The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: The Mysteries of Grammar and Punctuation Revealed (New, Expanded Eighth Edition) [Paperback]

Jane Straus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

This entertaining and concise reference guide and workbook answers your most pressing questions about English usage. Author Jane Straus has unraveled the mysteries of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization to help the reader feel competent in their writing and speaking skills. Tens of thousands of copies of this indispensable book are purchased worldwide every year by business professionals, government agencies, universities, high schools, middle schools, and homeschooling families.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Clearly presented...great for remembering the rules--such as where to place the apostrophe when dealing with possessive nouns. -- Kate Russell - BBC World/Click Online

Four stars for its organization, exercises, and tests. -- Surfing the Net With Kids

Never has there been such a well-arranged, easily navigated guidebook as this. Perfect for the homeschool family. -- The Old Schoolhouse

One of the best references...its explanations are straightforward and perfectly logical--it solved our who/whom usage questions forever. -- Internet Cool Guide

Selected as one of the most helpful resources for nonprofits within the Communications and Marketing topic area. -- NonProfit Good Practice Guide

From the Publisher

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation will amuse you while demystifying the rules of grammar and punctuation. Written without jargon for all of us who need simple answers to our everyday questions, this new, updated version has 50% more material--rules, exercises, tests, and answers--and a new cover that is both sleek and durable.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Jane Straus; 8th edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966722175
• ISBN-13: 978-0966722178
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Students, watch out!, August 29, 2006

By 

Queen of all I survey "English teacher" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: The Mysteries of Grammar and Punctuation Revealed (New, Expanded Eighth Edition) (Paperback)

If you are a student in high school or college looking for a complete reference guide, this book is not it. The basics are covered, but explanations are sometimes inaccurate, and it will not supply answers to problems with your research paper(at least, not the answers that will satisfy your teacher). It IS a good reference tool for those in the corporate community who need help once in a while to polish a report, proposal or important memo.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of errors and omissions, December 6, 2007

By 

Concerned - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (9th Edition) (Paperback)

The book uses (sometimes misuses) technical terms that it never bothers to define. That's how carelessly it's been thrown together. The book states (ungrammatically), "Object pronouns are used everywhere else (direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition)." However, the book never defines "direct object," "indirect object," or "object of the preposition." For that matter, it does not even define "preposition." The book makes no mention of transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, appositives, complements, copulative verbs (linking verbs), modals, auxiliary verbs (helping verbs), agents, the subjunctive--the list goes on and on.

This book is also full of errors. Many of the "rules" are misleading or simply incorrect. Moreover, there are grammar and punctuation errors in the writing itself. In the section on finding subjects and verbs, we read, "Being able to identify the subject and verb correctly will also help you with commas and semicolons as you will see later." It is certainly odd that a sentence about proper punctuation should itself include a punctuation error; a mandatory comma has been omitted between "semicolons" and "as." We are told in "Rule 2", "A subject will come before a phrase beginning with 'of'." This is simply not a rule; subjects often follow "of". Consider this sentence: "Hoping to win the respect of her employer, Sandra learned to speak fluent English." The subject, Sandra, comes after a phrase beginning with "of" ("of her employer"), not before one. Someone who followed the rule in the book might falsely conclude that "respect" is the subject, as it comes before "of". We are also told, most unhelpfully, "To find the subject and verb, always find the verb first. [If the reader already knows how to find verbs, why would she be consulting this book?] Then ask who or what performed the verb." This sloppy wording is almost bound to cause confusion. Consider this sentence: "In spite of the bad instructions, the error was found by the student." The verb is "was found," and the student did the finding. It would be natural to suppose, then, that the student "performed the verb" and thus is the subject. The subject, however, is "the error," not "the student". All of these problems (and others I have not mentioned) are found on a mere two pages of text.

The book, sadly, is a bust.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mayra Calvani -- TCM REVIEWS, December 2, 2006

By 

Mayra Calvani "Multi-genre author and reviewer." (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: The Mysteries of Grammar and Punctuation Revealed (New, Expanded Eighth Edition) (Paperback)

Author Jane Straus takes the myth out of grammar and punctuation with this handy, practical, easy-to-use handbook fit for all ages and all levels of skill.

The book is divided into two parts and the well-organized, easy-to-navigate table of contents allow you to go exactly where you want to go. The first part covers grammar; the second part covers punctuation, capitalization, and writing numbers. A the end of each part there are exercises to test your knowledge and skills, and to ensure you've learned the topics discussed. All topics are illustrated with key examples for clear understanding.

Here's an overview of Part I: Finding Subjects and Verbs, Subject and Verb Agreement, Pronouns, Who and Whom, Whoever and Whomever, Who vs. Which vs. That, Adjectives and Adverbs, Problems with Prepositions, Effect vs. Affect, Lie vs. lay, and Effective Writing.

Overview of Part II: Spacing with Punctuation, Periods, Ellipsis Marks, Commas, Semicolons, Colons, Question Marks, Exclamation Points, Quotation Marks, Parentheses, Apostrophes, Contractions, Hyphens, and Dashes.

Jane Straus, seminar leader and lecturer, is a recipient of the Outstanding Young Woman of America award and has conducted workshops for thousands of people on the topic.

Whether you're a writer, editor, student, teacher, or simply someone who wishes to "tune-up" your grammar skills, this book will be an indispensable tool you'll want to keep in your reference shelf. Most importantly, this is a grammar and punctuation book you won't hate.