Grammatically Correct, 2nd Edition
The Essential Guide to Spelling, Style, Usage, Grammar, and Punctuation
by Anne Stilman
Writer's Digest Books, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58297-6167
$19.99, paperback, 352 pages
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Read an Excerpt
In this excerpt from Grammatically Correct, author/grammar expert Anne Stiman discusses correct usage for that ever troublesome punctuation mark: the semicolon.
About the Book
WHETHER IT’S A NOVEL, A REPORT, AN ESSAY, A MEMO…
How does good writing stand out? If its purpose is to convey facts, findings, or instructions, it need be read only once for its content to be clear. If its purpose is to entertain or to provoke thought, it makes readers want to come back for more.
Expanded and updated, this guide covers four essential aspects of good writing:
• Individual words—spelling variations, hyphenation, frequently confused homonyms, frequently misused words and phrases, irregular plurals and negatives, and uses of capitalization and type style to add special meanings
• Punctuation—the role of each mark in achieving clarity and affecting tone, and demonstration of how misuses can lead to ambiguity
• Syntax and structure—agreement of subject and verb, parallel construction, modifiers, tenses, pronouns, active versus passive voice, and more
• Style—advice on the less hard-and-fast areas of clarity and tone, including conciseness, simplification, reading level, jargon, and subtlety
Filled with self-test exercises and whimsical literary quotations, Grammatically Correct steers clear of academic stuffiness, focusing instead on practical strategies and intuitive explanations. Discussions are designed to get to the heart of a concept and provide a sufficient sense of when and how to use it, along with examples that show what ambiguities or misinterpretations might result if the rules are not followed. In cases where there is more than one acceptable way to do something, the approach is not to prescribe one over another but simply to describe the options.
Readers of this indispensable guide will never break the rules of language again—unintentionally.
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: The Building Blocks: Word by Word
Spelling Issues
Frequently Misspelled Words
Spelling Variations
Frequently Confused Homonyms
Hyphenation
Vocabulary Quirks and Challenges
Frequently Misused Words
Plural Formations
Negative Formations
Using Type Style for Effect
Uses of Capitalization
Uses of Italic Type
Uses of Boldface Type
Part 2: Punctuation
Basic Sentence Structure
Subject and Predicate
Independent and Dependent Clauses
Phrases
Sentence Fragments
Comma
Separating the Main Elements of a Sentence
Separating Elements in a Series
Setting Off Dialogue and Quotations
Indicating Omitted Words
Other Uses of the Comma
Semicolon
Separating Elements
Linking Elements
Style Conventions
Colon
Introducing What Follows
Adding Emphasis
Other Uses of the Colon
Colon or Semicolon?
Style Conventions
Period
Ending a Sentence
Indicating Abbreviations
Other Uses of the Period
Question Mark
Indicating Queries
Indicating Rhetorical Questions
Indicating Requests
Indicating Uncertainty
Style Conventions
Exclamation Point
Indicating Importance or Emotion
Indicating Rhetorical Questions
Capturing Attention
Cautions About the Exclamation Point
Style Conventions
Hyphen
Indicating Word Breaks
Linking the Parts of a Compound Adjective
Acting As a Stand-In for a Repeated Word
Indicating Intonations or Pronunciations
Slash
Indicating “And” or “Or” Relationships
Indicating Other Relationships
Separating Lines of Poetry
Parentheses
Working in Digressions
Making Complex Text Easier to Follow
Setting Off Details
Style Conventions
En Dash
Linking Ranges
Linking Words
Style Conventions
Em Dash
Marking Off An Important Point Or A Digression
Marking A Break In Structure Or Turn In Content
Indicating Interrupted Or Scattered Speech
Style Conventions
2-Em and 3-Em Dashes
2-Em Dash
3-Em Dash
Style Conventions
Brackets
Identifying Changes to Quoted Material
Enclosing Digressions Within Parentheses
Other Uses of Brackets
Style Conventions
Quotation Marks
Setting Off Dialogue
Setting Off Citations
Indicating Significance
Setting Off Titles
Style Conventions
Ellipsis
Indicating Omissions
Indicating Hesitant or Trailing Speech
Imparting Significance
Style Conventions
Apostrophe
Indicating Omissions
Indicating Possessives
Indicating Plurals
Part 3: Structure and Syntax
Agreement Between Subject and Verb
The Subject, the Whole Subject, and Nothing But the Subject
Forest or Trees?
Parallel Structure
Positioning of Modifiers
Dangling Modifiers
Misplaced Modifiers
Squinting Modifiers
Tense and Mood
Present Tenses
Past Tenses
Future Tenses
Conditionals
Pronouns
Determining the Right Pronoun
Referring to the Right Antecedent
Agreement Between Pronoun and Antecedent
Choosing a Pronoun
Active Versus Passive Voice
Uses of the Active Voice
Uses of the Passive Voice
Grammar Grab-bag: Miscellaneous Problem Areas
Adverb-Adjective Distinction
Intransitive and Transitive Verbs
Splitting Infinitives
Ending with a Preposition
Part 4: Style
Clarity
Sentence Breaks
Sentence Order
Conciseness
Simplification
Reading Level
Tone
Sentence Length
Word Choices
Word Variation
Effective Repetition
Avoidance of Bias
Accents and Speech Patterns
Jargon
Clichés
When Less is More: The Art of Subtlety
Suggestions for Self-Improvement
Credits
Index
