Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (Aug. 16, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 031602791X ISBN-13: 978-0316027915	Order from here:

Grammar. A word that’s brough many an English student to their knees in tears. But Roy Peter Clark manages, somehow, to take what is a very dry subject, and make it fun. The book is divided into 5 Parts. Each part concentrates on a differen area of Grammar: Words, Points, Standards, Meaing, and Purpose.

Under each of these sections he covers things such as when to use the ellipse…for example…when you want…to write like Captain Kirk. But when explaining these things, he gives real world examples, and keeps the reader entertained at the same time.

I managed to learn many things from this book, things such as the origin of some words, like for instance, from Chinese we get the word Ketchup, and from Arabic get words such as Sugar and Syrup. I also learned of something called a Contranym. I’d heard of antonyms, synonyms, and homynyms, but never a contranym. A contranym it seems is one word that can mean two different things. Examples are the word sanction which means both allow and prohibit, or the word cleave, which means tear apart and hold together.

While the author does lay out the standard rules he also lets you know that sometimes, it’s okay to break the rules, and points out authors that do, some having won awards for their writing.

Each chapter of the book ends with takeaways which highlight the main points of the book and summarize what he’s covered.

If you’re a writer, reader, or just want to learn more about grammar in a more exciting way then you did in High School, then you should pick up this book. I’m certain you’ll learn a lot of new things that you never knew, I know I did, and I’m definitely keeping this book around for a reference.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Anna at Hachette Book Group for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. Thanks to Anna, we are able to give away three copies of the book. See our giveaway here.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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