Contents
Parti:
No Uncertain Terms
I
1 Are You Grammarphobic?
How Can You Tell If You're Grammarphobic?
Word Power
War of the Words
The Force Be with You
Term Limits
What Is Grammar?
What Is Usage?
What Is Mechanics?
What Is Style?
A Civil Tongue: Standards for Effective Communication
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4
5
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2 (onan the Grammarian
Sweet Dreams Aren't Made of These
Puppy Love
Has It Come to This?
Perversity Rules
Let Me 'Splain It to You, Lucy
Personal Writing Inventory
Damage Control
Mission Possible
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Part 2:
Under the Grammar Hammer
3 Parts of Speech: Coming to Terms
Nouns: Prime-Time Players
Possessive Nouns: 9/w of the Law
Possess It!
Plural Nouns: Two's Company, Threes a Crowd
Too Much of a Good Thing?
Combo Platter
A Note on Nouns for Non-Native Speakers
Verbs: All the Right Moves
Action Verbs: Jumping Jack Flash
Chain Gang: Linking Verbs
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition
Mothers Little Helper: Helping Verbs
Verb-O-Rama
Conjunctions: The Ties That Bind
All Tied Up
Fit to Be Tied
Prepositions: Good Things Come in Small Packages
Joined at the Hip
A Note on Prepositions for Non -Native Speakers
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4 Terms of Endearment: More Parts of Speech
U
Adjectives: Happy Little Clouds
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Spice Up Your Sentences with Adjectives
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A Note on Adjectives for Non-Native Speakers
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Have Fun with Adjectives
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And in This Corner
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Adverbs: Who Ya Gonna Call?
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Have Fun with Adverbs
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Conjunctive Adverbs: An Adverb Disguised as a Conjunction
51
Hunt and Peck
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Pronouns: Pinch Hitters
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Face the Music
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Interjections: Zap! Pow! Wow!
56
Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Take a Shower
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Seventh-Inning Stretch
51
5 Altered States: Verbs
Shape Shifters
Verb Tense: Nothing a Little Prozac Wouldn't Cure
I Feel Your Pain: Principal Parts of Verbs
A Class Act: Forming Past Tenses
Now Ihayhh Lay Me Down to Sleep
Party Pooper: Test Time
All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly
Past Tense
Back to the Future
A Note on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers
It s All in the Timing
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10
Person, Number, and Mood
Person
Number
Mood
Active and Passive Voice: A Mistake Has Been Made
Not So Fast
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6 Woe Is I: Pronouns and Case
Why Can't a Pronoun Be More Like a Noun?
Head Case: The Three Cases
The Rules
Sorry, Wrong Number
Seventh-Inning Stretch
Who Versus Whom (or Should I Just Shoot Myself Now?)
This Hurts You More Than It Hurts Me
I Dare You
Seventh-Inning Stretch
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7 Multiple-Vehicle Wrecks: Pronoun Reference
How's That Again?
It Just Proves There's Someone for Everyone
The Numbers Game
Tag, You're It
Location, Location, Location: Placement of Pronouns
A Match Made in Writer's Heaven
Possession and Pronouns
Its a Lock
It and They
It Mania
Who's on First?
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8 How to Write and Speak Good: Adjectives Versus Adverbs
They Walk Alike, They Talk Alike: You Could Lose
Your Mind
Graphic Proof
Fm Ready for My Close-Up Now, Mr. DeMille
Three Degrees of Separation
Size Does Matter
Good, Gooder, Goodest: Irregular Adjectives and Adverbs
Keep Your Balance
Other and Else
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition
Tough Sledding: Using Adjectives After Linking Verbs
The Badlands
Good News; Well News
Once More into the Breach, Dear Friends
A Note on Adjectives and Adverbs for Non-Native
Speakers
Don't Use No Double Negatives
Don't Be Making No Mistakes
9 Reaching an Agreement: Matching Sentence Parts
Anyone Got a Match?
Singular Subjects and Verbs
Plural Subjects and Verbs
Seventh-Inning Stretch
Collective Nouns
Indefinite Pronouns
The Pause That Refreshes
Walk This Way
Hide and Seek
Playing the Numbers
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match
Mix and Match
Agree to Disagree
Nose to the Grindstone
10 Dazed and Confused: Common Usage Dilemmas
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III
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Dangling Modifiers: Counterintelligence
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Help Is on the Way
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Man the Battle Stations
121
Misplaced Modifiers: Lost and Found
128
It Says What?
