hwy guys, how can i learn to improve the grammar in my writing? are there books or classes i could take to help with that? thanks
Since English is my second language, it is a bit difficult for me to use English. What helped me a bit was a series of books by Caroline Taggart and Wines. Taggart has many books about grammar you could tackle. Also read a lot, reading helps sharpening your grammar unconsciously.
Everybody will say read, read, read. In fact, everybody HAS said that in other threads like this in this forum. There's no getting around it. And read when you're young, so the grammar sinks into your bones and you don't have to think about it when you're writing. I checked your profile, Daryl, and you're 29, so that won't work for you, but do the best you can to catch up. There's a lot of grammar books available, though, and they can help you with the fine points. Most of them are incredibly, fossilizingly boring, though, because grammar is a very boring subject for most people. There are some in which the author has made an effort to entertain while instructing, however. I recommend The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. The examples she uses are whimsical and humorous enough to keep you from drying up and blowing away as you read.
Hi Daryl, You should listen to minstrel, as he/she is absolutely right. Although lessons and grammar books will help you, nothing can really compare to simply reading a lot of books. Reading will eventually engrave the fundamental grammatical rules into your head, and without the side-effect of boredom that you might get from taking classes, or reading grammar books. Good luck!
Yes, reading a lot, grammar books and other books, helps. But you will easily forget what you have read. So, keep your grammar book close by and practice editing your own work.
Read, yes. But read well-written books if your aim is to improve shaky grammar. Some of the best-seller tripe published these days will not improve your grammar one iota. The grammar in them can be dreadful, and it's getting worse, sad to say.
ditto that! madhoca's nailed it perfectly... and yes, of course there are grammar books you can study and courses you can take, but again, they have to be the 'best' ones to do you any good...
Read a lot of books, like everyone has said. In addition to grammatical correctness, there are other reasons to learn about writing mechanics. Different types of sentence structures, sentence length, active/passive voice and other syntactical choices will go a long way to creating various emotional tones in your writing, and that's a HUGE key to being an excellent writer. So when you're reading, if you come across a particular paragraph that comes across as really powerful, really poignant, and that makes you want to reread it 5 times, study it and find out what about it makes you feel that way. And take note.
