Back on December 31, 2008 I reviewed Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips by Mignon Fogarty.
I loved it. Who knew how much grammar could be? Last year I received The Grammar Girl Devotional from Henry Holt and Company. I feel bad that it has taken me this long to write my review.
This book was meant to be read daily, one tip a day for 365 days. I don’t know why I had such a hard time sticking to that. I read a day, then forget about it. Then I picked it up again. There are some great tips in this book but it isn’t as fun as her first book.
There are a few tips on using the words “less” and “fewer” I found very helpful. Here’s an example:
Week 17 Sunday- I Wish There Were Fewer Things to Remember: Less Versus Fewer.
“Less and fewer are easy to mix up. They mean the same thing- the opposite of more- but you use them differently: you use less with mass nouns and fewer with count nouns.A count noun is something you can count. On my desk, I see books and M&M’s. I can count those things, so they are count nouns and the right word to use is fewer.I should eat fewer M&M’s.Mass nouns are things you can’t count individually. Again, on my desk I see tape and clutter. These things can’t be counted, so the right word to use is less.If I had less clutter, my desk would be cleaner.”
Then two days latter, there were exceptions to using “less” and “fewer”. There were also some facts about grammar and famous people who made grammar what it is today. These facts didn’t help me with grammar but they were interest.
This book is a great reference book. Mignon Fogarty made her grammar tips easy to understand and there is an easy to navigate, index at the end of the book to look up grammar tips. Since I have a poor memory, this really comes in handy. I really enjoyed learning more about grammar with this book.
4/5
Did you review this book? Please leave a link in the comments so I can post it here.
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