This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn grammar. It's especially good for someone who wants to learn how to write better in a business setting. For any non-native English speakers, there are special sections for you throughout the book, which I think is a good idea. Native English speakers don't often speak completely correct English, but there are still a lot of things that come naturally to them that won't to a non-native English speakers.

It reads a lot like a text book, but it's so much funner. Whereas our school text books usually have boring examples and exercises, this book has a lot of really fun one. The author comes up with the most random, hilarious sentences. Her writing style just makes it all a lot more fun. There are a lot of exercises throughout the book that let you test yourself and see if you've learned anything. The answers follow right after the exercises, so you always know how well you did.

My only complaint is that it only focused on business and non-fiction writing. I know that's the only writing a majority of the population does, and it's very useful to know. However, it would have been nice to at least have a little bit about it in the book. I would have been happy with just a small little section that said something about it. ( )

In some ways it's tough to see who this book is aimed at. It starts off with the very basics (what's a noun?), so it seems to be aimed at people who really don't know the first thing about grammar, but it moves quickly after that. Perhaps the book is aimed at people who need to brush up on details, or clear up confusions, and Rozakis just felt it necessary to explain the basics first. At any rate, either you'll find the first part of the book interminably boring, or you'll find the rest of it confusing.

At first I liked the sense of humor with which this book was written; I thought it was a good way to make boring grammar more interesting. Many of the example sentences are jokes, and the author sprinkles irony and sarcasm liberally throughout. However, even I have heard many of these jokes before. There's little change in the tone or type of humor throughout, and after a while it feels forced and unrelenting. The humor also gets in the way of the information. There are times when the author says things because they're funny, and because of that amusing phrasing she confuses the reader on one grammar point or another.

Sometimes Rozakis just plain moves too fast. She'll briefly explain something and then move on when she hasn't yet given enough of an explanation for me to really know what she's talking about. There are some topics she dealt with that I still don't understand. When she brings up big words from previous chapters, she doesn't stop to remind us of what they mean--she just charges onward. This leaves the reader stranded, flipping back and forth to figure out what's going on.

By this time it probably sounds like I hate this book, and you wouldn't be far from the mark in assuming that. I read it from cover to cover and found it tiresome, frustrating, and downright annoying. However, this book does contain a great deal of in-depth grammar information. Most sections include enough examples to teach you what you need to know. Taken in small doses the humor can be fun (in particular, the humor makes the examples of bad writing less headache-inducing). The index is very handy, and there are some good and unusual sections in here on things like non-sexist language, writing "bad news" letters, and putting together an effective resume.

I think this book would probably make a better reference book than text book.

Full review at ErrantDreams ( )