I am not a native English speaker, however, due to my career choice I have to stay in an English speaking country (there isn't happening as much in others or my home country). This means I will have to learn to write in English, because my career depends on writing and speaking. And I also want to restart writing fiction, just for myself and maybe some online literature lovers. Please recommend me some good books or online sources about English grammar, interpunction etc. Something that English people use in high schools or college. If you have a degree in English or Creative Writing - what books did you use? I want to master this language. Every day I read fiction and scientific texts but it's difficult to get much out of just that.
why don't you go to your local high school or college and ask an english teacher to make up a book list for you?... you may even be able to get used textbooks...
Mammamaia's post, although carelessly written, is very helpful, sarkans. Look for high school/college English/grammar/literature textbooks in a library/bookshop/old books stalls/amazon. As is widely said, read as widely as possible.
'carelessly'? you haven't been here very long, or you'd know that it's merely my idiosyncratic 'casual' writing style... be assured that when writing for publication, my virgo's virgo nit-pickery par excellence comes to the fore... as it does when i'm assessing and editing mentees' and clients' work...
Although your English seems better than many native speakers, you obviously recognize there is room for improvement. Have you checked into ESL classes? That could be a great help for you and the instructor should be able to offer suggestions on reading, including fiction writing and skills development books for you.
Is that why you have 19,000 posts in a 'forum'? I doubt any good writer even knows what a 'forum' is.
So you're including yourself in the not-good writers? And, judging from your behavior in this thread, you're also setting out to offend the members of this forum.
Shhh. I believe Steven King (as an example) is also a member. Writers stick together and never denigrate another's work. "Don't troll" is a good rule to live by
@blinkstun - It's a good idea to spend time to get to know a forum and its denizens. You'll see that lots of us write in an idiosyncratic way when we're posting comments in threads, like @mammamaia did. It's just an informal conversation we're all having here. This forum is a lot of fun (most of the time). I hope you enjoy being part of it.
What a cantankerous old devil. Write a story please, you sound horrid, perfect. ... 'Forum, like the Greeks you mean?' 'Hang on general, I'll fetch your ear trumpet.' 'Thank you nurse, Mamamamia, she's a bloody communist...every sentence requires a capital letter, my girl, very sloppy. Euch, euch euch, euch euch euch...nurse, nurse.'
I don't know of any college level grammar books. I guess you're expected to know the basics before getting into composition 101 and it appears you do, so recommending a text book seems unnecessary. I do have several books on grammar and sentence construction: The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment - Thurman, Susan; Shea, Larry Building Great Sentences: How to Write the Kinds of Sentences You Love to Read Landon, Brooks The second book is the transcript to a video class from the company "Great Courses." I have a lot of their courses. Philosophy, argumentation, etc. I have several others, but these two should get you started. I have all my books on a kindle.
