Letters to the Grammarians

Letters to the Grammarians PDF Author: Dipo Kalejaiye
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Get Book

Book Description
The book is a collection of nine letters addressed to former high school classmates. It uses these letters as mirrors into the nostalgic past of a 'grammar school' (high school) experience at the onset of the postcolonial era in Nigeria. The aim of the book is to show the routine antics of classmates as 'informal' education and that this, in conjunction with 'formal' education, make a total high school experience. The first part of the book, the introduction, shows the process of recalling the experiences contained in the letters. The second part is the individual letters, among them are: 'A letter to Aranmsko, ' which shows adventure as a form of learning and the trepidation of the 'curse' he receives from a religious studies teacher. 'A letter to Sosorakota' portrays the controversial topic of sex during the teenage years. The third part of the book, the conclusion, asserts that the Letters reveal aspects of human character such as kindness, trust, hope, and fear

Letters to the Grammarians

Letters to the Grammarians PDF Author: Dipo Kalejaiye
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Get Book

Book Description
The book is a collection of nine letters addressed to former high school classmates. It uses these letters as mirrors into the nostalgic past of a 'grammar school' (high school) experience at the onset of the postcolonial era in Nigeria. The aim of the book is to show the routine antics of classmates as 'informal' education and that this, in conjunction with 'formal' education, make a total high school experience. The first part of the book, the introduction, shows the process of recalling the experiences contained in the letters. The second part is the individual letters, among them are: 'A letter to Aranmsko, ' which shows adventure as a form of learning and the trepidation of the 'curse' he receives from a religious studies teacher. 'A letter to Sosorakota' portrays the controversial topic of sex during the teenage years. The third part of the book, the conclusion, asserts that the Letters reveal aspects of human character such as kindness, trust, hope, and fear

The Grammarians

The Grammarians PDF Author: Cathleen Schine
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
ISBN: 0374712190
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
An enchanting, comic love letter to sibling rivalry and the English language. From the author compared to Nora Ephron and Nancy Mitford, not to mention Jane Austen, comes a new novel celebrating the beauty, mischief, and occasional treachery of language. The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret “twin” tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love, which has always bound them together, begins instead to push them apart. Daphne, copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to preserving the dignity and elegance of Standard English. Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn, instead, to the polymorphous, chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. Their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war, absurdly but passionately, over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition. Cathleen Schine has written a playful and joyful celebration of the interplay of language and life. A dazzling comedy of sisterly and linguistic manners, a revelation of the delights and stresses of intimacy, The Grammarians is the work of one of our great comic novelists at her very best.

Guardians of Language

Guardians of Language PDF Author: Robert A. Kaster
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520342763
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Get Book

Book Description
What did it mean to be a professional teacher in the prestigious "liberal schools"—the schools of grammar and rhetoric—in late antiquity? How can we account for the abiding prestige of these schools, which remained substantially unchanged in their methods and standing despite the political and religious changes that had taken place around them? The grammarian was a pivotal figure in the lives of the educated upper classes of late antiquity. Introducing his students to correct language and to the literature esteemed by long tradition, he began the education that confirmed his students' standing in a narrowly defined elite. His profession thus contributed to the social as well as cultural continuity of the Empire. The grammarian received honor—and criticism; the profession gave the grammarian a firm sense of cultural authority but also placed him in a position of genteel subordination within the elite. Robert A. Kaster provides the first thorough study of the place and function of these important but ambiguous figures. He also gives a detailed prosopography of the grammarians, and of the other "teachers of letters" below the level of rhetoric, from the middle of the third through the middle of the sixth century, which will provide a valuable research tool for other students of late-antique education.

Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students

Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students PDF Author: Mignon Fogarty
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805089438
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book

Book Description
For beginners to advanced students, this warm and witty guide to writing includes a writing style chapter and a guide to writing everything from school papers to letters to e-mails.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport

The Three Weissmanns of Westport PDF Author: Cathleen Schine
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
ISBN: 1429936371
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book

Book Description
A New York Times Best Seller A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Betty Weissmann has just been dumped by her husband of forty-eight years. Exiled from her elegant New York apartment by her husband's mistress, she and her two middle-aged daughters, Miranda and Annie, regroup in a run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. In Schine's playful and devoted homage to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, the impulsive sister is Miranda, a literary agent entangled in a series of scandals, and the more pragmatic sister is Annie, a library director, who feels compelled to move in and watch over her capricious mother and sister. Schine's witty, wonderful novel The Three Weissmanns of Westport "is simply full of pleasure: the pleasure of reading, the pleasure of Austen, and the pleasure that the characters so rightly and humorously pursue....An absolute triumph" (The Cleveland Plain Dealer).

Against the Grammarians (Adversus Mathematicos I)

Against the Grammarians (Adversus Mathematicos I) PDF Author: Sextus (Empiricus.)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198244707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Get Book

Book Description
Blank presents a new translation into clear modern English of a key treatise by one of the greatest of ancient philosophers, together with the first ever commentary on this work. Sextus Empiricus's Against the Grammarians is a polemical attack on ancient Greek ideas about grammar, and provides one of the best examples of sustained Sceptical reasoning.

Dreyer's English

Dreyer's English PDF Author: Benjamin Dreyer
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812985710
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • Paste • Shelf Awareness “Essential (and delightful!)”—People We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike—not to mention his followers on social media—for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he has copyedited and overseen into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward. As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en dash; the rules and nonrules of grammar, including why it’s OK to begin a sentence with “And” or “But” and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including “very,” “rather,” “of course,” and the dreaded “actually.” Dreyer will let you know whether “alright” is all right (sometimes) and even help you brush up on your spelling—though, as he notes, “The problem with mnemonic devices is that I can never remember them.” And yes: “Only godless savages eschew the series comma.” Chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this book will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and—perhaps best of all—an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language. Praise for Dreyer’s English “Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal . . . One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer’s English.”—The Wall Street Journal “Destined to become a classic.”—The Millions “Dreyer can help you . . . with tips on punctuation and spelling. . . . Even better: He’ll entertain you while he’s at it.”—Newsday

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen PDF Author: Mary Norris
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393246604
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book

Book Description
"Hilarious…This book charmed my socks off." —Patricia O’Conner, New York Times Book Review Mary Norris has spent more than three decades working in The New Yorker’s renowned copy department, helping to maintain its celebrated high standards. In Between You & Me, she brings her vast experience with grammar and usage, her good cheer and irreverence, and her finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in a boisterous language book as full of life as it is of practical advice. Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Amazon, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Eats, Shoots & Leaves PDF Author: Lynne Truss
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101218290
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 133

Get Book

Book Description
We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing PDF Author: Mignon Fogarty
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1429977493
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book

Book Description
Online sensation Grammar Girl makes grammar fun and easy in this New York Times bestseller Are you stumped by split infinitives? Terrified of using "who" when a "whom" is called for? Do you avoid the words "affect" and "effect" altogether? Grammar Girl is here to help! Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than twenty million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective e-mailing, Grammar Girl's print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.