cover next page > title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject: cover next page > < previous page page_i next page > Page i Painless Grammar Rebecca Elliott, Ph. illustrated by Laurie Hamilton < previous page page_i next page > < previous page page_ii next page > Page ii Copyright © 1997 by Rebecca Elliott Illustrations copyright © 1997 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
All inquiries should be addressed to: Barron's Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Boulevard Hauppauge, New York 11788 International Standard Book No. 0-8120-9781-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 97-7370 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elliott, Rebecca, 1948 Painless grammar / by Rebecca Elliott; illustrated by Laurie Hamilton.
English languageGrammarStudy and teaching.007dc21 97-7370 CIP PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 98 < previous page page_ii next page > < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii This book is for Josh and Kate and Meg and Bill, Emily, Syman, Katie, Marshall, Hartley, Becca, Tori, Wesley, David, Ryan, Parker, Robin, Austin, Kacey, Tucker, and Miranda and all other kids who want to learn to write right without being bored to death in the process. < previous page page_iii next page > < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv Acknowledgments Rule number one of good writing is this: nobody's perfect. Every writer needs editors to give him or her suggestions, make improvements, and point out goofs. Don't be too scared (or too proud) to let other people edit your workthey'll help make you a better writer.
Thanks to these editors and advisors of mine: Peter Calingaert, Jim Clark, Jane Danielewicz, Donna Gulick, Emily Sutton, Martha Sutton, Bill Stevens, Joshua Zinn, and Victor Zinn. Special thanks to Richard Lederer, Seth Mirsky, Amy Van Allen and all the other great folks at Barron's, and my husband Jim. < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v Contents Introduction vii Chapter One: Parts of Speech 1 3 Noun Pointers 14 Pronoun Pointers 23 Verb Pointers 39 Adjective and Adverb Pointers 51 Conjunction Pointers 55 Preposition Pointers 57 Interjection Pointers Chapter Two: Building and Punctuating Sentences 67 69 Making Sentences 70 Sentences, Fragments, Phrases, and Clauses 76 Road Signs: Punctuation 132 Highlights: Abbreviations, Numbers, Symbols, and Emphasis Chapter Three: Agreement 153 155 Agreement Between Subject and Verb 164 Agreement Between Pronouns and Antecedents Chapter Four: Words, Words, Words 173 175 Wacky Words We Love to Misuse 200 One Word or Two? 201 Confusing Pears Chapter Five: Editing 211 213 The Top Goofs in Students' Writing 245 Getting It All Together: Editing a Paper Index 261 < previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Introduction Oh, goodyanother grammar book! Who needs another grammar book? Kids, that's who. A user-friendly, action- packed, fun-filled book for kids who want to learn to write well without atrophying their brains from boredom.
When my son was in eighth grade, I volunteered to help his language arts teacher by editing students' papers for their writing lab. It was a joy to go inside the kids' minds to share their thoughts and experiences, but I was distressed that many of them would not have realized, that this sentence contains a totally unnecessary comma. That's one reason I wrote this book. As I edited the students' papers, I began to wonder, is it possible to teach kids to love to writeand to love to write correctlywithout boring them to death? I believe it is, and that's the other reason I wrote Painless Grammar.
Kids, this book is for you. Chapter One is entitled "Parts of Speech," but I thought about calling it either "Writing Wrongs" or "Goofs Galore." As you become more familiar with the parts of speech, you'll also become more skilled at using them correctly and avoiding the many errors that sneak into students' writing. Chapter Two shows you how to weave all those parts of speech into sentences and how to tell a complete sentence from an incomplete sentence. Once you've written a great sentence, you'll learn in this chapter how to punctuate it correctly.
Try not to think of punctuation as a bunch of boring rules; think of it as a set of road signs-ways to help your reader navigate easily and comfortably through your writing. If you put punctuation marks, in weird places [as I'm-doing-here]: your reader, soon feels; lost not to "mention" confused and (exasperated). Chapter Three is on agreementverbs agreeing with their subjects and pronouns agreeing with their antecedents. After you see all the mistakes students make in this territory, I think you'll agree that agreement is a good thing! Chapter Four is entitled "Words, Words, Words," and it is a fun ride through some of the wackiest words in the English language and the ways we love to misuse them.
< previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii Chapter Five is about editing, which is a fancy word for cleaning up. Messy writing is like a messy roomunattractive and unpleasant. If you know what to look for, cleaning up your writing is easy and fun. Kids, I hope this book will help you write better and get higher grades in language arts class, but much more importantly, I hope it will help unleash your creativity, set your imagination on fire, and show you the pleasure that can come from expressing your ideas with clarity and style.
