English Grammar All-in-One For Dummies (+ Chapter Quizzes Online)

Geraldine Woods is a grammarian and writer with more than 35 years’ experience teaching and writing about English. She is the author of English Grammar For Dummies, SAT For Dummies, and Research Papers For Dummies.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 3Unit 1: Exploring Grammar and Style 5Chapter 1: Sampling the Ingredients of Grammar and Style 7What This Year’s Sentence Is Wearing: Understanding Grammar and Style 8Getting to Know the Elements of Grammar and Style 9Parts of speech 10Parts of a sentence 11Small but important: Punctuating, capitalizing, and spelling 15Recognizing Your Grammar Profile 18Chapter 2: Adapting Language to Every Situation 21Grasping the Power and Limits of Standard English 21Adjusting Language to Suit Your Audience 22Wanna get something to eat? Friendspeak 22Conversational English 24Standard English 24Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 29Whaddya Know? Chapter 2 Quiz 31Answers to Chapter 2 Quiz 33Unit 2: Exploring Parts of Speech 35Chapter 3: People to See, Places to Go, Things to Remember: Recognizing Nouns 37Identifying Nouns 38Naming people with nouns 38Naming places with nouns 39Naming things with nouns 40Naming ideas and emotions with nouns 41Sorting Out Singular and Plural Nouns 42Adding the letters S or ES to form plurals 42Plurals that break the rules 44Attaching “This,” “These,” and Other Words to Nouns 45Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 47Whaddya Know? Chapter 3 Quiz 49Answers to Chapter 3 Quiz 50Chapter 4: Meeting the Pronoun Family 51Working Hard: Pronouns and Their Jobs 51Replacing nouns 52Replacing pronouns 53Doubling back with -self pronouns 53Creating connections, asking questions 54Tracing Pronoun Traits 55Person and number 56Gender and number 58Case 59Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 61Whaddya Know? Chapter 4 Quiz 63Answers to Chapter 4 Quiz 64Chapter 5: Existing and Acting with Verbs 65Expressing Meaning with Verbs 66Tense 66Number 66Mood 66Voice 67Meeting the Families: Linking and Action Verbs 67Linking verbs: A giant equal sign 68Forms of “be” 68Synonyms of “be” 68Savoring sensory verbs 69Lights! Camera! Action verb! 70Pop the Question: Locating the Verb 71Calling the Help Line for Verbs 73The big three 73Timing is everything: Creating a time frame with helping verbs 77Don’t ask! Questions and negative statements 77Adding shades of meaning with helping verbs 79Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 81Whaddya Know? Chapter 5 Quiz 84Answers to Chapter 5 Quiz 85Chapter 6: Two Real Really Good Parts of Speech: Adjectives and Adverbs 87Clarifying Meaning with Descriptions 88Adding Adjectives 88Adjectives describing nouns 89Adjectives describing pronouns 89Adjectives attached to linking verbs 90Pop the question: Identifying adjectives 90Articles: Not just for magazines 91Stalking the Common Adverb 93Pop the question: Finding the adverb 94Adverbs describing adjectives and other adverbs 95Choosing Between Adjectives and Adverbs 97Sorting out “good” and “well” 98Dealing with “bad” and “badly” 98Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 100Whaddya Know? Chapter 6 Quiz 103Answers to Chapter 6 Quiz 104Chapter 7: Tiny but Mighty: Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections 105Proposing Relationships: Prepositions 105Prepositional phrases 106Pop the question: Questions that identify the objects of the prepositions 108Why pay attention to prepositions? 108Connecting with Conjunctions 110Improving flow and adding meaning with conjunctions 110Pairing up conjunctions 112Interjections Are Easy! 113Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 114Whaddya Know? Chapter 7 Quiz 116Answers to Chapter 7 Quiz 117Unit 3: Basic Elements of a Sentence 119Chapter 8: Who’s Doing What? Identifying the Subject-Verb Pair 121Baring the Bones of a Sentence: The Subject–Verb Pair 121When One Is Not Enough: Compound Subjects and Verbs 122Pop the Question: Locating the Subject–Verb Pairs 123Popping the question for questions 124Unusual word order 125Not missing in action: Detecting you-understood 126Don’t Get Faked Out: Avoiding Fake Verbs and Subjects 128Verbals 128“Here” and “there” sentences 129Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 131Whaddya Know? Chapter 8 Quiz 133Answers to Chapter 8 Quiz 134Chapter 9: Handling Complements 135Getting a Piece of the Action: Complements for Action Verbs 135Receiving the action: Direct objects 136Rare, but sometimes there: Indirect objects 139No bias here: Objective complements 141Completing the Equation: Subject Complements 142Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 146Whaddya Know? Chapter 9 Quiz 148Answers to