When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People: How to Avoid Common Errors in English - Paperback

by Ann Batko (Author), Edward Rosenheim (Editor)

Ever stumble when choosing between who and whom, affect and effect, "lay" and "lie"?

Are you worried that how you speak or write is holding you back at work? Do you fear you're making frequent conversational errors, but just aren't sure what's correct? How you use language tells people a good deal about who you are, how you think, and how you communicate. Making simple errors in written and spoken English can make you seem less sophisticated, even less intelligent, than you really are. And that can affect (not effect) your relationships, your friendships, and even your career.

This comprehensive, easy-to-use reference is a program designed to help you identify and correct the most common errors in written and spoken English.

After a short and simple review of some basic principles, When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People is organized in the most useful way possible--by error type, such as Problem Pronouns or Mixing up Words that Sound the Same. You choose how to work your way through, either sequentially or in the order most relevant to you. Each unit contains tests at the end to help you reinforce what you've learned. Best of all, the information is presented in a clear, lively, and conversational style--this is not your eighth-grade grammar textbook!

Author Biography

Ann Batko is a business communications expert and former executive editor of Rand McNally & Company. She has trained numerous advertising, marketing, and publishing executives how to be effective writers and presenters.

Edward Rosenheim is the David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor Emeritus, in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago, where he taught for 42 years. For 20 years, he was the editor of the prestigious journal Modern Philology.