The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know

by June Casagrande

Overview

Language columnist June Casagrande presents a fun and breezy guide to everything a grown-up interested in grammar needs to know.

When it comes to grammar, it seems like everyone—even die-hard word nerds—feel they "missed something" in school. The Joy of Syntax picks up where sixth grade left off, providing a fresh foundation in English syntax served up by someone with an impressive record of making this otherwise inaccessible subject a true joy. With simple, pithy information on everything from basic parts of speech and sentence structure to usage and grammar pitfalls, this guide provides everything you need to approach grammar with confidence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399581076
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	07/24/2018
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

JUNE CASAGRANDE's syndicated grammar column, "A Word, Please," runs in newspapers in five states. She is the author of four grammar books, including It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences and The Best Punctuation Book, Period, and is the face and voice of the Grammar Underground weekly podcast. She works as a freelance copy editor for the advertising department at the Los Angeles Times and for several local and national magazines.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION
Hey, word nerd: I know your secret. You’re a natural at language. You’re the person friends ask to read their resumes, their school papers, their cover letters. You have a sixth sense for grammar, and on top of your innate ability, you’ve amassed quite a bit of knowledge along the way. Maybe another language savant in the family set you on the path. Maybe you went out of your way to learn the difference between who and whom, the meaning of dangling participle, or how to choose between lay and lie. 

You’re good at this stuff, better than almost anyone you know, but you have a dark secret: There are holes in your knowledge. Big ones. Despite all that natural ability and hard-earned learning, you feel that you never got a good, solid foundation in grammar. Sentence mechanics remain a mystery to you. You’d be surprised to learn that tomorrow is an adverb and you’re not clear why I feel bad is the grammatical choice over I feel badly. Worst of all, you’re not quite sure what to do about it. You can’t go back to high school. You certainly can’t go back to a better high school than the one you attended. And every resource you’ve sought out let you down. The “help” you found was either too painfully dry to compete with whatever was on HBO or it was just more of the same grammar tidbits you already know. 

Well, here’s some joyous news: I wrote this book for you. 

It’s real grammar, the kind that you’d otherwise need a linguistics degree to acquire. But it’s designed specifically for word nerds who find that learning grammar, when it’s done just right, can be a real joy.

Editorial Reviews

I am an admirer of June Casagrande, and there is a great need for a book like this.”
—Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

“There is a book I have been craving for years, and now June Casagrande has written it. … What I have craved is a straightforward book on basic grammar and usage that, without ditching the traditional grammar, informs it with linguistics, all accessible to a general reader. And now we have one: The Joy of Syntax, a succinct and mercifully lucid summing-up of the basics…. If you write, if you edit, if you teach, you will want to have this book. I intend to press it on my students. They will seldom find fifteen bucks better spent."
—Baltimore Sun

"This is a book for all of the grammar and punctuation nerds out there (you know who you are). Casagrande has written several books on the subject and runs the Grammar Underground, and I read these books the same way I read books of essays or novels. They’re fun. (Yes, I used fun and grammar in the same sentence.)”
—Bob Sassone, Saturday Evening Post

Praise for It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences:

"June mixes sassy fun with practical advice. You'll laugh all the way to writing better."
—Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

"It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences is that incredibly rare breed of book: a guide to grammar and style that is simultaneously smart, engaging, and instructive."
—Elizabeth Little, author of Biting the Wax Tadpole

From the Publisher