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    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition
    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition
    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition
    Ebook267 pages2 hours

    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition

    By Arlene Miller

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    About this ebook

    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! will give you everything you need to make your speaking and writing clear and effective. It is the eighth grammar book written by Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva. The Best Grammar Workbook Ever! (no "little") has been a consistent bestseller on Amazon, and The Grammar Diva hopes that the "little" version of the workbook will be as helpful. The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! can be used by itself; it can also be used with its companion book, the second edition of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Speak and Write with Confidence/Avoid Common Mistakes. This workbook is full of exercises and quizzes, while the companion book contains more explanations and examples. Topics covered in this workbook include sentence structure, types of sentences, phrases and clauses, dead words, irregular verbs, tenses, punctuation, capitalization, commonly confused words, fragments and run-ons, possessives, who and whom, lay and lie, using numbers, parallel structure, series and lists, and much more. This book is recommended for ages 10 through adult.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArlene Miller
    Release dateOct 25, 2016
    ISBN9780991167470
    The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition
    Author

    Arlene Miller

    Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva, is the  author of nine grammar books, a self-publishing book, and a novel: The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, first and second editions The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? Fifty Shades of Grammar Correct Me If I'm Wrong The Great Grammar Cheat Sheet Beyond Worksheets  The Best Grammar Workbook Ever I Wrote a Book: Now What? The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Self-Publishing Four College Girls and a Purple Boa Her grammar books are used by schools and colleges. The Best Little Grammar Book Ever won Best Reference Book from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association in 2011. The Best Grammar Workbook Ever won honorable mention at the New York Book Festival in 2016. And Fifty Shades of Grammar won Best Book Runner Up in 2016 from the Bay Area Independent Book Publishers Association. Arlene is from the Boston area, where she went to school and worked until 1993, when she and her family relocated to Sonoma County, California. She started her writing career as a newspaper reporter and editor before becoming a technical writer in the 1980s. She has won two awards of excellence from the Society of Technical Writers. More recently, Ms. Miller has been a freelance book editor and blogger. She also taught for the California public schools for 11 years. Arlene holds a B.A. in English and Journalism and an M.A. in Humanities, as well as teaching and school administration credentials. She conducts grammar and writing workshops based on her book. And if you don't believe that grammar can be humorous and entertaining, listen to one of her grammar talks! She is also an accomplished tap dancer and an award-winning poet. She has two grown children and currently lives in beautiful wine country, California. See her website at www.bigwords101.com for more information or to set up a workshop. Sign up to receive the weekly Grammar Diva Blog Post and get a free grammar mini-book download.

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      Book preview

      The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition - Arlene Miller

      workbookTP.jpg

      More books by Arlene Miller, The Grammar Diva

      *The Best Little Grammar Book Ever: 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking (First Edition)—paperback and e-book

      *The Best Little Grammar Book Ever: Speak and Write with Confidence/Avoid Common Mistakes (Second Edition)—paperback and e-book

      *Correct Me If I’m Wrong: Getting Your Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage Right—paperback and e-book

      *The Great Grammar Cheat Sheet: 50 Grammar, Punctuation, Writing, and Word Usage Tips You Can Use Now—e-book only

      *Beyond Worksheets: Creative Lessons for Teaching Grammar in Middle School and High School—e-book only

      *The Best Grammar Workbook Ever: Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage for Ages 10 Through 110—paperback and e-book

      *Fifty Shades of Grammar: Scintillating and Saucy Sentences, Syntax, and Semantics from The Grammar Diva—paperback and e-book

      Coming Soon:

      The Best Little Book of Confused Words and Malapropisms Ever!

      We always appreciate reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite website. Thank you!

      The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever!

      Copyright © 2016 by Arlene Miller

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

      Cover design by Matt Hinrichs

      Interior design and formatting by Marny K. Parkin

      Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Miller, Arlene. The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! Use Alone or with Its Companion Book: The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! (Second Edition), 2016

      p. cm.

      Includes answer appendix

      ISBN 978-0-9911674-5-6

      1. English language—Grammar. 2. English language—Usage. 3. English language—Grammar—Self-instruction.

      Library of Congress: PE 1106.M550

      Dewey: 428.2

      Published by bigwords101, P.O. Box 4483, Petaluma, CA 94955 USA

      website and blog: www.bigwords101.com

      Contact Ingram or the publisher for quantity discounts for your company, organization, or educational institution.

