Оглавление
Woods Geraldine. English Grammar For Dummies
Introduction
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1. Building a Firm Foundation: The Parts of the Sentence
Chapter 1. Using the Right Words at the Right Time
What This Year’s Sentence Is Wearing: Understanding Grammar and Style
Distinguishing Between the Three Englishes
Thumbing Your Way to Better Grammar
Probing the Limits of Grammar-Checking Software
What's Your Problem? Solutions to Your Grammar Gremlins
Chapter 2. Verbs: The Heart of the Sentence
Expressing Meaning with Verbs
Meeting the Families: Linking and Action Verbs
Calling the Help Line for Verbs
Pop the Question: Locating the Verb
Chapter 3. Who’s Doing What? How to Find the Subject
Who’s Driving the Truck? Why the Subject Is Important
Pop the Question: Locating the Subject–Verb Pairs
What’s a Nice Subject Like You Doing in a Place Like This? Unusual Word Order
Find That Subject! Detecting You-Understood
Searching for the Subject in Questions
Don’t Get Faked Out: Avoiding Fake Verbs and Subjects
Subjects Aren’t Just a Singular Sensation: Forming the Plural of Nouns
Chapter 4. When All Is Said and Done: Complete Sentences
Completing Sentences: The Essential Subjects and Verbs
Complete Thoughts, Complete Sentences
Joining Forces: Combining Sentences Correctly
Boss and Employee: Joining Ideas of Unequal Ranks
Choosing Subordinate Conjunctions
Using Pronouns to Combine Sentences
Understanding Fragments
Reaching the End of the Line: Endmarks
Chapter 5. Handling Complements
Getting a Piece of the Action: Complements for Action Verbs
Completing the Equation: Subject Complements
Pop the Question: Locating the Complement
Pop the Question: Finding the Indirect Object
Pronouns as Objects and Subject Complements
Part 2. Clearing Up Confusing Grammar Points
Chapter 6. Relax! Understanding Verb Tense
Simplifying Matters: The Simple Tenses
Using the Simple Tenses Correctly
Not Picture Perfect: Understanding the Perfect Tenses
Using the Perfect Tenses Correctly
Reporting Information: Verbs Tell the Story
The Rebels: Dealing with Irregular Verbs
Chapter 7. Nodding Your Head: All About Agreement
Agreeing Not to Disagree
Making Subjects and Verbs Agree
Matching Subjects and Verbs in Some Tricky Situations
Reaching an Agreement with Pronouns
Agreeing in Tricky Situations
Dealing Sensitively with Pronoun Gender
Chapter 8. Pronouns and Their Cases
Me Like Tarzan: Choosing Subject Pronouns
Using Pronouns as Direct and Indirect Objects
Are You Talking to I? Prepositions and Pronouns
Attaching Objects to Verbals
Knowing the Difference Between Who and Whom
Pronouns of Possession: No Exorcist Needed
Dealing with Pronouns and “ – Ing” Nouns
Chapter 9. Small Words, Big Trouble: Prepositions
Proposing Relationships: Prepositions
The Objects of My Affection: Prepositional Phrases and Their Objects
A Good Part of Speech to End a Sentence With?
Chapter 10. Two Real Really Good Parts of Speech: Adjectives and Adverbs
Clarifying Meaning with Descriptions
Adding Adjectives
Stalking the Common Adverb
Choosing Between Adjectives and Adverbs
Creating Comparisons with Adjectives and Adverbs
Breaking the Rules: Irregular Comparisons
Part 3. Conventional Wisdom: Punctuation and Capitalization
Chapter 11. Punctuation Law That Should Be Repealed: Apostrophes
The Pen of My Aunt or My Aunt’s Pen? Using Apostrophes to Show Possession
Possession with Proper Nouns
Ownership with Hyphenated Words
Possessive Nouns That End in S
Common Apostrophe Errors with Pronouns
Shortened Words for Busy People: Contractions
You Coulda Made a Contraction Mistake
Chapter 12. Quotations: More Rules Than the Internal Revenue Service
And I Quote
Punctuating Quotations
Who Said That? Identifying Speaker Changes
Germ-Free Quotations: Using Sanitizing Quotation Marks
Punctuating Titles: When to Use Quotation Marks
Chapter 13. The Pause That Refreshes: Commas
Distinguishing Items: Commas in Series
Using “Comma Sense” to Add Information to Your Sentence
You Talkin’ to Me? Direct Address
Using Commas in Addresses and Dates
Getting Started: The Introductory Comma
Punctuating Independently
Chapter 14. Useful Little Marks: Dashes, Hyphens, and Colons
Inserting Information with Dashes
H-y-p-h-e-n-a-t-i-n-g Made Easy
Creating a Stopping Point: Colons
Chapter 15. CAPITAL LETTERS
Knowing What’s Up with Uppercase
Capitalizing (or Not) References to People
Capitalizing Geography: Directions, Places, and Languages
Marking Seasons and Other Times
Schooling: Courses, Years, and Subjects
Writing Capitals in Titles
Concerning Historic Capitals: Events and Eras
?4U: Cn U AbbreV8?
Chapter 16. Rules of Thumb: Adapting Grammar to Electronic Media
Thumb Wrestling with Grammar: Texts, Tweets, and Instant Messages
Emailing Your Way to Good Grammar
Handling Grammar on the Internet
PowerPoint to the People
Part 4. Polishing Without Wax: The Finer Points of Grammar and Style
Chapter 17. Fine-Tuning Verbs
Giving Voice to Verbs
Actively Seeking a Better Voice
Getting Your Verbs in the Proper Mood
Adding Meaning with Strong Verbs
Chapter 18. No Santas but Plenty of Clauses
Understanding the Basics of Clause and Effect
Chapter 19. Spicing Up Sentence Patterns
Getting Verbal
Choosing the Correct Tense
Sprucing Up Boring Sentences with Clauses and Verbals
Mixing It Up: Changing Sentence Patterns
Chapter 20. Staying on Track: Parallelism
Constructing Balanced Sentences
Shifting Grammar into Gear: Avoiding Stalled Sentences
Seeing Double: Conjunction Pairs
Avoiding Lopsided Comparisons
Chapter 21. Meaning What You Say: Clarity
On Location: Placing Descriptions Correctly
Finding the Subject When Words Are Missing from the Sentence
Comparatively Speaking: Incomplete and Illogical Comparisons
Steering Clear of Vague Pronouns
Chapter 22. Grammar Devils
Deleting Double Negatives
Scoring D Minus
Distinguishing Between Word Twins and Triplets
Close, But Not Close Enough: Words That Resemble Each Other
Roaming Descriptions
Pairs of Trouble: Complicated Verbs
Two Not for the Price of One
Four for the Road: Other Common Errors
Part 5. The Part of Tens
Chapter 23. Ten Ways Two to Improve Your Proofreading
Reread
Wait a While
Read It Aloud
Check the Commas
Swap with a Friend
Let the Computer Program Help
Check the Verbs
Check the Pronouns
Know Your Typing Style
The Usual Suspects
Chapter 24. Relax Already! Grammar Rules You Can Stop Worrying About
To Not Split an Infinitive
A Good Part of Speech to End a Sentence With
What Can or May I Do?
Formal Greetings in Emails and Texts
Addresses and Dates in Electronic Communication
Periods and Commas in Some Electronic Messages
The Jury Are Out on This Rule
That? Who?
Who/Whom Is Correct?
Hopefully This Rule Has Faded
About the Author
Author’s Acknowledgments
Dedication
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
