4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Writer's Approach to Grammar, July 21, 2008
This review is from: The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language (Paperback)
Excluding the tiny cohort of grammar sticklers, most of us find the subject drab, obtuse, and mind-numbing.
As a freelance writer, journalist, and teacher, I particularly find the traditional study of grammar to be hardly worth the effort (and test scores would indicate the approach is ineffective for the large majority of students.)
Writers do not worry whether they're using a comparative or superlative adjective when they write. They write to convey meaning and emotion.
In short, we need a teaching method for grammar that focuses more on applicability than classification. This book provides just that.
It contains wonderful sample lessons, a clear instructional calendar, and tips on how to teach grammar quickly and in meaningful ways. In short: use the writer's workshop method (also called conferencing) to teach grammar. Teachers hook their students by sharing compelling, risky personal narratives from their own lives.
Teachers intentionally write these narratives down in grammatically incorrect ways. They then guide their students through correcting the mistakes and improving the writing until it pops off the page.
Why this approach? The authors finds sharing stories hooks the students. They also discovers students feel less pressure when they practice on their teacher's faulty writing first. It shows that even seasoned writers don't expect perfection from the first draft.
My only complaint is the book is not very user friendly. You have to read it cover to cover with a high level of engagement to extract all its meaning and well-honed advice.
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17 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading Title, July 31, 2006
This review is from: The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language (Paperback)
I acquired this book because of the title: "The Power of Grammar." The list from which I was choosing left off the subtitle, "Unconventional Approaches to Conventions of Language."
That would have been a clue that basically the authors, who claim a love for grammar, actually see conventions of "received" or "standard" English as restrictive to voice.
Some conventions they decry are the standard "do nots" like do not begin a sentence with a conjunction, do not split an infinitive, and do not end a sentence with a preposition. They model their contempt for such convention. On two pages, four sentences and one paragraph began with conjunctions. (As a side note, the same two pages saw a simple series punctuated inexplicably with semicolon and a faulty use of parallelism with compound sentence later. Also on the next page, an introductory adverbial clause was left unadorned by comma.) Okay, I'm probably just being picky. The book addresses fanatics such as myself and notes that we are "erroneous" in our views.
I find it interesting that the authors and myself have read the same texts on achievement gap but have come to radically different viewpoints. I believe that we must maintain an achievable standard of English grammar so that it might be mastered by all, and the ruling class cannot simply change the rules to maintain a barrier of social mobility. The authors seem to understand that viewpoint as they give voice to the concept, but then they disregard those conventions in favor of individual voice, which is important I grant. However, I'd have entitled the book to reflect that emphasis.
One of the examples the authors use in the book as an exceptional use of fragments in writing is this: "When Chris caught you in tackle tag, he lowered you to the ground gently, so that you lay in his arms for a minute, looking up at him through the tangle of yellow hair, the green lawn wet below you. Sticks in your back. Blue eyes laughing at you. Wild knowledge in your heart." I would argue that while it's very poetic, the structure requires the reader to re-read. First, you're looking up at the tangle of yellow hair, then you're looking at the green lawn wet below you?
I don't understand why the same passage could not be just as poetic using conventional style. For example, "When Chris caught you in tackle tag, he lowered you to the ground gently, so that you lay in his arms for a minute, looking up at him through the tangle of yellow hair. The green lawn wet below you sticks in your back. Blue eyes laugh at you. Wild knowledge floods (or pick any more appropriate verb) your heart."
Just my opinion.
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