Customer Reviews

Grammatically Correct

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book based on customer reviews after browsing through grammar books on amazon.com. It has certainly more than met my expectations. There are few grammar books that you can pick up and can't put down. Anne Stilman in "Grammatically Correct" has forged a new style in presenting information that is both enjoyable to read and provides the necessary rules. This book literally breezes through the basics of spelling, punctuation, grammar and style that meets most of the needs of both writers and editors, yet at the same time holds itself up to the highest standards. The book itself is printed on high quality paper, and has a well-thought out layout and lots of examples, often using passages from well-known past and contemporary writers to illustrate a point. What a departure from all the other grammar or style books I've read!

Some books never go out of style, rarely become dated & endure as useful, understandable & applicable, GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT is one of those.

My copy is flagged at the problems I just don't seem able to remember, underlined where I consistently err. It has taken on a well-worn look as I refer to it repeatedly while I edit, making sure that what I've written is as polished as I can make it.

All those English classes we took at school become forgotten as we daily use our language & become so familiar with it that we don't realize how idiosyncratic is our style, how we perpetuate grammatical glitches, consistently misspell, & pepper our prose with breathless punctuation.

GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT is eminently user-friendly & definitely one of the best books I've found on what good writing looks like & how to attain it. (Ampersand (&) notwithstanding-that's my idiosyncratic stand!)

Despite what the book title "Grammatically Correct", this book is mostly about punctuation usages. Grammar is limited to a thin, single chapter. There are not sufficient materials on grammar to alert you on incorrect usages, let alone correct them.

I would recommend "Painless Grammar" over this title.

This book is so good, my teenage son has discovered that he can use it as a better reference than his textbooks. The book is neatly written with a clear concise style. In addition to grammar, the book is a great resource for questions about usage, punctuation and spelling. As a journalist I need to have resources such as this readily available. I keep this one next to Strunk and White.

I have found "Grammatically Correct : The Writer's Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar" as the ultimate reference for writers of all levels. Many who read this book would recognize the similarities with it and "The Elements of Style," but Anne Stilman's book covers more relevant topics and even gives readers quizzes to test what they have learned from the book. Not only it covers a great deal on topics such as grammar, spelling, style, etc., but it also covers punctuation, something that "The Elements of Style" unfortunately does not.

Although it covers a lot of topics, it is to the point without all the superfluous information that tends to make reading a tedious task. Stilman writes with wittiness as well as conciseness. She also deals with modern issues in today's writing such as writing "politically correct." To me, this book is the expanded ad updated version of Strunk Jr. and E.B. White's "The Elements of Style."

I highly recommend this book to the aspiring writer as well as the experienced one because this also serves as the definitive reference.

This book is a very good reference. It helped me greatly with my grammar problems. The author uses questions and answers so you can test yourself on what you learned, and it is very useful. She explains many common problems in grammar that most people want to know about, in plain English (no strange terminology like infinitive or something) and it is easy to understand. Also included in the book are passages from famous works that relate to what grammar rule the author is trying to make clear, and they are interesting and relevant to the material. It is sorted into chapters, so if you have a problem with something, you just check which chapter relates to your problem, look in the chapter, and it will be there! It has a lot of information about grammar; it is an AWESOME reference. It includes commonly misspelled words, variations on the English language, style, punctuation, grammar, of course, and more. I was thinking about buying one of the "dummies" books, but I am sure glad I got this one; it's better. It readily explains grammar and is good for kids as well as adults. So if you are thinking of learning good, interesting information about grammar buy this book, it's really good!

I am certain that this is an invaluable book for those needing writing help. Yet, there is an extreme drawback to this book, for no matter how well written this book may be, the paperback version is produced with a mere 8 point font throughout-making the book seriously unreadable.

If you need the writing help I suggest you spring for the more expensive version of the book, or better yet just buy the latest edition of Punctuate it Right! by Harry Shaw.

I bought this book because I was looking for a guide to grammar and some of its trickier aspects. This book is direct and fairly thorough. It addresses many of the problems that people have with spelling, pronoun-antecedent agreement, punctuation use, etc. The instruction is concise and nearly always contains both incorrect examples and corrected examples of the particular topics. Some topics even include exercises to test the reader's knowledge.

I would have liked to have seen more exercises, but the book would serve its intended purpose just as well if it had no exercises at all.

This is a great book for brushing up on some of the finer points of grammar.

I found this book very helpful and also more fun to read than I expected a grammar book to be, because of all the funny examples drawn from famous writers. Unlike the last reviewer I found it well indexed and the information easy to find (although I would have liked it if chapter topics were shown at the top of pages so that you could find a topic by flipping through). It's certainly not as detailed as the Chicago Manual of Style but I don't think it's meant to serve the same purpose. As a quick reference on many confusing grammar and punctuation points and advice on good writing style, it's excellent - very clear explanations and a lot of humor in the examples.

I am a nontraditional college student, and have forgotten quite a bit about punctuation and grammar. I needed a good reference for my writing classes. This is a good source, and walks the reader through each concept, but you cannot find information quickly. For example, I needed to know how to set off the name of a ship; does it go in italics, or quotation marks? I had to guess and look under each to find the answer. The answers are there, and this book has become valuable, but it needs a better index.