English Grammar Workbook For Dummies

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gfa.comby Geraldine Woods

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.comCopyright 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 ofthe 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization throughpayment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department,Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online athttp://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, TheDummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be usedwithout written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is notassociated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONSOR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK ANDSPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THEADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLDWITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OROTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENTPROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FORDAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK ASA CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR ORTHE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORKMAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.www.IELTS4U.blogfa.comFor general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S.at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available inelectronic books.Library of Congress Control Number is available from the publisher.ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9932-3ISBN-10: 0-7645-9932-1Manufactured in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 11B/SQ/QU/QW/IN

About the AuthorGeraldine Woods began her education when teachers still supplied ink wells to their students. She credits her 35-year career as an English teacher to a set of ultra-strict nuns armedwith thick grammar books. She lives in New York City, where with great difficulty she refrainsfrom correcting signs containing messages such as “Bagel’s for sale.” She is the author ofmore than 40 books, including English Grammar For Dummies, Research Papers For Dummies,College Admission Essays For Dummies, and The SAT I Reasoning Test For Dummies.www.IELTS4U.blogfa.com

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DedicationFor the students who labor (and occasionally smile) in the grammar portion of my Englishclasses.Author’s AcknowledgmentsI owe thanks to my colleagues at the Horace Mann School, who are always willing to discussthe finer points of grammar. I appreciate the work of Kristin DeMint, Sarah Faulkner, andNeil Johnson, editors whose attention and intelligence guided my writing. I also appreciatethe efforts of Lisa Queen, my agent, and of Roxanne Cerda and Kathy Cox, Wiley acquisitions editors.www.IELTS4U.blogfa.com

Publisher’s AcknowledgmentsWe’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located atwww.dummies.com/register/.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media DevelopmentComposition ServicesProject Editor: Kristin DeMintProject Coordinator: Adrienne MartinezAcquisitions Editor: Kathleen M. CoxLayout and Graphics: Denny Hager,Stephanie D. Jumper, Lynsey Osborn,Melanee Prendergast, Heather RyanCopy Editors: Sarah Faulkner, E. Neil JohnsonEditorial Program Coordinator: Hanna K. ScottTechnical Editor: Sue Williams, PhDProofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer,Henry Lazarek, Joe Niesen, Dwight RamseySenior Editorial Manager: Jennifer EhrlichIndexer: Joan GriffittsEditorial Assistant: Nadine BellSpecial HelpMichelle HackerCover Photos: Getty ImagesCartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)Publishing and Editorial for Consumer DummiesDiane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer DummiesJoyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer DummiesKristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer DummiesMichael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travelwww.IELTS4U.blogfa.comKelly Regan, Editorial Director, TravelPublishing for Technology DummiesAndy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General UserComposition ServicesGerry Fahey, Vice President of Production ServicesDebbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a GlanceIntroduction.1Part I: Laying Out the Concrete Slab: Grammar Basics.7Chapter 1: Placing the Proper Verb in the Proper Place .9Chapter 2: Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Pairing Subjects and Verbs Correctly.23Chapter 3: Who Is She, and What Is It? The Lowdown on Pronouns.35Chapter 4: Finishing What You Start: Writing Complete Sentences.49Part II: Mastering Mechanics .65Chapter 5: Exercising Comma Sense.67Chapter 6: Made You Look! Punctuation Marks That Demand Attention .81Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes .91Chapter 8: “Let Me Speak!“ Quotation Marks .101Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters .113Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use .125Chapter 10: The Case of It (And Other Pronouns) .127Chapter 11: Choosing the Best Pronoun for a Tricky Sentence .141Chapter 12: Traveling in Time: Tricky Verb-Tense Situations.155Chapter 13: Are You and Your Verbs in the Right Mood?.167www.IELTS4U.blogfa.comPart IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptionsand Comparisons .177Chapter 14: Writing Good or Well: Adjectives and Adverbs .179Chapter 15: Going on Location: Placing Descriptions Correctly.189Chapter 16: For Better or Worse: Forming Comparisons .205Chapter 17: Apples and Oranges: Improper Comparisons .215Part V: Writing with Style.227Chapter 18: Practicing Parallel Structure.229Chapter 19: Spicing Up and Trimming Down Your Sentences .243Chapter 20: Steering Clear of Tricky Word Traps.255Part VI: The Part of Tens.267Chapter 21: Ten Overcorrections .269Chapter 22: Ten Errors to Avoid at All Cost.273Appendix: Grabbing Grammar Goofs .277Index.293

