Grammar Rants: How a Backstage Tour of Writing Complaints Can Help Students Make Informed, Savvy Choices About Their Writing

by Patricia A. Dunn, Ken Lindblom

rant (rant) n. 1. Violent or extravagant speech or writing. 2. A speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language grammar rant (gramm?r rant) n. 1. A writer's or speaker's view that language is deteriorating, and with it, the world, the people in it, and their morals. Patricia A. Dunn and Ken Lindblom Is bad grammar not just wrong but morally wrong? Do comma splices and dangling participles signal a spiritual decline among our youth? Does a double negative signal the end of civilization as we know it? How outraged should we be at errors of punctuation, syntax, diction, and just plain clumsy phrasing? Patricia A. Dunn and Ken Lindblom take on the world of grammar ranters, showing you how to take your students on a backstage tour of the ranters' claims and denunciations, and their outraged complaints about other people's language. Offering multiple examples and insights about a wide range of grammar rants, they focus Each chapter includes actual rants along with extensive editorial commentary, instructional activities, and classroom lessons that will energize student discussion and educate students about language and correctness, about what it really means to be a good writer. Using Grammar Rants in writing classes Grammar Rants provides the background teachers need to speak with authority about punctuation, correctness, and other hot-button issues. Its practical activities, handouts, and lessons will promote savvy writing by empowering teachers and students to see for themselves how best to raise the quality of their written and spoken language without resorting to ranting.

Genres: Teaching, Writing

152 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2011

Reviews

[Mathiasherm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the lessons at the end of each chapter. I feel it will be a good way to ‘teach’ grammar without skill and drill!!

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book extends a solid idea Dunn and Lindblom explained in an article several years ago. In this fleshed-out version, they provide lots of examples of rants, annotated versions of them, and lesson plans for how to have students use them to learn more about language (grammar). The authors' perspective is a descriptive one, but they don't advocate that teachers lower standards or ignore grammar. Instead, they make a valid point: by paying attention to what language issues matter to people, students can learn a lot of grammar and from a more nuanced perspective. If you are taking 329 from me this fall, you'll likely be analyzing a grammar rant for class!

[Jill Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting lesson plans shared. I wanted a little bit more out of a professional text.