Palgrave Study Skills Improve your Grammar

Citation

Daley, C. (2013), "Palgrave Study Skills Improve your Grammar", Education + Training, Vol. 55 No. 7, pp. 738-740. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-02-2013-0020

This reference book is very useful and very readable. It is aimed at native English speakers and therefore for the reviewer, it addresses a gap in the market. This book will be welcomed by those of us who received instruction in only the basics of the grammar of the English language whilst at school. Ironically those of us who may possess an advanced understanding of grammar and grammatical terminology may have acquired it as a result of studying modern foreign languages.

We should accept that English is a hard language to get to grips with, both in grammatical and verbal forms. We may readily acknowledge the predicament of the student struggling to learn it as a foreign language, but spare little thought for the native English speaker, who we expect to communicate verbally without error. If conquering the spoken word is a challenge, how much more of a trial is it to master the language in its more complex, written form? To write in the English language without error, is undoubtedly a challenge for most of us, but there are rules and if we are aware of them, then we can play by them. This concise and well‐written guide is in effect a book of rules.

The book is separated into seven sections and 60 short chapters known as units. All are well signposted. The “Contents” section is detailed; bullet point information gives a clear indication of the subject matter of all of the units. An example of this would be unit 16 (Comparing and contrasting). Subheadings for this unit cover “comparative adjectives”, “comparative adverbs”, “ […] than” and “ […] as”.

The majority of units contain useful guidelines and examples offered in text blocks entitled “Writing Tips”, “Remember!” and “Danger Zone”. Each unit comes with its own set of exercises that reinforce the key points and offer the reader the chance to put her new knowledge into practice. The answers provided in the “Key” section at the end of the book then allow the reader to reflect instantly on her learning. Of course the reader can reflect instantly and not instantly reflect, because she is now able to avoid the solecism of the split infinitive!

The first of the book sections is entitled “Key terms”. In this section, the reader is taken back to the basics of grammar in “Parts of speech” (unit 1) and “Parts of a sentence” (unit 2), respectively. This section is extremely informative. Most adults will understand the difference between a verb, a noun and an adjective, but how many of us will recognise a gerund, an adverb or an article when we see it on the page or use it in discussion? In this section, we are offered enlightenment on those fundamental phrases, words and groups of words.

The second section of the book is about “Key grammar”. In this section, the authors provide a comprehensive and systematic representation of the intrinsic elements of English syntax. The coverage is comprehensive, containing 22 different units taking care of the basics but also including more advanced concepts such as “Emphasising” (unit 11) and “Relative clauses” (unit 15).

The third of the sections is entitled “Key punctuation”. The titles of the seven units in this section comprise a tick list of the most commonly used and most commonly misused devices of English grammar. Readers will welcome the easily understandable explanations of correct and incorrect uses of the comma (units 19 and 20), “Colons and semi‐colons (unit 21)”, “Hyphens, dashes and brackets” (unit 22), “Inverted commas” (unit 23) and “Capital letters” (unit 25). It is most gratifying to note the inclusion of unit 23, which is reserved for the apostrophe, the appropriate use of which defeats so many of us!

The fourth and fifth sections of the book are about processes for enhancing the quality of sentence structure and content. The fourth section consists of six units in which instruction and advice on “Connections within sentences” are offered. Four of the units are dedicated to different mechanisms for linking clauses together, for example unit 26 covers “contrasting” and the use of words such as “although”, “despite” and “however”. In unit 30 “Signposting” is examined and the authors explain how particular words might be used to direct readers to other parts of a written assignment, for instance “the former” and “the latter”. The section ends with units 31 and 32, in which we are instructed on the correct use of pronouns and how to avoid repetition of words, respectively.

“Producing good sentences is the fifth section. Unit 33 goes by the intriguing title “Parallel structures”. Here it is explained how repetition of a grammatical structure may be used to link and emphasise key points, for example “Television was originally designed to educate (to) amuse and (to) entertain the masses” (Harrison et al. , 2012, p. 66). There are seven units to this section (33‐39). Advice is offered on avoiding pitfalls such as long and disorganised sentences (unit 36), and incomplete sentences (unit 35). Advice is also offered on how to use effectively the short sentence (unit 37) and on building successful longer sentences (unit 39).

The sixth section is entitled “Features of writing” and its ten units cover a wide range of topics. It will be very useful to anyone for whom effective and accurate writing is important, but it will be especially valuable to students whose academic success will depend to a great part on the quality of their written communication. Students often make errors or even neglect to include citations in the text of their work, so unit 44 (Citing) is a useful reminder. In unit 45 (Incorporating data) the reader is offered valuable guidance on how to write about information of a qualitative nature. There is advice on appropriate vocabulary and a very handy tip on the importance of writing numbers one to ten as words, but writing subsequent numbers as numerals (Harrison et al., 2012, p. 91). Units on the use of formal language (47 and 48) and the “Language of argument” complete the section.

The seventh and final section of the book is about “Using the right words”. Units on adjectives and adverbs and the use of prepositions (50‐52) will be helpful to the reader who aims to form more descriptive and emphatic sentences. In “Commonly misused words” (units 56 and 57), “Key spelling rules” (unit 58) and “Common spelling mistakes” (unit 59), the authors offer instruction on how we may avoid some of the most regularly occurring errors of English grammar.

The inclusion of the final unit of the book will be applauded by many employed in the education sector. It deals with an issue that vexes many an academic – that is, “Writing an email to your tutor” (unit 60). This reviewer hopes that students, who read and digest this unit will no longer transmits vague, incomprehensible missives, littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and written in the inappropriate, informal language of the text message and the social network. Fingers crossed!

This book is an extremely welcome addition to the Palgrave Study Skills series. The coverage is comprehensive, but it is presented in a straightforward and clearly accessible way. Not a centimetre of space in the 150 pages is wasted and the authors have packed in lots of instructive, informative but also interesting content. The reviewer had planned to send her copy of the book to her son, a first year undergraduate, but on reflection she will keep it for herself so that never again will she make inappropriate use of a semi‐colon.