Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (And Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation
Chauna Ramsey, Columbia Gorge Community College
Copyright Year:
Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources
Language: English
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CC BY-NC
Reviews
The table of contents allows teachers to skip to whatever concept they may be covering; however, the haphazard structure or order of presentations is unhelpful to my pedogeological aims. read more
The table of contents allows teachers to skip to whatever concept they may be covering; however, the haphazard structure or order of presentations is unhelpful to my pedogeological aims.
Ironically, the author confesses to be less than 100% accurate because she has, at times, oversimplified concepts. Nevertheless, this admission only adds credibility to her book rather than diminishing it.
Unfortunately, many of the opening lessons seem quite trivial, if not arbitrary, compared to later sections dealing with subject-verb agreement or concepts of clause division.
Actually, many of the "chapters" of this advice to writing teachers book (this isn't really a textbook to be given to students) are exactly the same text:
"This is the tenth/eleventh/twelfth.... unit of conventions, with overheads for introducing information, overheads for whole-class practice, worksheets, and a quiz which includes concepts covered in previous units.
Again, I recommend following a three-class-session structure, with the first day being an introduction of concepts, the second day a review, and the cumulative quiz on the third day."
The writing is minimal beyond the first few days of instruction. I feel certain her method works for her, but it is a bit antiquated.
Yes, it's consistently boring.
Yes, I can use sections of this book to teach, but this IS NOT a TEXTBOOK in any conventional sense of the matter. I hate to fault it for what it is not, but I was looking for (and this prompt is asking for) "sections that can be assigned at different points" to the students. I wouldn't assign anything other than some of the quiz questions to my students. The useful information needs transferring to a PowerPoint document, in all likelihood.
Here's where I'm utterly befuddled by this text. Why begin with individual word issues and then broaden into concepts much more pervasive? It almost feels like the author has pet peeves about certain writing tendencies that are decidedly non-standard. That's cool. I get the idea of "that mistake bugs the heck out of me," but don't we say that to ourselves to try to understand what should be the appropriate weight of such a mistake? How important is that non-standard usage to the student's development and larger academic needs? Honestly, I don't like the idiom "a lot" in most of my student writings, but why begin there?
None of the .pdf links work.
While the Word documents look off-putting with over-crowded pages and rampant boldface use, they seem accurate. Let's hope so for a grammar book.
This text seems inoffensive in a cursory reading.
When I began Chauna Ramsey’s _Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (And Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation_, I found her initial letter to the readers to be exceptionally personable. She identifies her audience, English teachers, quite accurately as she reminds us that we, English teachers, have frequently never learned some of these concepts formally. As she begins, she invites us into “the wonderful world of teaching things you never had to learn” because many of us come from reading communities. These conventions of grammar, syntax and punctuation are more subconsciously ingrained in readers than in our students, many of whom are not readers or do not read actively.
These points remind us that teaching English writing conventions must be stressed in foundational courses to empower students to express their best ideas in their most exacting language. So, we’re all on board with Ms. Ramsey’s 24 years of experience and the need to teach grammar concepts, right? Well, I’m not. Not really. After a powerful start, the organization of concepts seems trivial: to begin with “a lot” vs. “alot” offers little inspiration for students wishing to find practical help for college writing. Yes, the standard expression of this idiom is “a lot” with a space between the two words, but that she wouldn’t concern herself with offering stronger, more precise vocabulary disturbs me. Moreover, I, as a teacher, can bring in this advice to my classroom coverage of the book’s content, but the organization of these little tips about word confusions seems neither to flow nor to feel segmented to develop concepts in any particular way.
While I can certainly use little worksheets to help with my coverage of different individual word problems, these worksheets look quite underdeveloped or basic. Furthermore, the links to the .pdf documents do not work. [https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/conventions101/front-matter/introduction-why-should-i/] The Word documents have useful quiz questions, but, generally, they seem far less engaging than Ms. Ramsey’s initial introduction. Possibly, I am asking too much of a simple text designed to help, but I feel that in writing my own _Intro to English Grammar_ for my classes, I will want to branch out from major concepts into easy examples that become more and more complicated. This textbook—as beatific as it intends to be—could be a huge bore that turns students off to English just as easily as it could interest them and motivate them to use the language in conscientious ways. There must be a more engaging, less haphazard way to approach a systematic understanding of helpful grammar concepts that will translate into better writing practices for my students.
While the conventions are quite extensive, the approach leaves me feeling that the context of writing is lost in the single subject conventions. I would like to see more work with sentence construction and framing grammatical sentences. read more
While the conventions are quite extensive, the approach leaves me feeling that the context of writing is lost in the single subject conventions. I would like to see more work with sentence construction and framing grammatical sentences.
These conventions are very thorough and adhere to the errors I see my students making regularly in my high intermediate level writing classes.
Scope of the text is very narrow, and leaves little to the imagination of the would-be writer. I believe it is important to have generation of topic, ideas, mind-mapping and brainstorming activities, so that the students don't get too tied to the conventions and lose topic relevancy or sentence generation.
Very clear and specific examples for each convention. Wording is appropriate for mid-high intermediate level writers.
Topics chosen are very consistent with patterns of writing I've seen in my intermediate writing level classes.
I might be interested in using some of these conventions to add to my writing classes as homework activities. If this could be used as partitioned excerpts, it could be a great grammar workbook series for my students.
Content flow is very detailed and seems to flow in a logical fashion. I would like to see more hands-on activities and examples from student work included for relevancy and relatability.
What content was visible was clear and easy to navigate, however, the bulk of the material is not accessible for viewing with each content item. The heading for the chapters are all that is visible without any user content information, structure or materials.
There's a strong emphasis on grammatical form and content.
This seems like it might be focusing more on the "correct white English Grammar" form of writing that doesn't leave room for cultural perspectives or management within cultural point-of-view.
More examples of student work, a rubric for writing assignments guidelines, and an opportunity to see genuine work generated by the students would add greatly to the cultural relevance of this book.
The text is appropriate for use as a teaching guide, but not necessarily a student textbook. Rather than aiming for comprehensiveness, the text zeroes in on common errors related to high school level concepts such as punctuation, capitalization,... read more
The text is appropriate for use as a teaching guide, but not necessarily a student textbook. Rather than aiming for comprehensiveness, the text zeroes in on common errors related to high school level concepts such as punctuation, capitalization, usage, and sentence structure. The focus on commonly confused concepts makes the text potentially more impactful on student writing than a wider, less focused review. The text includes teaching materials, such as pdfs and word documents for instructor modelling, student practice, and assessments, along with suggestions for instructional organization.
The content is accurate and includes many examples that model correct usage at a basic level. Since the text is designed for use in a high school setting wherein students are expected to learn White Mainstream English, the text models and employs that grammatical system.
The text seems to be a bound copy of the materials the author uses in class, and as a result, there are a few handouts that have information specific to the author. While many of the materials are also available as editable word documents, a few such as the final exam and “rejection sheet” are only available as pdfs. Savvy users should still be able to edit using pdf editing software.
For a textbook on grammar, this text is more accessible than most. The author defines grammatical concepts via usage without the weight of jargon that might bog down users. This is helpful for the intended audience (high school teachers and students), but could pose problems if the user needs to learn that jargon (for instance as part of an educator preparation program).
The text uses a uniform structure that hinges on teacher modeling, teacher supported practice, and individual assessments.
The text is organized into concept-based units that can be taught individually in ay sequence. One aspect that would be impacted by taking the materials out of sequence is the spiraled nature of assessments that incorporate prior units into subsequent quizzes.
The text logically progresses from basic concepts such as commas to more complex concepts such as semi-colons and colons. Concepts are reinforced though integrated practice in subsequent lessons.
The instructional materials for use in teacher modelling are entirely in boldfaced text. This may be intentional since the materials are designed to be used with a document camera and projector. Some instructors may find it distracting.
The text provides many examples of correct basic grammar usage, but does not model advanced usage.
Grammar is a cultural construct. The text addresses proper use of White Mainstream English, which is traditionally taught in schools. As such, the text supports high school grammar instruction. For use in an educator preparation program, it would be beneficial to supplement with a discussion of non-standardized usage and how to best support students from linguistically diverse backgrounds.
A major benefit of this text is the on-going, embedded assessment. The text includes cumulative reviews and quizzes, designed to help the user retain the information. These features are beneficial also in terms of providing practice exercises that demonstrate various usage of the grammatical concepts. The pre- and post- tests also include constructed response prompts so that students not only have to identify proper usage, but also employ it in their own written responses.
This book is an excellent source of basic writing conventions. It covers a wide range of information including an extensive list of commonly misspelled words and grammar rules. There is also a glossary used to enhance understanding of words... read more
This book is an excellent source of basic writing conventions. It covers a wide range of information including an extensive list of commonly misspelled words and grammar rules. There is also a glossary used to enhance understanding of words presented in each lesson. As an educator, I appreciate the pre and post test before delving into a particular topic.
There were no errors found in this text.
The contents provides relevance, and would be a great supplemental resource to most academic courses. It provides foundational instruction for learners of all educational levels, particularly, those enrolled in an ABE program.
The information was presented with such simplicity. The author gave recommendations as to how to utilize the material in a way that is most beneficial to the learners.
The terminology and framework were consistent throughout the book. Each unit lesson and activity was presented with uniformity.
The text was divided into "chunks" that are feasible for even the most basic class. There were recommendations of how the material could be used, as well as the duration of each unit in class.
Conventions 101 was well organized. It started with the rudiments of grammar and progressed to the more advance concepts. The book was well planned. It is evident that author put much thought into the flow.
There were no interface issues. However, making a distinction of titles and exercises could be made by using less of the bold print.
The text was free of grammatical errors.
The text was not culturally insensitive in any way.
I really enjoyed this book. Many my students are somewhat fearful of grammar. My plan is to use this book to help them overcome their grammar issues.
Conventions 101 is primarily focused on specific words that are often utilized incorrectly and the proper use of punctuation. A glossary is included for easy access to the units. The text also contains a pre and post test as well as assessments... read more
Conventions 101 is primarily focused on specific words that are often utilized incorrectly and the proper use of punctuation. A glossary is included for easy access to the units. The text also contains a pre and post test as well as assessments for each unit of study. There is no index provided.
The text is free from errors. Comments in the introduction elude to the fact that if you are an avid reader, you naturally pick up on grammar. For example, the authors states that, "If you’re reading this book, chances are, you never had to learn how to use a comma. Nobody ever had to teach you
that “a lot” is two words." The author does go on to say that the majority of students need to be taught. It is important to note that grammar should be taught explicitly and systematically for all students.
