Language Arts Books

This book has everything for AP Lit and Language students--sample paragraphs, sample papers, strategies for effective paragraph development and a dynamic grammar section, which my students laud for its clarity. I love the editing symbols. With class loads only increasing, Degen provides an answer for grading more quickly but also providing meaningful feedback for students. What more do you want from a reader of the AP exam?

As a parent I have found the first edition enormously useful in helping my son write his English papers. I really appreciate having a text with so many useful samples and checklists. All the teacher's expectations are printed in 175 pages! Boy is that rare!

I teach AP English and regular English and I have my students purchase a copy of this useful text. I no longer have to create and xerox sample paragraphs; sample papers; sample exercises in correcting coherence, style, and elaboration. I also spend less time correcting papers. The students turn to the editing key to intepret the practical symbols. No longer do I have to write out long explanations of sentences that awkwardly incorporate textual support, of paragraphs that lack organization; of topic sentences that are too vague, of sentences that stray off the topic of the paragraph. In addition, my students can follow the checklists for paragraph development and paper development. I appreciate that this text contains what I would have normally had to create myself.

As a first year English teacher, I have found this book to be an invaluable tool for teaching my students to write. The secret to Degen's method lies in his precise insistence on certain basic writing qualities through repitition of a single genre: expository argument. He employs such tools as showing details, solid topic sentences, clear organization of ideas, varied sentence structure, and a simple editing code to make location and correction of common student errors easy.

I love the sample student paragraphs, introductions, conclusions and whole essays--all annotated for students to model. I love the clear steps for constructing organized paragraphs and essays, the checklists for thesis statements, topic sentences, paragraphs, introductions, and conclusions. The students love the examples of how to fix common student errors: awkward textual support, poor transitions, inadequate elaboration, weak verbs, sentences off topic, etc. My principal appreciates the grammar resources and activities, the MLA guidelines, and the glossary of literary terms--he's a utilitarian! What's better is that students can purchase the text for under $15, less than the cost of doing all this by xerox machine.

What is important about Carol Simpson's wonderfully well-planned and illustrated book Daily Guided Writing for teachers of kindergarten through second grade, is that it is full of practical lessons in guiding writing plus it contains the work of several of her students. Not only does Simpson give grade by grade lesson plans on a daily basis, she encourages the use of her daily guided writing lessons in such a manner that does not demoralize the experienced teacher who has run out of ideas with which to stimulate his or her students. She realizes that there are "...those elementary teachers who feel they need some additional ideas for teaching their students how to become good writers. The ability to communicate with pencil and paper, or word processor, is an important skill for our fast-paced world"(Preface iii). Nor does she demoralize the most important person, the young student who is keen to explore new worlds and to express him or herself.

What is important about Carol Simpson's wonderfully well-planned and illustrated book Daily Guided Writing for teachers of kindergarten through second grade, is that it is full of practical lessons in guiding writing plus it contains the work of several of her students. Not only does Simpson give grade by grade lesson plans on a daily basis, she encourages the use of her daily guided writing lessons in such a manner that does not demoralize the experienced teacher who has run out of ideas with which to stimulate his or her students. She realizes that there are "...those elementary teachers who feel they need some additional ideas for teaching their students how to become good writers. The ability to communicate with pencil and paper, or word processor, is an important skill for our fast-paced world"(Preface iii). Nor does she demoralize the most important person, the young student who is keen to explore new worlds and to express him or herself.

What is important about Carol Simpson's wonderfully well-planned and illustrated book Daily Guided Writing for teachers of kindergarten through second grade, is that it is full of practical lessons in guiding writing plus it contains the work of several of her students. Not only does Simpson give grade by grade lesson plans on a daily basis, she encourages the use of her daily guided writing lessons in such a manner that does not demoralize the experienced teacher who has run out of ideas with which to stimulate his or her students. She realizes that there are "...those elementary teachers who feel they need some additional ideas for teaching their students how to become good writers. The ability to communicate with pencil and paper, or word processor, is an important skill for our fast-paced world"(Preface iii). Nor does she demoralize the most important person, the young student who is keen to explore new worlds and to express him or herself.

