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Book arrived in the condition I ordered but did arrive the very last day within amazons acceptable delivery time.
But the real winner was knowing that the present tense of lie is lay in the past tense even though laid sounds better, but laid is the past tense of lay, not lie or lain. (Shhheeeeeeeeeeeeeez).You will learn to avoid misplaced modifiers such as: "Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating." You will also learn that "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens drops the indefinite article in the possessive: Dicken's "Tale of Two Cities." Learning where to put the quotation marks within a quotation and the punctuation at the end of a sentence will give you goosebumps.This book is so helpful it should be on everyone's desk for the rest of his or her life (instead of their lives--plural and incorrect). So, whom is correct. If you have to remember everything that you are supposed to do with your swing, you will become a golf statue for the entire (cross-out--entire) winter. No, wait.
He called; it's who. Just writing this is making me feel nauseous. I called him. No. I will make a concerted (no, scratch concerted--unnecessary word) effort to get my workplace to drop utilize, and/or, and semi-colons used as commas. Don't know if you should use whom or who. making me feel nauseated.Why just yesterday I learned the differences between lesser and fewer, continuous and continual, affect and effect, and among and between. No.
All you have to do is answer the question: Whom/who did you call. Kinda. I called he. You might up end up staring at the screen feeling overwhelmed afraid that you are using, "the truth is." when you know that you are giving yourself advance billing, which is bad, or is it--that is bad. Note: the punctuation goes outside the parenthesis.The thrust (no, erase thrust) POINT of what I am saying (no, get rid of "of what I am saying") the point IS that this is the most valuable tool you can have, next to the dictionary, and it is also portable. You will have FEWER problems with your English, if you buy this book.Thanking you in advance for your anticipated purchase.
(Of course, I wasn't supposed to write that).I promise Sts. (Who is also on first). Reading "The Elements of Style" can also intimidate you from ever touching the keyboard. I think it's (notice the apostraphe). Remember that who goes with he, she, they, and whom goes with him, her, and them. Him called.
Strunk and White to use fewer commas for the rest of my life. This book is to writing and the English language in the same way that a golf swing is to hitting the golf ball. I learned that the difference among would have been incorrect. Who called or whom called.
"Explicate, explicate, explicate," she would write in the margins of my papers.I wish I had a copy of Elements of Style back then. Vigorous writing is concise. I was told by a very dear English professor that my writing was convoluted. As Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it."
White were there to hold my hand and whisper in my ear, "Omit needless words. The Elements of Style is the best book I read in 2009 for one reason: it changed the way I approach writing.Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity - it's that simple. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." Sheer brilliance.This book is filled with so many pearls of writing wisdom: do not break sentences in two; use the active voice; place yourself in the background. When I was in high school, I loved using big, ten dollar words in my essays; I garnered the praises and accolades of my teachers and the envy of my peers. Yes, a grammar book. Say what you mean to say without all the thrills and frills and people will love you for it. Then I went to college and took a few English classes to see what they knew and WHAM.My ego was officially deflated during my freshman year. If only William Stunk Jr.
Chapter four, "Words and Expressions Commonly Misused," is a breath of fresh air for any writer who is serious about her craft.I can go on and on about this book. I know what you're thinking; a grammar book, Ebony. This was a revelation to me. and E.B.
This reference, thouh neary a century old, still wears well and is a must have item for anyoyne interensted in effective composition.
Its a condensed version of it and should not be a paperback choice of the original hardcover. This is not the Elements of Style 4th edition in paperback. Will be returning it.
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