Painless Grammar

by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.

Barron’s

“Painless Grammar” sounds like an oxymoron to most of us, but this book certainly makes grammar more inviting than do traditional texts. This 264-page book covers parts of speech, capitalization, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, writing style, and editing, although the writing “lessons” should not be considered comprehensive coverage by any means.

While it does sometimes follow the tradition of defining terms, it uses an informal style of presentation most teens will find engaging: e.g., “Most writers and editors dislike the passive voice. They say it’s too blah.”

Lots of examples and comparisons demonstrate each lesson: e.g., right and wrong examples, weak and better constructions, and informal language compared with more formal. Common errors are highlighted and dealt with.

Dr. Elliott draws her examples from the familiar world of teens and laces it with mild humor: e.g. The sentence “Wesley was the first person ever to water ski on his head.” is accompanied by a cartoon of Wesley water skiing.