Letters to the Grammarians

Letters to the Grammarians
Author: Dipo Kalejaiye
Publisher:
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The book is a collection of nine letters addressed to former high school classmates. It uses these letters as mirrors into the nostalgic past of a 'grammar school' (high school) experience at the onset of the postcolonial era in Nigeria. The aim of the book is to show the routine antics of classmates as 'informal' education and that this, in conjunction with 'formal' education, make a total high school experience. The first part of the book, the introduction, shows the process of recalling the experiences contained in the letters. The second part is the individual letters, among them are: 'A letter to Aranmsko, ' which shows adventure as a form of learning and the trepidation of the 'curse' he receives from a religious studies teacher. 'A letter to Sosorakota' portrays the controversial topic of sex during the teenage years. The third part of the book, the conclusion, asserts that the Letters reveal aspects of human character such as kindness, trust, hope, and fear

The Grammarians

The Grammarians
Author: Cathleen Schine
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374712190

An enchanting, comic love letter to sibling rivalry and the English language. From the author compared to Nora Ephron and Nancy Mitford, not to mention Jane Austen, comes a new novel celebrating the beauty, mischief, and occasional treachery of language. The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret “twin” tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love, which has always bound them together, begins instead to push them apart. Daphne, copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to preserving the dignity and elegance of Standard English. Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn, instead, to the polymorphous, chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. Their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war, absurdly but passionately, over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition. Cathleen Schine has written a playful and joyful celebration of the interplay of language and life. A dazzling comedy of sisterly and linguistic manners, a revelation of the delights and stresses of intimacy, The Grammarians is the work of one of our great comic novelists at her very best.

Guardians of Language

Guardians of Language
Author: Robert A. Kaster
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2023-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520342763

What did it mean to be a professional teacher in the prestigious "liberal schools"—the schools of grammar and rhetoric—in late antiquity? How can we account for the abiding prestige of these schools, which remained substantially unchanged in their methods and standing despite the political and religious changes that had taken place around them? The grammarian was a pivotal figure in the lives of the educated upper classes of late antiquity. Introducing his students to correct language and to the literature esteemed by long tradition, he began the education that confirmed his students' standing in a narrowly defined elite. His profession thus contributed to the social as well as cultural continuity of the Empire. The grammarian received honor—and criticism; the profession gave the grammarian a firm sense of cultural authority but also placed him in a position of genteel subordination within the elite. Robert A. Kaster provides the first thorough study of the place and function of these important but ambiguous figures. He also gives a detailed prosopography of the grammarians, and of the other "teachers of letters" below the level of rhetoric, from the middle of the third through the middle of the sixth century, which will provide a valuable research tool for other students of late-antique education.

Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students

Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students
Author: Mignon Fogarty
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2011-07-05
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1429966661

Named to the International Reading Association's 2012 Teachers' Choice book list Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students is a complete and comprehensive guide to all things grammar from Grammar Girl, a.k.a. Mignon Fogarty, whose popular podcasts have been downloaded over twenty million times and whose first book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, was a New York Times bestseller. For beginners to more advanced students, this guide covers it all: the parts of speech, sentences, and punctuation are all explained clearly and concisely with the warmth, wit, and accessibility Grammar Girl is known for. Pop quizzes are scattered throughout to reinforce the explanations, as well as Grammar Girl's trademark Quick and Dirty Tips—easy and fun memory tricks to help with those challenging rules. Complete with a writing style chapter and a guide to the different kinds of writing—everything from school papers to letter writing to e-mails—this guide is sure to become the one-stop, essential book on every student's desk.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport

The Three Weissmanns of Westport
Author: Cathleen Schine
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2010-02-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429936371

A New York Times Best Seller A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Betty Weissmann has just been dumped by her husband of forty-eight years. Exiled from her elegant New York apartment by her husband's mistress, she and her two middle-aged daughters, Miranda and Annie, regroup in a run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. In Schine's playful and devoted homage to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, the impulsive sister is Miranda, a literary agent entangled in a series of scandals, and the more pragmatic sister is Annie, a library director, who feels compelled to move in and watch over her capricious mother and sister. Schine's witty, wonderful novel The Three Weissmanns of Westport "is simply full of pleasure: the pleasure of reading, the pleasure of Austen, and the pleasure that the characters so rightly and humorously pursue....An absolute triumph" (The Cleveland Plain Dealer).

