Geraldine Woods

Basic English Grammar For Dummies - US

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The easy way to brush up on your English skills

Is it good or well? There, their, or they're? Some people don't have to think twice about using proper English, but for the rest of us it can get tricky and confusing. Whether you're writing or speaking, it's all too easy to fall prey to simple mistakes that will represent you in a less-than-desirable light--which can potentially cost you a job or put you in an embarrassing social situation. Avoiding complicated grammar rules, Basic English For Dummies sticks to the basics and makes it easy to get up and running on what you need to know to partake in successful everyday communication, no matter your audience or medium.

Inside, you'll find plenty of examples and exercises, guidance on how to structure sentences to make yourself easily understood, and so much more. In no time, you'll leave the 'me or I?' debate at the door and speak and write confidently and correctly. Plus, you'll expand your vocabulary, find the right tone and style you want to convey in your communication, and avoid common English language pitfalls.
* Includes quizzes and self-tests
* Provides guidance on composing letters, emails, texts, and phone calls
* Explains in plain English how to improve your English skills
* Gives you instruction and exercises on putting your skills to practice right away

If English is your first language, but you missed or have forgotten the nuances that were taught in school, Basic English For Dummies is your go-to guide. It is also ideal for those learning English as a second language.

---

Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley & Sons
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 1W119063470
• 1. Auflage
• Seitenzahl: 384
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. Oktober 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 233mm x 187mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 521g
• ISBN-13: 9781119063476
• ISBN-10: 1119063477
• Artikelnr.: 42235019

