of rules but rather to help you make the right decision the next
time — when you’re deciding between their and they’re or went and had gone, for example.
As the author of English Grammar For Dummies (Wiley) and a grammar teacher for more
decades than I care to count (let’s just say that I had an inkwell in my first classroom), I
believe that if you truly get the logic of grammar — and most rules do rest upon a logical
basis — you’ll be a better, more precise communicator.
English Grammar Workbook For Dummies offers a special welcome to readers for whom
English is a second language. You’ve probably picked up quite a bit of vocabulary and
basic grammar already. English Grammar Workbook For Dummies lets you practice the little
things — the best word choice for a particular sentence, the proper way to create a plural,
and so forth. This book moves you beyond comprehension to mastery.
Finally, because standardized college entrance exams are now a permanent part of the landscape,
I’ve taken special care to provide examples that mirror those horrible tests. If you’re
facing the SAT or the ACT in the near future, don’t despair. Everything the grammar-testing
gurus expect you to know is in this book.
Code:http://rapidshare.com/files/79586810/Dummies__EnglishGrammarWrkbok.rar
Code:xdownx.org
Chủ đề gần giống khác:
Trả lời kèm theo trích dẫn này
Bookmarks