Grammar Book

Hello I'm Becki!

Not sure if this should go here.....

I love to write but I know that my grammar is terrible. Specifically punctuation, I never really learned how to do it properly and was always too scared to ask my teachers at school. Now I am out of school and in University and no longer have an English teacher. I've asked my mum, who has an English degree, but she is almost as bad as me! lol
So I have posted a chapter on the forum and some members are helping me with punctuation. I think I am gradually getting a grasp on it, however, I am thinking about investing in a book that will teach me grammar.

I have been looking on amazon but have no idea, what sort of book I should get or if any of the books are actually good.

So I was wondering if anyone could suggest a Grammar book that would help me get better?

Thank you!

Eats: shoots and leaves is an excellent and funny grammar book and I found it helped me with my grammar, even though I generally have a good hand on it.

I have a lovely little book that I think I gave to a friend and need to get back, but it's called Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. It's thin, concise, and helps you out with a lot of different things, even those words that get confused with other ones or are hard to spell.

It was recommended to me by someone I trusted, but I don't quite remember who, so it's relatively well known as well, and has been around for a while. ^_^ Ummm, it's nice because you can even just go through and read it, not like a text book. It kind of has like little paragraphs on every rule. Anyways, I'm quite fond of it so I'd recommend that one to you! ^_^

Yes! Elements of Style is SO AWESOME. I love that book! Such a little boo,... so lovely.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fo ... 020530902X <-- Buy it there. Now. It's really the only grammar book I can read and reread and still love completely.

Strunk & White is alright, but there's a lot of problems with it. They basically lay down a lot of rules that aren't particularly supportable in writing.

From: http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/ar ... 01604.html

Regular readers will be able to name my least favorite book in the world: it is Strunk & White's The Elements of Style, a horrid little compendium of unmotivated prejudices (don't use ongoing), arbitrary stipulations (don't begin a sentence with however), and fatuous advice ("Be clear"), ridiculously out of date in its positions on appropriate choices among grammatical variants, deeply suspect in its style advice and grotesquely wrong in most of the grammatical advice it gives. (Don't make me go on; if you want an hour-long lecture on the demerits of this beastly little book, that can be arranged.) One of the things that worries me about the number of Americans who seem to treasure this little piece of trash, now in its fourth edition since it was revived in the 1950s after E. B. White undertook a light revision of an earlier version by Strunk and added a chapter on style, is that they just don't realize how absurdly old it is — that it is pretty much not even a work of the last century, but rather reflects ideas formed in the one before that.

Although I think it's better than she reckons, I still think there are better options out there and not everyone should worship Elements of Style.

This is another option:

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters- ... y_b_text_b

"Merriam-Webster's Guide to Punctuation and Style "

It's more modern and will reflect contemporary grammar much better However, I can't vouch for it personally since I don't own a grammar book myself.

Just remember: grammar is not a bunch of rules set down from the heavens thousands of years ago by a High Authority Of English. Grammar is always changing with the times, because languages adapt to new times and new uses. It's dictated by actual contemporary usage and prevalence. (Example: Elements of Style was written before women had the vote, and thus Strunk tells you to omit "they" in particular sentences and replace it with "he" because, after all, at the time, he didn't think women deserved a place.)

Still, the phrase "Be clear" is lovely in its advice. ^^

Write Right and Rewrite Right by Jan Venolia.
And Eats, Shoots, and Leaves is wonderful as well.

Thank you!

I went along to my university library today and managed to find, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. As well as Elements of Style. So that was kind of awesome! I can see how I like them before I buy

I will check to see if your other suggestions are in the library.

I was sat on the bus today my nose stuck in grammar books lol