What is important about Carol Simpson's wonderfully well-planned and illustrated book Daily Guided Writing for teachers of kindergarten through second grade, is that it is full of practical lessons in guiding writing plus it contains the work of several of her students. Not only does Simpson give grade by grade lesson plans on a daily basis, she encourages the use of her daily guided writing lessons in such a manner that does not demoralize the experienced teacher who has run out of ideas with which to stimulate his or her students. She realizes that there are "...those elementary teachers who feel they need some additional ideas for teaching their students how to become good writers. The ability to communicate with pencil and paper, or word processor, is an important skill for our fast-paced world"(Preface iii). Nor does she demoralize the most important person, the young student who is keen to explore new worlds and to express him or herself.

I briefly borrowed Daily Guided Writing by Carol Simpson from another teacher. As a teaching resource for early writers (K-2), I found it to be quite useful and am purchasing my own copy. What pleased me most is that I didnÕt have to wade through inessential theory to get to the well-organized ideas and suggestions.

The book is divided into three sections: Experience Stories, Using the Daily News, and Journals as Guided Writing Lessons. All sections contain information I already knew along with ideas that made me think, ÒOf course! Why didnÕt I think of that?Ó It is designed with the understanding that your students are progressing in their writing skills throughout the year, so suggestions are given for modeled, shared, guided, and independent writing.

In addition to the main sections, Daily Guided Writing contains an appendix with reproducible Daily News (with and without illustrations), story starters, and suggestions for publishing studentsÕ stories. The appendix is a nice bonus in an already valuable book.

An excellent book and worth it for both native Cantonese speakers and people learning to speak Cantonese. I'm a native Cantonese speaker (and also fluent in English) and there are lots of slang phrases I have a hard time translating to English and this book helps with it. It should be noted that the vernacular in this book are often particular to the Cantonese in Hong Kong and may not reflect the vernacular of Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou.

There are a few mistakes in the book, however, but not a big problem. For instance, some characters that actually can be written in Cantonese are left "blank" (indicated by a square).

I recommend this book 100%

Excellent book. Though born and raised in Hawaii, Cantonese was my first language. During trips to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to visit family, my Chinese was understood perfectly and they marvelled at how well I spoke colloquial Chinese, but I never realized I wasn't speaking "proper" Cantonese, until I read this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone desiring to learn the usage and context of Cantonese as spoken on the streets of any Chinatown in the U.S. as well as Hong Kong & Guangdong.

Before you purchase a copy just remember this is a dictionary for CANTONESE slang. Cantonese being one of the many Chinese dialogues, obviously not every Chinese speaks Cantonese.
So having said that, I must inform everyone that Cantonese has the most vivid descriptions and usages of slang of the entire Chinese language (yet, being the least awful sounding). How do I know, because I was born in that wonderful city of Hong Kong! It's my native tongue, so trust me, we know how to slang in style~~ However, not all Cantonese slangs are entirely cruses nor are they offensive, you can use many of them safely in any environment. And this book presents the best of them in their original forms, including the usage of each slang and how to apply it within your speech. I am amazed by how accurate the dictionary truly is. The definations are all better than I thought they would be (as well as its entertaining value)! So if you are ever tired from repeating the same old phrases over and over again, then try adding a few Cantonese slangs into your speech to spice things up a little bit.

