Book Review: Grammar Grams, by Stephen K. Tollefson
By: Harold Nelson
Publication:
The Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4
Date: Fall 1989
Summary: The reviewer finds Tollefson's book of advice on the most common grammatical trouble spots in written English to be well written, witty, and concise.
Excerpt
I've taught an upper division course, Theories of Grammar, for some years now, and I believe it important to be able to think systematically about language. But when I write, I use grammar much like Joan Didion apparently does. In her essay "Why I Write" she says, "Grammar is a piano I play by ear, since I seem to have been out of school the year the rules were mentioned. All I know about grammar is its infinite power." Tollefson also emphasizes grammar's flexibility and its rhetorical power, not its rigidity, showing how writers can use grammar when thinking abut writing.
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