The text will continue to be relevant based on its content. The text is arranged so that if updates were need those could be easily added. The book is user-friendly. It can be picked up and implemented with very little effort. It is a practical tool for middle school, high school and community college teachers in particular.
The text is written in laymen terms. It utilizes humor and frankness throughout.
The terminology and framework are consistent throughout. It includes a description, practice sheets for three days and a cumulative assessment.
The book is broken into units which makes it an easy text to navigate. If an instructor wanted to skip a module, based on findings from the pre-test that would be a possibility. The assessments are cumulative so a review of the material would still be included.
The flow is from part to whole. The focus is from the word level to sentence level. It is logical the way it is arranged, however I think it could have flowed just as well from whole to part.
The bold print and formatting of the daily exercises is a bit confusing. The cumulative assessments are well designed.
The text contains no grammatical errors.
The comment in the introduction, "The truth is, nobody else is going to do it, and the students who need to learn correct conventions are not going to learn them like you did, through reading," eludes to the fact that families are not involved in the education process of their children.
The author has done a terrific job in providing what the book sets out to do. That is, the author focuses in on prevalent errors in students’ writing and provides a way for other instructors to help their students master important writing... read more
The author has done a terrific job in providing what the book sets out to do. That is, the author focuses in on prevalent errors in students’ writing and provides a way for other instructors to help their students master important writing conventions.
Rather than “covering” topics, the author has set priorities, which makes it possible to provide students the instruction they need to master the conventions selected. The initial units focus upon commonly confused/misspelled words, and subsequent units focus upon types of punctuation and subject-verb agreement. If an instructor has time to teach more about conventions, this book provides an approach that can complement handbooks that provide a larger array of conventions.
What is special about this book is the comprehensiveness in regard to teaching. The author makes it possible for anyone who follows the plan of the book to be an effective teacher. Rather than providing content and some exercises or quizzes (which mostly assess), the author provides materials and procedures for sound instruction.
The content is accurate. The information about coordinating conjunctions includes four, but it leaves out the other three. I have found that students can learn the seven without difficulty, but the author states at the outset of the book that the author has set priorities based upon the author's years of teaching.
This book is needed. During the past forty years, English teachers have neglected teaching writing conventions. Yes, we need to help students establish content first as they compose, but students also need to know conventions for proofreading final drafts that are shared with others to read. In teaching high-school and community college students, I found that students actually feel more confident about composing when they know conventions.
I currently teach prospective elementary teachers, and I teach writing conventions as part of each class meeting because they need to know these for writing messages to parents and for providing a writing workshop with publishing conferences in their classrooms. I also have seen a need for this type of book when I have talked to English professors who say that even English majors do not know conventions. This book provides a way for instructors to help students learn conventions in a systematic way without having to sacrifice other learning objectives of a course.
The book is written clearly and explains what to do in working with students. This author knows students and how to reach them.
The textbook begins with a comprehensive pretest with directions that explain to students that their score on the pretest is not going to affect their grade, but to do their best so that the teacher knows how much time to devote to teaching conventions. These directions also show instructors how they can use the pretest wisely. The overheads and the handouts clearly present content so that modifications are not needed. The author also offers a valuable tip for using the handouts in saying that writing in the blanks helps students retain, but instructors can save time by asking students to select a correct answer.
The author has provided a pre-assessment at the outset that addresses all of the conventions to be taught through the units of the book, as needed. The book ends with a final exam. Unit assessments are cumulative so that students are more apt to retain what they learned in a unit.
The units of study develop in a logical way and topics are clearly designated. The pretest over all of the topics/content could be used to skip content students already know.
The units can be adapted to the structure of a course. The author suggests a three-class rotation system that provides for introduction of a concept, guided practice as a class, and assignment of worksheets on one day. On the second day, concepts are reviewed and worksheets are corrected, which makes it possible for students to catch up if they were absent. The third day is devoted to taking the cumulative quiz.
The author points out that because each quiz is cumulative, students could make up for a missed quiz through having a quiz they take count for two.
The units of study focus on topics/concepts in a logical way. Within each unit, materials and procedures are similar in that they provide overheads for introducing information, overheads for whole-class practice, worksheets, and a quiz which includes concepts covered in previous units. The units of study provide for a simple predictable structure, which makes it easier for students to focus on content because they know what to expect. The organization also makes it easy for instructors because they do not have to choreograph for each class meeting.
I did not experience any difficulty in navigating the text.
I did not find grammatical errors.
The author is sensitive to the individual needs of students. The overheads include Spanish when it can help students, such as for "your" ("tu") as compared to "you’re" ("estas"). The procedures for teaching provide for differentiated instruction through assessments that indicate what needs to be taught/what students have mastered. The cumulative assessments also help ensure students remember content over time. Similarly, the procedures for teaching each unit foster students' success, including English learners. The procedures provide for scaffolding/gradual release of responsibility as the students learn about a convention. That is, the author has provided overheads to introduce a convention followed by guided practice. Subsequently, students complete a handout (worksheet). A handout starts with items where students select a correct answer (e.g., "your" or "you’re") and moves to a higher level of learning where students write to show they can apply concepts. The author also provides another way to provide differentiated instruction by sharing that the more skilled students could skip the worksheets and perhaps solely write a few sentences to show mastery of a convention.
I wish every student in high school and/or college had received the teaching this book offers. As the author points out, knowing writing conventions is not the most critical thing to know in life, but students do need to be taught conventions. Students can feel more confident about writing when they know conventions, and most are not going to read widely enough to learn conventions without some systematic instruction. The approach of this book makes it possible to teach students effectively.
There is no glossary but the table of contents is very helpful. I don't teach English classes at the university level but I do have projects where my students have to write. This book provides a resource for me to pick and choose what units to... read more
There is no glossary but the table of contents is very helpful. I don't teach English classes at the university level but I do have projects where my students have to write. This book provides a resource for me to pick and choose what units to pull from to teach.
On page 7 of the Conventions 1 sheet, I couldn’t figure out what items 9-18 meant. In Convention 2, there’s what might be Spanish in parentheses at the top that is confusing. What’s its purpose? On unit 11, there is PER: Comma review and I believe it should be PDF. Other than these small errors, I found the information in the book to be very helpful.
This text would be quite easy to update due to the structure of the units. The introduction hinted at some variance in interpretation in the use of "affect/effect". Updating the text might be necessary. For example, while "data" is the plural form of "datum", it has become more accepted to use a singular noun with it.
The author writes in the introduction that there won't be a lot of jargon. This makes the materials accessible to instructors who are non-English teachers but still want to help their students with their writing. It also makes it user-friendly for the students. I've already pointed out that there is some confusion within the worksheets.
The author is very consistent. When I first took a look at the material, I wondered why there were directions for each unit since the directions were essentially the same. This is one way the book could be "tightened up".
The book is already divided into units so it's quite easy to see the divisions and access the material.
The book starts with word pairs or triplets that are often confused or used incorrectly and moves into punctuation.
I initially had a difficult time finding the tests on the downloaded digital PDF copy. I had to go to the online copy where I was finally able to see that the words “Conventions Pretest” was a link. It wasn’t showing as such in the Digital PDF I was working from.
There were no grammatical errors that I saw.
I did not observe any cultural insensitivity.
I chose to review this book because I enjoy good writing. As a university professor who teaches students who wish to be teachers themselves, I think it is critical that they be able to use the English language correctly in their writing and speech. Consequently, I try to teach my students about many of these conventions so that their writing for my courses will improve. I hope that these lessons will carry over into their other courses and follow them into their professions.
This book was an enjoyable read. The author recognizes that the English language is confusing. The author also points out why teaching this information is important and helpful to students.
The worksheets are easy to use in class. They are short enough and easy to teach so that they can be incorporated into another discipline's courses. The book has addressed the most common errors I observe with my students except for pronoun/referent agreement.
My suggestion for improving the book would be to provide the answer sheets for those of us who aren’t English teachers but want to help our students with their writing.
Chauna Ramsey presents, in lean clarity, an argument as well as a practical plan for teaching grammar conventions (commonly confused words, use of apostrophes, etc.). As the author notes, most professors dealing with college writing and... read more
Chauna Ramsey presents, in lean clarity, an argument as well as a practical plan for teaching grammar conventions (commonly confused words, use of apostrophes, etc.). As the author notes, most professors dealing with college writing and composition never had to focus on the different between "it's" and "its" for example, or that "a lot" is always two words, because oftentimes we are lifelong readers who feel pleasure when diving into novels. The best way to learn how to write is to read. Our students often seem to approach literature, poetry, and writing with vague uneasiness or outright mistrust and avoidance; at the same time, many professors react to grammar slips with sneering moral judgment, as if students make these mistakes because they were raised in a cave. Students were raised in an educational system that, particularly in college, includes professors who do not want to teach basic grammar conventions. This book is certainly comprehensive; a revision might incorporate textspeak errors such as "ur, u, lol" and more--which I encounter on a weekly basis with every level of student, from first-year to senior.
As a professor of remedial English at the community college for fifteen years, all the while teaching college composition and creative writing, intro to literature classes, and intro to women and gender studies classes at a pricey liberal arts college, I feel I can judge the accuracy of the author's premise for writing this book in the first place: And she is beyond accurate. Across the board, my students make these errors, some more than others. It is not uncommon for me to encounter upper-level students at my liberal arts college who make these errors with as much regularity--or more often--than my remedial students at the community college. In no way do such errors undercut the value of the writer's meaning, except that readers will not take such writing seriously. Every student has every reason to need this basic knowledge about conventions.
The topics for each section are exactly what I've been covering for years. As I mentioned, updating the text with "textspeak" errors (u, ur, lol, etc.) might prove essential in the next edition.
The clarity is here is intuitive, accessible, and straightforward. The author uses no extra words or presumptive jargon in her forward. There's an elegance in the writing here that speaks to a kind of wisdom in the presentation--in no way does the writer surround herself with footnotes, secondary sources, and boring academic fluff. I definitely appreciate the author's respect for my time, just from reading the introductory pages. And I've already printed her pre- and post-tests to incorporate into my classes.
The internal consistency of the modules here matches up with the book's premise.
The divisible quality of this textbook is implicit. It's organized thoughtfully in a stream-lined style.
I found the organization to match how I organize teaching basic grammar conventions--I start with commonly confused words and end with apostrophes, parallel structure, and modifier problems.
At first I was confused looking for the instructor version, but in moments I was able to find my way to the lesson plan sections on how to proceed.
I find it ironic that in all the online textbooks referenced, this is a section reviewers have to rate--yet most reviewers seem to assume that their own students write at a "5" level without any support from their professors! Of course this book is grammatically correct--grammar is the whole point of expressing oneself in a way that the reader will take seriously.
