Wow! eBook
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Author(s): Mignon Fogarty (Author)
- Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
- Publication Date: July 8, 2008
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 240 pages
- ISBN-10: 0805088318
- ISBN-13: 9780805088311
Book Description
Online sensation Grammar Girl makes grammar fun and easy in this New York Times bestseller fully revised and updated in 2023 to reflect modern topics and changes in style and usage since initial publication.
Are you stumped by split infinitives? Terrified of using "who" when a "whom" is called for? Do you avoid the words "affect" and "effect" altogether?
Grammar Girl is here to help!
Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar―but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. In the summer of 2006, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than 120 million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and the Today show and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective emailing, Grammar Girl's print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Questions for the Grammar Girl
Amazon.com: Now that we communicate so often via e-mail and text messaging, do you think that people have become more desensitized to poor grammar, or in your experience is awareness more heightened as a result?
Grammar Girl: The average person seems to have become more desensitized to poor grammar, but language lovers seem to be tormented by the flood of mutilated e-mail and text messagesat least a lot of the people I hear from seem to be tormented. It might be a self-selecting group. To use one of my father's favorite phrases, language lovers seem to feel as though they are "being pecked to death by a duck."
Amazon.com: Your weekly podcast helps millions of listeners use good grammar and write more effectively. Do you think there is more value in learning by listening, as compared to reading and practical exercise?
Grammar Girl: Perhaps it's ironic, but I have a hard time learning by just listening. I need to read things, which is one of the reasons why I provide full transcripts for all my audio podcasts on the Grammar Girl Web site. People learn in different ways, so those who want to listen can listen, and those who want to read can read.
In my experience, nothing beats practical exercise. I often have to look up grammar rules over and over again because I can't remember them, but once I've written a show about a rule, I always remember it.
Amazon.com: Have the grammar mnemonics you've developed come easily to you? Which ones were the toughest to capture in an easy-to-remember tip?
Grammar Girl: Some mnemonics come easily and some don't. I had a hard time coming up with a way for people to remember the difference between "its" and "it's," and I ended up using a really complicated story about a dream I had involving the eBay "it" advertising campaign.
I think the best mnemonics are the simple ones. Remembering that you should say "different from" instead of "different than" because "different" has two f's and "from" starts with an f isn't awfully creative, but it's easy to remember.
Amazon.com: Is there a grammar rule that even Grammar Girl finds it hard to remember?
Grammar Girl: There are so many that it's hard to pick just one! I have a notoriously terrible memory, which is why I'm always making up mnemonics.
Often I find that when I can't remember something it's because it is a style issue instead of a hard-and-fast rule, so different people do it differently and there is no "right" answer. For example, I always have to look up the rules about whether the verb should be singular or plural after collective nouns like "team" and phrases like "the couple" and "one of the people who."
But when I look up the rule for collective nouns, I am reminded that the "rule" is that you have to just decide whether your collective noun has a sense of being a group or a sense of being many individuals. (And then there are also differences between British and American English.)
It's even worse with a phrase like "one of the people who": experts are split over whether the verb should be singular or plural. There really isn't an answer; you just have to pick a side. I have a hard time making a mnemonic for something like that!
Amazon.com: It used to be that proper grammar and thoughtful wording were the defining factors of a good piece of writing. Increasingly, however, writing is prized for the speed with which it is produced and not necessarily the craft. How can conscientious writers find the happy medium between form and efficiency?
Grammar Girl: What, didn't I answer your questions fast enough?
But seriously, I don't think I've come in contact with the people who value speed. As a Web editor, I certainly wasn't happy when people turned in bad writing, even if they turned it in early. And when I was writing magazine articles or corporate materials for a living I never felt rushed (except when I waited too long to get started).
The places where I do feel a sense of urgency are in e-mail and messaging; people seem to expect immediate responses. But writing a high-quality message doesn't take much more time than writing a careless message; it just takes more focus.
Amazon.com: Bonus question: I wrote all these questions with no more than a cursory grammar and spelling check. How did I do?
Grammar Girl: I found only one major error, and I changed the text to bold. It looked like a typo rather than an error in your understanding of the rules. Good job!