      To Jake and Shelley

      My life, My loves

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      How to Use This Book

      Pretest

      Chapter 1—The Basics: Parts of Speech

      1.1 Nouns

      The Five Types of Nouns

      1.2 Pronouns

      Types of Pronouns

      Big Issue: The Singular They

      1.3 Verbs

      Linking Verbs

      Tense

      Voice

      Transitive/Intransitive

      Mood

      1.4 Adjectives

      Other Types of Adjectives

      1.5 Adverbs

      Flat Adverbs

      1.6 Prepositions

      1.7 Conjunctions

      Subordinating Conjunctions

      1.8 Interjections

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 1

      Chapter 1 Test

      Chapter 2—The Basics: Sentence Structure

      2.1 Subjects

      2.2 Predicates

      2.3 Objects

      2.4 Predicate Words

      2.5 Phrases

      2.6 Clauses

      2.7 Types of Sentences

      2.8 Sentence Structures

      Simple Sentence

      Compound Sentence

      Complex Sentence

      Compound-Complex Sentence

      2.9 Not a Sentence:

      Fragments and Run-Ons

      Fragments

      Run-Ons

      2.10 Sentence Variety Patterns

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 2

      Chapter 2 Test

      Chapter 3—Punctuation

      3.1 Periods and Other Ending Punctuation

      3.2 Commas (,)

      3.3 Semicolons (;)

      3.4 Colons (:)

      3.5. Parentheses ( ), Brackets [ ], and Braces { }

      3.6 Hyphens (-) and Dashes (– and —)

      Hyphen

      En Dash

      Em Dash

      3.7 Italics

      3.8 Quotation () and

      Single (‘’) Quotation Marks

      Single Quotation Marks

      3.9 Ellipses (. . .)

      3.10 Apostrophes (’)

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 3

      Chapter 3 Test

      Chapter 4—Capitalization

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 4

      Chapter 4 Test

      Chapter 5—Things to Avoid

      5.1 Dead Words

      5.2 Anywheres, Anyways

      5.3 Wasted Words

      5.4 A Comma To Separate Sentences

      5.5 Could of/Should of/Would of

      5.6 Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, Lastly

      5.7 Double Negatives

      5.8 Irregardless

      5.9 Unclear Pronouns and Antecedents

      5.10 Got Instead of Have

      5.11 Flat Adverbs

      5.12 Redundancy: Repeating Yourself

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 5

      Chapter 5 Test

      Chapter 6—Confusing Things

      6.1 Affect/Effect

      6.2 Already/All Ready

      6.3 Alright/All Right

      6.4 Among/Between

      6.5 Bad/Badly

      6.6 By Accident/On Accident

      6.7 Data

      6.8 Further/Farther

      6.9 Good/Well

      6.10 I/Me and Who/Whom

      6.11 Imply/Infer

      6.12 Its/It’s

      6.13 Lay/Lie

      6.14 Less/Fewer

      6.15 Like/As If

      6.16 Only: Where To Put It

      6.17 Principal/Principle

      6.18 Stationary/Stationery

      6.19 Than/Then

      6.20 That/Who/Which

      6.21 They’re/Their/There

      6.22 To/Too/Two

      6.23 Toward/Towards

      6.24 Try and/Try to

      6.25 Who’s/Whose

      6.26 Vice Versa

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 6

      Chapter 6 Test

      Chapter 7—Important Grammar Issues

      7.1 Agreement

      Subject/Verb Agreement

      Pronoun/Verb Agreement

      Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

      Agreement with Conjunctions

      Collective Noun Agreement with Verb and Pronoun

      7.2 Comparison

      7.3 Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

      7.4 Possessives

      7.5 Active and Passive Voices

      7.6 However and Therefore

      7.7 Using Strong Verbs

      7.8 Verb Tense Consistency

      7.9 Irregular Verb Forms

      7.10 Linking Verbs with Pronouns

      7.11 Parallel Structure

      7.12 Series and Lists

      Horizontal Lists

      Vertical Lists

      7.13 Keeping It Simple

      7.14 Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 7

      Chapter 7 Test

      Chapter 8—Questions You Might Have

      8.1 How Do I Capitalize Titles?

      8.2 Can I Use Abbreviations?

      8.3 Can I Use Contractions?

      8.4 When Do I Spell Out Numbers?

      8.5 Can I Start a Sentence with a Conjunction?

      8.6 Can I Ever Use Fragments and Run-Ons?

      8.7 Can I Use Jargon and Slang?

      8.8 And Last . . . A Few Common Mistakes

      Important Things to Remember from Chapter 8

      Chapter 8 Test

      Final Test

      Appendix—Answers to Exercises and Tests

      Acknowledgments

      There are always many people to thank when one embarks on a writing career, becomes a publisher, and becomes an entrepreneur, particularly later in life when one is wiser and less daring!