Autorenporträt

Geraldine Woods is the author of more than 10 Dummies titles, including English Grammar For Dummies. She is a hugely experienced educator with a gift for helping students realize their potential and come to grips with even the hardest subjects. Her friendly style and good humor make learning easy.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This
Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go From Here 3 Part I: Getting Started
with Basic English Grammar 5 Chapter 1: Getting a Grip on Grammar 7 Getting
to Know the Elements of Proper English 7 Building Language, Block by Block:
Parts of Speech 8 Making Sentences 10 Action or being words 11 Subjects 12
Complements and descriptions 14 Small but Important: Punctuating,
Capitalizing, and Spelling 14 Punctuation 15 Capitalization 16 Spelling 17
Facing Everyday Writing Tasks 18 Chapter 2: Language in Action 21 Adjusting
Language to Suit Your Audience 21 Friendspeak 22 Conversational English 23
Standard English 24 Getting Help from Spelling and Grammar Checkers 26
Recognizing Your Grammar Profile 28 Part II: The Parts of Speech 31 Chapter
3: People to See, Places to Go, Things to Remember: Recognizing Nouns 33
Identifying Nouns 33 Naming people with nouns 34 Naming places with nouns
35 Naming things with nouns 36 Naming ideas and emotions with nouns 37
Sorting Out Singular and Plural Nouns 39 Adding the letters "S" or "ES" to
form plurals 39 Creating plurals of words that end with the letter "Y" 40
Plurals that break the rules 42 Attaching "This," "These," and Other Words
to Nouns 43 Chapter 4: Practicing Pronouns 47 Replacing Nouns with Pronouns
47 Pronouns for the speaker or writer 48 Pronouns that speak to others 50
Pronouns that speak about other people or things 51 Avoiding errors with
two common pronouns 52 Solving the Case of Pronouns 54 Subject pronouns 54
Object pronouns 57 Sorting subject and object pronouns 58 Forming
Possessive Pronouns 62 Chapter 5: Doing and Being Words: Verbs 65 Searching
Out Verbs 65 Asking Questions to Find the Verb 66 Telling Time with Verbs
68 Present tense 68 Past tense 69 Future tense 71 Recognizing Forms of Some
Important Verbs 72 The verb "be" 72 The verb "do" 73 The verb "have" 75
Getting Assistance from Helping Verbs 76 Asking questions with helping
verbs 76 Creating negative statements with helping verbs 78 Expressing
duty, ability, and possibility with helping verbs 80 Chapter 6: Describing
with Adjectives and Adverbs 83 Adding Detail with Adjectives 83 How to find
adjectives 85 Where to find adjectives 86 Writing Well with Adverbs 89
Adding information to verbs 89 Adding meaning to descriptions 91 Choosing
between Adjectives and Adverbs 93 Placing "a" and "an" in the Proper Place
96 Making Comparisons with Adjectives and Adverbs 97 Single-word
comparisons 97 Two-word comparisons 98 Irregular comparisons 99 Chapter 7:
Little Things Mean a Lot: Prepositions 101 Recognizing Prepositions 101
Locating items and actions with prepositions 102 Telling time with
prepositions 103 Discussing other relationships with prepositions 104
Identifying Objects of Prepositions 105 Finding objects through meaning 106
Locating objects with questions 107 Choosing Pronouns as Objects of
Prepositions 109 Placing Prepositional Phrases in the Proper Place 110
Chapter 8: Joining and Commenting: Conjunctions and Interjections 113
Linking Ideas with Conjunctions 113 Adding meaning with conjunctions 114
Connecting equals 114 Paired conjunctions 116 Joining unequal ideas 118
Punctuating sentences with conjunctions 120 Identifying Interjections 123
Part III: Creating Correct Sentences.127 Chapter 9: Making Progress: Verbs
Ending in -ing 129 Keeping Time with -ing Verb Forms ........129 Present
progressive 130 Past progressive 131 Future progressive 132 Choosing
between Simple and Progressive Tenses 133 Present 133 Past 135 Future 137
Some Help with Spelling -ing Verb Forms 138 Chapter 10: Revisiting the
Past: The Perfect Tenses 141 Building a Bridge between the Present and the
Past: Present Perfect Tense 141 Present perfect forms 142 When to use
present perfect tense .144 Placing Events in Order with Past Perfect Tense
145 Past perfect forms 146 When to use past perfect tense 147 Breaking the
Rules: Irregular Past Forms 150 Glancing at the Future Perfect Tense 152
Chapter 11: Searching for Subjects 155 Locating the Subject of a Sentence
155 Statement subjects 156 Question subjects 160 Command subjects 161
Matching Subjects and Verbs Properly 162 Sorting out subjects and verbs in
common situations 163 Tackling tougher sentences 164 Dealing with Tricky
Subjects 166 Singular subjects that look like plurals 166 Subjects in
sentences with "here" and "there" 168 Changeable subjects 169 Chapter 12:
