19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Basic and Practical, September 1, 2010
This review is from: Sharp Writing: Building Better Writing Skills (Kaplan Sharp Series) (Kindle Edition)
Kaplan's "Sharp Writing" is a practical overview of grammar and usage, but is quite basic. If you are looking for a book that will provide you with more "Style" advice than grammar, I would recommend
Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing). I would recommend the Kaplan book for anyone looking for quick refresher or short reference work.
The first section of the book provides an overview and refresher on the different grammatical categories, strucure/usage, puncution, tone, etc. The chapters in the first section cover very basic items such as "what is a noun" or "what is a verb" to a bit more complex topics such as "intransitive verbs," phrase/clause interaction, the passive voice (and its uses), and appositives. Each chapter uses the "Building Block Method" wherein Kaplan provides you with a basic quiz at the beginning, then information, and then a further quiz at the end of each chapter. This does help the reader to understand where their knowledge is lacking and pay more attention to those areas as they go through the book.
The second section is titled "Sharper Writing Stages" and shifts the focus of the book from grammar to strategies on actually writing your paper/book/etc. Kaplan provides a standard overview of common topics such as: brainstorming, outlining, journaling, researching, and paper structure (intro, body, conclusion). There is also a moderately detailed refresher on sentence structure, word choice, quotation usage, and revising your paper through editing (I particular found the editing symbol chart helpful). As with section 1, there are practice questions and quizes, but I found those less helpful in this section as the materical was not as rule based.
The third section is titled "Sharper Writing Formats" and focuses on putting the previous sections into practice in such ways as business writing, letter writing, etc. The section provides overviews of topics such as resumes, business emails, academic writing and personal letters, and provides formats and tips for each.
Ultimately the book is similar to what most people will probably cover in 11th or 12th grade English or possibly English 101 or 102 at University. However, if you are like me, you probably do not remember everything you learned in these courses and this book serves as a helpful reference and quick refresher.
Kindle Note: I chose to read this book on Kindle for PC instead of my Kindle because there are a lot of diagrams and questions that were easier to view and use in a larger format than my Kindle screen.
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