Review
“Reminds me of when I first read Strunk and White. I will use it in my classroom.” ―Fourth Grade Teacher, Las Vegas Public School System
“Whether you are a grammar-phobe seeking guidance, a parent looking for a tutorial that your kids will enjoy (and therefore use) or a writer seeking a fun reference manual for frustrating recurring questions, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing will likely satisfy.” ―Bill Reagan, PopMatters
“Fogarty walks her listeners through the sometimes-tricky subjects with a voice that is authoritative but warm. Kind of like the sixth-grade teacher you wish you had.” ―USA Today on the Grammar Girl Podcast
“Delightfully droll . . . Grammar Girl gives clear explanations with helpful examples.” ―The Los Angeles Times on the Grammar Girl Podcast
“Fogarty . . . sparked what you might call a worldwide, syntax-driven fiesta.” ―Newsday on the Grammar Girl Podcast
“At the root of all her success, of course, is a true love of language and grammar.” ―The Arizona Republic on the Grammar Girl Podcast
“Fogarty . . . has become the country's go-to gal on grammar . . . Helpful. Smart. Funny. Fans find Grammar Girl to be all those things.” ―The Seattle Times on the Grammar Girl Podcast
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
EVEN THOUGH MY SHOW is called "Grammar Girl," the secret is that it’s not usually grammar that confounds people—it’s usage. I get complaints from purists, but Usage Girl doesn’t have the same ring to it as Grammar Girl, and my books and podcasts aren’t for purists anyway—they’re for people who actually need help. Usage is about choosing the right word or phrase. It’s something teachers generally expect you to pick up on your own, and it’s the thing you’re most likely to get skewered for if you screw up. (Life is so unfair!) I don’t recall ever being taught the difference between affect and effect, for example; I was just expected to know.
Certain words are more difficult than others. I call them the dirty words, and we’re going to tackle them here.
AN HONORABLE CHALLENGE: A VERSUS AN
A lot of people learned the rule that you put a before words that start with consonants and an before words that start with vowels, but it’s actually a bit more complicated than that.
The actual rule is that you use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel sound.
Squiggly waited for an hour.
Aardvark was on a historic expedition.
An hour is correct because hour starts with a vowel sound. People seem to most commonly get tripped up by words that start with the letters h and u because sometimes these words start with vowel sounds and sometimes they start with consonant sounds. For example, it is a historic expedition because historic starts with an h sound, but it is an honorable fellow because honorable starts with an o sound.
Squiggly had a Utopian idea.
Aardvark reminded him it’s an unfair world.
The letters o and m can be tricky too. Usually you put an before words that start with o, but sometimes you use a. For example, you would use a if you were to say, "She has a one-track mind," because one track starts with a w sound.
Squiggly wants to work as a missionary.
Aardvark wants to get an MBA.
Other letters can also be pronounced either way. Just remember it is the sound that governs whether you use a or an, not the first letter of the word.
Pronunciation Wars
Since pronunciation is what guides the choice between a and an, people in different regions, where pronunciations are different, can come to different conclusions about which is the appropriate word.
Many pronunciation differences exist between British and American English. For example, the word for a certain kind of plant is pronounced "erb" in American English and "her-b" in British English.
Even within the United States there can be regional pronunciation differences. Although the majority of people pronounce the h in historic, some people on the East Coast pronounce historic as "istoric" and thus argue that an historic monument is the correct form.
In the rare cases where this is a problem, use the form that will be expected in your country or by the majority of your readers.
Definitely!
A and an are called indefinite articles. The is called a definite article. The difference is that a and an don’t say anything special about the word that follows. For example, think about the sentence "I need a horse." You’ll take any horse—just a horse will do. But if you say, "I need the horse," then you want a specific horse. That’s why the is called a definite article—you want something definite. At least that’s how I remember the name.
