English Brushup

by John Langan, Janet M. Goldstein

The fourth edition of this quick and practical guide to grammar, punctuation, and usage skills contains important features that distinguish it from other grammar workbooks. The text's three-part format highlights the 16 most vital grammar skills up front, leaving the rest of the text for secondary topics and additional grammar activities.
A self-teaching approach enables students to see exactly what they need to brush up on, and gives them focused examples and practice exercises to speed them to mastery. Finally, the manageable size and short, well-organized chapters give students just the coverage they need.

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 1997

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's great about this textbook is that it very clearly defines and gives multiple examples of key grammar errors. It's structured essentially as a workbook, in which each chapter focuses on a particular issue (subject/verb agreement, for example). Each chapter generally starts with a group of sentences containing the error followed by the same sentences corrected with notes on the how and why, then gives new groups of problems presenting the error in different ways and asking the student to correct, and summarizes the grammatical rules covered in that chapter at the end.

What's not so great about this textbook is that it really is just a grammar workbook, and while correcting wonky sentences over and over again may help students' written skills, there's nothing terribly engaging about it. Would work well in conjunction with essays or other texts, but would be dull and tedious as a course's only text.