< previous page page_viii next page > < previous page page_1 next page > Page 1 Chapter One Parts of Speech < previous page page_1 next page > < previous page page_3 next page > Page 3 Noun Pointers What is a Noun? It is a word that names a person, place, thing, idea, or quality. Person boy, teacher, Josh, doctor Place Miami, city, countryside Thing house, tree, horse, bicycle, ice cream Idea democracy, truth illusion, fantasy Quality beauty, caring, hatred, boredom We use nouns all the time when we write letters to friends or papers for class. (For example, all these underlined words are nouns.) In the next few pages, we'll look at some mistakes that students frequently make with nounsand I'll give you pointers on how to avoid making those mistakes when you write. When to Capitalize Nouns Names of specific people CAPS: Tucker, Tori, Juanita, Denzel, the Stevens family, the Joneses NO CAPS: family, boy, girl, sister, cousin What about mom and dad? Capitalize them when you're calling your parent's name but not when you refer to "my mom" or "my dad." CAPS: Hi, Mom! Welcome home, Dad.
NO CAPS: My father and my mother are busy. Could your mom or your dad drive us to the movie? < previous page page_3 next page > < previous page page_4 next page > Page 4 Days of the week, months, and holidays, but not seasons CAPS: Monday, December, Passover, Easter NO CAPS: autumn, fall, spring, winter, summer Ranks and titles, but only when used with a particular person's name CAPS: This is Doctor Smith, this is Aunt Anne, and that man is General Bradshaw. NO CAPS: That man is my doctor, that woman is my aunt, and that man is a general in the army. Geographic Areas: cities, states, countries, counties, rivers, oceans, streets, parks, etc.
CAPS: North Dakota, Ohio River, Atlantic Ocean, Franklin Street, Umstead Park, Lake Jordan, Rocky Mountains NO CAPS: The ocean is deep. The mountains are high. < previous page page_4 next page > < previous page page_5 next page > Page 5 Regions of the United States, but not simple directions CAPS: I was born in the Midwest, but I grew up in the North. NO CAPS: I live on the north side of town.
Historical Periods CAPS: the Renaissance, World War II, the Middle Ages, the Civil War NO CAPS: It was a long war. We live in an age of computers. Religions, nationalities, races of people, languages, countries and adjectives related to those countries CAPS: Christians, Jews, Asians, Africans, Japanese, Arabic, France, French fries, Germany, German measles The various names for God and the names of sacred books CAPS: God, Jehovah, Allah, the Bible, the Koran NO CAPS: There were many gods and goddesses in ancient myths. Specific school courses, but not general subjects CAPS: I'm taking Algebra 101 and History of China.
NO CAPS: I'm taking algebra and history. < previous page page_5 next page > < previous page page_6 next page > Page 6 Names of specific schools, businesses, buildings, organizations, etc. CAPS: Apple Computer, Phillips Middle School, the University of Ohio NO CAPS: I want a new computer. That building is a middle school.
I plan to attend a university. Brand names CAPS: Chevrolet Camaro, Nintendo, Cheerios, Nestle's Crunch Names of planets, but not sun and moon and sometimes not earth CAPS: Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Earth (capitalized when you're referring to it as one of the planets) NO CAPS: The moon is full tonight. More than five billion people live on the earth. Letters that stand alone CAPS: U-turn, T-shirt, X-ray, an A+ in social studies class Names of specific teams and clubs and their members CAPS: the Atlanta Braves, the Republican Party, Republicans NO CAPS: I play on a baseball team.
Titles of movies, books, chapters, and articles CAPS: Jurassic Park, ''Tar Heels Beat Duke 102-96," Gulliver's Travels < previous page page_6 next page > < previous page page_7 next page > Page 7 NO CAPS: Little words (articles, conjunctions, and short prepositions) are usually not capitalized unless they are the beginning word: The Life and Times of King Joshua the Great they are part of the verb: "Thief Holds Up Bank" (Up is not a preposition; it is part of the verb to hold up.) BEWARE OF THE CAP TRAP Some students get Carried Away with Caps. They seem to think that every Word they capitalize suddenly becomes Exciting or Important. Don't fall into the Cap Trap. CRAZY CAPS make your work look Bad, Bad, Bad.
Making Nouns Possessive When we want to show that someone owns something, we use possessive nouns. The nose of Mary = Mary's nose The toes of Gary = Gary's toes To make a noun possessive, usually add an apostrophe and an s. Possessive Noun Juanita's cat Juanita the cat's tail cat Boris's mustache Boris < previous page page_7 next page > < previous page page_8 next page > Page 8 Most of the exceptions to this rule are old-fashioned or historical names: RIGHT: Jesus' parables RIGHT: Moses' tablets RIGHT: Achilles' heel If two people own the same thing, use an apostrophe and s for only the second person. Adam and Debbie's marriage (they share one marriage) Clinton and Gore's administration (they share one administration) If the two people don't own the same thing, use an apostrophe and s for both people.
Adam's and Debbie's toes (they don't share the same toes) Clinton's and Gore's careers (they don't share the same careers) Showing possession when the noun is plural If the plural ends in s (for example, boys) just add an apostrophe. If the plural does not end in s (for example, women) add an apostrophe and an s. One person, one item Two people, two items the boy's jacket the boys' jackets my parent's car my parents' cars my boss's hat my bosses' hats the woman's dress the women's dresses the child's toy the children's toys the passerby's glance the passerby's glances < previous page page_8 next page > < previous page page_9 next page > Page 9 Inanimate objects usually don't own things, but some possessives are okay.