Contents Parti: No Uncertain Terms I 1 Are You Grammarphobic? 3 How Can You Tell If You're Grammarphobic? 4 Word Power 5 War of the Words 5 The Force Be with You 6 Term Limits 7 What Is Grammar? 7 What Is Usage? 7 What Is Mechanics? 10 What Is Style? 10 A Civil Tongue: Standards for Effective Communication 11 2 (onan the Grammarian 13 Sweet Dreams Aren't Made of These 13 Puppy Love 14 Has It Come to This? 14 Perversity Rules 15 Let Me 'Splain It to You, Lucy 18 Personal Writing Inventory 20 Damage Control 23 Mission Possible 23 Part 2: Under the Grammar Hammer 25 3 Parts of Speech: Coming to Terms 27 Nouns: Prime-Time Players 27 Possessive Nouns: 9 /w of the Law 29 Possess It! 29 Plural Nouns: Two's Company, Threes a Crowd 31 Too Much of a Good Thing? 31 Combo Platter 34 A Note on Nouns for Non-Native Speakers 35 Verbs: All the Right Moves 36 Action Verbs: Jumping Jack Flash 36 Chain Gang: Linking Verbs 31 viii The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition Mothers Little Helper: Helping Verbs 31 Verb-O-Rama 31 Conjunctions: The Ties That Bind 39 All Tied Up 39 Fit to Be Tied 41 Prepositions: Good Things Come in Small Packages 42 Joined at the Hip 43 A Note on Prepositions for Non -Native Speakers 44 4 Terms of Endearment: More Parts of Speech U Adjectives: Happy Little Clouds 47 Spice Up Your Sentences with Adjectives 48 A Note on Adjectives for Non-Native Speakers 49 Have Fun with Adjectives 49 And in This Corner 49 Adverbs: Who Ya Gonna Call? 50 Have Fun with Adverbs 51 Conjunctive Adverbs: An Adverb Disguised as a Conjunction 51 Hunt and Peck 52 Pronouns: Pinch Hitters 53 Face the Music 55 Interjections: Zap! Pow! Wow! 56 Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Take a Shower 56 Seventh-Inning Stretch 51 5 Altered States: Verbs 59 Shape Shifters 60 Verb Tense: Nothing a Little Prozac Wouldn't Cure 60 I Feel Your Pain: Principal Parts of Verbs 61 A Class Act: Forming Past Tenses 61 Now Ihayhh Lay Me Down to Sleep 64 Party Pooper: Test Time 65 All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly 66 Past Tense 61 Back to the Future 68 A Note on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers 68 It s All in the Timing 10 Person, Number, and Mood 71 Person 12 Number 12 Mood 12 Active and Passive Voice: A Mistake Has Been Made 73 Not So Fast 14 6 Woe Is I: Pronouns and Case 77 Why Can't a Pronoun Be More Like a Noun? 77 Head Case: The Three Cases 78 The Rules 79 Sorry, Wrong Number 83 Seventh-Inning Stretch 84 Who Versus Whom (or Should I Just Shoot Myself Now?) 85 This Hurts You More Than It Hurts Me 86 I Dare You 86 Seventh-Inning Stretch 81 7 Multiple-Vehicle Wrecks: Pronoun Reference 89 How's That Again? 90 It Just Proves There's Someone for Everyone 91 The Numbers Game 91 Tag, You're It 92 Location, Location, Location: Placement of Pronouns 93 A Match Made in Writer's Heaven 94 Possession and Pronouns 94 Its a Lock 94 It and They 95 It Mania 96 Who's on First? 91 8 How to Write and Speak Good: Adjectives Versus Adverbs 99 They Walk Alike, They Talk Alike: You Could Lose Your Mind 100 Graphic Proof 100 Fm Ready for My Close-Up Now, Mr. DeMille 101 Three Degrees of Separation 102 Size Does Matter 103 Good, Gooder, Goodest: Irregular Adjectives and Adverbs 104 Keep Your Balance 105 Other and Else 105 X The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition Tough Sledding: Using Adjectives After Linking Verbs 106 The Badlands 106 Good News; Well News 106 Once More into the Breach, Dear Friends 107 A Note on Adjectives and Adverbs for Non-Native Speakers 108 Don't Use No Double Negatives 108 Don't Be Making No Mistakes 109 9 Reaching an Agreement: Matching Sentence Parts III Anyone Got a Match? 