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Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs--Even If You're Right | 
 enlarge | Author: June Casagrande
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $6.50
You Save: $7.50 (54%)
New (38) Used (14) Collectible (1) from $6.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 94131
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0143113321
Dewey Decimal Number: 425
EAN: 9780143113324
ASIN: 0143113321
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new paperback; we ship daily from smoke-free office.
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Product Description
The only fun, friendly, and surefire defense against the grammar snobs
Having already made a name for herself with Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, now in its fifth printing, June Casagrande returns with Mortal Syntax, taking on the 101 most frequently attacked usage choices. Dedicating one short chapter to each, Casagrande brings her subject to life, teaching English usage through lively and amusing personal anecdotes. Mortal Syntax includes such chapters as:
I wish I was taller
I am continuously watching Simpsons reruns
Was it Horton that heard the Who?
Casagrandes clear and concise lessonswith entertaining titles and themesmake a potentially prickly subject go down like a spoonful of sugar.
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| Customer Reviews:
Just OK April 16, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This smallish book can't decide if it wants to be a style guide, vocab primer or grammar guide. Most examples are straight-forward and covered to some extent in many other sources, online and otherwise. Often, what the author describes as a "language choice," is rather an incorrect usage or spelling.
Someone actually spells out the word COULD'VE as COULD OF? That is not a choice; that is ignorance.
This is a gift for friends who have lapsed into writing (if they write at all) at a grade school or middle school level, and can find the humor in being called on it. It is certainly not of use to those "grammar snobs" mentioned in the title.
[edit May 27, 2008] I have since re-read this book in a more generous light, and have come to appreciate the writing style and humor Ms. Casagrande has included. I maintain it still suffers from a lack of specific identity, and the substance trails off toward the end as if in an attempt to make "101" at all costs, but I can no longer deny that the author is, in fact, clever, thoughtful, and imminently resourceful.
Sorry, June.
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