Grammar Secrets
2/5
()
About this ebook
Let’s admit it, we all struggle with Grammar. There, they’re or their? Who’s or whose? Me or I? Fewer or less? Inside this little book one of Britain’s top Grammar Gurus reveals all you need to know about Grammar but were afraid to ask.
Worry no more, Caroline is here to take the grind out of grammar in easy bite-sized chunks. With insights into hyphens and the dreaded apostrophe, comparatives and superlatives and whether England is singular or plural, she offers clear but light-hearted advice on getting things right when it matters – and relaxing just a little when it doesn’t.
Caroline Taggart
Caroline Taggart worked in publishing as an editor of popular non-fiction for thirty years before being asked by Michael O'Mara Books to write I Used to Know That, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. Following that she was co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?), and wrote a number of other books about words and English usage. She has appeared frequently on television and on national and regional radio, talking about language, grammar and whether or not Druids Cross should have an apostrophe. Her website is carolinetaggart.co.uk and you can follow her on Twitter @citaggart.
Read more from Caroline Taggart
500 Beautiful Words You Should Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Improve Your Word Power: Test and Build Your Vocabulary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Classical Education: The Stuff You Wish You'd Been Taught At School Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Back to Basics: The Education You Wish You'd Had Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMisadventures in the English Language Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Accidental Apostrophe: ... And Other Misadventures in Punctuation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As Right as Rain: The Meaning and Origins of Popular Expressions Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5How to Greet the Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classics: All You Need to Know, from Zeus's Throne to the Fall of Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pushing the Envelope: Making Sense Out of Business Jargon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll That Glisters ...: And Other Quotations You Should Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Loop & Up to Speed: Clever & Useful Business Terms Every Go-Getter Needs Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Her Ladyship's Guide to Running One's Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Grammar Secrets
Related ebooks
Grammar Sucks: What to Do to Make Your Writing Much More Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grammar for Smart People Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: American English Idiomatic Expressions & Phrases Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Misadventures in the English Language Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 25 Rules of Grammar: The Essential Guide to Good English Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5English Sentence Structure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grammar and Punctuation: Your essential guide to accurate English Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eureka!: Discover and Enjoy the Hidden Power of the English Language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEasy Learning Grammar and Punctuation: Your essential guide to accurate English Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? The Best Little Dictionary of Confusing Words and Malapropisms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Used to Know That: English Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Very Brief Guide To English Grammar And Punctuation Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Practice Makes Perfect English Articles and Determiners Up Close Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins: The Careful Writer's Guide to the Taboos, Bugbears, and Outmoded Rules of English Usage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnglish Usage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Queen's English: And How to Use It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Understanding the Concepts of English Prepositions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome Grammar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf I Was You...: And Alot More Grammar Mistakes You Might Be Making Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Right Word: A Writer's Toolkit of Grammar, Vocabulary and Literary Terms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPainless Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Useful Grammar of English Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Better Grammar in 30 Minutes a Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Correct Your English Errors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practice Makes Perfect English Verb Tenses Up Close Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easy Learning English Verbs: Your essential guide to accurate English Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5How to Tell Fate from Destiny: And Other Skillful Word Distinctions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Language Arts & Discipline For You
Barron's American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Guide to ASL 1 and 2 with Online Video Practice Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Learn Sign Language in a Hurry: Grasp the Basics of American Sign Language Quickly and Easily Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Easy Spanish Stories For Beginners: 5 Spanish Short Stories For Beginners (With Audio) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dirty Sign Language: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTalk Dirty Spanish: Beyond Mierda: The curses, slang, and street lingo you need to Know when you speak espanol Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speed Reading: How to Read a Book a Day - Simple Tricks to Explode Your Reading Speed and Comprehension Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Sign Language Book: American Sign Language Made Easy... All new photos! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Show, Don't Tell: How to Write Vivid Descriptions, Handle Backstory, and Describe Your Characters’ Emotions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Art of Handwriting: Rediscover the Beauty and Power of Penmanship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Get to the Point!: Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Metaphors We Live By Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Grammar Secrets
6 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Grammar Secrets - Caroline Taggart
Published by Collins
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Westerhill Road
Bishopbriggs
Glasgow
G64 2QT
First Edition 2014
© Caroline Taggart 2014
eBook Edition © August 2014 ISBN 978-0-00-759131-2
Version: 2014-09-08
www.harpercollins.co.uk
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the Publisher.