I did not find anything insensitive or offensive, yet I think a section guiding students on oppressive, racist, sexist language would be appropriate.
This is a great book for teaching conventions to developing writing students. It covers all the subject matter I teach in my classes and addresses the areas of most concern, the errors I most often see in student papers. The introduction is... read more
This is a great book for teaching conventions to developing writing students. It covers all the subject matter I teach in my classes and addresses the areas of most concern, the errors I most often see in student papers. The introduction is catchy and easy to read, and the book is organized in a way that is relevant and simple to follow. Each unit contains the key concepts and gives plenty of examples. I really like the discussion about objective assessments, and that the book is about function rather than terminology. It also includes lots of materials for instructors to use.
All the concepts were accurate and presented in an objective, yet interesting manner.
The textbook is definitely relevant and what I currently teach in the classroom ,
Very simply written, easy to understand and to follow.
The chapters are well organized and displayed similarly. The terminology is consistent throughout the book.
The text is divided into concept chapters and the instructor can use either pieces or the entire book.
Very well structured, logical, and very user friendly.
The text is professional looking and easy to use.
I could not detect any obvious grammatical errors.
The text is not offensive in any way and is totally objective.
I love the way I could easily copy the book to my desktop and pick and choose what materials to use. I want my own copy to use in class! Great book!
The author managed to cover highly specific grammatical problem areas for students taking community college English classes. Her plan of action includes quizzes, methodology, application and instruction. Her recognition of the unique difficulties... read more
The author managed to cover highly specific grammatical problem areas for students taking community college English classes. Her plan of action includes quizzes, methodology, application and instruction. Her recognition of the unique difficulties addresses the precise needs of unprepared learners who did not have the benefit of learning the mechanics of teaching prior to these basic classes.
Her explanations and information are 100% accurate.
I can't imagine a more relevant book for those of us attempting to teach English to students who do not have a grasp of the mechanics of the language. It is not enough to "glean" meaning from the context when students are unable to accurately write in English. This provides the essential tools for them.
It is highly specific and clearly explains how to teach the basics to students with repetition.
This is consistently appropriate and helpful. Again, as I said earlier, the author displays an uncanny awareness of the confusion that students have in their writing and she addresses this throughout the book.
The modules are clear, delineated, specifically outlined as a recipe for English teachers attempting to help our students catch up.
The structure is presented in a straightforward clear fashion that moves from the easiest issues to explaln to the most difficult. Interestingly enough, while we often want to begin with subject-verb agreement, the author has left this to the end. This makes sense!
It is clear and straightforward.
There are no grammatical errors.
It is objective, clear and nonjudgmental in a way that should appeal to all teachers and students.
I love it! I need it and I will be using it.
This is a compact text for teachers working with basic writers on grammar, punctuation, and words that are commonly confused. There are also bits of vocabulary development, spelling, and formal versus informal usage. The text is a genuinely... read more
This is a compact text for teachers working with basic writers on grammar, punctuation, and words that are commonly confused. There are also bits of vocabulary development, spelling, and formal versus informal usage. The text is a genuinely "functional" approach in that the lessons cover the main items that carry social stigma and mark a writer, fairly or not, as uneducated. The lessons and materials are simple, systematic, and focused on avoiding or correcting errors with minimal explanation, minimal terminology, and no theory.
The approach is traditional, which is probably best for basic writers. For example, commas are prescribed routinely after introductory phrases and between the last two items of a series (the Oxford comma). There were a few confusing items or errors. For example, the section titled "Pronouns as Proper Nouns" focused on capitalizing words such as "Mom" when used instead of names, whereas this is simply a case of using a noun as a proper noun/name.
Usage and editorial practice do change over time. However, I do think the majority of the items are stable
The prose within the lessons is extremely simple, but topics and terms are suitable for older students working at a basic level.
The book is extremely simple and systematic.
The text is designed as a series of independent lessons, each with three-part plan--introduction of concepts, a review, and a cumulative quiz. The lessons can be separated, reordered, and selected, as needed. However, the quizzes are cumulative and so may need revision if reordered.
The topics, as noted previously, are independent, although the quizzes are cumulative. The table of contents is clear, and the lessons are in logical groupings.
The materials are very simple--text, practice items, and quizzes suitable for projection and/or duplication.
It's a basic grammar and usage text.
The focus is standard English without explanation and the illustrative items are generally innocuous. A teacher could easily modify items to accommodate cultural or linguistic differences. There is no consideration of linguistic and social contexts, apart from labeling some items as suitable or not suitable for academic contexts. Again, a teacher could add these considerations according to student needs and, given the range of possible needs, may be best handled this way.
Used alone, this text would make for very dull instruction. Highly motivated students would do well and would appreciate the focus. However, I believe that its main value would be as a basal or supplementary text that the teacher would expand, elaborate, and intersperse with other content.
It's difficult to offer a comprehensive support book for developing writers and I don't think the goal of this book is to look at all the potential grammar traps that writers may come across. This text does offer strategies and tools to help a... read more
It's difficult to offer a comprehensive support book for developing writers and I don't think the goal of this book is to look at all the potential grammar traps that writers may come across. This text does offer strategies and tools to help a teacher create a system to address common grammatical challenges. In sum, this text offers a very manageable system to identify, teach and assess common grammatical errors. It's comprehensiveness lies in its approach and tools designed to support teachers and writers.
This text was absolutely accurate which is important in a grammar text.
The issues addressed, tone of the text and solutions offered are timeless. This easy-to-read text is written appropriately for its intended audience and the supporting tools and discussion will not lose their relevance. The format of the text and the individual chapters is consistent. This makes them easy to use and comforting in their predictability.
The prose is accessible for struggling writers. I can see this being used with upper elementary kids, struggling college students and everyone in between. In the introduction, the author describes a desire to stay away from phrases that might be unfamiliar to students. This is an important goal which the author accomplishes. Writers will understand the challenges and solutions as the author stays away from jargon or potentially confusing "grammar speak".
I think the strength of the book is the consistency in the process. Each chapter is organized around an information, practice, review, quiz and assessment cycle. It works and is transferable. The strategies of the book could easily be used for any potential grammar challenge.
This text and format lend themselves to using bits as needed. The pre-test helps teacher and student identify potential problems and those could be addressed as needed. The text is written so that teachers in other disciplines could easily adopt the process to suit their own writing needs. I'm thinking that students writing lab reports or other types of technical writing could be easily supported with this text. This text could effectively be used by teachers in other disciplines.
The book is very straight-forward in its organization and presentation. The table of contents is easy to use and will be valuable for both teacher and student. It's a logical progression. It will be easy for a teacher to adjust or differentiate depending on students' needs.
Both PDF and Word formatting were helpful. There are no navigational issues; I do think that it may get tedious if a student is working through numerous chapters. While the repetition is helpful for organization I could imagine it being tiresome to repeat the same process in rapid succession. I found the inconsistent font size and style in the practice resources to be a bit distracting.
There are no grammatical errors. There really is no discussion of style or using grammar to enhance writing or understanding. This is not a text for an advanced writer
The text is not insensitive or offensive. The examples are non-controversial in any way, shape or form. At the same time, the text did not use any examples that promote cultural sensitivity.
This text addresses very common grammatical challenges with an efficient and effective process and strategies. It is very use-friendly and has a playful style that may appeal to the target audience of writers in the formative stage of their process. The strategies are transferable to other errors and may be applied to the addition of style to a writer's tool-kit. I'd recommend this for a teacher looking for supplemental resource to support writers.
This is definitely not a comprehensive handbook, but that’s not its intention. Rather, it’s meant to act as a supplement to other grammar/usage instruction. Overall, the content of this book largely addresses homonym confusions with a few other... read more
This is definitely not a comprehensive handbook, but that’s not its intention. Rather, it’s meant to act as a supplement to other grammar/usage instruction. Overall, the content of this book largely addresses homonym confusions with a few other tips on commonly misused usages sprinkled in (who vs. that or the nominative I vs. objective me). The net effect of this approach is a book that feels a bit whimsical -- specific to one teacher’s sense of what needs addressing with students more than a fully comprehensive text that systematically explains, say, all homonym issues. Since this text is not intended to be a “backbone” text of grammar and usage instruction, it’s more the kind of book teachers might turn to when they have 20 minutes of class time to fill and think to themselves, “Hey, how about a quick brush-up on lose/loose?”
Since this text covers long-accepted rules, it can’t go too wrong, in terms of its accuracy. However, and this ties back to its whimsical, specific-to-one-teacher feel, there are a few stern recommendations that come as news to me. For example, the text strongly asserts “All in all” should never be used (really?) and explains “now in days” isn’t a phrase at all, which is true, but I’ve never in 27 years of college teaching seen a student use that phrase, so it feels like an odd caution. More pressing would be explaining to today’s student readers the difference between “definitely” and “defiantly.” Even more, what the author refers to as SOBAs (coordinating conjunctions), kids in our city learn in K-12 as FANBOYS. I was so curious about this discrepancy in acronyms that I polled all my teacher friends on social media, and no matter where they are in the country, all reported they teach FANBOYS. The SOBA acronym might be specific to the author or her region. Ultimately, while the text is accurate enough that I could see myself using some of its lessons for a quick in-class supplement, it does also have a few moments of “Nah.”
The misuses that the book focuses on are definitely prevalent; for the most part, the text covers chronic problems. At the same time, this book does feel dated; the handouts and quizzes look like those I used twenty years ago, so the document font and formatting could be freshened, particularly because the implication is that the book presents handouts that are ready to go – ready for other teachers to grab and use. Personally, I would need to retype and update the look of the worksheets and quizzes. Relatedly, reference is made to “overheads.” We don’t use overheads these days. Other worksheets are labeled at the top with the words ELMO Practice, which feels limiting, as there is no assurance of an ELMO being a device that is used in every school. Still other handouts have the author’s name at the top. Thus, for this book to feel more professional and usable by other teachers, it would make sense to provide quizzes and worksheets that look more contemporary and that are more generic (not clearly taken from the file folder of the author). Finally, the book also feels dated because our classrooms are more and more becoming oriented towards active learning instead of rote worksheets and quizzes. The content, however, has longevity, as these usage issues have long been problems and will continue to be problems.
The writing in this text is clear and easily understandable. Explanations are short and direct. It would be helpful to have more than one illustrative example sentence for each correct usage of a homonym; some words are given two examples, but many have only one. For students who are trying to grasp correct usage, more examples would provide greater direction and context.
