<![CDATA[When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse]]>

false <![CDATA[When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172093571m/138270.jpg 138270 3 What do you get when you mix nine parts of speech, one great writer, and generous dashes of insight, humor, and irreverence? One phenomenally entertaining language book. In his waggish yet authoritative book, Ben Yagoda has managed to undo the dark work of legions of English teachers and libraries of dusty grammar texts. Not since School House Rock have adjectives, adverbs, articles, conjunctions, interjections, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs been explored with such infectious exuberance. Read If You Catch an Adjective, Kill It and: Learn how to write better with classic advice from writers such as Mark Twain (“If you catch an adjective, kill it”), Stephen King (“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs”), and Gertrude Stein (“Nouns... are completely not interesting”). Marvel at how a single word can shift from adverb (“I did okay”), to adjective (“It was an okay movie”), to interjection (“Okay!”), to noun (“I gave my okay”), to verb (“Who okayed this?”), depending on its use. Avoid the pretentious preposition at, a favorite of real estate developers (e.g., “The Shoppes at White Plains”). Laugh when Yagoda says he “shall call anyone a dork to the end of his days” who insists on maintaining the distinction between shall and will. Read, and discover a book whose pop culture references, humorous asides, and bracing doses of discernment and common sense convey Yagoda’s unique sense of the “beauty, the joy, the artistry, and the fun of language.” 1229233 2007 When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse total:64|5:11|4:21|3:25|2:6|1:1| 64 227 153 23 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 20:21:17 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 20:00:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 11 08:49:08 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 11 08:58:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 11:26:19 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 15:18:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 09:00:49 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 09:23:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 14:45:03 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 02 11:21:57 -0700 2008
Ben Yagoda, the author of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, is a professor at my alma mater, the University of Delaware. I never had him as a teacher, but now I wish I had. Despite its dry subj...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 12:52:26 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 02 11:29:36 -0700 2008
Ben Yagoda, the author of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, is a professor at my alma mater, the University of Delaware. I never had him as a teacher, but now I wish I had. Despite ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 25 21:52:30 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 04 21:03:21 -0700 2007 "...as far as not getting respect goes, adjectives leave Rodney Dangerfield in the dust. They rank right up there with Osama bin Laden...". [p 15].

Imagine a book filled with English language quirks, stuffy linguists, and enough pop culture references to make a schoolmarm scream...more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jan 23 21:10:43 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 21:11:51 -0800 2009
1/23/09]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 05 22:49:11 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 22:49:11 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 19:44:55 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 09:18:19 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 15 10:38:38 -0700 2007 Sat Jan 31 17:32:09 -0800 2009 “Just a second, honey. Let me check in the back,” someone usually says. I’m pretty convinced that the people who run my little PO franchise are related.

And sometimes they emerge from the back room with a package fo...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Mar 06 19:17:25 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 19:20:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 16 10:36:33 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 10:38:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Oct 17 08:29:26 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 08:39:38 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 08:29:26 -0700 2009 4 0 true false Wed Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Feb 29 16:28:04 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 11 08:58:30 -0700 2008 1 4 0 false false Fri Dec 19 16:22:22 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 08:50:19 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 16:22:22 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 16:56:22 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 16:58:35 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 08:44:15 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 07:06:07 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Aug 31 22:32:52 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 14:01:18 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Tue Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 18:24:11 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 19:05:42 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=138270