The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever!

112 Pages·2023·0.934 MB·English

by  Colman Ruth

THE
Briefest
English
Grammar
AND
Punctuation
Guide Ever!
Ruth Colman grew up in a northern Sydney
beach suburb and attended state schools. She did
a colourful BA at the University of Sydney, and
taught English at secondary schools for about
ten years in Australia and Southeast Asia. Then
she got sidetracked into editorial work, but still
enjoys occasional ESL teaching.
A NewSouth book
Published by
NewSouth Publishing
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
https://unsw.press/
© Ruth Colman 2023
First edition published in 2011
The Briefest English Grammar Ever! published in 2005
The Briefest Punctuation Guide Ever! published in 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process
without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the
publisher.
A catalogue record for this
book is available from the
National Library of Australia
ISBN 9781742237954 (paperback)
9781742238678 (ebook)
9781742239613 (ePDF)
Internal design Josephine Pajor-Markus
Cover design George Saad
Printer Griffin Press
This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or
sustainably managed forests.
THE
Briefest
English
Grammar

AND
Punctuation
Guide Ever!
Ruth Colman

Contents
PART 1: Grammar
Preface to the grammar guide 3
Intro 5
Sentences 7
Clauses and phrases 10
Words – and their functions 12
Nouns 13
Pronouns 15
Verbs 20
Adjectives 34
Adverbs 37
Prepositions 39
Conjunctions 41
Articles (or determiners) 42
Exclamations (interjections) 43
More about clauses 44
In conclusion . . . 48

PART 2: Punctuation
Preface: What this part is and isn’t. 51
Intro 53
I’m writing ordinary sentences.
What punctuation marks do I need? 55
What’s the difference between a hyphen
and a dash? Aren’t they the same? 64
Capital letters can be confusing. When
should I use them? When shouldn’t I
use them? 68
Please! Please tell me about apostrophes. 74
I’m quoting something written by
someone else. What are the rules? 83
I want to write a conversation,
just as it was spoken. 89
Lists. Are there any rules? 91
Not strictly punctuation, but . . . 95
In conclusion . . . 102
Helpful books 103

PART 1
Grammar