Chapter 9 Quiz 149Chapter 10: When All Is Said and Done: Complete Sentences 151Completing Sentences: The Essential Subjects and Verbs 151Not flying solo: Verb forms ending in –ing 152Past verb forms that can’t stand alone 153Do not “be” alone 155Complete Thoughts, Complete Sentences 157Reaching the End of the Line: End Marks 159Connecting Ideas 161Breaking Away from Sentence Fragments 166Placing fragments in the right context 166Steering clear of inappropriate fragments 167Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 169Whaddya Know? Chapter 10 Quiz 172Answers to Chapter 10 Quiz 173Chapter 11: No Santas but Plenty of Clauses 175Grasping the Basics of Clause and Effect 175Sorting Subordinate and Independent Clauses 177Defining the Three Legal Jobs for Subordinate Clauses 179Describing nouns and pronouns 179Describing verbs, adjectives, or adverbs 179Acting as subjects, objects, or subject complements inside another clause 180Untangling Subordinate and Independent Clauses 180Deciding When to Untangle Clauses 182When you’re picking a pronoun 182When you’re deciding on the correct verb 182When you’re figuring out where to put commas 183Choosing Content for Subordinate Clauses 183Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 185Whaddya Know? Chapter 11 Quiz 187Answers to Chapter 11 Quiz 188Unit 4: Clearing Up Confusing Grammar Points 189Chapter 12: Relax! Understanding Verb Tense, Voice, and Mood 191It’s All in the Timing: Tense 191Simplifying matters: The simple tenses 191Using the simple tenses correctly 194Not picture-perfect: Understanding the perfect tenses 197Employing the perfect tenses correctly 200Speaking of the past and things that never change 204Romeo lives! Writing about literature and art in present tense 206The rebels: Dealing with irregular verbs 207Giving Voice to Verbs 210Getting Your Verbs in the Proper Mood 211Stating the facts: Indicative 211Commanding your attention: Imperative 211Discovering the possibilities: Subjunctive 212Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 216Whaddya Know? Chapter 12 Quiz 220Answers to Chapter 12 Quiz 221Chapter 13: Agreement: Choosing Singular or Plural Verbs and Pronouns 223Agreeing Not to Disagree 223Making Subjects and Verbs Agree: The Basics 224Matching Subjects and Verbs in Some Tricky Situations 225Compound subjects 225Ignoring distracting descriptions 225Each and every 227Either and neither, alone or with partners 227Five puzzling pronouns 229The ones, the things, and the bodies 230Agreeing with Relative Pronouns 231Politics and Other Irregular Subjects 233Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 235Whaddya Know? Chapter 13 Quiz 238Answers to Chapter 13 Quiz 239Chapter 14: Solving Pronoun Case 241While We’re on the Subject: Choosing Pronouns to Act as Subjects 241Taking an Objective Viewpoint: Choosing Pronouns to Act as Objects 244Dealing with direct and indirect objects 244Are you talking to I? Prepositions and pronouns 244Attaching objects to verbals 246Knowing the Difference Between Who and Whom 247Attracting Appositives 249Picking Pronouns for Comparisons 250Dealing with Pronouns and -ing Nouns 251Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 253Whaddya Know? Chapter 14 Quiz 255Answers to Chapter 14 Quiz 256Chapter 15: Getting Specific: The Power of Descriptions 257Creating Comparisons with Adjectives and Adverbs 257Ending it with -er or giving more to adjectives 258Creating comparisons with adverbs 260Breaking the rules: Irregular comparisons 261Resolving incomplete and illogical comparisons 263On Location: Placing Descriptions Correctly 268Troubling singles 268Misplaced descriptions 270Just hanging out: Danglers 272Avoiding confusing descriptions 274Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 276Whaddya Know? Chapter 15 Quiz 279Answers to Chapter 15 Quiz 280Unit 5: Spelling, Punctuation, and Capitalization 281Chapter 16: Becoming a Better Speler Speller 283Following the Rules of English Spelling 283Changing Y to I 284I before E 285Double letters 286Dropping the silent E 287Taming Spelling Demons 288How does the word end? 289One or two? 290Which vowel? 