Saturday 23 June 2012

Grammar Girl's 101 Troublesome Words You'll Master in No Time by Mignon Fogarty - Book Review

Title: Grammar Girl's 101 Troublesome Words You'll Master in No Time
Author: Mignon Fogarty
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Publication Date: 3rd July 2012
Pages: 144
Format: E-Book - PDF
Genre: Non-Fiction
Source: ARC via NetGalley


 




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 40 million times. Now she’s turning her attention to solving your worst problems—one troublesome word at a time.Are you feeling "all right" or "alright"? Does "biweekly" mean twice a week or every two weeks? Do you run a gauntlet or a gantlet? Is a pair of twins four people or two? The English language is always changing, and that means we are left with words and phrases that are only sort of wrong (or worse, have different definitions depending on where you look them up). How do you know which to use? Grammar Girl to the rescue! This handy reference guide contains the full 411 on 101 words that have given you trouble before—but will never again. Full of clear, straightforward definitions and fun quotations from pop culture icons such as Gregory House and J. K. Rowling, as well as from classical writers such as Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin, this highly-useable guidebook takes the guesswork out of your writing, so you’ll never be at a loss for words again. (Goodreads Synopsis)



Although I like to think my grammar is pretty good, I confess to checking things on Grammar Girl's site from time to time and so I thought I'd see what she had to share in this new book.

It was certainly an interesting mix. Some words I was surprised to see in there, unable to grasp how people could get them wrong, others I found intriguing in terms of the history of their use.

I didn't always agree with Fogarty's decisions, but that is most likely a case of UK vs. US more than anything.

In any case, this was a fascinating read and will be a useful resource for those looking to improve their grammar.

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