This is the type of cantonese colliquial I was looking for, one that doesn't just include all the usual phrases that are just slightly colloquial. This book goes all the way in terms of slang language. A lot of swearing and gangster talk is included. When I saw the book cover the first thing that came to mind was the hk movie 'young and dangerous'. Although I have to say ever since my mother brought another colloquial book from hk 'common cantonese colloquial expressions' I found that if you want the usual colloquial phrases like "ar chi don gum say" (ie pretending teeth to be used as gold - I highly take in/treausre every word you say) or "bou yee li" (ie cheating with another woman while married) it'll probably be better to get that book. This book is very slang although it does include many of the usual everyday phrases. The language in this book is probably not used by a majority of civilised hk people although many in hk do swear a lot but I guess they won't use that many variations of harsh expressions. I know this as I was born in hk myself and have visited hk once in a while as I live overseas. I myself do swear a lot in canto (although sometimes I try not to) so this book was suitable for me. It is good as a read for amusment and englightening to what can be said when hk people get pissed or are under pressure.. which is a lot of the time. The yale organisation of the book is very useful for those that can't read chinese as it is in alhapbetical order. It also helps you to pronouce the words if you figure out how to read with the sounding of the high and low tones. Overall I think that this book was well written and it isn't expensive for such a thick book as this I have to say.


hk.style

waited a long time for this to come out, and well worth it..the book is a fantastic contribution to Cantonese language study.
Cantonese is difficult anyway, and has very few good books for those learning the language, in contrast to Mandarin.
well done to the authors and publishers for sticking it out, anyone seriously studying Cantonese will need to learn the wonderfully rich and varied slang, and this really is a serious and valuable work, also rather amusing..thank you!.

"...he could hear a sound like rushing steam inside his skull. It was the rush of madness, the incorrigible madness of this place...they had attacked and reduced him to a grisly, spastic, convulsive length of live meat burning in the throes of neurons gone amuck and hauled his shriveled caracus off to some madhouse called the Rubber Room." Quick! Tap the subconscious recesses of your computer-like brain and identify the author. If you pulled up Tom Wolfe, A Man In Full, page 368, you are correct. ##### Just goes to show, I guess, that wordy prose in the hands of a famous writer is still acceptable. (Little wonder that Wolfe writes 700-page books.) Suffice it to say, such over-the-top wordiness submitted to a publisher by an unpublished writer would probably be tossed in the waste basket, quickly, or consigned back to the slush pile. ##### Essentialism venerates humility as its highest virtue. Consequently, when in doubt, it is probably best to adapt the James M. Cain breakout writing fashion dating way back to the 1930s with his The Postman Always Rings Tiwice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce. Brevity. Simplicity. Faithfully follow Commandment V of the Plot Development Ten Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Hyperbolize. ##### In this regard, The Dictionary of Concise Writing is a precious gem. It is a volume which should be on every book shelf, conveniently accessable as a constant reference by every writer.

"The Dictionary of Concise Writing" is a thorough examination of how to write tight, well-crafted prose. The book begins with a section on "Perfectibility of Words" which defines wordiness and provides various examples of the different types. The following section is "The Imperfectability of People" which discusses the prevalence and acceptance of wordiness in society.

The extensive dictionary actually begins on page 49. Each listed phrase or word combination is followed by suggested substitutions, an example using the "wordy" phrase, and the same example using the correct substitution. If you are wondering if your writing could be more concise or looking for a suggestion for a phrase that just doesn't feel right, or just want to learn better writing skills then this is the book for you. It is the largest and most useful compendium of excessively wordy phrases and practical, workable substitutions that I have had the pleasure of using. A highly recommended purchase for anyone doing any serious writing.

Robert Hartwell Fiscke has produced two powerful, literary weapons to guard against the growing trend of misspellings, tautologies and clichés as well as hackneyed metaphors, inane expressions and bloated or weak writing: The Dimwit's Dictionary: 5000 Overused Words and Phrases and Alternatives to Them (reviewed elsewhere) and The Dictionary of Concise Writing: 10,000 Alternatives to Wordy Phrases.

The key to good writing, according to Fiske who is also the author and publisher of The Vocabula Review (an online journal about the English language), is concise and precise writing ~ and that's just what he offers with these two excellent reference books.

