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• Contents at a Glance
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• About This Book
• How to Use This Book
• What You Are Not to Read
• Foolish Assumptions
• How This Book Is Organised
• Icons Used in This Book
• Where to Go from Here
• Part I: The Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence
• Chapter 1: I Already Know How to Talk. Why Should I Study Grammar?
• Living Better with Better Grammar
• Deciding Which Grammar to Learn
• Distinguishing between the Three Englishes
• Using the Right English at the Right Time
• Chapter 2: Verbs: The Heart of the Sentence
• Linking Verbs: The Giant Equals Sign
• Completing Linking Verb Sentences Correctly
• Placing the Proper Pronoun in the Proper Place
• Lights! Camera! Action Verb!
• Getting by with a Little Help from My Verbs
• Pop the Question: Locating the Verb
• To Be or Not to Be: Infinitives
• Chapter 3: Relax! Understanding Verb Tense
• Simplifying Matters: The Simple Tenses
• Using the Tenses Correctly
• Perfecting Grammar: The Perfect Tenses
• Using the Present Perfect Tense Correctly
• Present Participles
• It’s All Highly Irregular
• Chapter 4: Who’s Doing What? Finding the Subject
• Who’s Driving? or Why the Subject Is Important
• Pop the Question: Locating the Subject–Verb Pair
• What’s a Nice Subject Like You Doing in a Place Like This? Unusual Word Order
• Find That Subject! Detecting an Implied You
• Striking Out on Their Own: Non-finite Verbs
• Masquerading as Subjects: Here and There
• Subjects Aren’t Just a Singular Sensation: Forming the Plural of Nouns
• When the Subject Is a Number
• Chapter 5: Having It All: The Complete Sentence
• Completing Sentences: The Essential Subjects and Verbs
• Complete Thoughts, Complete Sentences
• Taking an Incomplete: Fragment Sentences
• Could This Really Be the End? Understanding Endmarks
• Chapter 6: Handling Complements
• Being on the Receiving End: Direct Objects
• One Step Removed: Indirect Objects
• No Bias Here: Objective Complements
• Finishing the Equation: Linking-Verb Complements
• Pop the Question: Locating the Complement
• Pop the Question: Finding the Indirect Object
• Pronouns as Objects and Subject Complements
• Part II: Avoiding Common Errors
• Chapter 7: Getting Hitched: Marrying Sentences
• Matchmaking: Combining Sentences Legally
• Boss and Employee: Joining Ideas of Unequal Ranks
• Employing Pronouns to Combine Sentences
• Chapter 8: Do You Feel Bad or Badly? The Lowdown on Adjectives and Adverbs
• Adding Adjectives
• Stalking the Common Adverb
• Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs
• Avoiding Common Mistakes with Adjectives and Adverbs
• Chapter 9: Prepositions, Interjections and Articles
• Proposing Relationships: Prepositions
• Interjections Are Easy!
• Articles: Not Just for Magazines Any More
• Chapter 10: Everyone Brought Their Homework: Pronouns
• Pairing Pronouns with Nouns
• Deciding between Singular and Plural Pronouns
• Using Possessive Pronouns
• Positioning Pronoun–Antecedent Pairs
• More Pronoun Problems
• Chapter 11: Just Nod Your Head: About Agreement
• Writing Singular and Plural Verbs
• Easier Than Marriage Counselling: Making Subjects and Verbs Agree
• Choosing Verbs for Two Subjects
• The Question of Questions
• Negative Statements and Subject– Verb Agreement
• The Distractions: Prepositional Phrases and Other Irrelevant Words
• Can’t We All Just Get Along? Agreement with Difficult Subjects
• Part III: No Garage, but Plenty of Mechanics
• Chapter 12: Apostrophes
• The Pen of My Aunt or My Aunt’s Pen? Using Apostrophes to Show Possession
• Possession with Company Names
• Ownership with Hyphenated Words
• Possessives of Nouns that End in s
• Common Apostrophe Errors with Pronouns
• Shortened Words for Busy People: Contractions
• Using Apostrophes with Symbols, Abbreviations and Numbers