290Checking the Dictionary for Spelling Help 291Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 293Whaddya Know? Chapter 16 Quiz 295Answers to Chapter 16 Quiz 296Chapter 17: Little Hooks, Big Problems: Apostrophes 297The Pen of My Aunt or My Aunt’s Pen? Using Apostrophes to Show Possession 298Ownership for singles 299Sharing the wealth: Plural possessives 299A few special possessions 302Shortened Words for Busy People: Contractions 304Making short work of common contractions 305You coulda made a contraction mistake 306Managing Tricky Contraction/Pronoun Pairs 307Its/it’s 308Whose/who’s 308Your/you’re 308Their/there/they’re 308Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 310Whaddya Know? Chapter 17 Quiz 312Answers to Chapter 17 Quiz 313Chapter 18: Quotations: More Rules Than the Strictest Teacher 315And I Quote 316Punctuating Quotations 318Quotations with speaker tags 318Quotations without speaker tags 321Quotations with question marks 323Quotations with exclamation points 324Quotations with semicolons 325Quotations inside quotations 326Germ-Free Quotations: Using Sanitizing Quotation Marks 327Punctuating Titles: When to Use Quotation Marks 328Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 331Whaddya Know? Chapter 18 Quiz 333Answers to Chapter 18 Quiz 334Chapter 19: The Pause That Refreshes: Commas 337Distinguishing Items: Commas in Series 338Using “Comma Sense” to Add Information to Your Sentence 340List of descriptions 341Essential or extra? Commas tell the tale 342Commas with appositive influence 344You Talkin’ to Me? Direct Address 345Using Commas in Addresses and Dates 346Addressing addresses 346Punctuating dates 347Getting Started: The Introductory Comma 349Words not connected to the meaning of the sentence 349Phrases and clauses 350Punctuating Independently 350Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 352Whaddya Know? Chapter 19 Quiz 354Answers to Chapter 19 Quiz 355Chapter 20: Useful Little Marks: Dashes, Hyphens, and Colons 357Inserting Information with Dashes 357Long dashes 358Short dashes 358H-y-p-h-e-n-a-t-i-n-g Made Easy 360Understanding the great divide 360Using hyphens for compound words 360Placing hyphens in numbers 361Utilizing the well-placed hyphen 361Creating a Stopping Point: Colons 362Addressing a business letter or an email 363Introducing lists 363Introducing long quotations 364Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 367Whaddya Know? Chapter 20 Quiz 369Answers to Chapter 20 Quiz 370Chapter 21: Capital Letters 373Knowing What’s Up with Uppercase 373Capitalizing (or Not) References to People 374Sorting out job titles 374Writing about family relationships 375Tackling race and ethnicity 376Capitalizing Geography: Directions and Places 377Marking Seasons and Other Times 378Capitalizing Work and School Terms 379Capitalizing Titles 380Headline style 380Sentence style 382?4U: Cn U AbbreV8? 383Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 385Whaddya Know? Chapter 21 Quiz 388Answers to Chapter 21 Quiz 389Unit 6: Developing Style 391Chapter 22: Adding Meaning with Well-Chosen Words 393Going Vivid with Verbs 393“There is” a problem with boring verbs 393Does your writing “have” a problem? 394Don’t just “say” and “walk” away 395Pinpointing Meaning with Nouns and Descriptions 397Saving Time: Cutting Unnecessary Words 400Repetition 400Wordiness 400Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 403Whaddya Know? Chapter 22 Quiz 405Answers to Chapter 22 Quiz 407Chapter 23: Grammar Gremlins 409Deleting Double Negatives 409Sounding Incorrect 412Scoring D minus 412Three terrible twos 413You gotta problem with grammar? 413Almost twins 414Pairs of Trouble: Complicated Verbs 417Sit/set 417Hanged/hung 417Rise/raise 418Lie/lay 418Lose/loose 419One Word or Two? 420Three for the Road: Other Common Errors 422Between/among 422Being that 422Try and/try to 423Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 424Whaddya Know? Chapter 23 Quiz 426Answers to Chapter 23 Quiz 427Chapter 24: Writing Stylish Sentences 429Speaking Verbally 429Identifying verbals 430Choosing the correct tense 432Sprucing Up Boring Sentences with Clauses and Verbals 434Clauses 435Verbals 436Mixing It Up: Changing Sentence Patterns and Length 437Patterns 437Going long or cutting it short 440Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 442Whaddya Know? Chapter 24 Quiz 445Answers to Chapter 24 Quiz 447Unit 7: Grammar in Action 449Chapter 25: Adapting Your Style to Electronic Media 451Hitting the Screen with Formal or Informal Language 452Communicating Clearly in Texts, Tweets, and Posts 454Dropping words 454Dropping punctuation and capital letters 456Abbreviating 457Emailing Your Way to Good Grammar 458The heading 459The greeting 459The body 460The closing 460PowerPoint to the People 461Surveying presentation slides 462Writing titles 462Biting the bulleted list 464Autocorrect and Other Error Magnets 469Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 470Whaddya Know? Chapter 25 Quiz 472Answers to Chapter 25 Quiz 474Chapter 26: Writing at School and on the Job 475A Is for Accomplished: Writing at School 475Essays and research papers 476Science reports 480Get to Work: Writing on the Job 483Letters 483Memos 486Practice Questions Answers and Explanations 488Whaddya Know? Chapter 26 Quiz 490Answers to Chapter 26 Quiz 491Index 493

Select Guide Rating