The overall structure of the book is consistent, with each unit following a predictable format. Within the units, though, there are moments of inconsistency which can feel baffling. For example:
Unit 2 – Why is there Spanish translation of some words all of a sudden? Why do all the units not have Spanish translations, then?
The type of usage issues being addressed in this book is about 80% homonyms and 20% “other common misuses,” so the content itself is not consistent in that sense.
Suddenly, in Unit 9, the handouts use color and highlighting and an image (a screenshot). Why here? Why now?
The formatting of the book would be more unified if all the handouts used a consistent font. Spacing between sentences on handouts and quizzes is sometimes “off,” as well, with one sentence single spaced while all others are double spaced.
Unit 15 – The Apostrophe Pre-Assessment has the teacher’s (the author’s) name on it; for teachers wanting to print and use these handouts, that’s a whiteout-at-the-copy-machine moment. This is true on the final exam, too.
There is no Word copy of the Final Exam, which is a departure from all the other units, which provide a choice between PDF and Word.
Overall, this book is easily usable because the units are small, focused on just a couple issues, and follow a predictable format for how to structure the content into each week’s class periods. The various quizzes and worksheets also seem readily excisable – as though a teacher could give a quick mini-lecture followed by some time working through the practice sentences. A downside to the way the units are put together, though, is that there is overlap from one week to the next, in terms of the previous week’s concepts cropping up again the successive week; while this reinforcement of concepts is a good teaching strategy, it does limit how much the order of the lessons can be randomized by instructors who want to use, for example, Unit 5 after Unit 2. The only other downside is that there are 19 units, and college teachers tend to work on a 16-17 week semester schedule, so there is no one-to-one match between number of units and traditional number of weeks in the semester. Certainly, this can be managed, but I have to admit: when I see a textbook with 15-17 chapters in it, I immediately realize the author has carefully considered the pacing of a semester.
Its simple, straightforward organization is one of the text’s greatest strengths. There is good overlap and cross-referencing of unit concepts, as each unit takes a look back and a look forward, in this way knitting skills together and re-emphasizing them. I also really like that, after a stretch of units covering homonyms, the transition into other types of grammar issues starts with a general Comma Review (Unit 11). In terms of the rhythm of the book, this review appears at a good point and is a helpful reminder of the rules. No matter the topic of each unit, they all are presented in the same manner, which makes the structure of the book predictable and easy to follow.
This book reads easily straight from the web, which was important to me, as I don’t have a Kindle and didn’t want to download a huge PDF. For teachers and students who might well be reading the book from a variety of devices throughout the weeks of the class (I work from my phone and two different computers), this straight-from-the-web-with-no-problems option is huge. Similarly, the handouts are available either as PDFs or Word documents; this is an important versatility and very practical. Even more, I experienced no frustration as I navigated through the book; often, with online books, I get irritated with how difficult it is to click from one section back to another. With this text, there is a Table of Contents that makes maneuvering easy.
The main problem I see with the interface is one mentioned earlier: the fonts and layouts are inconsistent, there is one place with a screenshot image, there are some handouts with underlining (which does not work well with the automated reading tools used by people with visual impairments), and there are some random rather than standardized uses of highlighting and colors. Considering the ADA mandate to make instructional materials accessible to all students, this is a significant problem.
While there are no pervasive or painful grammar errors, the truth is that any book dedicated to the subject of grammar and usage needs to be flawless, and this book isn’t. The grammar is fine. The grammar is not strictly perfect. A few examples of wobbly moments, either in grammar or formatting, appear in:
--The Introduction when the author uses a comma before a conjunctive adverb (“…this book isn’t right for you, although it might be just right for your students”) and when the author uses a comma before “and” – as though an independent clause follows (“I encourage you to find out the college placement test your local community college uses, and arrange for your students to take the Writing part of that placement test at the beginning and the end of the school year”)
--The Conventions Pretest when the author fails to use a comma before the coordinating conjunction “and” when an independent clause follows (“…I then hand them out randomly and we correct all but the last page”)
--In the Their/There/They’re handout when, occasionally, but not always, there are two spaces after periods
--In the Where/Were handout when an example sentence contains a comma splice, which makes it hard to focus on the intended error related to Then/Than (comma splice: First we go to school, then we go home)
--In the Already/All Ready handout when there is an extra space between two words (“Are you all ready to go?”). The same thing happens elsewhere (as in Unit 7 with “every day”)
If the author wrote her own practice and quiz sentences, I’m going to guess she is a white woman; it comes through in her handouts. The example sentences are generic and not particularly interesting; when names are used, they “traditional” Caucasian names that don’t reflect diversity. John, Mary, Lisa, Fred, and Bill do a whole lot of things in this book, from buying apples to eating Mom’s chicken soup. For an entirely different cultural issue: in Unit 19, “No Credit Due to Poor Conventions,” suddenly a software named Criterion is introduced and explained (it’s campus-specific, not something used nationwide necessarily, not a “common” software). Beyond that, there is reference to lab times at the school – again, in a textbook meant for students anywhere, these instructions tie to a campus-specific culture. At least one practice sentence talks about going to OSU, which is Oregon State University and not necessarily a place on the radars of all students who might be completing these handouts, if they are used by teachers from all over. Finally, the text does feel culturally passe in yet another way. In the last few years, I have found myself eager to see a grammar book that discusses the evolving rules for pronouns – to fit into this era of non-binary gender, gender fluidity, trans acceptance, etc. This is a big part of our current cultural discussion, and the beauty of an online text is that it can be extremely of the moment and part of cultural conversations. This book does not do that.
This text is serviceable, if not ground-breaking. It provides worksheets and quizzes for teachers who might be needing materials to address chronic problems with English usage and who might appreciate having prepared worksheets that can be adapted easily to fill a gap of twenty minutes during class time. However, the approach this book takes leans towards rote over active learning, and it feels homespun more than professional – due to the inconsistencies in formatting and the location-specific references. Although I appreciate having supplementary worksheets so readily available, I still would love to see more polished, up-to-date OER books available for our students.
Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (And Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation thoroughly covers all aspects of grammar needed to teach at the high school level. This text would work well for a new teacher looking for lesson plan... read more
Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (And Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation thoroughly covers all aspects of grammar needed to teach at the high school level. This text would work well for a new teacher looking for lesson plan ideas or perhaps a seasoned teacher in need of new ideas.
I could not find any grammatical errors in the content.
I feel that the content of this text will remain relevant for years to come. This would be a wonderful resource to have on hand for any high school language arts or ESL teacher.
The text is extremely accessible. The author's style of presentation is conducive to easy reading.
The 19 units in the text are consistent in their content. However, I did find some of the exercises lacking clear directions. The font was not consistent in places as well.
The 19 units are easily divided into stand alone lessons. One could pick and choose specific topics from the text without having to read the full book.
The topics were logically divided. The topics are also not interdependent. One can pick and choose to the units based upon specific needs.
I did not notice issues with interface. All aspects of the online text worked flawlessly.
I did not see any grammatical errors in the book, which is refreshing considering the topic.
The material is presented in a culturally relevant manner. I did not feel that their was any cultural bias present in the information.
I have been exposed to many grammar and punctuation books throughout my career in education. Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (And Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation strikes me as a worthwhile addition to my library. I am always on the lookout for new ways of teaching grammar. This text offers just that.
Let me begin by saying that this book is an excellent resource for high school teachers (especially those teaching ninth or tenth graders). Clearly, the audience is high school teachers. Since I'm looking for an open-access textbook to use for a... read more
Let me begin by saying that this book is an excellent resource for high school teachers (especially those teaching ninth or tenth graders). Clearly, the audience is high school teachers. Since I'm looking for an open-access textbook to use for a college-level writing course, Conventions 101 would not suit my needs. The title, which is set up to mimic a college-course title, is thus a bit misleading since it implies that college students could use this text in an entry-level college course. I would not recommend this text for a college course unless it were for remediation. That said, the rest of this review will imagine an audience of ninth- or tenth-grade teachers—the intended audience, which the description of the book should make clearer. Language Arts teachers who focus on the early years of high school will find this book to be helpful for ensuring that students know the basic rules of Standard Written English. As a college instructor, I expect my students to arrive at college knowing the rules that are explained and tested in this book. Only one assessment included in the text has an answer key. I would suggest that an answer key for each assessment should be included as an appendix. There was no index, but the table of contents worked fine to guide teachers to the parts that they might be searching for. Perhaps I’m too much of a traditionalist, but I missed page numbers. The navigation used “next section,” but sometimes I was confused about whether I had missed something since there was no real indication of continuity other than section numbers. For instance, when Latin and Greek “roots” are quizzed, I was baffled because they had not been introduced up to this point. All in all, the text is a compilation of solid teacher lessons that can be used “right out of the box,” but lacked the cohesiveness of a traditional book.
On the whole, the rules that are explained are quite accurate, helpful, and clearly articulated. There are, however, some points that seem frivolous, awkward, or unexpected. For example, some of the assessment sentences are so silly and awkwardly phrased that they are unrealistic. Sometimes, this is the author’s humor poking through, which I appreciate. Still, I worry that unrealistic and awkward sentences don’t help students learn to be fluent readers and writers since such sentences model the opposite, thus tacitly endorsing awkwardness. Finally, some “rules” seemed arbitrary and frankly unhelpful. You’ll notice that the last sentence in the preceding review section begins with “all in all.” Conventions 101 forbids this. The former sentence uses the second person (you’ll), which is also forbidden by Conventions 101. These “rules” seem arbitrary.
It’s true that in our digital era, the language is in flux. Nowadays, digital communication technologies are speeding up the natural changes that any language undergoes. (Side note: The latter sentence begins with the word “nowadays,” which is another word arbitrarily forbidden by the text’s author). In ten years, for example, the apostrophe section will likely be obsolete. Confusion about the apostrophe is rampant—so much so that I would suggest that we are losing this mark of punctuation entirely. Nobody pauses to insert an apostrophe when texting or tweeting. Often, autocorrect will add an apostrophe, thus ensuring that writers will lose the ability to correctly deploy an apostrophe. What I’m seeing in college students’ writing verifies this point. These days, even very strong writers are confused about the apostrophe.
Although the outdated term “overhead” is used near the beginning, most of the book uses the term ELMO, which I would change to DocCam.
The clarity of instruction is a strength. It is simple, straightforward, and helpful for basic skills. It is appropriate for those teaching high schoolers.
The text's content is consistent to the point of repetitiveness. Repetition is important for learning, though, so this is a forgivable matter. However, one section appears to be entirely duplicated, which seems like sloppiness. The most glaring inconsistency is the presence of one answer key. Answer keys for all assessments would be beneficial. I am also a bit confused by the sudden appearance of yellow highlights, and I never quite figured out how bold text was being used. It seemed to fluctuate wildly.
The lessons are divided appropriately into manageable chunks. Topics are reinforced throughout the text.
I would suggest some changes in organization. For example, apostrophes probably ought to come before colons, though I very much like the discussion of the colon. The book mentions the semicolon at least one, but never teaches the concept.
It was a nice touch to include the lessons in both PDF and Word formats. The “base” page of each section was annoyingly repetitive. As noted above, page numbers would be helpful (a few lessons had page numbers marked, but they always started at 1). The navigation was fine, but it took me a while to figure out how best to navigate the book.
Since this is a book about grammar (and spelling and vocabulary, it turns out), accuracy is essential. The text is generally free from misspellings, typos, and grammatical errors. There is a very occasional technical error, which could cause confusion for the astute student. For example, the abbreviation vs (for versus) is deployed without a period. This is obviously nitpicky, but there are a few more serious errors. Sentence 10 in the pre-assessment demands a semicolon, but a semicolon is not an option among the answers. I have never heard the initialism SOBA for learning which conjunctions function as coordinating conjunctions. Instead, I use FANBOYS, which is mentioned in the text, but never explained. Obviously, FANBOYS includes three more coordinating conjunctions (for, nor, and yet), so it’s not clear why SOBA is useful (though so, or, but, and and are the most common coordinating conjunctions).
There was a spot with Spanish translations, which is fine and clues readers in about the intended audience, but nowhere else does this matter come up (and its presence was unexplained). Otherwise, this book seems to assume a very traditional white, middle-class, college-bound student. There was nothing offensive, but it also didn't seem particularly aware of a variety of cultures. My only advice in this section would be to point out that these are the “rules” of Standard American Written English. Real writers often flout these rules, but not knowing these rules can damage a writer’s credibility.
This text is not what I’d call a book in the traditional sense. If you’re looking for a book, this text will not meet your needs. As I’ve tried to emphasize, the intended audience is secondary-school educators who are looking for prefabricated lesson plans on the basics that all ninth and tenth graders should be taught.
This book is very comprehensive and is effectively laid out in a table of Contents. Easy to follow and find specific subjects. read more
This book is very comprehensive and is effectively laid out in a table of Contents. Easy to follow and find specific subjects.
Very accurate--considering the author is an English professor-I found no obvious errors in the units or exercises.
Since grammar and usage rarely changes or goes out of style--this book will have a long shelf life. Any updates would be easy to do, but since this is a rather static area, the book as is can live on forever. It will always be relevant to students and faculty. I will be using the book to improve my own writing.
Written very well and easy to read. Written at a high school level so very easy to understand and follow.
Very consistent format-units that cover a topic with exercises in support. Effective format and style
Very well organized as mentioned above. Easy to navigate and one can skip around to focus on specific areas. All units can be followed in order or specific units can be used as needed.
Very well structured with regard to organization, structure and flow. Easy to follow and read. Will be a great resource for me.
The book is free of any of these problems in all formats I tried.
Very good grammar wise. Since it was written by an English teacher I expect nothing less!
This book applies to everyone and certainly can assist non-native speakers in improving English speaking and writing. Can be valuable to all races, genders and backgrounds. I find the writing to be culturally sensitive.
Excellent resource and I look forward to using in the future.
The title of the book leads the reader to expect more variety in the conventions covered. There are no units about adjective/adverb confusion, tense shift, double negatives, or lack of parallelism; however, many of the common errors in student... read more
The title of the book leads the reader to expect more variety in the conventions covered. There are no units about adjective/adverb confusion, tense shift, double negatives, or lack of parallelism; however, many of the common errors in student writing are addressed such as comma usage, pronoun case, sentence issues, wrong verb forms and subject-verb agreement. The majority of the 'conventions' addressed are pairs of similarly spelled words whose meanings are commonly conflated. There are probably an endless supply of such spelling errors which vary according to the population, so I'm guessing that the author's choices reflect those she has encountered most in her own teaching.
The title of the book says that it is a 'functional' approach, but some of the teaching reflects more of a prescriptivist, traditional approach than one informed by corpus linguistics. For example, there are claims that it is an 'error" 'to say or write “that” when referring to people instead of saying “who.”' Corpus linguistics proves scientifically that the publishing world finds "that" highly acceptable in formal publications. Also, she uses the notional definition of ‘sentence’, "a complete thought", whereas a more common functional definition of a sentence would be "A meaningful combination of words that starts with capitalization and ends with a full stop." The notional definition becomes confusing when trying to teach about how to use commas and coordinating conjunctions to join clauses, because the term ‘sentence’ is substituted for the correct term, ‘clause’.
The topics addressed in the book are timeless; however, a true functional approach would give more attention to how language does change over time and be a little less rigid about some of the forms that the 'real' world of publishing finds perfectly acceptable even though schools continue to call them wrong.
The book should not be used as a handbook for students, as much of the teaching points are in a sort of 'shorthand' that needs to be qualified in order to avoid confusion. A lot of the instruction is on an intuitive level that will need to be brought up to the level of consciousness for a student to grasp it. For example, the teaching about colon usage: “Only use it if the sentence doesn’t make sense without it.” How do student writers discern that their writing 'makes sense'? If the writer is a student who is writing the sentence, the sentence will always make sense to that writer (regardless of correct punctuation), since the ideas originate in that writer's brain. The outcome in learning conventions is to write in a way that makes sense to others, and that is what needs to be taught. Likewise, there is some oversimplification which could be corrected by using grammatical terms. For example, in order to ensure subject-verb agreement for compound subjects where "I" is the second subject, the author suggests writers 'ignore other people in the sentence next to the “I” or the “me,” then listen for the correct word: “Troy and I went to school together.” (Cross out Troy, and it’s obviously “I.”) If you crossed out Troy, you would have “and I went to school together.”' But this only works if the teacher explains which words to listen for--the subject and verb--and contrasts “I went” versus “me went”.
It was striking to me that though the pretext of the book is to address errors of convention in academic writing through a functional perspective, close to 100% of all the practice sentences have no connection to the major academic writing genres. In fact, all of the examples and practice sentences look like they came out of narrative prose. Narrative prose such as fiction and the personal narrative can be considered academic writing, but it is the persuasive and informative texts that are more commonly emphasized in the today's academic world. So it is unfair to students to provide them only with models from narrative prose, which have different conventions than other academic forms. For example, the whole business about using a 'complete sentence' and avoiding fragments should be thrown out the window in narrative texts, because their primary purpose is to convey emotion. Fragments are one of the primary ways a writer can use to accomplish this in a narrative text--for example, through one-work ejaculatory expressions ("Hooray!") or self-talk ("Oh no...not again."). To tell students that using fragments in all writing is limiting their knowledge of writing conventions. I would expect a functional approach to point out the differences between difference kinds of writing based on their function. Other than this, this book is very consistent in terms of its way of arranging the lessons and providing a great structure for presenting and practicing the material.
The way the text is divided works very well if the instructor wants to use the book as is and use all the materials provided, such as the pre-assessment and the quizzes, in the order in which they are presented. However, it is not conducive to mixing up the order, because each successive quiz contains questions from the previous units. However, the quizzes and handouts are available as editable Word documents, so they could still be used as a framework for creating one's own questions.
The book is divided into eighteen units that are meant to build on one another in terms of the practice provided and the quizzes. There is a manageable amount of information in each unit. Though the units are designed to build on another, it would also work to mix up the order if an instructor just wanted to use the teaching parts.
I read the online version, so I'm not sure if that is different than other versions' interfaces. It was easy to navigate, the links to the supplemental materials were obvious and well-labeled, and there wasn't unnecessary language littering the landscape to wade through. On the other hand, when I clicked on the Table of Contents button, I was hoping to be able to jump back and forth between chapters, but I wasn't able to do so. I could only get to the beginning again by clicking on the back button page by page.
Mostly excellent grammar usage. There are a couple of minor grammatical errors in the teaching examples: no hyphens in compound adjectives such as "grape flavored, licorice flavored, popcorn flavored" and renegade commas that divide subjects from their verbs: "Will you arrive early, or leave late? We’ll go out to eat, then go home."
This book contains nothing to make you splutter in your coffee in brow-furrowing consternation. It will not cause riots in your classroom or incite intercontinental warfare. It will not make grown people cry and sue each other.
I liked this book's simplicity and straightforward organization. I think that left as is, it may be more useful for teaching native speakers of English than for instructing ELLs, but it could be adapted to serve their needs as well. I will likely use it as a basis for teaching the points it contains and just adjust the concepts to suit myself. I also really appreciate the pre-assessment resource and the cheat sheet at the end, which provides an at-a-glance guide that seems like it would be very useful for students to have.
This is a text regarding the application of grammatical conventions. There is one cited reference, but the content does not really seem to need citation. It is pretty much public domain information, not rich on theory. It also does not really need... read more
This is a text regarding the application of grammatical conventions. There is one cited reference, but the content does not really seem to need citation. It is pretty much public domain information, not rich on theory. It also does not really need a glossary as terms are defined in text. It does cover the top errors in student use of grammatical convention in a very accessible way. There is enough to progressively cover the material for several different learning styles.
It is the multiple assessment opportunities that really tie comprehensions together. Language Arts is so often subjective. This course is largely objective with subjectivity as a spice to enrich learning. Students and instructors alike can keep up with understanding with relatively quick and progressive feedback.
I didn't find any errors. The content was so concise, I would imagine it easy to spot; but I didn't find any. I certainly didn't find anything to be biased.
English conventions do not change quickly. The author is very much in touch with the different student learning styles. These may evolve, and would be easy enough to adapt in the classroom on the fly with what she included. What drew me to this text was the instruction in English conventions written for adults. There is a glaring absence of such textbooks. This finally provides conventions instruction without infantilizing the content. I think, in terms of textbook longevity, this one is timeless.
I have been told that academic writing should not include the voice of the author. I have often disagreed, and find my disagreement particularly true in textbooks designed for remedial audiences, like adult basic education programs. I find that humanizing the content makes it more accessible. I loved hearing the authors voice in the text. I think it echoed the feelings of Language Arts instructors everywhere and clarifies the lessons for the student from within the text. What I loved the most is how I can use this text to work with adults, because it is simple and concise; relatable, but not juvenile.
The framework was a little tough to follow. There were a few times that I had to stop and re-read a section because I thought I missed something. Titling was not always there and with inconsistent font size changes, it made it difficult to follow. There were a few sections where there was work to do, but no instruction as to what to do with it. There was some prefix and suffix practice that was without instruction and some Latin where I didn't know what to do. Everything that was clearly instructed was absolutely clear and easy to understand. (I did assume that the reference to Elmo regarded the little red Muppet.)
To be more concise, I found the framework strong, there were just spots where the walls seemed unfinished.
This was wonderful. The individual lessons were absolutely bite sized. It was a big bite; mind you, but it was designed to allow the instructor to pare down lessons into what they need while providing extra for the motivated student. There is not to much, but nothing is lacking.
I never understood why Language arts texts present grammar before punctuation. They all seem to, and perhaps the absence of understanding that is my failing. This text orders the information as I have seen it ordered in other textbooks with similar content. It was easy to follow and didn't seem out of place. I would probably teach it in order, as written; only changing the amount of instruction based on student need.
This is my biggest issue. Because there were so many inconsistencies with font size, boldness, and underline applications; and missing titles and the only occasional application of color, I had to keep checking if the issues were with my lack of technological savvy, or the text as written. In one unit, there was a screen shot of a cell phone screen meant to illustrate the use of the Oxford comma, and I did not understand the reference because of the ellipses that cut off the sentence. The text is meant to include overheads and worksheets, but the were often shifted wo they were not paged correctly, with one title appearing at the bottom of a page and the content on another. I can't fix that in a .pdf, so it becomes difficult to use the textbook.
The author begins her introduction by explaining that the learned Language Arts instructor will find certain errors because the content was directed at introductory learners and those particulars that academicians love so much only render the basic understanding of the course content unattainable. I want to say an emphatic, "Its about damn time!" I find that to many textbooks mistake academic inclusion and overreach for high standards. I appreciate that this author explains why these errors might be allowable. It is vanity to think that the students reading a primer will solve the Grand Theory of Unification with their instruction. I can teach this to beginners and those looking for refresher alike without getting bogged down in trivia.
I am not easily offended. My students tend to be of the same ilk. I didn't find anything to be offensive. There were some references I didn't understand. Unit 13 had a reference to a 'lock in'. I have an idea what one is, but I have never done one. I even asked my adult children; who are relatively recent graduates, about one, and their first thought was a lock down for a bomb threat or an active shooter. I believe that the author's intent refers to a recreational event. I found most content to be relevant and respectfully cross-cultural.
I like this book. I intend to use this book. I will figure out how to work with the technical challenges within to use this book. It is a breath of fresh air for an adult basic educator to find a textbook that teaches English conventions without the content addressing preschoolers or people writing their dissertation. I am excited to use this because is seems more accessible than my entire current bookshelf of Language Arts material.
I want to add that I am not a Language Arts instructor. I am a Sociologist teaching multiple subjects. Just reading this for review, I learned things new to me. I was excited at discovering this in the Library, and I am even more excited to try it in the classroom. I showed it to my Honor student daughter, and she said, "where the hell was this in my Freshman year?" I couldn't say it better.
The title is true to the content in that both grammar and punctuation is broken down in a very easy to find and teach way. However, I would say that not all grammar is reviewed, such as verb tense. The goal of the text doesn't seem to be... read more
The title is true to the content in that both grammar and punctuation is broken down in a very easy to find and teach way. However, I would say that not all grammar is reviewed, such as verb tense. The goal of the text doesn't seem to be comprehensive, rather it may be best used as a supplement to a curriculum. The Table of Contents is easy to navigate and I love the option of PDF versus a Word document in each unit.
The content appears to be accurate. There is some advice on the worksheets that I may not fully agree with, but the fact that it is a Word document and that I have the ability to delete or add my own reasoning is extremely convenient.
The Case for the Oxford Comma in Unit 9 is brilliant! (A screenshot of a news alert on a locked phone.) The content is relevant to both native English speakers and non-native English speakers. This book is cleverly put together in a way that both my students and I will enjoy using it.
Very little jargon is used, which is helpful, but I think some students (especially ESL students) who are used to being taught the technical grammar rules might feel like something is missing. As a supplement, or a foundation for a concept, I feel this book is adequate, as long as the teacher scaffolds the information enough to satisfy the students.
The content is very clear and consistent. Each unit includes the same type of information, which is easy to find and use. However, the author's writing style isn't very consistent. A copy editor may go mad reading this because the author will switch back and forth between putting periods at the end of bullets, and using different font sizes and bolding for reasons I can't quite understand.
Each unit has a little introduction for the teacher which explains what is included in the unit (worksheets, practice, quiz) and how to use it. Reading these introductions isn't necessary. The book is written in a way where you can source and use content very quickly.
The organization of the text is pretty easy to follow. It begins with a focus on concepts and then follows up with practice. Each unit is reliably organized in this way.
Reading the text online was the easiest method for me as it includes the unit introductions and links to PDFs and Word documents. When I downloaded the text, I only got the unit introductions and couldn't figure out where to access the materials. This could be user error, but I feel a text like this should account for users like me. Regardless, I like the online version so much I will still give it a 4.
I didn't find any grammatical errors in the text. Her writing voice is distinct (for example, writing "BAD BAD BAD WORTHY OF FAILURE"), so I would change some of the directions and explanations to fit better fit my own style.
I found the text to be culturally sensitive and personable, especially for my ESL students.
This text covers many of the "confusables" that college students in developmental writing class need practice with, including homonyms and words commonly misused. In addition, sentence boundary issues such as run-ons, fragments, and misuse of... read more
This text covers many of the "confusables" that college students in developmental writing class need practice with, including homonyms and words commonly misused. In addition, sentence boundary issues such as run-ons, fragments, and misuse of commas (comma splices) are covered. The text includes all of the topics I expect to cover in an developmental English course. As the writer shares in the Introduction, the book "zeros in on errors commonly found in students' writing"--which I find practical. I covers the basics, which is consistent with other textbooks for developmental writers. Another benefit is the quizzes in the book are comprehensive, so students have multiple opportunities to assess their learning of foundational topics; the cumulative practice approach will serve them well as they advance.
The book is mostly error-free. I found a few inconsistencies, e.g. Unit 3: Where, Were; Could Have, Could “Of”; Lose, Loose does not contain practice with lose/loose. Also, I wasn't sure how the roots/quizzes fit in with the other material.
The content covered in this book is relevant. I don't know how much I'd focus on spelling and the English roots in the courses I teach, but other than that the material in the book is up-to-date and would require minimum updates, if any. I might alter the content just a bit to fit my learners, but overall I could implement the material right away with minimum changes/updates.
The writing in the book is clear and concise.
One of the book's main strengths is its consistency. The material is very structured; I was able to identify the pattern/rhythm of the course material right away.
The material is divided into manageable sections, and the writer suggests following a three-class-session structure, with the first day being an introduction of concepts, the second day a review, and the cumulative quiz on the third day. This is the writer's consistent recommendation throughout the book.
All topics are presented in a clear fashion. I reviewed the online book, which was well organized.
The text has no interface issues. I was able to navigate the website without confusion. All documents displayed well. I like that the writer offers both Word and .pdf files of course materials.
I did not find grammatical errors in the textbook.
The author presents material in a culturally relevant manner. The students I teach have diverse backgrounds, and I would feel comfortable presenting this book to them.
This book delivers what its title suggests. It is a functional, practical approach to teaching basic grammar and punctuation that I know my students would appreciate. I like the writer's approach, philosophy--and sensitivity to learners. In the Introduction, the writer acknowledges that many of us who teach the conventions probably didn't have to learn them the way our students do. The cumulative approach also reflects the writer's keen awareness of our learners.
Because the book "doesn't use phrases unfamiliar to students," I believe students will find the book comfortable and the material approachable and attainable. The students will be free to focus on simply the conventions, the basics, and not get tangled in the terminology of most grammar books.
I plan on using this textbook with my ENGL 92 (second in the sequence) class this fall.
The book does not aim for comprehensiveness, nor should it. It is a troubleshooting guide for students who persist in certain errors. These are generally well selected and appropriate: common spelling errors in words such as "grammar," "separate,"... read more
The book does not aim for comprehensiveness, nor should it. It is a troubleshooting guide for students who persist in certain errors. These are generally well selected and appropriate: common spelling errors in words such as "grammar," "separate," and "privilege"; common usage errors such as "definite v. defiant," "accept v. except," and "everyday v. every day"; and common grammar errors such as "for Tom and me v. for Tom and I" and "that v. who." The coverage of such topics represents the most frequent writing (and speaking) errors that instructors encounter. It benefits students and instructors to have a great many of these problems compactly presented in this volume. Of course, one could add other topics: avoidance of intensifiers like "very" and "really"; usage of "different than" v. "different from"; verbs of being (v. action) and their complements. But one cannot do everything in one book!
The book is mostly accurate, but one could quibble with a few statements. For example, a semi-colon "can take the place of a period." Well, in a certain sense, yes, but not really. What happens when a student puts the semi-colon at the end of a paragraph? Perhaps this prohibition would be discussed in class, but if we must rely on that to happen, then the book loses its "go-to" character as a grammar guide. Another inaccuracy: the author uses "then" as a conjunction in at least two chapters (3 and 14), with commas and no coordinating conjunction. This is incorrect; "then" is an adverb and requires a coordinating conjunction and comma. One could point to a few other inaccuracies in the book: the word "to" in front of the infinitive form of the verb is not accurately called a "preposition"; it is an infinitive marker. For the most part, aside from a few statements, the book is accurate.
The topics are quite pertinent. The errors reflect the common faults of students today. One could always add sections/topics, but changing the facts of the topics won't be necessary. However, I would make one suggestion: The book clearly addresses a high school audience. Many of the writing prompts and even the exercise sentences reference high school students and experiences. If this book is to be marketed as a college textbook, even as a developmental English skills textbook, then the language needs to be altered. References to homecoming dances and plans for going to college "next year" should be revised to cover college students' lives.
The book is well written, accessible, and free of jargon. I understand preferring to avoid heavy grammatical and linguistic terminology; however, this can go too far. In the present volume, the author occasionally uses technical terminology like "infinitive" and "preposition," but she studiously avoids more advanced concepts like "clause" and "modal" and "adverb" even when she uses those forms in both the explanations and in the exercises. "Last night" is an introductory phrase, and so is "Although he was late" is as well. What is the difference between them? Astute students will want to know, and it isn't enough to say that both are introductory. One cannot avoid teaching clauses for long if a student is to learn the rudiments of good grammar and usage. To say that the SOBA words join two SENTENCES (rather than two CLAUSES) seems to invite more questions than it answers. Similarly, the exercises sometimes ask students to use an examined word (such as "choose" in the lesson on "choose" v. "chose") in gerund form but with no explanation (even though in the notes section, "choose" is identified as an infinitive and "chose" as past tense form). So there's an unevenness in the presentation. I would suggest that students will respect technical terminology if it helps them understand usage: "I want to choose my courses" (infinitive) v. "I chose my courses" (past tense) v. "Choosing courses is tough" (gerund). This doesn't mean loading the book down with a lot of dense jargon.
Apropos of my previous comment, the book does suffer somewhat in consistency. The use of grammatical terms is a bit inconsistent. If terms like "infinitive" and "items in a series" can be used effectively, then it will not hurt students to learn the difference between phrases, clauses, and sentences. In fact, it will help them. Similarly, the author states that the word "there" is an answer to the question "how many?" which is an odd way to teach what many might call an expletive construction or "sentence starter." It would be better if the book consistently introduced one or two (or more) technical terms in each chapter.
The pacing and length of each chapter ("convention") is good and appropriate, especially if the book is used as an adjunct to other texts in the course. The book's lessons are cumulative, however, so moving and rearranging units isn't possible. But this is as it should be. The lessons are incremental, and the exercises build on previous material so that the lessons are reinforced.
Organization and flow are good. The lessons build on one another such that the last several chapters on commas, colons, apostrophes, and other punctuation must be covered in the order given. The order is logical and clear.
This question doesn't apply to this book since it is presented as a series of worksheets. However, in some future iteration, it might be nice to see the slides AS slides (say, in PowerPoint form) rather than as blocks on a page. On another point, some of the exercises are duplicated (in chapters 5 and 9, for example).
No problems with the writing. The author's style is conversational and friendly. I suspect students will find this to their liking.
The book is neutral on this front. Its exercises address ordinary concerns of ordinary, reasonably educated people. I would say there's no great effort to represent a plurality of ethnicities or races, nor should there be. One small point, however: In chapter 2, the Spanish equivalents of "you" forms are given. Why? This should be omitted since no other language equivalencies are given in the book, not even any other Spanish forms.
The exercises are plentiful! They reinforce the lessons and give students ample opportunity to practice the forms. The sentence and paragraph exercises alone wouldn't be sufficient, however, and for this reason the author assigns many paragraphs and short essays. Reinforcing the lessons in longer forms like short essays is a great way for students to apply what they've learned.
Note that this review is only of the PDF version of the text, which was discovered to be less complete than the other versions. Chauna Ramsey’s PDF-version of the book includes a very clear and comprehensive table of contents showing the... read more
Note that this review is only of the PDF version of the text, which was discovered to be less complete than the other versions. Chauna Ramsey’s PDF-version of the book includes a very clear and comprehensive table of contents showing the progression of writing conventions in her course. Organized into 19 units of conventions, with the last unit consisting of the final exam, the text appropriately covers all areas of the subject matter which are taught in her course. Note that the PDF version does not include the actual exercises or links to the exercises.
In the PDF version of the text, the only error found in the text was the typo “choose” in the first line under the header in Unit 4 which says: “Unit 4 pdf: Whose, Who’s; Fewer, Less; Choose, Choose.” However, once the reader sees the header (“Unit 4: Whose, Who's; Fewer, Less; Choose, Chose”), it is clear that the second “choose” in the first line under the header is a typo and should be “chose.” No other errors were found, and the text was highly accurate and completely unbiased.
The author’s writing conventions in the PDF version consist of classic, relevant content which will remain so over time. The content is very clear and well organized, so readers should be able to quickly and easily make any needed updates and insert additions regarding extra writing conventions they may need to cover in their courses.
The author uses a very clear, concise writing style, which flows nicely throughout the PDF version of the book. The text is enjoyable to read, which makes it easy to forget one is reading. There was no inaccessible jargon or terminology.
Throughout the PDF version of the text, the author uses an extremely consistent framework as well as terminology.
Before proceeding to reading units in a random order or reorganizing units for a class, it is essential to read the introduction in the PDF version as well as Units 1 and 2, which are longer and more detailed. Doing so will give the reader enough background information related to the author’s steps. The reader will soon discover that it is easy to begin any unit as of Unit 3 and implement the steps. The text is extremely readable and consistent in each unit of the PDF version as well as fairly brief and concise, and the units can be easily reorganized and realigned without disruption.
The selection and progression of book topics in the PDF version are very logical and clear, and the steps from unit to unit remain consistent.
There were no interface issues or navigation problems in the book in the PDF version. The book does not include images or charts.
No grammatical errors were found in the PDF version.
No cultural insensitivity or bias was found, and there were no cultural references in the PDF version of the text. It would be interesting to see the exercises, which were not included in the PDF version, to see if culturally inclusive examples need to be added.
The PDF version of the book was written to guide writing teachers through the steps of introducing and assessing students’ writing convention knowledge. As of Unit 2, the steps include assessing the previous and current units as well as giving a pre-assessment of the next unit. The author emphasizes the importance of teaching conventions as there could be a multitude of reasons that students do not already know them.
Note that the PDF version does not include the actual exercises, and at the completion of this review, I learned from prior reviewers that other versions had the actual exercises or links to the exercises. Apparently, such differences among formats are uncommon, and there may have been a technical glitch during the exporting of PDF content.
This text is aptly named Conventions 101, since it is an introductory approach to English usage. A more advanced text would include more linguistic and etymological explanation, possibly including regional and dialectal variations. As it stands,... read more
This text is aptly named Conventions 101, since it is an introductory approach to English usage. A more advanced text would include more linguistic and etymological explanation, possibly including regional and dialectal variations. As it stands, this book would be an excellent text for lower-level composition courses as a supplementary text. I believe that most courses would need to include a comprehensive composition handbook as well, since this book is focused exclusively on sentence structure without any reference to paragraphs, the organization of essays, logic, or research.
The book is excellent for what it intends to cover. The content is accurate and error-free. It is unbiased, covering Standard American English, yet taking into account the complexities of the language.
In the area of relevance, this text's specificity is a strong point because changes in formatting styles will not affect it. I foresee only minor changes being needed, in comma usage, for instance.
The worksheets in the text are clear and understandable. They give the students ample access to necessary information, written in an outline form ideal for studying. I can imagine students keeping these review sheets ("Cheat Sheets") for other couses.
This text is extremely consistent, with each week laid out in a three-day format, easily altered for other schedules. It also progresses from the simple to the complex in its treatment of English language conventions.
I am using this text not sequentially this term, and students are able to follow easily. Each section is self-contained, and I am able to combine chapters easily to cover the content that I need for my course.
Topics proceed from simple to complex, from word usage to sentence structure.
Students should be advised to use the online version of the text rather than the PDF. Without this advice, students would find the text impossible to navigate.
The text follows its own advice and contains no obvious errors.
The text seems to be free of bias in terms of races, ethnicity, and background. Examples used are consistently inclusive.
This text is geared for the instructor: Notice that the introduction is addressed to the teacher, not the student. To use this text effectively, a teacher would supply links to the students for the individual chapters, but probably not a link to the entire text. This is very definitely a worksheet and review sort of manual. I find it very helpful for what it intends to achieve.
The text offers very good coverage of some of the most frequent convention errors and most common points of grammar confusion in student writing. Some of the points of focus, such as phrases like "nowadays," which Ramsey identifies as not to be... read more
The text offers very good coverage of some of the most frequent convention errors and most common points of grammar confusion in student writing. Some of the points of focus, such as phrases like "nowadays," which Ramsey identifies as not to be used in academic writing, are ones I have rarely if ever encountered in student writing, but the spirt of the instruction in conventions of writing is that it makes students more informed and aware of their choices. As Ramsey articulates in the introduction to the text, she sees it as a continual work in progress, and instructors would use, sample, and adapt Ramsey's units and materials with that in mind. While the text could certainly serve a self-motivated student directly, it is primarily an instructor resource. With that purpose in mind and as another reviewer noted, the chapter content itself might be expanded with more extensive notes from Ramsey regarding the particular opportunities, challenges, and approaches relative to teaching the particular unit. The engaging style of the text's introduction would be a welcome addition to the chapters themselves. But ultimately, as a text meant to support the aspects of "objective assessment" that English instructors often feel themselves lacking, students can see the flexibility of writing anchored in these foundational conventions.
The text is accurate, with clear explanations and examples within the instructional materials that provide enough information for students to learn the concepts but not so much rationale and jargon to bog them down in their study of conventions.
The text is open to evolving with collaboration of the instructor who chooses to adopt it. Such as the iPhone news notification example Ramsey uses to illustrate the need for the Oxford comma, the instructor could continue to infuse the framework of this text with current and relevant examples from different situations and media.
The book and supplemental materials are written in a clear, uncomplicated style and would be easily understood by instructors and students working together or by students working through the text as their own grammar primer.
Once the instructors (and students, if directly accessing the text on their own) have learned the format of the chapters by accessing the supplemental materials, they will find the same pattern for every chapter. The book is about the materials--to be accurate, they are EVERYTHING, not really "supplemental" at all--and doesn't offer significant chapter content otherwise, so a reader would look elsewhere for more extensive, less practical musings on conventions.
The text could be very easily accessed and used in pieces, with instructors selecting the individual units or even the particular materials, handouts, and worksheets or quizzes that fit their own course design.
The text logically progresses from small, common issues of word choice to punctuation and eventually sentence structure. The order is logical but reflects one particular approach to organizing the instruction of grammar, and instructors might adapt Ramsey's structure to fit their own trajectory of goals. Many instructors would be likely to rearrange the order of the units. However, the cumulative quizzes would need to be revised with any such rearranging.
With multiple formats available, the text is easily accessible with the linked materials. Using the ePub file through the iBooks program offered the most attractive interface for my MacBook. All instructors and students should find an accessible format with a little exploring.
The text, following its own rules, contains no noticeable errors.
The text is not culturally offensive or insensitive. The examples are varied and don't reflect or prioritize one group over another. Within Unit 2, Ramsey offers Spanish words to help students understand the difference between "your" and "you're," and instructors could further adapt her materials to reflect more intentional inclusivity.
This book has a relatively focused scope: common errors that high school and college students make regarding spelling of common words, punctuation, and grammar. Ramsey's goal does not seem to be comprehensive (there are many, many common mistakes... read more
This book has a relatively focused scope: common errors that high school and college students make regarding spelling of common words, punctuation, and grammar. Ramsey's goal does not seem to be comprehensive (there are many, many common mistakes not included in the book - "past/passed," "breath/breathe," etc.), but the lessons that are included seem to target some of the more crucial and widespread mistakes students make. This book would make a great supplement to other texts that provide instruction regarding the writing process.
The book is highly accurate in terms of quiz questions and explanation of rules. A few of the grammar rules seem a little prescriptive and oversimplified (this author tells her students to avoid the word "you" in academic writing because it is "too casual and vague," which is usually true, and very helpful for high school students, but college students might need a little more nuance).
