Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students

by Mignon Fogarty, Erwin Haya (Illustrator)

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author and creator of the top ranked Grammar Girl podcast, Mignon Fogarty, comes her bestselling Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students.

This edition has been newly revised in 2023 to reflect modern topics and changes in style and usage since initial publication.

With 100,000 copies sold, this is a complete and comprehensive guide to all things grammar from Grammar Girl— whose popular podcast, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, has been downloaded more than one hundred million times.

For beginners to more advanced students, this guide covers it all: parts of speech, sentences, and punctuation are all explained clearly and concisely in Grammar Girl’s humorous and accessible style. Pop quizzes are scattered throughout to reinforce the explanations, as are Grammar Girl’s trademark Quick and Dirty Tips—easy and fun memory tricks to help with those challenging rules. Complete with a writing style chapter, this guide is sure to become the one-stop, essential book on every student’s desk. And with timely updates to the content throughout, this edition remains the definitive student writing guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250217516
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/02/2019
Series:	Quick & Dirty Tips
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	176,281
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

MIGNON FOGARTY is the creator of Grammar Girl and the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. She is a five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards, an inductee of the Podcasting Hall of Fame, a New York Times bestselling author, and the former chair of media entrepreneurship in the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada. She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show, and she currently lives in California with her husband, Patrick. Visit her website at QuickAndDirtyTips.com to sign up for her free email newsletter and podcast.

Table of Contents

Introduction Grammar Schmammar 1

Chapter 1 Parts of Speech 3

Chapter 2 Sentenced for Life 55

Chapter 3 Punch Up Your Punctuation 91

Chapter 4 Quick and Dirty Tips 157

Chapter 5 Your Right to Write 209

Appendix 255

Quick and Dirty Grammar at a Glance 275

Glossary 279

Bibliography 283

Acknowledgments 285

Index 287

Editorial Reviews

Budding writers will find it invaluable.” —School Library Journal

“This guide is accessible to all, whether writing is limited to texting and e-mailing or creating the next great novel…Fogarty has succeeded in furnishing students with a witty guide to an often-challenging part of daily life.” —VOYA

“As a guide to dip into and peruse, it will be a solid and enjoyable resource for writers everywhere.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The Ultimate Writing Guide for Students [goes] beyond vocabulary into grammar and the structure of writing. But it's not a dry, boring reference ... this guide is both informative and user-friendly...The main message [is]: You can write; here are the tools.” —Lisa McLendon, The News & Observer (Raleigh)

From the Publisher

Gr 6 Up—This text is evenly divided into five sections: parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, usage, and a final segment on how readers can improve their writing. Fogarty's style mimics her podcasts with pithy but helpful rules and advice laced with examples. Pop quizzes and cartoon illustrations are also included. Libraries should purchase this book for reference use if nothing else, but budding writers will find it invaluable.—Debbie Whitbeck, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, MI

School Library Journal

As she does in previous volumes—Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (2008) and The Grammar Devotional (2009)—Fogarty affects an earnest and upbeat tone to dissuade those who think a grammar book has to be "annoying, boring, and confusing" and takes on the role of "grammar guide, intent on demystifying grammar."

Like many grammar books, this starts with parts of speech and goes on to sentence structure, punctuation, usage and style. Fogarty works hard to find amusing, even cheeky examples to illustrate the many faux pas she discusses: "Squiggly presumed that Grammar Girl would flinch when she saw the word misspelled as alot." Young readers may well look beyond the cheery tone and friendly cover, though, and find a 300+-page text that looks suspiciously schoolish and isn't really that different from the grammar texts they have known for years (and from which they have still not learned a lot of grammar). As William Strunk said in his introduction to the first edition of the little The Elements of Style, the most useful grammar guide concentrates attention "on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated." After that, "Students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work." By being exhaustive, Fogarty may well have created just the kind of volume she hoped to avoid.

However, as a guide to dip into and peruse, it will be a solid and enjoyable resource for writers everywhere. (Reference. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews