With the seasonal holidays nearly upon us, we here at Mr. Grammar Rant are pleased to offer the following short list of must-read books for all those looking for an engaging and entertaining way to spend days at the airports, socked in at snow bound hotels, or, one hopes, storm-stranded at home in front of the fireplace with the dogs curled on the couch. Yes, let the dogs up on the couch, after all, they’re people too.
Topping our list this year is “Comma Sutra: Position Yourself for Success with Good Grammar” by Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D. Published in 2005, this little tongue-in-cheek book is a delightful and slightly naughty romp through the “quickie Faux pas fixes and kinky wordplay (that)… gives you instant grammar gratification.” Any book that can help improve readers’ syntactical skills while at the same time making them feel like they should slam the pages shut every time someone comes into room has got to be a must read. We recommend you read it on the bus – you’re bound to become involved in interesting conversations.
British writer and editor Jeremy Butterfield’s little tome “Damp Squid: the English Language Laid Bare” sounds naughty, but is in fact a very scholarly and often humorous little book that is “…fascinating to those who would really like to find out how the English language is behaving. Clearly written and informative, it is a lively guide to that most creative and challenging language, English.”
Third on our list is the fabulously witty and very intelligent “Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, Second Edition (Paperback). Written by Patricia T. O’Conner, an editor at the New York Times Book Review, Woe Is I gives lighthearted, witty instruction on grammar. The following is from Publishers Weekly: “The second edition of O’Connor’s delightful guide to good English offers a new chapter on e-mail etiquette that ought to make many people-even grammar snobs-feel a tad guilty: “E-mail,” she writes, “is no excuse for lousy English.” Let your audience determine your attention to tone and mechanics; use salutations and signatures; resist the urge to indiscriminately forward mail; and leave those emoticons and abbreviations at home, she says. Commonsense stuff-but every once in a while, it’s nice to be reminded. The rest of the volume is similar to the first: witty, economical and fun to read, it explains the secrets to grammar in refreshingly jargon-free sentences illustrated by numerous examples (“‘I assure you,’ said the grieving widow, ‘I ensured he was insured to the hilt’”). When is “majority” plural, and when singular? How does saying “Trixie loves spaghetti more than I?” mean something completely different than “Trixie loves spaghetti more than me?” While the volume is certainly handy to someone struggling with grammar basics-there are few style guides so breezy-the “Verbal Abuse” section will appeal to language experts and purists, especially those who decry the use of partner as a verb, or grow with a direct object (as in “grow the business”). As for those who like to use dialogue as a verb, “Don’t talk to them,” O’Connor says.”
We here at Mr. Grammar Rant couldn’t agree more.
So there we are – enough to keep us informed, entertained and perhaps a little frisky as the snow whips around the chimney and the dogs settle deeper into the couch cushions.
Happy reading, and have a great holiday!