Adding Meaning with Complements 171 Surveying Complements 171 Taking
action: Objects 172 Finishing the thought: Subject complements 174 Popping
the Question to Identify Objects and Subject Complements 176 Locating
subject complements 180 Choosing the Proper Complement Pronoun 182 Chapter
13: Finishing the Job: Writing Complete Sentences 185 Halfway Is Not
Enough: Expressing a Complete Thought 185 Cooking Up a Complete Sentence:
The Essential Subject-Verb Pair 188 Not flying solo: Verb forms ending in
-ing 188 Help wanted: Past verb forms that cannot stand alone 190 Do not be
alone 191 Ending Sentences with Proper Punctuation 193 Changing the Rules
for Texting 195 Dropping words 195 Skipping punctuation 196 Part IV:
Punctuation and Capitalization 199 Chapter 14: Small Punctuation Mark, Big
Trouble: Apostrophes 201 Possessed: Using Apostrophes to Show Ownership 201
Apostrophes and ownership 202 Forming singular possessives 204 Forming
regular plural possessives 205 Forming irregular plural possessives 207
Shortening Words with Apostrophes 208 Avoiding Common Apostrophe Mistakes
211 Apostrophes in plurals 211 Possessive pronouns 212 Expanding
contractions 213 Chapter 15: Pausing for a Rest: Commas 215 The Sound of
Silence: Why Commas Matter 215 Making a List with Commas 217 Placing Commas
before Conjunctions 221 Punctuating two connected, complete sentences 221
Punctuating other elements of a sentence 222 Placing Commas after
Introductory Words 223 Single words and short phrases 224 Longer
introductory elements 224 Introductory phrases containing verbs 225
Introductory subject-verb statements 226 Talking to People: Commas in
Direct Address 228 Chapter 16: Who Said What: Quotation Marks 231 Telling
the Truth with Quotation Marks 231 Quoting or Paraphrasing: Which Is
Better? 232 Signaling exact words 233 Paraphrasing 234 Identifying the
Source of a Quotation 236 Adding Punctuation to Quotations 238 Quotations
with speaker tags 238 Quotations without speaker tags 241 Identifying
Titles with Quotation Marks 242 Chapter 17: Big or Small? When to Write
Capital Letters 245 Knowing the (Capital) ABCs of Capital Letters 245
Setting Up Sentences with Capital Letters 246 Naming Names 248 Who are you?
Names for people 248 Where are you? Names for places 249 What's that? Names
of things 250 Mr. Mayor or mr. mayor: Capitalizing Titles 251 Titles
appearing before a name 252 Titles appearing after a name 252 Titles
appearing alone 254 Mom or mom? Capitalizing Family Relationships 255
Capitalizing Creative Works 256 Capitalizing Abbreviations 259 Part V:
Grammar in Action 261 Chapter 18: Writing with Electronic Media 263 The
Unbreakable Rule: Communicating Clearly in Texts, Instant Messages, and
Tweets 263 Omitting words 264 Writing Proper Emails 268 Exploring email
structure 269 Writing for Websites and Social Media 273 Chapter 19:
Presentation Slides and Bulleted Lists 275 Ladies and Gentlemen, May I
Present . . . Slides! 275 The title 277 The introduction 279 Writing Bullet
Points 281 Matching bullets 281 Capitalizing and punctuating bullet points
284 Chapter 20: Writing at School and on the Job 287 A Is for Accomplished:
Writing at School 287 Essays and research papers 287 Science lab reports
292 Get to Work: Writing on the Job 295 Letters 295 Memos 298 Emails and
other electronic media 299 Part VI: Common Errors 301 Chapter 21: Spelling
Your Way to Perfection 303 Following the Rules of English Spelling 303 I
before E 304 Double letters 305 Dropping the silent E 306 Mastering
Spelling Demons 308 How does the word end? 308 One or two? 310 Which vowel?
310 Checking the Dictionary for Spelling Help 311 Chapter 22: Tricky Word
Traps 313 Same Sounds, Different Spelling: Sorting Out Word Pairs 313
Homonyms 314 Similar, but not alike: Other word pairs 318 Together or
Apart? One- and Two-Word Expressions 320 Staying Away from Improper
Expressions 322 Chapter 23: Avoiding Common Mistakes 325 Writing Clear
Descriptions 325 Descriptions attached to the wrong word 326 Descriptions
and missing words 328 Writing Clear Pronouns 329 No! No! Understanding
Double Negatives 332 Part VII: The Part of Tens 335 Chapter 24: Ten Easy
Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills 337 Listening 337 Reading 338 Writing
338 Rewriting 338 Recognizing Your Weak Spots 339 Asking for Help 339
Proofreading 340 Making Friends with a Dictionary 340 Using Spelling and
Grammar Checkers 340 Solving Puzzles and Playing Games 341 Chapter 25: Ten
Mistakes to Avoid 343 Substituting "Me" for "I" 343 Switching Verb Tenses
344 Adding Apostrophes to Plurals 344 Confusing "An" and "A" 345 Forgetting
Endmarks 345 Pairing "You" with the Wrong Verb 345 Connecting Sentences
with a Comma 346 Omitting Capital Letters 346 Using Half a Verb 347 Being
Unclear 347 Index 349