Grammar Essentials For Dummies

Chapter 1

Grasping Grammar Nitty-Gritty

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining what grammar means

Identifying the problems grammar can solve

Bringing grammar into the real world

I’m well aware that you’ve been studying grammar in one form or another for a lot of years. You may have been in first or second grade when a teacher introduced the notion that different words in a sentence do different things: Some words name people, animals, and objects, for example, and other words indicate what those people, animals, and objects are doing.

If you were blessed with brilliant, enlightened teachers, your experience with grammar has led you to understand not only how to use it but also why it’s essential. However, because you’re holding this book in your hands, I suspect that may not have been the case. More likely, you were blessed with caring, dedicated teachers who followed a pattern of instruction handed down to them from teachers past. That pattern likely focused on memorizing parts of speech and diagramming sentences. And here you are, years later, trying to recall what indirect objects are and why you should care.

In this chapter, I explain how I approach the study of grammar in this book. A clue: ...