Essentials of English: A Practical Handbook Covering All the Rules of English Grammar and Writing Style

By Cedric Gale, Ronald C. Foote, Vincent Foster Hopper, et al.

Book Overview

Updated and expanded, this book fills a double purpose as both a useful classroom text and a practical style manual for writers. It reviews English grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764143166
• ISBN13: 9780764143168
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Barrons Educational Services
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Quck and Concise but Tells You What You Want to Know

This 'quick and dirty' little guide to English takes what you would have expected to be a big thick highschool textbook into a small, easy to read, yet complete course in communicating in English. Beyond high school English, the book gives examples of the practical use of the language. As a writer, I think I know the language (college degrees and all that stuff) but when I am unsure of some point, this is where I turn. It is quick and concise, easy to find what you need, and tells you what you want to know. At $10 retail, and usually available at a lot less than that, this is a 'don't miss.'

A comprehensive treatise on what writers should and shouldn't do

This book's name falls short of the actual excellent information it contains to guide writers and would-be writers into taking advantage of the best of their possibilities through step-by-step pointing out of common errors, from all angles, and clean ways out of them to produce perfect texts. A "must" for all writers' libraries. Salvador Oria aka Argie, Buenos Ayres.

A Great Resource

'Essentials of English' is a great resource book to have on hand should you be uncertain if you are expressing yourself correctly in the written word. It is very concise, and while a bit 'dry', does not waste time in teaching you what you should know about the English language. But I am worried that I won't be able to remember what I am trying to remember from this book. I fear that no matter how hard I try, it is not sinking in and I just can't get it right. So while the book is excellent, I myslef am a failure on many counts.

Five Stars, Whether I like it or not

I gave this book five stars even though I think the book is rather stiff and boring. The newer grammar books have more zest and personality that make it easier for a dreamer like me to understand what they mean by an antecedent, or a dangling modifier or nonrestrictive clause. I think you know what I mean. The reason I gave "Essentials of English" a five-star rating is: when I need and answer to a grammar problem and I can't find it in all of my grammar books, I can always rely on "Essentials of English" to have my answer. That rates a five-star rating with me.

Something for all e-mail ad writers

Gets right down where the rubber meets the road. I bought one of these for each of my kids in college. They get great grades in English and they find it a useful quick reference when writing papers. Mine sits along side my dictionary & thesaurus