Like Fiske's other guide, The Dictionary of Concise Writing can be used as a reference when needed or read cover to cover. In fact, reading it like a regular book is a good way to grasp the rudiments of good writing.

It comprises two parts: The first offers a wide range of advice on clear and concise writing, including practical suggestions for trimming the fat from sentences and adding more muscle to your work.

The second part is the dictionary, which presents several thousand common, verbose phrases and offers fresh, concise alternatives and real-world examples of useage.

A point made in the foreword by Dr Richard Lederer sums up the objective of the book: "Cutting the fat is probably the quickest and surest way to improve [your writing]."

The author expands on that point in the first chapter:

"Poor grammar, sloppy syntax, abused words, misspelled words and other infelicities of style impede communication and advance only misunderstanding. But there is another, perhaps less well-known, obstacle to effective communication: too many words.

"We often believe that many words are better than few. Perhaps we imagine that the more we say, the more we know or the more others will think we know, or that the more obscure our writing is, the more profound our thoughts are. Seldom, of course, is this so. Wordiness is arguably the biggest obstacle to clear writing and speaking."

As Fiske says, our language has become bloated with phrases such as 'at this juncture' or worse, 'at this moment in the history of my life' which simply translates as 'now'.

The Dictionary of Concise Writing is a must for any writer - amateur or pro - and anyone else wanting to communicate more effectively. But don't just buy it, keep it handy on your desk. If you're like me ~ you'll be reaching for it sooner than you think.

-- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com

This is an excellent book, and other comments here are more profound than my own thoughts, so I'll just say that I use this (and it's somewhat companion, The Dimwit's Dictionary) with regularity. Whenever I've written something that I think may be verbose, I hastily consult this to see if I've erred. It's truly an indispensable tool.

In "The Dictionary of Concise Writing", Robert Hartwell Fiske battles the veritable plague of excessive wordiness that threatens to make muddled mush of the English language. Well, maybe that's hyperbole. And maybe it's too wordy. In any case, in this book's first two chapters, "The Perfectibility of Words" and "The Imperfectibility of People", Fiske explains how, and hypothesizes as to why, we cloud our speech and writing with so many unnecessary words. The first chapter gives common examples of objectionably wordy sentences organized by part of speech and type of phrase. The second chapter discusses wordiness in business, legalese, journalese, academicspeak and its repercussions. Those chapters are followed by "The Dictionary of Concise Writing", whose 357 pages constitute the bulk of this book. The Dictionary lists common wordy phrases, alphabetically, and suggests more concise alternatives for each one. Every wordy phrase is illustrated with an example sentence and an improved version, in which the phrase has been replaced by something better. Fiske isn't claiming that these wordy phrases should never be used -although I gather that he might say that of some, but that we should express these ideas succinctly whenever it will do the job. Truthfully, writers probably don't notice when they use too many words, so we may not think to look for an alternative in this book. I find "The Dictionary of Concise Writing" most valuable as a reminder. Fiske's examples stick with me and make me more conscious of wordiness while I'm writing, especially of common redundant and overwrought phrases. There is a short interview with the author at the end of the book. Robert Hartwell Fiske is the editor of The Vocabula Review (www.vocabula.com), where you will find further interesting opinions and observations on the English language.

EXCELLENT book.... I cannot rate this one high enough.... at firstI thought it might have been expensive but it is NOT... the price is well WORTH it for what you get, Knuth is a master!

This book won't teach you TeX or Metafont. It might not even teach you all that much about particular algorithms (although Chapter 3 is one of the most detailed explanations of TeX's linebreaking algorithms published anywhere). Instead, this book offers a look behind the scenes.

Instead of beholding TeX and Metafont in their almost final versions, as published in _TeX: The Program_ and _Metafont: The Program_, respectively, you see them grow from the first design studies (when Knuth thought of TeX as a program for two grad students to write over a summer) to where they are today. You see how the collaboration between Knuth and Zapf on the Euler fonts worked, and you get another glance at many facets of Knuth's mind (And a beautiful mind it is indeed, even though it is entirely sane).