129
Quiz Show
130
Mixed Metaphors: A Dollar Late and a Day Short
131
Split Infinitives: To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Goes ....133
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
134
Hopefully
134
Like/As
134
Ending with a Preposition
135
Contents
Usage and Abusaqe
137
Phrases: Prime-Time Players
Phrases of the Moon
Prepositional Phrases: The Big Daddy of Phrases
Offspring 1 : Adjectival Phrases
Offspring 2: Adverbial Phrases
Appositives: Something More for Your Money
Appositive Phrases
The Moment of Truth
Verbal Phrases: Talk Soup
Part and Participle
Gerund Phrases
Infinitive Phrases: The Final Frontier
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Clauses: Kickin'It Up a Notch
Clauses: Phrases on Steroids
Independent Clauses: Top Dogs
Dependent Clauses: I Get by with a Little Help from
My Friends
I Know 'Em When I See 'Em
Subordinating Conjunctions Link 'Em Together
Looking for Love in All the Right Places
Adverb Clauses: Hot Shots
Follow the Leader
Shape Up Your Sentences
Adjective Clauses: Paint by Numbers
Relative Clauses: Its All Relative
Clauses Make the Sentence
Noun Clauses: What's in a Name?
Connect the Dots
Getting Down and Dirty
Sentence and Sensibility
I Know It When I See It: The Sentence
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Hidden Treasures
Sentence Structure: The Fab Four
Simple Sentences: Simple Isn k as Simple Does
Compound Sentences: Compound Interest
Complex Sentences: Not So Complex at All
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Compound-Complex Sentences: The Big Kahuna
The Choice Is Yours
Face the Music
Sentence Functions: The Four Tops
Alley Oops
Fragments: Lost in Place
Run-Ons and Comma Splices: It Could Be a Stretch
Seventh-Inning Stretch
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Ill
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\k Coordination and Subordination: What to Say When the Cops Come 177
Coordination: All the Right Moves
178
Mix and Match
119
Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek
119
Don't String Me Along
180
Why Not Give It a Shot?
181
Subordination: What I Did for Love
182
Follow the Leader
183
Dice V Slice
184
Double Dare
184
Duke It Out: Coordination Versus Subordination
185
Parallel Structure: Trod the Straight and Narrow
186
Make It So
181
Time to Face Old Sparky
181
Parft:
Tools of the Trade
15 The Writer's Tools: Round Up the Usual Suspects
Pencil Pusher
Using the Dictionary: You Could Look It Up
Who You Gonna Call?
Read the Labels
Shop Till You Drop
Specialized Dictionaries: Everyone s an Expert
Computer Spell Checkers: Marvels of Technology
Electronic Grammar Software: Help Is Only a Button
Away
The Thesaurus: War of the Words
Lets Go Shopping
Whiz-Bang Thesaurus Programs
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Contents
16 Punctuation: Commas Are Our Friends
203
Punctuation Matters
203
Show Me the Money
204
Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark: The End of
the Line
205
The Period: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
206
The Question Mark: Inquiring Minds Want to Know
206
Exclamation Marks: Gosh and Golly!
201
The Pause That Refreshes
201
The Comma: A Major Player
209
First Impressions Count
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Sentence Interruptus
210
In Media Res
211
Dazed and Confused
211
Bean Counters
211
Constant Commas
212
The Semicolon: Love Child of the Comma and the Period ....213
The Colon: What a Party Animal
213
Semi-Tough
214
Quotation Marks: Quote/Unquote
215
A Little Dabba Do Ya
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Not Separated at Birth: The Dash and the Hyphen
(and Let's Add the Ellipsis for Fun)
217
The Dash: Long and Lean
211
The Hyphen: Short and Sweet
218
The Ellipsis: Dot, Dot, Dot
218
Parentheses and Brackets: Bosom Buddies
218
(Parentheses)
219
[Brackets]
219
Slash and Burn
219
Apostrophes
220
Once More, Dear Friends
221
17 Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the Class
Capitalization: A Capital Idea
Capital Punishment
Rules to Capitalize By
Capital Investment
Abbreviations: Good Things Come in Small Packages
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