Customer Reviews

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (Quick & Dirty Tips)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't have expectations about this book from the podcast because I only discovered Grammar Girl a few days before the book was released. I like books about usage, and I enjoyed this one. It's organized in chapters of related usage problems and the rules for the most frequent cases. For many issues, the book gives not only the right way to do it, but demonstrates common wrong ways too, and clearly labels them so you won't pick up the wrong way if you're skimming. Many of the entries include memory devices to help you remember what to do next time.

The drawings and examples were cute, but sometimes the references to Squiggly and Aardvark felt like inside jokes, but fortunately not to the point where I felt like the joke was on me. I didn't know if there were personalities for the characters that would have given me a deeper understanding of the examples they demonstrated, or if they were just generic illustrations.

The voice is consistent, and the delivery is short and sweet, or as the author puts it, quick and dirty. Nothing is belabored that shouldn't be, but each issue is adequately covered for most situations. If an item is controversial, the book mentions the controversy and gives an overview of the major arguments. Matters of style are also identified, even if the author has a strong preference for a particular way.

The last chapter, "Work It," is an unusual chapter for a usage book, and especially valuable. It gives writer-oriented tips for interviewing people, generating ideas, fighting writer's block, and proofreading. Some of the tips it gives are excellent, and in the right situation, may make the difference between success and failure. I would love to see that chapter expanded into a book of its own.

Who needs another book on grammar?

Well, to be candid, most of us. We all struggle with the usual problems like lie vs. lay, affect vs. effect, and where to insert commas. In terms of these basic grammar questions, Mignon delivers the goods. In the guise of Grammar Girl she provides simple, memorable lessons in ... well ... grammar.

The book is more than just a grammar guide. Go back and read the full title. Go ahead. I'll wait.

You see the part that says "For Better Writing"? That's the real meat of this book. Mignon isn't some dusty academic who wants to put you in your place and make you feel inferior when you misuse a semi-colon. She's a talented writer who wants to help you improve your writing. Tucked in among the tips are dozens of ways to make your writing stronger and more engaging. She even covers writing for blogs and Twitter.

Last century we had Strunk and White as guides. This century we have Mignon.

This book was created by a woman who runs an active podcast. That is, she is used to doing weekly little "tips" about how to handle a grammar situation. That's very cool in a quick-blurb world, but you can really see those roots in this book. There's no real coherence here, and if you pick the book up looking for help with a given situation you'll have to dig to find the answer. One chapter is called "I'm So Stylish". What is that about? Apparently it's about writing "I'm sooooooooooooo happy" and that not being good grammar. Would I have ever thought to look in that chapter for that information? Would I have ever really wondered if spelling so with 18 Os was correct?

The book is cute. If you read little snippets every day - perhaps as a "bathroom book" - you're sure to pick up some tips here. You learn about "that" vs "who". You learn about "like" vs "as". You might think a lot of these differences are minor. If you do a Google search you're sure to find people using every mis-spelling that exists, and breaking every grammar rule. However, it all comes down to being professional to your audience. If you continually mis-spell "existence" maybe 50% of your readers won't care - but the other 50% will be more and more turned off by your repeated mistakes.

If we want to communicate clearly, it certainly is in all of our best interest to learn the proper rules and to try our best to follow them. I'm sure we can all name awful websites we have been to where the grammar was so awful that we could not follow what the person was saying. There are of course different degrees of this problem - so the more clearly you can write, the better!

So in general I agree greatly with the premise. I think we should all learn to write more clearly. I just have found that convert-to-book-from-the-web books tend to suffer in the organizational area. I recently read another book from a "popular blog turned into a book" and it had the exact same problem. It had lots of random tips sort of loosely put into chapters.

A fun read, but I would definitely get other more clearly organized books on grammar for your daily use and education.

I rather liked the informal style of the book and found most of my queries were answered in an easy to understand manner. Having said that, the Kindle edition does not have a table of contents and the naming conventions used in the book make it difficult to find information quickly. If you're going to release an electronic version of a book whose purpose is to be used as a reference item, it should have a thorough table of contents, an index, and it should be organized in a manner so that specific information can be found quickly. I thought the sum content of the book was great, it just needs a little help with accessibility.

This review is reflective of Kindle edition of this book only.

For what it's worth I definitely consider myself to be in ongoing need of exactly this kind of assistance!

I've enjoyed the Grammar Girl podcast since its early days and was quite pleased to find the exact same kind of approachable, easy to digest help in er new book!

The tips are clear and concise, effectively driving home the point at hand.

Now that we have the book, I can spread the word to the people in my life who will most likely never hear the podcast.

Do you need to write a report or memo and don't want to look like a semi-literate goon in front of your boss or client? Get yourself this book. It does exactly what it claims to do: it offers you quick and dirty answers to your most vexing questions. It is not Lapsing into a Comma or Eats, Shoots and Leaves so if you're looking for long but elegantly phrased explanations you are not going to find it here. The author has given the reader a neat, well written tool for home or work and it's all you really need for correspondence that has to be right the first time.

Grammar Girl (a.k.a. Mignon Fogarty) has given us this rich book of collected advice from her awesome free podcasts of grammar tips, error-fixers, and all around good writing suggestions. And you know what? Even with the podcasts being free and all (and wonderful) this book is better!

For a long time I've been looking for a great little handbook to offer my composition and literature students as a replacement for and upgrade from the old standard, Strunk and White. Now Grammar Girl's Q&D Tips is here and I've already started telling them to buy it. Not only does Fogarty's wit and humor always shine through in her descriptions, but the tips here are dead-on and as approachable as any writing on grammar/writing rules I've seen. She's taken her smooth-talking voice and friendly delivery and translated it into a book that's fun to read. Buy this, share this, let people know about this book!

This book brings together a lot of useful information in a very readable format. How many grammar books would you read from cover to cover, for fun and self-improvement? This one makes it easy and fun to do just that.

If you're a person who is constantly annoyed by the grammatical mistakes you see all around you, you'll enjoy this book. Maybe you can purchase it as a gift for a relative/friend/coworker who struggles with the issues addressed here. It can also serve as a handy reference. On the other hand, if you're never sure when to use "affect" or "effect," or you would like to improve your language skills for business emails and other written communications, this book will help.

As an editor and author of my own grammar book, I always enjoy reading a colleague's book on grammar and usage. Grammar Girl has quickly become the go-to grammar expert and this book is a perfect reference guide that covers all the grammar basics written in an easy to understand format. Any writer wanting to brush up on those pesky grammar rules, will find it easy to find the answers in this book. You go Girl!
Karen Reddick, author of Grammar Done Right!

This is NOT a textbook! It is a casual read. That is why I LOVE this book (as well as the Grammar Girl podcast). If I wanted to fall asleep while reading about proper grammar, I would pick up a textbook. Instead, I prefer to be engaged and delighted. Mignon's upbeat and bubbly personality comes through in this book, which is what first attracted me to her podcast. I believe this would be a great supplement to any English class textbook!