112 Singular Subjects and Verbs 112 Plural Subjects and Verbs 113 Seventh-Inning Stretch 114 Collective Nouns 115 Indefinite Pronouns 116 The Pause That Refreshes 118 Walk This Way 119 Hide and Seek 119 Playing the Numbers 120 Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match 120 Mix and Match 121 Agree to Disagree 122 Nose to the Grindstone 124 10 Dazed and Confused: Common Usage Dilemmas 125 Dangling Modifiers: Counterintelligence 126 Help Is on the Way 126 Man the Battle Stations 121 Misplaced Modifiers: Lost and Found 128 It Says What? 129 Quiz Show 130 Mixed Metaphors: A Dollar Late and a Day Short 131 Split Infinitives: To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Goes 133 The Good, the Bad, the Ugly 134 Hopefully 134 Like/As 134 Ending with a Preposition 135 Contents xi Usage and Abusaqe 137 Phrases: Prime-Time Players 139 Phrases of the Moon 139 Prepositional Phrases: The Big Daddy of Phrases 140 Offspring 1 : Adjectival Phrases 141 Offspring 2: Adverbial Phrases 142 Appositives: Something More for Your Money 142 Appositive Phrases 143 The Moment of Truth 144 Verbal Phrases: Talk Soup 145 Part and Participle 146 Gerund Phrases 141 Infinitive Phrases: The Final Frontier 148 Clauses: Kickin'It Up a Notch 151 Clauses: Phrases on Steroids 151 Independent Clauses: Top Dogs 152 Dependent Clauses: I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends 153 I Know 'Em When I See 'Em 153 Subordinating Conjunctions Link 'Em Together 153 Looking for Love in All the Right Places 154 Adverb Clauses: Hot Shots 156 Follow the Leader 156 Shape Up Your Sentences 151 Adjective Clauses: Paint by Numbers 157 Relative Clauses: Its All Relative 158 Clauses Make the Sentence 159 Noun Clauses: What's in a Name? 159 Connect the Dots 160 Getting Down and Dirty 160 Sentence and Sensibility 165 I Know It When I See It: The Sentence 166 Seek and Ye Shall Find 166 Hidden Treasures 161 Sentence Structure: The Fab Four 167 Simple Sentences: Simple Isn k as Simple Does 168 Compound Sentences: Compound Interest 169 Complex Sentences: Not So Complex at All 169 xii The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition Compound-Complex Sentences: The Big Kahuna 110 The Choice Is Yours 110 Face the Music Ill Sentence Functions: The Four Tops 172 Alley Oops 172 Fragments: Lost in Place 113 Run-Ons and Comma Splices: It Could Be a Stretch 114 Seventh-Inning Stretch 115 \k Coordination and Subordination: What to Say When the Cops Come 177 Coordination: All the Right Moves 178 Mix and Match 119 Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek 119 Don't String Me Along 180 Why Not Give It a Shot? 181 Subordination: What I Did for Love 182 Follow the Leader 183 Dice V Slice 184 Double Dare 184 Duke It Out: Coordination Versus Subordination 185 Parallel Structure: Trod the Straight and Narrow 186 Make It So 181 Time to Face Old Sparky 181 Parft: Tools of the Trade 191 15 The Writer's Tools: Round Up the Usual Suspects 193 Pencil Pusher 193 Using the Dictionary: You Could Look It Up 194 Who You Gonna Call? 195 Read the Labels 196 Shop Till You Drop 196 Specialized Dictionaries: Everyone s an Expert 198 Computer Spell Checkers: Marvels of Technology 199 Electronic Grammar Software: Help Is Only a Button Away 200 The Thesaurus: War of the Words 201 Lets Go Shopping 202 Whiz-Bang Thesaurus Programs 202 Contents xiii 16 Punctuation: Commas Are Our Friends 203 Punctuation Matters 203 Show Me the Money 204 Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark: The End of the Line 205 The Period: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200 206 The Question Mark: Inquiring Minds Want to Know 206 Exclamation Marks: Gosh and Golly! 201 The Pause That Refreshes 201 The Comma: A Major Player 209 First Impressions Count 209 Sentence Interruptus 210 In Media Res 211 Dazed and Confused 211 Bean Counters 211 Constant Commas 212 The Semicolon: Love Child of the Comma and the Period 213 The Colon: What a Party Animal 213 Semi-Tough 214 Quotation Marks: Quote/Unquote 215 A Little Dabba Do Ya 216 Not Separated at Birth: The Dash and the Hyphen (and Let's Add the Ellipsis for Fun) 217 The Dash: Long and Lean 211 The Hyphen: Short and Sweet 218 The Ellipsis: Dot, Dot, Dot 218 Parentheses and Brackets: Bosom Buddies 218 (Parentheses) 219 [Brackets] 219 Slash and Burn 219 Apostrophes 220 Once More, Dear Friends 221 17 Capitalization and Abbreviations: Go to the Head of the Class 223 Capitalization: A Capital Idea 223 Capital Punishment 224 Rules to Capitalize By 225 Capital Investment 228 Abbreviations: Good Things Come in Small Packages 229 xiv The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition 18 Guide to Spelling: (looked on Phonics 23} Bee a Good Speller 234 If U Cn Reed This 235 Quick and Dirty Tricks of the Trade 235 Attaching Prefixes and Suffixes: Bits and Pieces 237 Attaching Prefixes: Front-End Collision 257 Attaching Suffixes: Rear-End Collision 231 Go for the Gusto 241 Contractions: Suck It In 241 Follow the Rules! Spelling Rules 242 ieeeeeeeeeeeee! 