Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay: Practical Advice for the Grammatically Challenged
Apr 2007 · Macmillan + ORM
3.5star
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228
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About this ebook
A “delightful, witty, and hugely absorbing celebration of the English language” filled with usage tips, grammar games, and more (Bill Bryson, New York Times–bestselling author of The Mother Tongue).
Famed wordaholic Richard Lederer has teamed up with Richard Dowis to take readers on another journey through the world’s most wonderful, albeit perplexing, language. Aside from clearing up once and for all the confusion between lay and lie, the authors put to rest some common myths about language and provide a ten-minute writing lesson from which everyone, from rank amateur to seasoned pro, can benefit. These and dozens of other features make this book pure pleasure for language buffs, writers, and teachers. Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lay is useful and authoritative as well as fun to read, with humorous touches often popping up where least expected—and most needed.
“Written in breezy, joke-filled prose and broken up into ten chapters, this work clears up confusing word-usage questions, gives out spelling and grammar tips, and clears up old writing myths. They also supply a selection of grammar games.” —Library Journal
“Someone should declare Richard Lederer a national treasure.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
Famed wordaholic Richard Lederer has teamed up with Richard Dowis to take readers on another journey through the world’s most wonderful, albeit perplexing, language. Aside from clearing up once and for all the confusion between lay and lie, the authors put to rest some common myths about language and provide a ten-minute writing lesson from which everyone, from rank amateur to seasoned pro, can benefit. These and dozens of other features make this book pure pleasure for language buffs, writers, and teachers. Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lay is useful and authoritative as well as fun to read, with humorous touches often popping up where least expected—and most needed.
“Written in breezy, joke-filled prose and broken up into ten chapters, this work clears up confusing word-usage questions, gives out spelling and grammar tips, and clears up old writing myths. They also supply a selection of grammar games.” —Library Journal
“Someone should declare Richard Lederer a national treasure.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
Ratings and reviews
3.5
2 reviews
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September 23, 2010
I'm sure my review will contain grammatical errors - alas, I did not learn as much as I could have from this book. But that is my fault, not the fault of the book, for I have always found grammar to be nearly incomprehensible. In my quest to improve my grammar, I have read a number of books, and none have been as useful and well-written as Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay. Sleeping Dogs contains something for everyone: Several chapters are devoted to basic grammatical mechanics, such as the I/me conundrum, alumnus/alumni, etc. One chapter goes through popular misspelled words ("irregardless") and misused words ("head honcho", "graduate college") and explains, in a paragraph each, why the usage is wrong and what the proper usage was. The book goes through about 12 grammatical myths, such as the popular "never end a sentence with a preposition". There are two chapters on punctuation. And throughout the book, there are actual examples of really bad grammar which the authors found in newspapers, news magazines, professional papers, and best of all - comic strips. If grammar is not your forte ("fort"), this is a great book for you.
About the author
Richard Lederer is the author of more than a dozen books on language and literature. He speaks and lectures throughout the country and is often a guest on radio and television.
Richard Dowis, a former journalist and public-relations executive, is the author of a recent book on speechwriting. He is president of the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature, a two-thousand-member organization of language lovers and word watchers. Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay is the second book that Lederer and Dowis have cowritten. The first, The Write Way, was published in 1996.
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