English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, UK Edition

Nuala O'Sullivan, Geraldine Woods

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780470688304
• eBook ISBN: 9780470664544
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, UK Edition is grammar First Aid for anyone wanting to perfect their English and develop the practical skills needed to write and speak correctly. Each chapter focuses on key grammatical principles, with easy-to-follow theory and examples as well as practice questions and explanations. From verbs, prepositions and tenses, to style, expressions and tricky word traps, this hands-on workbook is essential for both beginners looking to learn and practise the basics of English grammar, and those who want to brush up skills they already have - quickly, easily, and with confidence. 

 

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, UK Edition covers:

Part I: Laying the Groundwork: Grammar Basics      
Chapter 1: Placing the Proper Verb in the Proper Place              
Chapter 2: Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Pairing Subjects and Verbs Correctly           
Chapter 3: Who Is She, and What Is It? The Lowdown on Pronouns
Chapter 4: Finishing What You Start: Writing Complete Sentences        

Part II: Mastering Mechanics          
Chapter 5: Exercising Comma Sense
Chapter 6: Made You Look! Punctuation Marks That Demand Attention           
Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes         
Chapter 8: "Let Me Speak!" Quotation Marks
Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters         

Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use  
Chapter 10: The Case of It (And Other Pronouns)      
Chapter 11: Choosing the Best Pronoun for a Tricky Sentence
Chapter 12: Travelling in Time: Tricky Verb-Tense Situations 
Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood?

Part IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptions and Comparisons   
Chapter 14: Writing Good or Well: Adjectives and Adverbs
Chapter 15: Going on Location: Placing Descriptions Correctly
Chapter 16: For Better or Worse: Forming Comparisons           
Chapter 17: Apples and Oranges: Improper Comparisons        

Part V: Writing with Style  
Chapter 18: Keeping Your Balance               
Chapter 19: Spicing Up and Trimming Down Your Sentences  
Chapter 20: Steering Clear of Tricky Word Traps

Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 21: Ten Over-corrections
Chapter 22: Ten Errors to Avoid at All Cost

Part I

Laying the Foundations: Grammar Basics

In this part . . .

If you’ve ever built a house with bricks or even a tower with playing cards, you know that the whole thing is likely to fall down unless it’s sitting on top of a solid foundation. This part gives you the stuff you need to lay the best foundation for your writing. Chapter 1 takes you through verbs, explaining how to select the best verb for present, past and future situations. In the same chapter, you find the most popular irregular verbs and everything you need to know about the ever-helpful helping verbs. Chapter 2 moves inside the house, to the kitchen, and sorts your verbs into singular and plural piles and helps you match each verb to the correct subject. Then you’re ready to pair pronouns and nouns (Chapter 3) and to distinguish complete from incomplete or too-long sentences (Chapter 4). Ready? We promise we won’t let the grammar roof fall on your head!

Chapter 1

Placing the Proper Verb in the Proper Place

In This Chapter

Examining the past, present and future tenses

Practising the perfect tenses

Navigating the irregular forms

Handling auxiliary verbs

Verbs can be as short as two letters and as long as several words; they communicate action or a state of being. Plus, without even looking at a watch, a verb can tell you the time. Unfortunately, that handy little time-keeping function can be confusing.

In this chapter, we look at basic time questions. No, not ‘You’re late again because. . . ?’, but ‘Which verb do I need to show what’s completed, not yet begun or going on right now?’ We look at the basic tenses (past, present and future) and the perfect tenses, which are anything but perfect. We also work on irregular and auxiliary verbs.

Choosing Past, Present or Future

Verbs indicate time using a quality known as tense. Before you reach for a tranquilliser, here’s a rundown of the three basic tenses: present, past and future. Each tense has two forms: plain or simple (called by its basic time designation) and progressive (the -ing form of a verb). The progressive places a little more emphasis on process or action that spans a time period, and the present progressive may reach into the future. In many sentences, plain and progressive verbs may be used interchangeably. Here’s a taste of each type:

The past tense tells you what happened at a specific time in the past or describes a pattern of behaviour in the past. In the sentence ‘Diane painted a skull on her bike’, painted is a past tense verb describing a single past action. In ‘During the Biker Festival, Diane was drinking more than usual’, was drinking is a verb in the past progressive tense describing an action that recurred over a period of time – the duration of the festival.

The present tense tells you what’s going on right now or, more generally speaking, what action is recurring. The present...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Part I: Laying the Foundations: Grammar Basics
• Part II: Mastering Mechanics
• Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use
• Part IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptions and Comparisons
• Part V: Writing with Style
• Part VI: The Part of Tens