Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again

by Mignon Fogarty

Overview

Millions of people around the world communicate better thanks to Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, whose top-rated weekly grammar podcast has been downloaded more than 30 million times. After realizing her fans were asking the same questions over and over, Mignon decided to focus her attention on those words that continuously confound the masses. In Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again, you'll learn:
- When you should use affect and when effect is right
- Whether you should you say purposely or purposefully
- The difference between hilarious and hysterical

Packed with clear explanations, fun quotations showing the word used in context, and the quick and dirty memory tricks Mignon is known for, this friendly reference guide ends the confusion once and for all and helps you speak and write with confidence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312573379
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/05/2011
Series:	Quick & Dirty Tips
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	659,790
Product dimensions:	4.86(w) x 7.14(h) x 0.35(d)

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.

Read an Excerpt

A Versus An

 

Sadly, a lot of people were taught the wrong rule for using the articles a and an. It’s the sound of the next word that determines the word choice, not the first letter.

If the next word starts with a vowel sound, use an. If the next word starts with a consonant sound, use a. That means a word starting with u or o, for example, can require a or an depending on the pronunciation: a unicorn, an uncle, a onetime deal, an owner.

QUICK AND DIRTY TIP

To remember that words starting with certain letters can go either way, set the image in your mind of a man playing a ukulele under an umbrella—an image that uses two u-words that require different articles.

 

Copyright © 2011 by Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Editorial Reviews

For anyone who writes, whether blogs or greeting cards, and anyone who speaks in public ... this book should be in your reference library!” —City Book Review

“The book's tips will help increase SAT scores and will come in handy when writing papers or college entrance essays. You will find Fogarty's style to be warm, humorous, and accessible. Become a confident writer and speaker. You won't just sound smarter, you'll be smarter!” —Portland Book Review

From the Publisher