Grammar Essentials For Dummies? provides crucial information to help students communicate accurately and effectively. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical grammar concepts as they help students with homework assignments or college entrance essays, as well as for adult learners headed back into the classroom and people learning English as a next language. The Essentials For Dummies? Series Dummies is proud to present our new series,? The Essentials For Dummies.? Now students who are prepping for exams, preparing to study new material, or who just need a refresher can have a concise, easy-to-understand review guide that covers an entire course by concentrating solely on the most important concepts. From algebra and chemistry to grammar and Spanish, our expert authors focus on the skills students most need to succeed in a subject 

Contents:
Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Conventions Used in This Book -- Foolish Assumptions -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Chapter 1 Grasping Grammar Nitty-Gritty -- Grammar: What It Is! -- The Big Ideas of Grammar -- Making the right word choices -- Arranging words for optimal understanding -- Pinpointing punctuation -- Putting Grammar to Work in the Real World -- Chapter 2 Making Peace between Subjects and Verbs -- Getting Reacquainted with Verbs -- Linking verbs: The giant equal sign -- Action verbs: The go-getters -- Helping verbs: The do-gooders Doubling your money: Compound verbsInfinitives: Verb imposters -- Identifying Subjects -- Getting two for the price of one: Compound subjects -- Figuring out you-understood -- Finding subjects when words are missing -- Grappling with unusual word order -- Searching for the subject in questions -- Tossing fake subjects aside -- Give Peace a Chance: Making Subjects and Verbs Agree; No mixing allowed: Singles and plurals -- Verbs that change and verbs that don't -- Dealing with negative statements -- Cutting through distractions -- Coming to an Agreement with Difficult Subjects Spotting five little pronouns that break the rulesFinding problems here and there -- Meeting the ones, the things, and the bodies -- Figuring out either and neither -- Chapter 3 Perfecting Your Pronoun Usage -- Playing Matchmaker with Pronouns and Nouns -- Selecting Singular or Plural Pronouns -- Letting your ear be your guide -- Treating companies as singular nouns -- Steering clear of "person" problems -- Getting Possessive with Your Pronouns -- Keeping Your Pronouns and Antecedents Close -- Pairing Pronouns with Pronoun Antecedents -- Wrestling with everybody, somebody, and no one -- Following each and every rule Examining either and neitherAvoiding Sexist Pronouns -- Chapter 4 Constructing a Complete Sentence -- Creating Complete Sentences from Complete Thoughts -- Locating subject-verb pairs -- Not relying on context -- Fishing for complements -- Banning Fragments from Formal Writing -- Enough Is Enough: Avoiding Run-ons -- Getting your endmarks in place -- Fixing comma splices -- Attaching Sentences Legally -- Employing coordinate conjunctions -- Relying on semicolons -- Connecting Unequal Ideas -- Giving subordinate clauses a job -- Finding homes for your subordinate clauses -- Making connections with subordinate conjunctions Combining Sentences with PronounsDon't Keep Your Audience Hanging: Removing Danglers; Dangling participles -- Dangling infinitives -- Chapter 5 Drawing Parallels (Without the Lines); Seeking Balance -- Striving for Consistency -- Matching verb tenses -- Staying active (or passive) -- Being true to your person -- Using Conjunction Pairs Correctly -- Constructing Proper Comparisons -- Chapter 6 Adjectives, Adverbs, and Comparisons -- Spotting Adjectives -- Describing nouns and pronouns -- Working hand in hand with linking verbs -- Recognizing articles as adjectives -- Locating adjectives -- Hunting for Adverbs