      I started out six years ago knowing nothing about this business, so I acknowledge everyone who has helped me, educated me, and supported me along my journey. Your names are too many to list.

      Thank you to my greatest inspirations: my children, Shelley and Jake.

      Marny Parkin, my designer; Matt Hinrichs, my cover designer; Gil Namur, my website guy; and John DeGaetano, my business advisor and friend, also merit special thanks.

      Copperfield’s Books has been so supportive of me and so many other independently published writers. Thank you.

      And all of you members of Redwood Writers and Bay Area Independent Publishers Association, everyone whom I have heard speak at a meeting, everyone who sends me valuable e-mails, everyone who has written me a blurb or a review, I thank you.

      How to Use This Book

      This workbook is just what it claims to be: little. I have also written a more comprehensive workbook—The Best Grammar Workbook Ever. This book is smaller, but still contains what is most important to know. The table of contents is the same as its companion, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Second Edition, so you can use this book alone or along with that one. This workbook contains exercises and tests; the book doesn’t, but the book contains more information and examples.

      Conversational language and formal written language are two separate things. How formal you want to be in your conversations is up to you. This workbook concentrates on those formal grammar and punctuation standards that have been around a long time. Where things have changed, I will let you know.

      In Chapters 1 and 2 you will find the basics of how words turn into sentences. Chapter 3 discusses punctuation and Chapter 4, capitalization. Chapters 5 and 6 go through some of the more confusing aspects of grammar and word usage. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss important grammar issues that will improve your writing, including a few things that have changed or are changing.

      This workbook contains many exercises, chapter tests, a pretest, and a final test. There are also Helpful Hints and Notes throughout the book.

      All the answers are in the Appendix. There is no index because everything is included in the table of contents, and I wanted to make it easier for you to find the answers at the end of the book. You might want to put a Post-It in the answer section so you can find it more easily—or even gently tear those pages out. This book’s companion, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! (Second Edition) contains a complete index.

      Arlene Miller, M.A.

      The Grammar Diva

      www.bigwords101.com

      Pretest

      Answer these questions before you go through the book.

      1. Which of these is a verb?

      a. is     b. in     c. it     d. if

      2. Every sentence needs a subject and a(n) _________.

      a. period     b. noun     c. verb     d. object

      3. I gave him the money for the tickets. The subject of this sentence is

      a. him     b. money     c. I     d. tickets

      4. Simple predicate is the same as

      a. subject     b. verb     c. noun     d. sentence

      5. Give the dog to me. The direct object of this sentence is

      a. dog     b. me     c. give     d. there is none

      6. Which sentence has a participle that makes sense?

      a. Driving down the road, my dog ran in front of a car.

      b. Reading a book by the window, my cat fell asleep.

      c. He read from his book wearing glasses.

      d. Running down the street, the boy wouldn’t come back.

      7. An independent clause is the same as a

      a. sentence     b. fragment     c. subject     d. prepositional phrase

      8. Which of these is a complete and correct sentence?

      a. Although I have read that book twice before.

      b. Going to the movies and coming home.

      c. She ran.

      d. She ran, he walked.

      9. Which one of these is a run-on sentence?

      a. She ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran.

      b. She ran; he walked.

      c. I didn’t run, he did.

      d. Eat your dinner, and then go to bed.

      10. Jimmy and (me, I, myself) went camping last week.

      11. (Him and I, He and I, Me and him, He and myself) loved that movie!

      12. With (who, whom) are you talking?

      13. Anyone on the girls’ basketball team can buy (her, their) uniform here.

      14. Either Raphael or Gemma (is, are) coming with us.

      15. Somebody is studying for (his, his or her, their) final exam in the library.

      16. Which sentence is written clearly?

      a. Abby waved at Carol as she was driving down the street.

      b.

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