Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English [Mass Market Paperback]

Patricia T. O'Conner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1573226254 | ISBN-13: 978-1573226257 | Publication Date: July 1, 2003

This deliciously witty, delightfully down-to-earth guide has evolved into a backlist classic, teaching the basics and subtleties of the language-without the kind of jargon that tempted you to cut your high school English class.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written by Patricia T. O'Conner, an editor at the New York Times Book Review, Woe Is I gives lighthearted, witty instruction on the subject most of us dreaded in school--grammar. Discussion is brief and concise, and much more engaging than the grammar books you may remember. With chapter titles such as "Woe is I: Therapy for Pronoun Anxiety," "Your Truly: The Possessive and the Possessed," "Verbal Abuse: Words on the Endangered List," "Comma Sutra; The Joy of Punctuation," and "Death Sentence: Do Cliches Deserve to Die?," O'Conner proves that even grammar can make for entertaining reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This grammar book has a twist?it's fun. O'Connor, a copy editor and book reviewer for the New York Times and guest columnist for William Safire, gives readers a witty and humorous look at grammar and the oddities of the English language in a way that doesn't intimidate or bore the reader. Chapter headings offer such gems as "Plurals Before Swine," "Comma Sutra," and "The Compleat Dangler." And what makes this book such a pleasure to read are whoppers of sloppy usage such as "Born at the age of forty three, the baby was a great comfort to Mrs. Wooster" and cliches like "mass exodus. As opposed to an exodus of one? In most cases, exodus alone is enough." Highly recommended.?Lisa J. Cihlar, Winfield P.L., Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573226254
• ISBN-13: 978-1573226257
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia T. O'Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review, has written five books about the English language--the bestselling Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English; Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language (with Stewart Kellerman); Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing; Woe Is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English; and You Send Me: Getting It Right When You Write Online (with Stewart Kellerman).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled - this is a seriously GOOD book!, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (Hardcover)

I've owned WOE IS I for many months now. It never crossed my mind that someone could be misled by the title; in fact, that's what attracted me to it in the first place. I just skimmed over several of the recent reviews at this site and I'm appalled at the prissy comments about the author's "authority". Well, if this country has any standards left with respect to grammar and usage, I'm betting you can find them at the New York Times. That's where Ms. O'Conner learned her trade, and that's a good enough recommendation for me. This book is useful in my line of work - social science research - week in and week out. I HIGHLY recommend it to all types - students, business people, and anyone else who wants to say what they mean.

76 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Opposites Converge, February 15, 2003

By 

Bruce Kendall "BEK" (Southern Pines, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (Mass Market Paperback)

Grammar and fun. How odd those two words look in such close proximity to each other. Granted, Fowler can be amusing at times, particularly when he's in full peevish mode and attired in full curmudgeonly armor. Mencken certainly summons up a fairly regular chuckle, when dealing with topics related to English/American usage.

But if you're like me, you tend to gloss over those exceptions and hearken back to 9th and 10th grade English classes, featuring Messrs. Strunk & White, supplemented by the latest book of torture published by McGraw Hill, with an exercise book on top of that. Ugh!

I wish now that Ms. O'Conner's witty, 227 pg. text had been available at that time and that I would have had English teachers enlightened enough to use it, even if only as a supplement.

"Woe is I" is a pleasure to read. She accomplishes that rare deed of sallying forth against the convulsive, recalcitrant, obfuscating, hydra-headed monster that is English Grammar and actually coming out of the battle victorious.

She accomplishes this through sheer force of wit. This is not your typical handbook of style, as you might glean from reading over the sample pages. That will give you an idea of the charm and humor that Ms. O'Conner brings to bear on various grammatical bugaboos. Some of my favorite examples: "Back to the drawing board. 'Back to Roget's Thesaurus.'" "Agree to disagree. 'People never really agree to disagree. They just get tired of arguing.'" "Bite the bullet. 'Save your teeth.'"

This book is helpful, no matter what your level of English proficiency. I recommend it to students, writers, lovers of language, Reference book junkies, word-freaks, ESL teachers, English teachers, teachers in other disciplines who need help in grading papers or to anyone else who wants to brush up his/her grammar.

BEK

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Really in Plain English, February 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (Hardcover)

This is the only grammar book I've seen that's written in plain English. You don't have to know a single technical term to understand it. It's amazing how Ms. O'Conner can explain such complicated things as subjunctives or dangling modifiers in simple language that anyone can understand.