244 See and Say 244 Silent Letters 245 Tricky-Dickie Word Endings 245 Y/IUse 246 Spelling Demons 246 Ten Tough Spelling Words—and Ways to Make Them Tender 246 Part 5: Style: All the Write Stuff 2W 19 What Is Style, and How Do I Get Some? 2SI Style: Write On! 251 The 3C's: Consistency, Coherence, Clarity 253 Consistency 253 Coherence 255 Clarity 251 I'll Have What's on His Plate 258 Lie Like a Rug 261 20 In Style 263 Audience: People Who Need People 263 Inquiring Minds Want to Know 264 I Share Your Tain 264 Who's Who 266 Culture Vulture 268 Model Behavior 269 Live and Learn 210 Make It Your Own 210 Contents xv Four Play 270 Exposition: Writing That Explains 271 Narration: Writing That Tells a Story 272 Argumentation: Writing That Persuades 272 Description: Writing That Describes 275 21 Stylish Sentences 27S Flexible Flyers 276 Vary Sentence Types 216 Vary Sentence Lengths 277 Add Questions and Commands 219 Focus on the Subject 219 Add Details 280 Use Vivid Verbs 283 Invert Word Order 283 Play with Pronouns 283 Between a Rock and a Hard Place 284 Punctuation and Style: Little Things Matter a Lot 284 22 Conciseness: The Department of Redundancy Department 287 Slash and Burn 287 Thrift, Thrift, Thrift 290 Eliminate Unneeded Words and Phrases 291 Revise Sentences That Begin with Expletives 294 Combine Sentences That Repeat Information 295 Don't Say the Same Thing Twice 296 Make Passive Sentences Active 291 23 Diction: Find the Right Word, Not Its First Cousin 299 Diction: Proper Words in Proper Places 300 Elevated Diction 301 Edited American English 301 Colloquial Language 301 Slang 301 Vernacular 302 Tone-on-Tone 302 Ten Distinctions Worth Making (or at Least Worth Being Able to Make!) 303 Twenty-Five Headaches 305 ¥mr You're On 301 Homophones: Give Piece a Chance 308 Grin and Bare Bear It 309 xvi The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, Second Edition Z*t Don't Go There: Words and Expressions to Avoid 311 Sexist Language: Political Roadkill 312 On Thin Ice 313 Nonsexist Language: Level the Playing Field 314 Top of Your Game 316 Spin Doctors 317 Jargon: u Phasers on Stun, Cap'n" 318 Bureaucratic Language: Piled Higher and Deeper 319 Inflated Language: Full of Hot Air 320 Euphemisms: Sleeping with the Fishes 320 Search and Destroy 321 The Cliché Expert 321 Gorgeous George 323 A Note on Words and Expressions to Avoid for Non-Native Speakers 324 Part 6: In Your Write Mind 32S 25 Business Writing: Write Angles 327 Letter Perfect 328 Form and Function 328 Kissing Cousins 330 Resumes and Cover Letters: Get on the Fast Track 330 Resumes 331 Shooting Yourself in the Foot 332 Chronological Resume 332 Skills Resume 333 Cover Letters 336 Bread-and-Butter Notes 338 Good News, Bad News 339 Good News 340 Bad News 340 26 Personal Writing: In Your Write Mind 3ti Friendly Letters: My Baby, She Wrote Me a Letter 346 Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Vm Yours 346 Model Letter 341 B & B Revisited 348 I Feel Your Pain: Letters of Condolence 348 . Nouns 11 5 Indefinite Pronouns 11 6 The Pause That Refreshes 11 8 Walk This Way 11 9 Hide and Seek 11 9 Playing the Numbers 12 0 Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match 12 0 Mix . Money 14 2 Appositive Phrases 14 3 The Moment of Truth 14 4 Verbal Phrases: Talk Soup 14 5 Part and Participle 14 6 Gerund Phrases 14 1 Infinitive Phrases: The Final Frontier 14 8. Compound-Complex Sentences: The Big Kahuna 11 0 The Choice Is Yours 11 0 Face the Music Ill Sentence Functions: The Four Tops 17 2 Alley Oops 17 2 Fragments: Lost in Place 11 3 Run-Ons and