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Table of ContentsIntroduction .1About This Book.1Conventions Used in This Book .2What You’re Not to Read.2Foolish Assumptions .2How This Book Is Organized.3Part I: Laying Out the Concrete Slab: Grammar Basics .3Part II: Mastering Mechanics .3Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use .4Part IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptions and Comparisons .4Part V: Writing with Style .4Part VI: The Part of Tens .4Icons Used in This Book.4Where to Go from Here.5Part I: Laying Out the Concrete Slab: Grammar Basics .7Chapter 1: Placing the Proper Verb in the Proper Place .9Choosing among Past, Present, and Future .9Shining a Light on Not-So-Perfect Tenses .11Navigating among Irregular Forms .12Mastering the Two Most Common Irregulars: Be and Have .13Getting By with a Little Help from Some Other Verbs .15Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Verbs.16Answers to Problems on Verbs and Verb Tenses .17www.IELTS4U.blogfa.comChapter 2: Matchmaker, Make Me a Match: Pairing Subjectsand Verbs Correctly.23When One Just Isn’t Enough: Plural Nouns .23Isn’t Love Groovy? Pairing Subjects and Verbs.24Taming the Brats: Difficult Subjects to Match with Verbs .26Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Hitching Subjects and Verbs .29Answers to Subject and Verb Pairing Problems.30Chapter 3: Who Is She, and What Is It? The Lowdown on Pronouns.35Separating Singular and Plural Pronouns .35Taking Possession of the Right Pronoun.37It’s All in the Details: Possessives versus Contractions.38Avoiding Double Meanings .40Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Basic Pronouns .42Answers to Pronoun Problems.43Chapter 4: Finishing What You Start: Writing Complete Sentences .49Seeking Out the Subject/Verb Pair .50Checking for Complete Thoughts .51Going for Flow: Joining Sentences Correctly .52Finishing with Flair: Choosing Endmarks.55

xiiEnglish Grammar Workbook For DummiesComplete or Incomplete? That Is the Question .56Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Complete Sentences .58Answers to Complete Sentence Problems .59Part II: Mastering Mechanics.65Chapter 5: Exercising Comma Sense .67Making a List and Checking It Twice .67You Talkin’ to Me? Direct Address .69Dating and Addressing .70Introducing (and Interrupting) with the Comma .71Setting Off Descriptions .73Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Commas .75Answers to Comma Problems .76Chapter 6: Made You Look! Punctuation Marks That Demand Attention .81Connectors and Dividers: Hyphens .81Just Dashing Through.82Sorting Out Semicolons.84Placing Colons .85Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Hyphens, Dashes, Colons, andSemicolons .85Answers to Punctuation Problems .87Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes.91www.IELTS4U.blogfa.comPutting Words on a Diet: Contractions.91Taking Possession .93Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Apostrophes .95Answers to Apostrophe Problems .96Chapter 8: “Let Me Speak!“ Quotation Marks .101Lending Written Words a Voice: Punctuating Direct Quotations .101Embedding One Quotation inside Another.103Punctuating Titles .105Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Quotation Marks .106Answers to Quotation Problems .108Chapter 9: Hitting the Big Time: Capital Letters.113Bowing to Convention and Etiquette: People’s Names and Titles.113Entering the Worlds of Business and Academia .115Capitalizing Titles of Literary and Media Works .116Placing Geographical Capitals.117AM or p.m.? Capitalizing Abbreviations.118Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Capital Letters.120Answers to Capitalization Problems .121Part III: The Pickier Points of Correct Verb and Pronoun Use .125Chapter 10: The Case of It (And Other Pronouns).127Meeting the Subject at Hand and the Object of My Affection .127To “Who” or To “Whom”? That Is the Question.129