If you have any deeper interest in TeX and Metafont, this book is well worth the money.

This book collects numerous writings on TeX and typography from one of the greatest coumputer scientists of all time, Donald Knuth. Here you get to read fascinating inside information on Knuth's earliest development of TeX, how doggone hard he worked to get the letter "S" just right in his computer modern fonts, how to typeset his wife's recipes, and other bits of amazing minutiae. Knuth's style is breezy and funny in a wry-dry kind of way. (He's the kind of down-to-earth genius you'd love to take out to dinner.), and I was amused to find out that he seems to be a film buff. (His journal from his early work on TeX shows that he went to see "Earthquake," for goshsakes, "to relax"!)

This is a brilliant book, a book to treasure, and with its relatively short essays, a book to keep handy for bathroom reading. But then again, you may get addicted and just keep reading one chapter after another! If you love TeX (or LaTeX or AMS-TeX) as much as I do, you'll have to have this book. It's that good, and you will not only be astounded by his genius, entertained by the presentation, but you'll learn things too. Trust me on this one.

I got this book primarily to understand the word-wrapping algorithm in TeX,
and just that chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

Having said that... when explaining algorithms, I find Knuth concentrates so
much on the minutiae that the bigger picture is often lost; but that's just
his style and the exposition is always very clear. I've gone through parts
of TAOCP, so his style of teaching wasn't a complete surprise to me.
The word-wrapping chapter itself has a very leisurely style with a lot
of history and background, and it was a very enlightening and pleasant read.

The book itself is a selection of papers, articles, transcripts
of talks and working documents by Knuth on TeX and Metafont
(for the most part.)

Some chapters were not particularly interesting to me, they dealt with
specifics of tricky typesetting with TeX, which I feel has a clumsy
programming syntax.

Other chapters were great reading as they dealt with the historical
development of TeX and Metafont. For example, he writes about his collaboration
with Hermann Zapf on the AMS Euler typeface, which gives great insights
on how fonts were developed with Metafont. There are a couple of chapters talking
about his fascination with digital typography and his gradual descent (or is that
ascent!) into developing TeX and Metafont, and they were fun to read.

If you're a Knuth fan, you'll definitely want to get this book. The historical
material makes for nice, light reading, and if you get the urge, you can plunge
into the technical chapters and see some interesting gears within TeX
and Metafont.

This is a highly stimulating collection of essays about TeX, typography, the delectable art of programming, the joy of a beautifully constructed letter A, the world, the universe and everything. Knuth's style is, as always, eminently readable and possessed of a fluidity unmatched in technical writing this century. Definitely recommended.

A good dictionary of words that have their origins in anything to do with animals...this book is an easy and quick read for word lovers. It explains the origins of many words we use everyday, in an interesting, lucid manner. This collection also includes many names of people and flowers that are derived from animals.

This book would be even better if each word had a pronunciation guide, and if its usage was made clear with an example sentence. But this is a minor point as these two factors are well covered in the author's excellent website 'funwords.com'.

Another great point about this book is that it features a list of books and recommended websites for word lovers.

Martha Barnette is the best. Few others can enliven dry and obsure facts and information like she can - all her books about words should be required reading for anyone with any aspiration of becoming a writer. And she serves up way more than fodder for cocktail chatter. After reading her, you'll find yourself thinking differently about all the words around you.Check out her website... for a preview.

A friend gave me this book, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The author uses linguistic detective work to show us the tracks of all sorts of animal stories hidden inside familiar English words (like the little dog that inspired the word "feisty" and the caterpillar in "chenille"). She also makes it easy to learn some surprising new words. My favorite so far is "chatoyant," which means "shining like a cats' eyes"!

