Grammar Smart: A Guide to Perfect Usage

by The Princeton Review

The words you use say a lot about you. Grammar makes a lasting impression on friends, co-workers, and teachers, but learning the rules has always been boring. That's why the folks at The Princeton Review created Grammar Smart .

Grammar Smart uses a witty, irreverent approach to help individuals write and speak with greater clarity and confidence. Instead of boring readers with countless rules and confusing grammatical terms, The Princeton Review shows them the logic behind each correct sentence. Everything in Grammar Smart is nuts-and-bolts English designed to help readers express themselves more clearly. They'll learn how to choose between "that" and "which" and when to use "as" instead of "like," and they'll know for sure if this is between "you and me" or "you and I."

Includes :

• The basic parts of speech -- nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
• Pronoun-verb agreement and parallel construction
• Tips on how to avoid misplaced modifiers and dangling participles
• Lively, humorous examples to illustrate meanings
• Brief question-and-answer reviews

Genres: Linguistics, Reference

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 1993

About the author

The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this book has a lot of exercises - with answers. The Internet, largely, ameliorates this. It's still nice to have a paperback to carry around and practice.

I only didn't like that they coined their own phrase, see-saw conjunction. It's arguably helpful to explain rules in terms that the explainer can understand (as opposed to recitation). It just bothers me ... a lot.

[Jennifer Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explained in simple ways the rules that a writer/speaker of English needs to know. The topics are to the point and clearly explained. This book is mandatory for anyone who plans on going to college, or who wants to write well. I wish I had this book when I was in my writing classes. I plan on purchasing my own copy.

[KStar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Great refresher in a world full of lol's and u r. I feel much better after reading this book, and I hope to keep improving my grammar for both personal and work reasons, It really makes a huge difference in a resume and in work documents when your grammar is on point. This book has helped with some areas I knew I needed help and some I had no idea I was actually doing wrong. Great exercises and easy to follow.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially I picked this up at work because I was embarrassed that I didn't know what a "gerund" is and thought that that lack of knowledge was a symptom of a larger gaping hole in my understanding of grammar. (A gerund is an "-ing" verb that acts as a noun. i.e. "Reading is for nerds!" Reading is the gerund)

Turns out I'm hot for grammar. I find myself reading this book in my spare time even though the material it covers is definitely part of the "above and beyond" category of things I need to do to prepare for work.

Now that I've actually read several worthwhile pieces of literature, grammar is suddenly much more relevant. Trying to ram this knowledge down the throats of third graders whose idea of a classic is "Clifford" is pure sadism.

[HYEONJOO KIM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me : Josh
In the sentence
Can you tell which is right?
It was (he, him) who won the prize.
Is it he or him?

Josh Gold : It was he who won the prize.

Me : Subject + verb + object
But
It is subject
He is subject
So it's weird

Josh Gold : Some things in other languages you just have to accept. Yes they are weird! Every language has this!

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids struggle with/hate grammar with a passion, and we've only gone through parts of speech so far. I attribute this to the facts that a) they're teenagers and b) our grammar textbook sucks like a $2 hooker. I'm hoping this book helps turn that around.

[Kenya Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps to use the grammar in a better way, it teaches nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, sentences, phrase and it helps you to improve your writing skills. I recommend this book if you are a beginner with grammar or english is your second language, or you want to pass a grammar test.

[Sabrina Rioux · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an easy book to read, filled with lots of clear explanations. Definitely a great tool/resource for anyone wanting to improve their grammar.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for refreshing grammar knowledge.