My Grammar and I… Or Should That Be Me? How to Speak and Write it Right

 

by J.A. Wines and Caroline Taggart

Published by Reader’s Digest

Avoid Grammatical Minefields with This Entertaining Guide

Confused about when to use “its” or “it’s” or the correct spelling of “principal” and “principle”? My Grammar and I . . . Or Should That Be Me? is a refresher course for anyone who has ever been stumped by spelling confusion, dangling modifiers, split infinitives, or for those who have no idea what these things even are.
Clever, informative, and fun, this delightful little handbook offers practical and humorous guidance on how to avoid falling into language pitfalls.

• Sentence Structure: Let’s ponder the subject or object: Is it “I” or is it “me”?

• Parts of Speech: Is it “whose” or “who’s”? “Which” or “that”?

• Punctuation: So where does that comma go, anyway?

• Spelling and Confusables: There are times when the spelling “rules” confuse.

• Elements of Style: You’ll find there’s lots more to know about grammar.

• . . . and for the grammar know-it-all, there are entertaining “Smart Aleck” tidbits throughout.

This Moms’ Review

I picked up this book because I wanted to prove a few people wrong in how they talk.  No, I wasn’t going to walk up to them and call them stupid, but I wanted to know for myself that I was saying it correctly and they were not.

Uh oh!

I discovered several things I’m saying and writing incorrectly.  The lay/lie word usage has always kept me confused, yet I’ve been using some words incorrectly and didn’t even know it!  Some examples of words I’ve been misusing:

• lend/loan – I am supposed to lend money, not loan it.  Loan is a noun.  Oops on me!
• aggravate/annoy – I get ‘aggravated’ by people a lot – yes, I have a patience issue.  Apparently, the correct word is ‘annoyed’.  I’ve learned that you can only ‘aggravate’ a situation, problem or condition, not a person.

It is good to know that I do know some of the grammar rules in this book.  It is disappointing to find out I don’t know as much as I thought it did!

This book will be a handy resource for my my teenagers and myself.

Oh, just to clarify,  I was correct in my thinking on the word usage I was out to prove.  (Using ‘I’ as the subject and ‘me’ as the object in sentences.)   However, I have been humbled by the discovery of my own misusage of words.

Just For Fun

Not that I’ve ever seen a group of owls, but if you do, be sure to refer to them as a parliament.  (There is a 2-page section of animals and what they are called when in a group.)

I received a copy of this book from FSB Media in exchange for my honest review.