It is clear the author loves animals and also loves words. Her delight in both of them is infectious. Like everybody's favorite teacher, she clearly knows a lot about her subject, and communicates it with enthusiasm, plus a great sense of humor. I would recommend this book to any word lover, as well as to anyone else who's naturally curious about animals and the world around us.

I had no idea there were blackbirds in my merlot nor horses in all my jaded, hackneyed, tacky everyday observations. What a treat of a book! Of course, not that I was surprised...all Barnette's prior offerings-- the charming Ladyfingers and Nun's Tummies and A Garden of Words--are a must-have for writers and readers alike. Anyone who loves words will adore this treasure of a book. I've already learned more than I did in college! And I've just ordered it for three of my friends. Highly recommended.

I've looked through word origin books that were dry and hard to read, but Dog Days and Dandelions is a delight. There are stories to be told about where words come from; this author knows how to choose them and how to tell them.

I visited amazon to find more of her books, but they are out of print. I hope either some of you readers will sell your used ones, or that more will be written or printed soon!

New ideas for behaviour change specialists. Quite a lovely book.

This is a great book. It is easy to understand and use. We need more guides like this.

This book is a wonderful, practice resource for international development staff. Intuitively appealing, it gives good advice on campaign materials development. Most appropriate for non-researchers; great for field staff.

This book contains much valuable information for understanding risks and understanding how to get others to understand their risks. I am very pleased with the practicality of the theory behind the book and have found it useful in my crisis communication work.

I was taught that fear appeals didn't work but we used them anyways in our state health department work. This book explains what we instinctively knew -- that fear appeals work and they work well given the right conditions. I like the theory in the book and the worksheets.

This book, or rather, collection of three booklets, is one of the most useful guides to organizing and structuring a report, and then writing it in the clearest and most coherent manner. The author has had extensive experience, especially in guiding professional staff in the World Bank, and the result is a manual that is both concise and eminently practical.

Bruce Ross-Larson has now given us a fitting sequel to his classic Edit Yourself, which I have used since the 1980s to help me cut the fat out of what I write -- and improve clarity. When I worked in the World Bank I had him teach these arts to my staff. This saved me a lot of managerial time which I could devote to strategic pursuits like planning and innovating. Not exercising my red pencil on the prose of my mostly non native English speakers.

Bruce has now outdone himself by giving us three books in one: Effective Writing teaches us how to write "stunning sentences", "powerful paragraphs", and "riviting reports". Still to come, I understand, is "writing for the web". But for now, Bruce has put his wealth of experience as chief editor of some of the most important publications coming out of the World Bank and the United Nations (e.g. the World Development Report and the Human Development Report), just to name two of his clients, at the disposal of the writing public. This book is so good in print that it is being converted into a web-based training service for writers, aimed at corporate intranets. Clearwriter.com is coming soon.

But you can be the first on your block to hone your writing skills and impress your readers, whether they are your bosses, clients, or customers. This book is a must for every writer's bookshelf, whether or not a native English speaker.

I read Ross-Larson's How To Edit Yourself, an invaluable resource, before reading Effective Writing. As a compilation of three useful writing guides, Effective Writing was and is an essential handbook for writing. The system detailed in Effective Writing and How To Edit Yourself is the best that I have used.

This is a collection of books from the Effective Writing series and is a great deal. All the books here, Stunning Sentences, Powerful Paragraphs, and Riveting Reports, are essential for any writer's or student's desk.

The first part, Stunning Sentences, turns from the memorization of sentence forms and gives the readers many examples of ways to model their own sentences. In the examples, Ross-Larson deftly shows the readers how the different sentence styles work and when they could best be used. He also gives the readers an example with exemplary sentences so that readers can see how the sentences work in a larger context.

The second part, Powerful Paragraphs, shows the readers how paragraphs can be formed and used by the writer. Different examples show how the topic sentence of the paragraph can be moved within the paragraph for effect. As with the previous section of this book, the author gives us plenty of examples.

