Customer Reviews

The Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing

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I'm a professional writer with a dirty secret: I don't know my gerunds from my dangling participles, but mostly go off of what feels right, thanks to a lifetime of voracious reading (and, of course, my AP Stylebook).

Grammar Girl to the rescue! She breaks down sometimes thorny grammatical questions in a real world, no-nonsense way. Although she herself is interested in a lot of the fiddly aspects of grammar, she writes (and podcasts -- this is a cleaned-up collection of past podcasts) for those who just want to know how to write better.

There may be someone who can't benefit by listening to Grammar Girl's audiobook -- although I certainly don't know anyone who couldn't -- but even they would be charmed by her presentation and clever examples.

A must-buy for anyone who has ever wanted to improve their writing, whether for professional purposes or just for personal ones.

Grammar Girl's, Quick and Dirty Tips is really a condensed, audio version of The Elements of Style, excluding the section, (in The Elements of Style) on the approach to style.

Though it is not as detailed as Strunk and Whites excellent work, and should not be considered a replacement for it, it is a worthy addition to it. The emphasis in Mignon Fogarty's Work is on punctuation and proper use of confusing word groups.

The one thing that I really like about this CD is that it holds my interest; with Fogarty's cheerful and perky voice, it is easy for me to listen to, and absorb, while on the road at work. This maximizes my study time.

The information is solid, and chock full of information that aspiring and experienced writers alike, will find useful. The more we both hear, and read about the elements of style, the more it improves our writing skills. Repetition after all is at the core of habit development.

Combine your listening time of this CD, with your study time of The Elements of Style, and you will be certain to rapidly increase your writing skills

I've enjoyed Grammar Girl's podcast, and this book is a delightful addition to my reference collection. As a former English as a foreign language teacher I wish this had been around during my teaching days. Each topic is a lesson in itself complete with excellent examples and no-nonsense explanations. My teaching days are over, but my love of grammar and learning are not. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good sense of humor and a nicely turned out sentence.

I really enjoy listening to Grammar Girl. She's not just for people who want to improve their writing! It's a very enjoyable short listen on topics of interest. The one big downside about the podcasts is that you have to listen to the sponsorship ads before and after the Quick & Dirty tip of the day. I think this CD (with no ads!) would make a delightful gift for anyone.

I was very disappointed in this CD on grammar.

First, the voice is so far from polished that it grates severely
on the ear. Second, I listened as far as the disjointed analysis of
affect/effect and just gave up.