I'd somehow forgotten to list this book on this site, even though I still own a copy.

A guide to many aspects of writing clearly by using good grammar. Clark explains his points well, but the absence of an index, at least in the ebook version, makes it less useful as a reference. ( )

http://pro-libertate.net/20110809/170-read-glamour-grammar ( )

Interesting read with lots of good information. He uses examples from many texts and tries to make the topic entertaining (and mostly succeeds). A little forewarning that he mentions politics, curse words, etc. that may be distracting to people. ( )

This was such a helpful book to me. I learned things I hadn't understood before about punctuation, meaning, and writing style. One of the things I most enjoyed was how the book used as many background information details as it did examples. Then, at the end of each section, there was a review of the most valuable points covered within that section, which is especially helpful to someone reading a little bit each night.

This book was very approachable to the lay reader and the application is immediate. If you are looking for a non-fiction book that gives a broad, understandable look into the details of English and English writing, consider this. ( )

Before you buy this book, you have to answer one simple question: do you already know a bit about the grammar of the English language? If you answer yes, I'd recommend skipping this volume and looking elsewhere for further enlightenment. Otherwise, dive in.

I previously read Roy Peter Clark's excellent book on Writing Tips, learning a massive amount that I was able to apply to my own writing immediately. The short chapters suited his material, and I felt like it was a good book to turn to for a few minutes each day to learn something new.

Unfortunately, as an experienced teacher of English as a foreign language, I already knew very nearly everything that Clark wanted to discuss here, and I have taught much of the same material or content points in far great depth to my own students. For example, the chapter on 'articles' (a, an, and the) is far too slight, and does not offer anything useful by way of differentiation between the different forms. To make matters worse, the zero article (so called because no article is present - 'England' has a zero article, whereas 'The United Kingdom' takes the definite article) is completely overlooked.

Where Clark is strongest is where there is overlap between this book and his Writing Tips. His discussion of the different ways in which sentences can be said to 'branch' was both interesting and informative, and carried with it enough examples - which Clark analyses - to be worth reading. This chapter is almost double the length of the one on articles, which is a curious thing to note given how tenuous the connection is between 'branching sentences' and 'English grammar'.

And that's the problem through much of this short text - there's simply not enough grammar to justify the glamour. ( )