Customer Reviews

Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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

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.

Patricia O'Conner has produced a jewel of a book in `Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English'. Perhaps the greatest strength in the book is the recognition that language is ever-changing and evolving. Thus, her rules are tempered with the reality that sometimes, that which is wrong today might not be wrong tomorrow.

To those of you in the know, 'normalcy' is one of those words that (which?) is actually an improper construct, made to be a viable choice by the fact that a lofty person (in this case, I believe it was a President) used it in public.

This book is filled with tidbits of information for any who are interested in the playfulness of language. I particularly appreciate the part of the book that talks about modern trends -- that which was once improper but is no longer, and those things which might be used but are still suspect.

Amusing stories and examples are scattered about the stories -- I would that my original English grammars would have been so light-hearted and easy to read. Perhaps that is the greatest strength of this book -- that it amuses while it teaches.

It is a short book, so don't be put off by the fact that you're actually reading something of the subject 'grammar', and be relieved to know that even the best of authors succumb to the occasional lapse. And I have praise for the author's resistance to hyper-correctivity, i.e., the tendency to correct oneself or others when the correction adds nothing to the meaning and questionable value in construction.

As Winston Churchill said, 'there are some things up with which I shall not put!'

One person I know recently wrote to me, referencing this book, 'Its best attribute is that it is an extremely pleasant book to read when it's about a topic with which we've been Pavlov-ed to find excruciating.' Below I describe a few of the chapters.

--Woe is I--
Therapy for Pronoun Anxiety
In this section, one learns the proper use for which and that, a problem that continues to plague me. Or is it which? The difference and confusion of it's versus its; it's a problem played out many times daily in writing. O'Conner goes into great detail about the most common and lesser known pronoun difficulties. It is something that I myself learned something from (or is that, from which I learned something -- well, that is the subject of another chapter).

--Plurals Before Swine--
Blunders with Numbers
In school it was relatively easy. To make something plural, simply add an 's' to the end. Or sometimes an 'es'. Or sometimes... And the rules kept getting more complex. What happens with irregular words (of which English is full to the brim -- oops, cliches are yet another chapter...). Some words and singluar and plural! Egad! You will also learn enough to be Vice President and then some -- how to you spell the plural of potato? Make sure you have your data straight. Ah, that kind of plural is covered later, too.

--They Beg to Disagree--
Putting Verbs in Their Place
One of the commonplace problems is in verb agreement. Sometimes it can feel like a major negotiation must take place for this happen, and the more complex the sentence and paragraph structure, the longer the negotiations can take simply to agree on a suitable venue for talks. Because verbs constitute such a major part of language, this is the longest chapter of the book. However, you will cover it all, past, present and future, active and passive. This is the heart of the matter.

--Verbal Abuse--
Words on the Endangered List
Words can be endangered for several reasons. The first reason is through constant misuse. O'Conner gives the examples of unique -- which technically means 'one of a kind' and is now a substitute for the word 'unusual' -- and the couplet affect/effect, which tend to be used interchangeably more and more. On the other hand, some phrases like live audience now make sense to us, whereas prior to the advent of recording instruments, it would have been redundant. O'Conner lists commonly misused words like dilemma, literally, and presently, couplets like accept/except, ago/since, and good/well. This section is actually quite long; there is a lot of confusion in the use of the English language. Additionally, there are sections for commonly mis-spelled words, words that could be one or two words, and other common bloopers like alot, which is used a lot.

--Death Sentence--
Do Cliches Deserve to Die?
We can all talk in cliches until the cows come home, but does that make them a bad thing? Sometime a well-reconfigured cliche is the best kind of writing. However, given that language is itself a symbolic and representative construct, to layer on additional symbols to that can create more trouble than it is worth. A well-devised metaphor can be a welcome thing, but be careful not to be excessive, and avoid mixing your metaphors! If you let the cat out of the bag too often the whole ship will go off the rails!

--The Nitty Gritty--
Particia O'Conner is an editor at The New York Times Book Review. She has taught grammar courses, and has 'subbed' for William Safire as a guest columnist while he was holiday. She has a style and wit about her that makes the study of grammar actually fun. This book is for an educated person who has trouble remembering some of the rules; it will make the reader feel good at knowing most of the rules, and enable the reader to laugh at common mistakes made personally and by others.

This book makes grammar fun - a near impossible task. It is a good gift for the person who has everything (save flawless command of English).

This is one of the most valuable 'Grammar Texts' I have read. In fact, as I write this review, I'm hoping that what I have learned will demonstrate itself (yikes!). This book is funny, informative, and makes learning very fun and easy.

Patricia O'Connor demonstrates the proper use of verbs, pronouns, plurals, how to write with ease, avoiding split infinitives, etc. Essentially everything one needs to know about the elements of the English language are in this text. Moreover, O'Connor's neat remedies and jokes make learning very fun. O'Connor emphasizes punctuation, verbal usage and misuse of certain words, especially certain verbs which often get confused (i.e. 'lay' and 'lie'). There is a lot in this book that is valuable to writers, students, and anyone who simply wants to sharpen their grammar skills.

If you have been wanting a book that is not your typical grammar text, then this book is for you. I highly recommend this book!

I am writing a brief review to warn other readers of reviews: I note that two people who thought this book unlearned based their remarks on the title of the work. This title, however, was used to make the author's point about correctness and hyper correctness on page one! How can you bad mouth a book and not even have read the first page? Buyer beware not only of the product but especially the reviewer of the product.

I can't get over how helpful this book is. I'm a college student and I use "Woe Is I" just about every day. It's the only grammar book around in plain English, and it's a lot of fun to read, too.

I can't tell you how much this book has helped me. It's the only grammar book I know of that's really in plain English. You don't have to know any technical terms to understand it. Instead of using a word like "gerund," for example, Ms. O'Conner might say "an ing-word like sleeping." It's also funny, believe it or not. I never expected to laugh out loud reading a grammar book.

"Quirkiness, ambiguity and irregularities that make natural language so exasperating also makes it so wonderful" is one of the sentences that Patricia O"Conner uses to start her grammarphobe's guide to better English. This is one hilarious way to re-learn the better part of grammar that we may have mis-placed back in high school. Have no fear, there is no diagraming of sentences. A refreshing new way to look at how our language works and doesn't work. Most of what Paricia O'Connor tells us is not new. It is written in a manner that delights us and with such wit. One chapter is "Plurals Before Swine: Blunders with Numbers". How can you not want to read this and figure out how you have been blundering with the plurals. The chapter that meant the most to me is the one about cliches,"Do cliches deserve to die?" for the most part yes. I love cliches, but if you overuse you flunk. The most helpful chapter was "Saying is Believing"'How to write what you mean; great suggestions to help us. Someone can read what we have written and really understand us. She gives us 13 principles to follow for graceful writing. Patricia O'Connor says that if you find a technique that works steal it- someday others may be stealing from you. A book for everyone and so much fun to read.

It's sometimes scary, the alien punctuation and word usage I see as an editor. Creativity is welcome in the story line, not in grammar. Patricia O'Conner's WOE IS I is a great help. I have begun sending a copy of her delightfully witty and very informative tome to each new client I accept. It has made my job so much easier.