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English
Grammar
for the Utterly
Confused
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English
Grammar
for the Utterly
Confused
Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.
McGraw-Hill
New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid
Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore
Sydney Toronto
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Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of
America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
0-07-143097-0
The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-139922-4
All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occur-

To Robert from Farmingdale...always and forever.
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I
would like to thank Barbara Gilson, the editorial director of Schaum. Barbara, you
are a dear friend, and it is always a treat working with you.
Thank you also to all the hard-working people at McGraw-Hill who take my manu-
scripts and turn them into books. They are Andrew Littell, Maureen B. Walker, and
Maureen Harper. You make me look so good!
And grateful acknowledgement to the wonderful staff of the Farmingdale Public
Library. From reference to circulation, youth services to technical processing, you
always manage to get me the material I need. Your experience, expertise, and kindness
are much appreciated. Finally, my thanks to my children, Charles and Samantha, and
their friends. When “book writing” gets tough, I can always count on the kids for a much-
needed break!
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Acknowledgments
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PART 1 WELCOME TO GRAMMARLAND 1
Chapter 1 Parts of Speech 3
Adjectives 4
Adverbs 5
Conjunctions 7
Interjections 7
Nouns 8
Prepositions 9

Active and Passive Voice 39
It’s a Wrap 40
Test Yourself 40
PART 2 USAGE AND ABUSAGE 45
Chapter 4 Using Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly 47
Is It an Adjective or an Adverb? 48
Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Degrees of Comparisons 49
Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs 51
Using Predicate Adjectives after Linking Verbs 52
Double Negatives 54
It’s a Wrap 55
Test Yourself 55
Chapter 5 Agreement: Matching Sentence Parts 61
Like Peas in a Pod 62
A Singular Subject Must Have a Singular Verb 63
A Plural Subject Must Have a Plural Verb 65
Collective Nouns and Indefinite Pronouns 66
Special Problems in Agreement 69
Agreement of Pronouns and Antecedents 70
It’s a Wrap 71
Test Yourself 71
Chapter 6 The 25 Most Common Usage Problems 77
Top Trouble Spots in Writing 78
Most Common Grammar and Usage Errors 79
Most Common Sentence Errors 83
Most Common Spelling Errors 83
Most Common Punctuation Errors 92
Most Common Capitalization Errors 93
Most Common Proofreading Errors 93
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It’s a Wrap 137
Test Yourself 137
PART 4 A WRITER’S TOOLS 145
Chapter 10 Punctuation 147
Apostrophes 148
Brackets 149
Colons 150
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xii
Contents
Commas 150
Dashes 153
Ellipsis 153
Exclamation Marks 154
Hyphens 154
Parentheses 154
Periods 155
Question Marks 155
Quotation Marks 155
Semicolons 156
Slashes 156
It’s a Wrap 157
Test Yourself 157
Chapter 11 Capitalization and Abbreviations 163
Avoiding Capital Offenses: The Rules of Capitalization 164
Capitalize Names and Titles 164
Capitalize Names of Places and Events 167
Capitalize Names of Languages and Religions 167
Capitalize Proper Adjectives and Product Names 168
Capitalize Names of Organizations, Institutions, Courses, and Famous Buildings 169

George Orwell on Style 217
It’s a Wrap 218
Test Yourself 218
Index 225
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I
have the world’s nicest students. They are polite, earnest, and sweet. They are fun to
talk to and a delight to teach. Unfortunately, many of them are ill-prepared for col-
lege. They are not ready for the onslaught of work and do not know how to write.
Many have not been taught grammar, usage, or mechanics.
After interviewing students across the country—including many at the nation’s top
schools—I have come to realize that this dilemma is not unique to my students. Far from
it. Worst of all, a distressing number of students believe they cannot succeed. They have
been shaken by years of low grades or grade inflation that results in artificially-raised
scores.
This book is designed to help all students master the basics of English grammar that
they need to succeed in their studies. Best of all, when students understand the under-
pinnings of our language, learning will be fun—as it should be.
—L
AURIE
R
OZAKIS
, P
H
.D.
F
ARMINGDALE
S
TATE

Use the book as a study guide right before and after major tests. Read and reread the
chapters you need the most.
●
Complete the exercises that directly match the types of tests you are taking now or
plan to take in the immediate future.
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Organization of the Text
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English
Grammar
for the Utterly
Confused
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PART 1
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Welcome to
Grammarland
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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use.
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Y
ou should read this chapter if you need to review or learn about
➜
Adjectives
➜

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CHAPTER 1
Parts of Speech
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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use.