A straightforward approach to basic English grammar and English writing skills. Forty units each composed of 4 lessons for a total of 160 lessons, plus review, skill checks, and answers. 250 pages.
This book for students, parents and teachers grew out of the author's frustration while she corrected college students' philosophy papers. The papers were full of grammatical errors. When she pointed out that a sentence needed a verb to be complete, a typical response was "What's a verb?" She wrote this book to teach basic grammar concepts and show how they are applied in correct writing.
The book has 40 units. Each unit has four parts. The first section of each unit introduces the parts of speech and teaches students how to recognize them. The purpose of this is to make it possible for students to understand the vocabulary of grammar so that they can understand the teacher's corrections. (You can't correct a sentence fragment by adding a predicate if you've no idea what a predicate is.)
The second part of each unit, mechanics, explains a rule or common error associated with the part of speech just taught. The issues chosen reinforce what was learned in the first section while addressing errors commonly found in student writing and the SAT II writing test.
The third part, diagramming, shows students the structure of the English language and provides an ongoing review of the parts of speech that have been learned.
The last section, proofreading, reviews all the skills learned so far and teaches students to examine their work for errors. The ultimate goal of these grammar exercises is correct writing and effective proofreading. As a former English teacher, I am convinced that this is a much-needed book that makes it easy to learn with its straightforward approach and user-friendly exercises. I highly recommend it. Answers are included. 243 pages. Blackline masters are reproducible for classroom use.
