Better English

Do your sentences run longer than a page? Or do they hang in the air, waiting for a subject, an object or some punctuation to finish them off? This easy-to-use guide to sentence writing not only teaches you how to overcome run-ons and sentence fragments, but also all of the sentence construction obstacles encountered by anyone who needs to master (or re-master) the English language—all without making you do a single dreaded diagram! You'll learn a sentence-combining approach to writing that goes beyond helping you avoid errors by teaching you how to create sound sentences with variety and style. You'll also find: • Clear discussions of rules and strategies for good writing. • Easy-to-understand explanations and plenty of exercises, from fill-in-the-blanks to transforming short sentences into longer and more graceful combinations. • An answer key at the back of the book to encourage you to work at your own pace and check your answers as you go. Even if you can't spare 30 minutes a day to learn how to write brilliant sentences, “Better Sentence Writing in 30 Minutes a Day” allows you to customize your learning to take as little as five minutes a day. Just like its companion guides in the “Better English” Series, this book is just what the teacher ordered!

Do you use the dictionary more than you think you should? Are the business memos you write filled with embarrassing spelling mistakes? Have you received a lot of low grades on your papers because of poor spelling? This easy-to-use book not only teaches you how to avoid misspellings, but also sharpens your skills so you can recognize spelling errors right away. You'll write clean English, improve your grades, and increase your chances for finding a new or better job.

Who cares about commas, semicolons, dashes, and hyphens? Well, you should. A misplaced punctuation mark can confuse physicians and surgeons, cause thousands of dollars in legal fees, misinform judges, puzzle bankers, misguide stockbrokers...and create lumps in your pudding. You don't need a teacher with a mouthful of jargon to help you understand how to make yourself clearly understood. Better Punctuation in 30 Minutes a Day will help you teach yourself. This small, step-by-step handbook is an indispensable guide if you need to: • Compose high school or college papers. • Apply to college or for a job. • Write a resume or fill out an application. • Communicate your thoughts to anyone, from your landlord to your loved one. You can work on your own, at your own speed, and within your own time frame. The rules of punctuation, often confusing and hazy, will finally become clear. Ceil Cleveland teaches writing and literature at New York University. A former vice president at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and at Queens College of the City University of New York, for ten years she was an editor-in-chief of Columbia, the Alumni Magazine of Columbia University. She is the author of four books, editor of seven, and has written more than 100 articles for national journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Would you like to find new, exciting words to use in your speech and writing? Would you like to be a fascinating conversationalist? Would you like to be a Scrabble expert? “Better Vocabulary In 30 Minutes a Day” offers a lively and entertaining method for adding a more impressive list of words to your everyday speech, and for learning how to use them effortlessly and accurately. Besides giving definitions, this invaluable guide also provides root meanings and elements of words so you can increase your vocabulary base by thousands of exciting new words and use them with aplomb in sentences. Sprinkled throughout the book are fascinating stories about words and their origins. Even if you can't spare 30 minutes a day to learn to speak and write eloquently, “Better Vocabulary In 30 Minutes a Day” allows you to customize your learning to take as little as five minutes a day. That's a small commitment for the lifelong benefit of speaking and writing better! Like its companion guides in the “Better English” Series, this book is just what you need for confident, clear writing and speaking!

Do you panic when you must decide whether to use "affect" or "effect"? Do verb tenses make you, well...tense? This easy-to-use guide to grammar not only teaches you to use the right verb at the right time, but helps you brush up on all your rusty grammar skills so you can write and speak clear, error-free English with confidence. You'll also find: • Thorough coverage of key areas of grammar. • Easy-to-understand explanations and plenty of exercises to test and refine your skills. • An answer key at the back of the book to encourage you to work at your own pace and check your answers as you go. • A glossary for a quick review of any grammatical term discussed in the book. Even if you can't spare 30 minutes a day to become grammatically correct, Better Grammar in 30 Minutes a Day allows you to customize your learning to take as little as five minutes a day. Like its companion guides in the Better English Series, this book is just what the teacher ordered!