Tweedle Thee and Tweedle Thuh
I find it interesting that there are two indefinite articles to choose from (a and an) depending on the word that comes next, but there is only one definite article (the). But there’s a special pronunciation rule about the that is similar to the rule about when to use a and an: The is pronounced "thuh" when it comes before a word that starts with a consonant sound, and it’s pronounced "thee" when it comes before a word that starts with a vowel sound. It can also be pronounced "thee" for emphasis, for example, if you wanted to say, "Twitter is the [pronounced "thee"] hot social networking tool." I actually have trouble remembering this rule and have to make special marks in my podcast scripts to remind myself to get the pronunciation right. I think I must have missed the day they covered this in school, and I’ve never recovered.
A LOT OF TROUBLE: ALOT VERSUS A LOT
VERSUS ALLOT
The correct spelling is "a lot."
Alot is not a word.
A lot means "a large number."
Allot means "to parcel out."
I WOULD NEVER AFFECT INTEREST JUST FOR
EFFECT: AFFECT VERSUS EFFECT
If you don’t know the difference between affect and effect, don’t worry—you’re not alone. These two words are consistently among the most searched for words in online dictionaries, and I get at least one e-mail message a week asking me to explain the difference. In fact, the confusion over affect and effect could be why impact has emerged to mean "affect" in business writing: people give up trying to figure out the difference between affect and effect and rewrite their sentences, unfortunately substituting an equally inappropriate word. (See "Impact," page 33.)
The difference between affect and effect is actually pretty straightforward: the majority of the time you use affect as a verb and effect as a noun.
Affect most commonly means something like "to influence" or "to change."
The arrows affected Aardvark.
The rain affected Squiggly’s plans.
Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don’t feel," as in He affected an air of superiority.
Effect has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of most of the definitions.
The effect was eye-popping.
The sound effects were amazing.
The rain had no effect on Squiggly’s plans.
So most of the time affect is a verb and effect is a noun. There are rare instances where the roles are switched, but this is "Quick and Dirty" grammar, not comprehensive grammar, and if you stick with the verb noun rule, you’ll be right about 95 percent of the time.
An Effective Memory Trick
For our purposes, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. Now we can get to the memory tricks. First, get this image in your mind: the raven flew down the avenue. Why? Because the letters a-v-e-n (in both raven and avenue) are the same first letters as "affect verb effect noun"!
Need another one? Because effect is usually a noun, that means you can usually put an article in front of it and the sentence will still make sense. Look at these examples:
The effect is eye-popping.
He kissed her for [the] effect.
In both of these cases effect is a noun and you can put the in front of it without making the sentence completely weird. The isn’t necessary in the second example, but it doesn’t ruin the sentence. On the other hand, look at these sentences where affect is a verb:
The eye-popping arrow [the] affects everyone that way.
The kiss [the] affected her.
You can’t insert the direct article, the, before affect in those sentences, which means you want to use the verb (affect), not the noun (effect). I remember this rule by remembering that the ends with e and effect starts with e, so the two e’s butt up against each other.
The effect was eye-popping.
Exception Alert
Affect can be used as a noun when you are talking about psychology. It means the mood that someone appears to have. For example, a doctor may say, "The patient displayed a happy affect." Psychologists find the word useful because they can never really know what someone else is feeling. Technically, they can only know how someone appears to be feeling.
Effect can be used as a verb that essentially means "to bring about," or "to accomplish." For example, you could say, "Aardvark hoped to effect change within the burrow."
ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT A REAL RULE, IT STILL
BOTHERS ME: ALTHOUGH VERSUS WHILE
I often have to tell people their pet peeves aren’t actually hard-and-fast grammar rules. I have to tell people it’s OK to split infinitives, and in some cases it’s fine to end a sentence with a preposition.
I know it’s upsetting to find out your nearest and dearest beliefs are wrong because I have my own mistaken pet peeve: it bugs me no end when people use while to mean although, but however hard I looked, I couldn’t convince myself I was right. The horror!
You see, I believe although means "in spite of the fact that," as in Although the tree was tall, Squiggly and Aardvark thought they could make it to the top. Although is what’s called a concessive conjunction, meaning that it is used to express a concession. On the other hand, I believe that while should be reserved to mean "at the same time," as in While Squiggly gathered wood, Aardvark hid the maracas.
At .rst I was sure I was right because Eric Partridge said in his book Usage and Abusage that "while for although is a perverted use of the correct sense of while, which properly means ‘at the same time...