The third part, Riveting Reports, walks the readers through the writing process and shows the readers how they can slowly and steadily build a solid paper. By showing these steps, the readers can eliminate a lot of stress by planning when these steps will be accomplished. There is also a full example of a paper from start to finish.

In all, this is a very handy resource to have available to you. Using this, and not just reading it, will provide you with great ideas in planning and writing. This is a must-have.

If you're a verb-challenged troglodyte, you should read this book. If you're a budding Bob Woodward, you should own this book. Effective Writing is the book for anyone who wants to learn to write, focus their writing, or sharpen their editing. Using numerous examples, Bruce Ross-Larson demonstrates how to write sentences with variety, construct paragraphs that hang together and assemble all of that into the finished product. Ross-Larson's breezy, non-instructional style makes this 269-page book as easy a read as a romance novel.

This book is a compilation of three of Ross-Larson's more subject-specific books: Stunning Sentences, Powerful Paragraphs, and Riveting Reports. Not surprisingly, those are also the titles of the three sections into which Effective Writing is divided. The table of contents for each section identifies every tip so a deadline-pressured scribe can quickly zero in the advice sought, whether it's for "Interruptive Dashes" or "Make Your Points in Compelling Ways."

Ross-Larson's occupation as a writing coach is a primary reason for the success of this book. President of the American Writing Institute, he has helped improve the writing of executives at the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Census Bureau, among others. His experience in dealing with non-writers shows. No grammar guides here; there's no spelling secrets. Only practical, easy-to-understand advice on how to polish that rough stone of an idea into a sparkling gem.

He takes it for granted that his readers recognize good writing, even if they can't (yet) do it themselves: "So, to move from the common to the stunning," he advises, "begin to look for patterns in good writing that you can emulate." He also assumes some basic knowledge of parts of speech such as prepositional phrases and clauses. Some of his observations seem boringly obvious: "Most sentences should convey one idea - or two closely related ideas." Yet there are plenty of mental prods here for even the veteran pen-dragger, such as his advice on repetition: "Repetition - far too often avoided - can be a powerful rhetorical device. It can bring order and balance to a sentence's parts. And it can rivet a word to the reader's frontal lobe with more impact than elegant variation ever could." Each suggestion is supported by several examples culled from published articles and reports, with the point he's trying to make italicized.

But this isn't a mere primer. Ross-Larson doesn't hesitate to tempt readers to attempt more advanced forms of paragraph structure. For instance, he devotes 4 1/2 pages to "undermining," which he refers to as "a clever way to make your point stand out while taking the claws out of an opposing view." He describes how to "undermine a premise at the end of a paragraph" as well as how to "undermine a premise immediately." Or even to "undermine a premise in the middle of a paragraph." Of course, examples abound.

It is this hefty use of examples that contributes to readability of this book. For experienced writers, the examples can serve to blow away the syntactical cobwebs and refresh prose that may have grown stale. For beginners, the examples are mini case studies on which to linger.

For journalists, the section on report writing may have less relevance. Reporters facing daily deadlines rarely have time to take advantage of Ross-Larson's detailed approach to planning and drafting lengthy reports. However, for the college student writing a term paper or a junior executive trying to impress her boss with that seamless sales analysis, the time spent on these pages will be a great investment.

This book is written in a style light enough to engage even those who hated English in high school. Still, there's enough meat inside that every serious student of language ought to consider adding Effective Writing to that select group of books which occupy a corner of every writer or editor's desk.

When I was in school, English grammar was taught like the Ten Commandments: "Here are rules. Follow them always; question them never."

When I was in Organic Chemistry lecture in college, the professor took the old saying, "Oil and water don't mix," and he explained _why_ the oil and water don't mix. But his explanation was complex enough that we students needed an entire year of freshman chemistry as prerequisite, in order to understand his words.

