It's a book. With words. And it explains them. That's already better than most of the tripe that's out there. And besides, it's Grammar Girl, so what's not to love? Now get out of my way so I can go read every one of the rest of her books. ( )

This review first appeared on my blog:
http://www.knittingandsundries.com/2011/10/grammar-girl-quick-and-dirty-tips-101...

In the intro, the author states:

Use them in your college entrance essays or during job interviews to show that you're well-read and well-spoken. Even if you're past those stages in life, you'll regularly see most of these words in the news.

Middle Bebe Girl Jasmine is a reader - BUT quite often, she interrupts her reading while I'm here to ask, "Mom, what does ____ mean?", and then I'm left to explain it to her, after asking her to give me the word in context.

THIS little book is so handy - I think we all could improve our vocabulary immensely by reading up on one word a day, and then using it a few times during the day to make it stick in our minds. This is NOT a thesaurus, but a great vocabulary builder, and I definitely recommend it!

EXAMPLE:

Laconic

From the Greek Lakon, the name of a region near ancient Sparta. Laconians were known for their terse speech. The most famous example is the Laconian reply to Philip of Maceon's threat "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground." Their ruler simply responded, "If."

In English, laconic is still used to describe someone of few words. It sometimes carries a negative connotation.

You can get far in North America with
laconic grunts. "Huh," "hun", and "hi!"
in their various modulations, together
with "sure," "guess so," "that so?" and
"nuts!" will meet almost any contingency.

-For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming,
Scottish writer

BOOK RATING: 5 out of 5 stars ( )