Dreyer's English

Dreyer's English
Author: Benjamin Dreyer
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-01-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0812995716

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • Paste • Shelf Awareness “Essential (and delightful!)”—People We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike—not to mention his followers on social media—for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he has copyedited and overseen into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward. As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en dash; the rules and nonrules of grammar, including why it’s OK to begin a sentence with “And” or “But” and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including “very,” “rather,” “of course,” and the dreaded “actually.” Dreyer will let you know whether “alright” is all right (sometimes) and even help you brush up on your spelling—though, as he notes, “The problem with mnemonic devices is that I can never remember them.” And yes: “Only godless savages eschew the series comma.” Chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this book will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and—perhaps best of all—an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language. Praise for Dreyer’s English “Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal . . . One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer’s English.”—The Wall Street Journal “Destined to become a classic.”—The Millions “Dreyer can help you . . . with tips on punctuation and spelling. . . . Even better: He’ll entertain you while he’s at it.”—Newsday

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Author: Mignon Fogarty
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2008-07-08
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1429977493

Online sensation Grammar Girl makes grammar fun and easy in this New York Times bestseller Are you stumped by split infinitives? Terrified of using "who" when a "whom" is called for? Do you avoid the words "affect" and "effect" altogether? Grammar Girl is here to help! Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than twenty million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective e-mailing, Grammar Girl's print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation

The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation
Author: Bryan A. Garner
Publisher: Univ of Chicago+ORM
Total Pages: 680
Release: 2016-05-16
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 022619129X

The authoritative guide to using the English language effectively, from “the greatest writer on grammar and usage that this country has ever produced” (David Yerkes, Columbia University). The author of The Chicago Manual of Style’s popular “Grammar and Usage” chapter, Bryan A. Garner is renowned for explaining the vagaries of English with absolute precision and utmost clarity. With The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation, he has written the definitive guide for writers who want their prose to be both memorable and correct. Garner describes standard literary English—the forms that mark writers and speakers as educated users of the language. He also offers historical context for understanding the development of these forms. The section on grammar explains how the canonical parts of speech came to be identified, while the section on syntax covers the nuances of sentence patterns as well as both traditional sentence diagramming and transformational grammar. The usage section provides an unprecedented trove of empirical evidence in the form of Google Ngrams, diagrams that illustrate the changing prevalence of specific terms over decades and even centuries of English literature. Garner also treats punctuation and word formation, and concludes the book with an exhaustive glossary of grammatical terms and a bibliography of suggested further reading and references. The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation is a magisterial work, the culmination of Garner’s lifelong study of the English language. The result is a landmark resource that will offer clear guidelines to students, writers, and editors alike. “[A manual] for those of us laboring to produce expository prose: nonfiction books, journalistic articles, memorandums, business letters. The conservatism of his advice pushes you to consider audience and occasion, so that you will understand when to follow convention and when you can safely break it.”—John E. McIntyre, Baltimore Sun

Wordie Wars

Wordie Wars
Author: Forrest-Pruzan Creative
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-04-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781452105482

For all those who love the New York Times crosswords and beat their families at Scrabble, this is a word game to stump even the brainiest of word nerds. Five different categories challenge players to flex every rhetorical muscle, build words, brainstorm synonyms, and test their proofreading skills. For every answer a player gets right, he or she receives a word lover's favorite reward: a letter of the alphabet. Be the first player to come up with a five-letter word (or longer) from your collection, and you'll be champion of the word nerds!

Letter Writing and Language Change

Letter Writing and Language Change
Author: Anita Auer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2015-07-16
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1107018641

This book draws on a range of informal letter corpora and outlines the historical sociolinguistic value of letter analysis.