Customer Reviews

The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being a native English speaker, my biggest concern about English grammar was during college when I was ensuring that my papers, exams, etc., were good enough to help me pull good grades. It wasn't until I began to pick up Spanish that English grammar grabbed more of my attention.

Learning a foreign language, ironically, can sometimes force you to better understand your native tongue; if for no other reason than comparison's sake. I've occasionally used English grammar guides and books, but found Susan Thurman's to be surprisingly approachable. Grammar books often scared me away, but not this one. Two of my favorite sections are, one, where Thurman compares/contrasts commonly confused words (then/than, etc.) and, two, her explanations about punctuation. Her examples are down-to-earth and drive each point home. Plus, it's small and easily portable. For these reasons, I rate this book 5 stars. If you are looking for a desktop reference for more professional needs, this MIGHT not be for you. However, I believe it to be sufficient for 90-95% of the time, depending on your needs.

This truly may be The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need. I am a tutor and have found this book indispensable; it's especially useful when coaching students for the SAT-II Writing exam and the English section of the ACT. Any grammar question you can possibly have seems to be in here, and it's very easy to reference. I can't imagine being without this book.

This well organized grammar is what it purports to be. Getting a high school student to use it is the trick. To my mind, it doesn't replace "Strunk and White," The Elements of Style: The Original Edition but it does the job.

This book covers most everything you learned in high school and college. It's not too big to carry with you and has a lot of helpful examples. It works very well as a good review for those things you have "forgotten" since you went to school. I would buy it again...

Good resource for writing! Easy to locate topics and easy to understand!

This book is well organized and written. It covers the very basics, but not adequate for a serious writer or perhaps even for many college graduates. I'm giving my book to my 10 year old grand-son, who I hope will use it through at least junior high school. Perhaps even through high school. It deserves 5 stars for that purpose.

I agree with the book's title. This book just worked out fine for my needs. The language Susan used in this book is simple and easy-to-follow. The example sentences are good and this book covers many common written-English gotchas.

This may not be the only grammar book you'll ever need, but it certainly is comprehensive and well written. I use it to teach high school and college students as well as adults who need grammar instruction. I recommend it.

This is a no nonsense book that gets right down to business. No fancy frills or filler. Just useful information. I recommend this book to anyone writing literature.

This book is a pleasure to read, employing a lively style while injecting just enough humor to keep the sector of the populace who are not grammar nerds attentive long enough to absorb valuable information. It is simultaneously clear without being simplistic and substantive without being pedantic, a neat trick in this day of watered-down everything. It also adheres to traditional grammar categories, which are typically more precise and generally to be preferred to modern reorganizing frameworks. In short, it reads like a "for dummies" book without oversimplifying anything or leaving anything out. I looked for omissions in content, and could find none of significance. The book is surprisingly comprehensive, but avoids the type of overly technical style which inhibits usefulness. I found only one error: in the example given for the noun version of objective complement (the author styles it "object complement), which is actually an example of a close appositive, not an object complement. Are you listening, Ms. Thurman? The relationship between a direct object and an object complement in a sentence must involve the action of the verb. It is not sufficient to make it an object complement simply for a subsequent noun to give more information about a direct object or rename it. The action of the verb must "flow through" the direct object to the object complement in order to satisfy the definition and distinguish it from an appositive. A correct example of an object complement would be: "Given his extensive experience in debate, I regarded Dan the more likely winner." In this example, "Dan" is the direct object and "winner" the object complement. By the way, the same mistake is found in the author's other book on grammar, The Everything Grammar and Style Book. Correct that, and, given its purpose, as far as I am concerned, you have a nearly perfect book! Thank you!