Master English Grammar in 24 Hours teaches people exactly what they need to know about usage and mechanics--fast. The authors' comprehensive groups of advanced use-case examples let students quickly develop a finely-tuned understanding of scholarly expression without having to work through lengthy practice exercises. With this book, you can:
- Distinguish yourself with polished writing and speaking
- Understand difficult rules of usage, even if you're a beginner
- Easily locate, learn, and review important concepts and guidelines
- Rapidly improve scores on the grammar portions of the SAT and ACT
From the introduction:
Why should I study grammar?
For one thing, doing so will enhance your ability to communicate. Logical, orderly expressions are, after all, easier to understand than illogical, disorderly ones. In addition, writing grammatically will encourage you to organize your thoughts and carefully consider what you're actually trying to say. That is, understanding grammar improves not only your expressions but also the thinking that underlies them.
Another reason: few people will take you or your writing seriously if you make obvious usage mistakes. Poor expression suggests ignorance, carelessness, and shoddy thinking in the same way that rigorous expression suggests knowledgeability, attentiveness, and intelligence.
Finally, people assume that sloppy writers will produce substandard work in general. Consider the following:
- CareerBuilder, which operates the largest employment website in the United States, conducted a nationwide survey of more than 2000 hiring managers. The survey indicates that 61% of employers would "automatically dismiss a candidate from consideration" because of typos on a résumé.
- In a Harvard Business Review article, CEO Kyle Wiens bluntly explained his willingness to reject qualified job applicants on the basis of grammatical errors, claiming (1) that people who don't care about writing tend to be flippant about other important things and (2) that "people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing."
Who can use this book?
Any proficient English user who knows little about grammar. Being familiar with basic grammatical terminology helps, but it isn't crucial. We tried to achieve accessibility and compactness without resorting to oversimplification, so that even beginners could easily, quickly, and thoroughly understand even difficult concepts.
Mastery in 24 hours? Really?
Yes, really. Even students new to the subject should achieve a thorough understanding of English grammar after 24 hours of study. Those already familiar with the main terms and concepts will take considerably less time.
What does this book cover?
We addressed everything we thought a typical English user might need to know to construct logical, orderly expressions. Much of the material, unfortunately, is simply not taught in schools or adequately addressed by books students normally use.
What does this book NOT cover?
- We're assuming the reader is a proficient speaker, so the book doesn't specifically address idioms.
- This book isn't a style manual. It doesn't go into excruciating detail about when numbers should be expressed with words instead of digits, whether "the" should be considered part of a title, or why some people write "A.M." (but not "A.D.") in small capitals.
- We left out material we think has no practical value, even if other grammar books usually address it.
Can I use this book to prepare for the SAT or ACT?
Yes, both have grammar portions. If you understand everything in this book, the grammar questions on the SAT or ACT will seem very easy to you.
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About the Author: Michael Princeton is a computer scientist specializing in linguistic artificial intelligence.
Susan Armstrong is a retired language instructor.
