In "The Grouchy Grammarian," historian and long-time editor Thomas Parrish offers an easy-to-read, informational, entertaining and blithesome reference filled with advice on how to avoid 47 of the most common mistakes in English grammar.
Each topic is covered in a short chapter with a handy summary at the end for quick check-ups, and each is humorously presented through the point of view of the author's alter ego, The Grouch, a clever, witty, and very opinionated fictional curmudgeon who is a self-proclaimed guardian of grammar and calls errors "infelicities to be corrected."
Not only will The Grouch teach you the rules of grammar, usage and good writing, reinforcing his point by ruthlessly citing real-life examples of grammatical gaffes, careless errors, and basic mistakes taken from the blunders of some of today's best-known newspapers, magazines, and TV broadcasts, he will also make your learning experience enjoyable by having you laugh, chuckle or at least smile at his passionate remarks and his quixotic personality.
As a bonus, for those who wish to go deeper into the subject, the book includes a vast bibliography, and a thorough index for quick consultations.
Overall, this is an excellent resource that combines narrative and reference to help you learn or review the elements of precise writing that are most often forgotten, also throwing in for good measure some general and common sense advice on writing.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar
