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Macmillan Teach Yourself
Grammar and Style in 24 Hours
by Pamela Rice Hahn and Dennis E. Hensley, Ph.D.

Introduction:

Before speech was created, everybody spoke in sign language. However, that didn't always work too well -- especially at distances of several hundred yards or around corners.

People soon realized that they could better communicate using sounds. (Refer to Hour 1 to see if you can figure out why we believe spoken language started with onomatopoeia.) This made things easier, but it also meant you could no longer ignore somebody just by turning away. Once (and if) people used the same sounds to represent certain things, other people caught on to what was meant; when that happened, language was born.

Okay. Maybe it didn't happen quite like that, but it's close enough for our purposes. Worries about dangling participles, misplaced modifiers, split infinitives, and ending a sentence with a preposition probably weren't priorities when someone was trying to get out of the path of a woolly mammoth or escape from a saber-toothed tiger. Regardless of language's true evolution, when you boil it down to its essence, grammar means using words in a way that other people will understand. Once you communicate in a way that forges this understanding, you can better master your world.

This book teaches the fundamentals of English grammar. The good news is that you probably know most of these rules. You've been speaking and writing since you were a kid. You probably have an inner knack for being able to tell if a sentence is wrong or right; however, if you're like most people, you probably can't say why. This book will teach you how to tell the difference and when it's okay to ignore that difference.

Even if you're new to the English language, you probably speak another one. Therefore, you'll find that, despite all of its exceptions, most of the rules of English actually make sense; you'll probably even find that some of the rules are identical to rules in other languages.

What You'll Find in This Book

Don't be afraid. English grammar can appear daunting, but once you start to get inside it, you find that you absorb the rules quite naturally. We've taken the essentials and broken them down into easy-to-understand segments. Most of the grammar rules appear in the first half of the book.

In Part I, "Grappling with Grammar," we cover the definition, logic, and nuances of grammar and show you exactly what makes up the basic parts of a sentence.

Part II, "Gaining Grammar Growth," explains the elementary sentence components---nouns, gerunds, pronouns, verbs, articles, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, clauses---and most forms of punctuation.

By Part III, "Setting Your Style," you'll be ready to apply the rules you've learned. We'll show you the steps to add the necessary flair and finesse to take the written and spoken word beyond the mundane and into the realm of efficiency and effectiveness.

Finally, in Part IV, "Putting Your Style into Practice," you're ready to do just that. You'll learn how to come up with and develop ideas, adapt presentations to fit your audience, handle the standard forms of business correspondence, and overcome problem words and expressions.

We wrap up with the appendixes, which provide you with a glossary to verify word and term definitions plus additional (and sometimes alternative) information on the books and other resources you've encountered in "Biblio File" notes throughout the book.

Rome may not have been built in a day, but your better understanding of grammar and style will be -- one hour at a time.

Extras

At the end of each hour, you'll find a short quiz to help you support what you've learned. This is where you can pat yourself on the back for a job well-done and know that you're ready for the next building block.

Take the quiz again the next time you sit down to read an hour. It will act as a refresher to help you remember what you've learned and to get your mind in gear for the next round of grammar and style. You can also use the glossary in Appendix A as a quick reference guide for terms you're not completely comfortable with yet.

We know you don't have a lot of extra time. You're a hard-working individual whose life is probably spent working for others, whether it's your boss or your family, and you want to do something for yourself. We've created this book for you, to make learning the rules -- and the exceptions to those rules -- as easy as possible. To that end, along with the general instructions, we've inserted some elements into each hour to help you with your newfound and expanding understanding of grammar and style.

This book contains a lot of miscellaneous cross-references, tips, shortcuts, and warnings as sidebars from the regular text. These odds and ends are given particular names, and here's how they stack up:

e.g.: These are examples of grammar and style rules.

Words to the Wise: Here you'll find helpful tips to make learning grammar and style even easier.

Proceed with Caution: Watch for these warnings about grammar and style pitfalls.

Talkin' the Talk: These are embellished definitions of grammar and style terms. 

Biblio File: These are quick references to direct you toward further reading and examples in other sources

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