What's my point? It took me many more hours to learn the here's-why rules of chemistry than that don't-ask-why rules of English grammar, but now I understand how chemistry works. Whereas up till now, I considered English grammar to be merely a collection of arbitrary, meaningless decrees.

But Dierdre Honnold's book changed that. The English language has a system (surprise, surprise), and she explains that system. Very seldom does she fall back on "I can't explain this rule, but it's a rule, ya gotta obey it." Everything that she writes about, has been covered in other grammar books; but I guarantee you that no other book explains anything more clearly than she explains it. And so often I said to myself, while reading Dierdre Honnold's book, "_Now_ I get it!"

The chart on page 50 (what I call the "Shopper's Guide to Verb Tenses") explains exactly what each verb tense means; and if you want to be precise in writing a sentence, it lays out exactly which tense to use. This single page is worth the price of the book.

I call the book a "miracle" -- well, here's the miracle: With just two simple rules, she explains how to correctly spell 99-plus percent of English words.

One warning must be given. Though it doesn't pull down my five-star rating, potential buyers need to know that this book is self-published, and it was five weeks after I ordered the (new) book before the book was shipped. So if you have a term paper due in two weeks, buy yourself a used, not new, copy.

In the first three pages, I learned things about English that I never learned in school. Everyone should read this book from cover to cover. They wouldn't need all those huge grammar books (that no one ever uses or learns from). This is all they need.

"English with Ease" was awarded three prizes by the Sacramento Publishers Association - BEST BOOK, BEST REFERENCE and BEST TEXTBOOK. People love it! Find out why!

After all comments i found over internet i concluded that this book must be probably the best way to learn grammar. You are not sure ? If you are really interested as i am, access the URLs below for a consistent revision (i'm not the author). Note: The reason why the text is not copied here is due to text length constraints.

Note: Just to avoid influencing the actual rate i gave it five stars in advance. Be warned that i'm just a buyer and did not read the book until now. Sure i'll correct the rating after reading it...

This little book has everything that anyone needs to really understand how English works. Even spelling! It's worth the purchase price for the spelling section alone!

The publishers in all those other countries that are publishing it obviously know something....

This book provides a very easy step-by-step guide in writing effective essays. It gives an informative insight how to prepare the essay and to properly structure it. The book also provides diagrams and examples. It is simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.

This book sets out the logical path to a successful essay. The examples are engaging and thought-provoking and make you itch to start writing!
Mr Terego speaks directly to the reader, as if he were sitting across the desk, and his tone is full of encouragement.
By the end of this highly readable book a student will have the knowledge to write a good essay and, more importantly, the confidence to do it well.

I found this book very helpful. Some books like this are too long and involved; this one is concise and easy to understand. It has a good explanation of how to write an essay, plus specific tips about SAT, ACT and college admissions essays. It also has suggestions for discovering a point of view to make your essay convincing, and practical tips about grammar.

Reviewer: Jane Airy (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
Welcome to the world of critical thinking and writing. With this accessible text, Terego provides a step-by-step guide for organizing the thinking process, developing ideas, and creating the writer's voice. Detailed explanations and examples illustrate a logical approach to writing the essay. Not only does this book supply graphic organizers that clarify the thinking process, but also it offers student-produced examples that showcase the products from this methodical approach. Both students and teachers of writing will benefit from this practical, stimulating information.

I've used a lot of writing products for our children, and for high school, this seems to work very well, especially to get them to THINK about their writing, ORGANIZE (he is big on the 5 paragraph essay) and churn it out in a timely manner. Excellent practice for the SAT 25 minute essay. To help the teacher, he has a list of over 150 essay topics in the back of the book; something for almost everyone, even the most reluctant freshman writer (though I would use this more toward the year before your student takes the SAT--probably sophomore and work on basic writing skills freshman year). Better than most I've seen or used; not really a remedial handbook though, he assumes you can write an essay, he is helping you to write a very good one.