The grammar rules that are included are foundational enough that they will probably be relevant for quite some time. The sample sentences in the worksheets and quizzes are generally not culturally bound, and would hold up well over time. A couple of rules (the difference between "all ready" and "already," and "all right" and "alright") may indeed be undergoing some change, at least in spoken language, but overall the content is extremely relevant, especially in the academic writing setting.
Ramsey does an excellent job using language that students can understand, and avoiding jargon such as grammatical terminology that would only confuse, rather than enlighten, students. However, some explanations seem a little simplistic - the explanation for "there" (as opposed to "their/they're) is that "there" is a response to "Where?" or "How many?" But there are many other uses of the word "there," as in this sentence, which Ramsey doesn't elaborate on.
The layout is fairly consistent - although I noticed in the second unit, Ramsey begins introducing Spanish terms to clarify the meaning of English words - specifically, the difference between "your" and "you're." This makes perfect sense for many education environments, but may cause confusion in others.
The text is clearly divided into short units, and each unit contains a worksheet in PDF and Word format and a quiz, also in PDF and Word. It would be easy to target a unit that covers errors a particular group of students is making. However, the quizzes are cumulative, so you may need to adapt a quiz to fit your needs, if you haven't covered all of the previous units.
Ramsey states in her intro that the units progress from least difficult to most difficult; this seems to be true. In addition, quizzes are cumulative, so each quiz incorporates information from previous units, in addition to info from the current unit.
The interface works well. The text itself is for teachers and instructors, and the PDFs and Word documents are for students (worksheets and quizzes). The materials are designed to be printed and completed by hand - there are questions that ask you to circle things, fill in the blanks, etc. This would be difficult to do with an online class, but works well if the instructor is prepared to print out worksheets and quizzes.
Ramsey is a careful and grammar-conscious writer.
Overall, the material is neutral when it comes to race, ethnicity, and background, although sample sentences and exercises seem a little careless in regards to gender. In the unit on distinguishing between "women/woman," sample sentences often deal with jewelry and shopping, etc. While these sample sentences are intended to be simple, to put the focus on grammar and punctuation, they occasionally feel a tad reductive. In addition, in the pretest, a multiple choice question containing 8 sentences (one of which was correctly punctuated) also includes the sentence: "I didn't take no test's." This could provide a great opportunity to talk with students about dialects, Black English, etc., but in the context of the pretest, it seemed a bit odd and out of place, compared to the other sentences in the multiple choice question.
Overall, the skills covered in Ramsey's book are essential, and I wholeheartedly agree with her introduction, in which she states, "Yes, your students’ previous teachers should have done that [taught them these rules]. Maybe they did; maybe they didn’t, but here we are." We can't ignore that these conventions of spelling and punctuation affect our students' ability to be understood, as well as their credibility. As Ramsey points out, we need to teach these skills one way or another, and her book provides a concise, pre-assembled strategy for doing so.
The text provides material for teachers and students to preassess, teach, practice, and assess the correct use of the conventions of standard Written English in student writing. There is a pre-test which teachers or students could use to gauge... read more
The text provides material for teachers and students to preassess, teach, practice, and assess the correct use of the conventions of standard Written English in student writing. There is a pre-test which teachers or students could use to gauge exactly what areas need work. Each “unit” which follows includes one or two conventions issues (like “their there they’re” or “you’re your” or “two to too”). There are two versions of the instructional material; each file contains information, examples, practice exercises, and quizzes. At the end is a post-test which could be used simply as a final “gauge” or a more comprehensive “final exam.” While not every conventions issue is addressed, the text includes many of the common ones found in student writing, particularly first-year comp students or those with less experience writing.
Explanations and examples in each unit are generally correct. And since grammar instruction is by necessity rather dry, there is no bias on the part of the author.
When people communicate in writing, there are always issues with conventions. When a reader encounters such issues, it is hard for him to ignore the issues and focus on the message. Indeed, this may bias a reader against the message. So addressing issues with conventions is definitely relevant and will always be so. The instructional material can be easily updated as a teacher requires for student strengths or learning needs.
The prose in the book is quite readable. The content and writing style are appropriate for the target audiences: teachers who want to give students extra instruction in the conventions of standard written English.
The text is very consistent from beginning to end. Information is easy to find, different names are not used for the same concept, and meaning is clear to readers of all levels.
The text is very modular, in that each unit is self-contained. A teacher could cover part or all a unit with a class or could assign it to individual students as needed. A teacher could even provide a link to this text in a resources page and refer students to it for their own use, even after a term is concluded.
The first chapter discusses how teachers could make use of the text. The next chapter is a pre-assessment activity, and the final unit contains a post-assessment. Individual units in between are in no particular order, which does not interfere with the usage of this text, since teachers can pick what is needed and not have to progress through increasingly more difficult material. That is not the purpose of this text, so its organization works well for all users.
The “Online” version (Pressbooks) is the best and easiest to use. Accessed via Web browser, it can be used by any user with an Internet-enabled device. The Table of Contents provides easy access to each unit. Once on a unit’s page, links to the instructional material in Word and PDF format are apparent at the top of each page. These links are also present in the eBook versions, although the interface is less elegant and requires a user to download the document. Once done, it is also readily used. The PDF version, while containing all the content, is very utilitarian in appearance and use. Links to the instructional material are not clearly delineated; a user would not know they were links without mousing over them. This is not intuitive to students at all, who should be directed to the “Online” version.
There are few to no discernible errors in the standard written English of this textbook.
The instructional material and examples are basic in nature and do not provide any offensiveness or insensitivity. Because it is quite customizable by a teacher, culturally relevant examples could be added if she wanted to.
Good resource for teachers of writing on many levels. I will definitely consider using it in my own classroom.
This text does exactly what it says it does in the introduction. It covers many errors in grammar and punctuation that are commonly made by our students. The index lists the topics and each chapter included a brief description of how to teach... read more
This text does exactly what it says it does in the introduction. It covers many errors in grammar and punctuation that are commonly made by our students. The index lists the topics and each chapter included a brief description of how to teach the topic with helpful links to handouts, practice exercises, and quizzes. It does not cover every grammar or punctuation topic, nor should it. Instead, it focuses on those that students struggle with the most.
After thoroughly reading the explanations on each grammar and punctuation topic, I did not find any errors. The rules are at times brief, but they are correct. As explained in the introduction, Chauna Ramsey is not included formal rules or using complex grammatical jargon. Instead, the topics are explained in an easy to understand language. Unnecessary rules are not included.
The content is up-to-date, as grammar and punctuation rules rarely change. Every student in a Freshman Composition course and others need this information. They are common errors that I have seen throughout all of my students' writing over many years. If other topics need to be added, they would be easily incorporated. In addition, other materials that may be used in the future (worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, websites, etc.) could be added with ease. I believe this text could be used far into the future by English teachers.
The premise of this text is to not use any jargon or technical terminology. While the author admits that some grammatical terms must be used, like run-on or fragment, other unnecessary terms are not used. These terms and others like them are used consistently in all English courses, so students need to understand them. However, difficult grammatical terms, like dependent clause, are not included. Even without these, the author is able to clearly explain each rule and then have students practice that rule. If there was more detail or expansion in the chapter summaries, this would be helpful. Each introduction to each chapter is almost exactly the same.
Consistent terms are used throughout the book. He adds each previous chapters content to the quiz for the next chapter, so students are required to remember all that they have learned. Many times, after the test, rules are forgotten, but this method reinforces each grammatical or punctuation point. The book is well-organized, and each chapter lays out a similar framework for teaching the material, so it is extremely consistent.
The text would most likely be used by instructors to teach the material, not students. The handouts, worksheets, and assessments would be used by students though. These are found in the links in each chapter. If needed, an instructor could easily pick and choose which topics she would like to teach. Certain chapters may be skipped, if the students already understand the topic. As the author mentions, the practice exercises can also be skipped, if they are not needed.
As mentioned earlier, the organization is very clear. There is an introduction, which is humorous, realistic, and informative. Next, each chapter includes a brief explanation of the topic is taught and the links to the materials used to teach the topic. It is extremely clear, but additional information specific to each topic may be helpful as well.
There are no interface issues in this text. It is easy to navigate, and there are no other features to distract or confuse the reader. I did notice that if you open the text as a pdf, the links do not appear. Viewing it as an online book works the best.
Since this book is about grammar, clearly grammar was looked at closely by the author. While the introduction is fairly informal, there were no significant grammatical errors that hindered the reader's understanding anywhere in the book.
The purpose of this book is to teach grammar and punctuation. Because of this, no cultural material is mentioned. There are not culturally insensitive or offensive materials in this book.
This is material that I have used in my English classes for many years. It is extremely relevant. Some instructors may feel that they should not have to teacher grammatical or punctuation conventions, but it is necessary when our students will be judged on whether of not they know these in their future writing. All these materials put together in one place with exercises and quizzes is very helpful. I will use this book in the future.
Table of Contents
- First Things First: Conventions Pre-Test
- Unit 1: A Lot; There, They're, Their; To, Two, Too
- Unit 2: Your, You're; Its, It's; Woman,Women
- Unit 3: Where, Were; Could Have, Could "Of"; Lose, Loose
- Unit 4: Whose, Who's; Fewer, Less; Choose, Chose
- Unit 5: Accept, Except; Who vs That; Lose, Loose
- Unit 6: All Ready, Already; I vs Me; Affect, Effect
- Unit 7: Everyday, Every Day; Defiant, Definite
- Unit 8: Capitalizing Pronouns; All Right vs "Alright"
- Unit 9: Commas in a Series; Commas After Introductory Phrases
- Unit 10: Commas with "So," "Or," "But," "And"; Commas with Interrupting Elements
- Unit 11: Comma Review
- Unit 12: Fragments and Run-Ons
- Unit 13: Semicolons
- Unit 14: Punctuation and End Quotation Marks; Punctuating Titles
- Unit 15: Colons
- Unit 16: Apostrophe Pre-Assessment
- Unit 17: Apostrophes
- Unit 18: Subject-Verb Agreement
- Unit 19: Final Exam; "Rejected" Notice; Cheat Sheet
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
This is a collection of cumulative units of study for conventional errors common in student writing. It's flexible, functional, and zeroes in problems typically seen in writing of all types, from the eternal “there/they're/their” struggle to correct colon use. Units are organized from most simple to most challenging.
About the Contributors
Author
Chauna Ramsey grew up in Dundee, Oregon and now lives in Hood River, where she has taught for over twenty years at Hood River Valley High School.