Customer Reviews

How to Speak and Write Correctly

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This little book at under 150 pages is practical and precise.

If you've forgotten your grammar lessons, it begins by explaining the rudimentary parts of speech: noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb.

Then it move on to the sentence. What makes a sentence a sentence and not a clause; and just what is the difference between a clause and a phrase. Do you know!? I do now! Joseph Devlin tells us, "Apart from their grammatical construction there can be no fixed rules for the formation of sentences. The best plan is to follow the best authors and these masters of language will guide you safely along the way."

The essential paragraph allows you to contain all the thoughts on a single idea in one area and then blessedly separate it from the next bit of writing. "A solid page of printed matter is distasteful to the reader, it taxes the eye and tends towards the weariness of monotony..."

There is a chapter devoted to figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, allegory, synecdoche, metonymy, hyperbole... Really essential components to make writing interesting.

Then Devlin delves into puncutation.

You get the idea, a concise book that covers a truck load of good grammar taught well.

This seems to be a pretty comprehensive guide to English grammar which is to the point. There are plenty of useful examples and it covers common mistakes as well as how to write and speak clearly.

Best of all it's free. What's not to like?

It's been probably over 20 years since I've had anything resembling a lesson on grammar or proper sentence construction, so I looked at this and thought, hey, a free book - why not?

The book shows a bit on the age - proper use of the word "thou," for example (however, I think we should bring it back.) However I did find it useful to read and review to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes for the last 20 years, and thus, feel like an idiot.

The best part is that the book's free, which makes it go from "I'd never buy this" to a "must have," even if it's for quick reference.

This book was pretty good, although a little out of date as other reviewers mentioned. I can't complain too much, since this book was free, but it lacked a lot from the missing illustrations. In several sections the examples were completely omitted, most notably the section on letters. This really took away from the book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SN6IO6/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

I gave up on this book at the 9% mark. It is severely obsolete, and in some areas it is incorrect and was incorrect even when it was written. I strongly recommend that it be abandoned by anyone who desires to write and speak correctly. There are many good, current books on grammar and mechanics. This book speaks of rhetoric as if it were some kind of monster; the truth is that the meaning of rhetoric has changed over the last 2500 years, and at present a good working definition is "the art of speaking and writing clearly and persuasively."

What needs to be addressed by the person who wants to speak and write correctly is, and I agree with the author on this, grammar, using a mixture of descriptive and prescriptive grammar. Descriptive grammar describes the language as it is used; prescriptive grammar describes language as it should be used. Both are subject to change; in fact, the only way to stop a language from changing is to kill it.

Do you want to improve your speech and writing? Then consider these things:

Who is my intended audience? What do I know about that audience?

What is my intention in this speech or this piece of writing? Do I want to inform, sell, entertain, inspire, or what?

Exactly what information do I intend to convey? How can I best convey this information to this audience?

What vocabulary should I use? Is this audience comfortable with the jargon of the topic? Is it necessary for me to explain at every step?

What format should I use? Is it appropriate to begin with, and/or insert, humor, or do I need to keep this extremely simple?

Are there visual aids that I can use? People remember more of what they're shown that they do of what they're told.

This book is not going to teach you these things, and I know that without reading it because it has bogged down so badly in grammar. You can find a better book than this.

If you want a boost in your communication skills, you'll appreciate How to Speak and Write Correctly. It isn't quite as fast as I expected, but if you devote a LITTLE time to it, you will improve the way you speak and write. Communication is what BUSINESSES NEED more than any other skill these days. Make yourself more valuable and learn to speak and write properly!

The book was received in a timely manner. I am a writer so it has come in handy. I had this book loaded onto my Kindle.

I love having this at the palm of my hand as a resource with all of the writing that I do. It was a great choice to download for my kindle.

Even for the free Kindle version, I found myself thinking, "I want my money back!"

This book is a laundry list of rules and regulations of writing, grammar and style that are incredibly outdated. And how can you trust a language coach who, in his effort to teach us to write clearly and using simple words, writes, "This book has no pretension about it whatever, -- it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, expatiating on the dogmas of style..."

Expatiating, indeed. lol

There are countless books out there that will help you improve your writing and knowledge of the English language. This definitely isn't one of them!

Yipes o' mighty why would peoples wannna write and speek when they can txt on the mobile phone? Smiley face, LOL.

Actually this is a fine but slightly dated book. I found it a little too simple and quaint for my tastes. I thought I held the minority opinion about this book but then I cheated and read the other reviews for this book. It turns out most people agree.

I must confess, I began writing this review only because I thought it would be a humorous premise to pretend that I could not write or speak correctly.
I changed my mind and decided that I am stronly in favor of any tool to teach people how to write and speak properly and should not make light of the book. It was worth every penny I paid for it on the Kindle.