• Chapter 13: Quotations: More Rules than Revenue & Customs
• Scare Quotes
• Brackets
• Quotations
• Speech
• Punctuating Titles: When to Use Quotation Marks
• Chapter 14: The Pause That Refreshes: Commas
• Distinguishing Items: Commas in Lists
• Separating Adjectives
• You Talkin’ to Me? Direct Address
• Using Commas in Addresses and Dates
• Flying Solo: Introductory Words
• Chapter 15: Adding Information: Semicolons, Dashes and Colons
• Gluing Complete Thoughts Together: Semicolons
• Creating a Stopping Point: Colons
• Giving Additional Information – Dashes
• Chapter 16: CAPITAL LETTERS
• Capitalising (or Not) References to People
• Capitalising Geography: Directions, Places and Languages
• Marking Seasons and Other Times
• Schooling: Courses, Years and Subjects
• Writing Capitals in Book and Other Titles
• Concerning Historical Capitals: Events and Eras
• If U Cn Rd Ths, U Cn Abbreviate
• Giving the Last Word to the Poet
• Part IV: Polishing without Wax – The Finer Points of Grammar
• Chapter 17: Pronouns and Their Cases
• Me Like Tarzan: Choosing Subject Pronouns
• Using Pronouns as Direct and Indirect Objects
• Pronouns of Possession: No Exorcist Needed
• Dealing with Pronouns and –ing Nouns
• Chapter 18: Fine-Tuning Verbs
• Giving Voice to Verbs
• Making the Better Choice? Active or Passive Voice
• Putting It in Order: Sequence of Tenses
• Mix and Match: Combining the Past and Present
• Chapter 19: Saying What You Want to Say: Descriptive Words and Phrases
• Ruining a Perfectly Good Sentence: Misplaced Descriptions
• Keeping Your Audience Hanging: Danglers
• Avoiding Confusing Descriptions
• Chapter 20: Good, Better, Best: Comparisons
• Ending It with –er or Giving It More
• Breaking the Rules: Irregular Comparisons
• Never More Perfect: Using Words That You Can’t Compare
• Leaving Your Audience in Suspense: Incomplete Comparisons
• Spock was Better than any First Officer in Star Fleet: Illogical Comparisons
• Two for the Price of One: Double Comparisons
• Chapter 21: Keeping Your Balance
• Constructing Balanced Sentences
• Shifting Grammar into Gear: Avoiding Stalled Sentences
• Seeing Double: Conjunction Pairs
• Part V: Rules Even Your Great-Aunt’s Grammar Teacher Didn’t Know
• Chapter 22: The Last Word on Verbs
• Getting a Feel for Everyday Verbs: The Indicative Mood
• Commanding Your Verbs: The Imperative Mood
• Discovering the Possibilities: The Subjunctive Mood
• I Can’t Help But Think This Rule Is Crazy: Deleting Double Negatives
• Can’t Hardly Understand This Rule: Yet Another Double Negative
• Chapter 23: The Last Word on Pronouns
• Knowing the Difference Between Who/Whoever and Whom/Whomever
• Studying Improper Antecedents
• Matching Verbs to Pronouns in Complicated Sentences
• This, That and the Other: Clarifying Vague Pronoun References
• Its or Their? Selecting Pronouns for Collective Nouns
• Pronouns, Inc.: Using Pronouns with Company Names
• Chapter 24: The Last Word on Sentence Structure
• Understanding the Basics of Clause and Effect
• Playing Truant
• Spicing Up Boring Sentences
• Chapter 25: The Last Word on Punctuation
• Making Your Point Clear with Commas
• Saving Time with Ellipsis
• H-y-p-h-e-n-a-t-i-n-g Made Easy
• Slashing Your Sentences
• Part VI: The Part of Tens
• Chapter 26: Ten Ways Two to Improve Your Proofreading
• Read Like a Professional Proofreader
• Read Backwards
• Wait a While
• Read It Aloud
• Delete Half the Commas
• Swap with a Friend
• Let the Computer Help
• Check the Sentence Length
• The Usual Suspects
• Draw up a Checklist
• Chapter 27: Ten Ways to Learn Better Grammar
• Read Good Books
• Watch Good Television
• Read the Newspaper
• Flip through Magazines
• Visit Nerd Hangouts
• Check Out Strunk and White
• Listen to Authorities
• Review Manuals of Style
• Surf the Internet
• Build Your Own Reference Library
• Index