This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the Publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Entered words that we have reason to believe constitute trademarks have been designated as such. However, neither the presence nor absence of such designation should be regarded as affecting the legal status of any trademark.
HarperCollins does not warrant that www.collins.co.uk or any other website mentioned in this title will be provided uninterrupted, that any website will be error free, that defects will be corrected, or that the website or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or bugs. For full terms and conditions please refer to the site terms provided on the website.
If you would like to comment on any aspect of this book, please contact us at the above address or online.
E-mail: dictionaries@harpercollins.co.uk
Author
Caroline Taggart
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About the author
Grammar Secrets
To begin at the beginning …
Multi-tasking
Is it a noun? Is it a verb?
Vowels and consonants
Less or fewer?
More about nouns: how to treat them properly
All in it together
My country, right or wrong
Mr Bun, the baker
One a penny, two a penny
A classical interlude
More foreign plurals
Greater than the sum of its parts?
Me or I?
Comparing like with like
Person is a technical term
Speaking for myself
Simple verbal organization
Do it to me
Take it as a compliment (or perhaps a complement)?
Bits and pieces
To infinity and beyond
To boldly split …
Running down the road …
Should have known better
Can and may
Get your claws into that
Speaking of subordinate clauses …
So that was a clause …
I couldn’t agree more
We all agree too …
An either/or situation
All or nothing
Functioning as singular
Let’s see how it pans out
Agree to disagree
Do you hear voices?
I object
Are you calling me a liar?
Try to understand
The boy done good
There’s no comparison
Superlatives
Beware overkill …
A far, far better thing
Misplaced modifiers
Only
Handle with care
Between you and me
Which preposition?
What should you end a sentence with?
Not only … but also
Which conjunction?
An hotel with a view?
Punctuation
When all is said and done
Halfway houses
Pausing for thought
Restriction or no restriction
More commas
Cannibal commas
When a comma won’t do
Cutting a dash …
A tiny link in a chain
One word or two?
May I quote you on that?
Quotes within quotes
In exclamatory style
It’s all in the report
The apostrophe – rule one
The apostrophe – rule two
More about apostrophes
A final rule regarding apostrophes
Your place or mine?
It’s or its?
Another place where you don’t need an apostrophe …
… and an odd place where you do
Some grammatical confusions
A top ten of confusables
Say that again … and again
Just the one …
No, no, no …
Some further reading
About the Publisher
Introduction
Let me let you in on a secret. Or, in fact, several dozen of them. Some of them are the absolute basics of grammar, some are subtleties and a few are ways of working round a problem when the correct answer is tricky. These Grammar Secrets are what this book is all about. It points out a number of common errors and explains why they are wrong, and it tells us when we need to be meticulous and what we can be a bit more relaxed about.
It’s a sad fact that lots of us are scared of grammar, and for a very good reason: we were never taught it. At some point in the twentieth century, some bright spark decided that we didn’t need to study our own language, so grammar disappeared from the school curriculum. It led to a whole generation having a vague feeling that The boy done good wasn’t quite right, without understanding why, and to another generation being in danger of not thinking there was anything wrong with it at all.
This is, to put it mildly, a shame. It’s a shame because language, used well, is beautiful. It’s the reason we admire the plays of Shakespeare and Stoppard, read the novels of Austen and Tolkien, or laugh at Gavin and Stacey and The Simpsons. Language, used well, is also effective. It tells people what we mean without our having to say, ‘Well, you know what I mean.’
This may not matter much on a day-to-day basis, because people we are chatting to – in person, online and in texts – probably do know what we mean. But it does matter when we come to write down something that is longer than 140 characters or speak to someone in a formal setting. It matters in school projects, job applications, business reports, presentations, legal documents and much more. It matters because, rightly or wrongly, people judge us on the way we speak and write. Given that, as the saying goes, we have only one chance to make a first impression, we need to be able to make that impression clearly, accurately and unambiguously.
Those are a