This is what someone asked me once: "When are you planning to reply back to the letter?"
This is another gem: "It's really annoying to keep returning back to the same place."
If you are scratching your head, wondering what the mistakes in the two sentences are, you probably need to relearn your grammar lessons in school. Does this statement sound familiar? "A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject"? Or this: "Participial phrases preceded by a conjunction or by a preposition, nouns in apposition, adjectives, and adjective phrases come under the same rule if they begin the sentence."?
If this sounds like Latin, you need a few quick lessons to brush up. A good place to start is the Grammar Book. Who or whom? Whoever or whomever? Which or that? Adjective or adverb? Effect or affect? The Blue Book of Punctuation, a reference guide and workbook on grammar and punctuation by Jane Straus can help you out of these tricky situations. The print version of the book is available for purchase online but, before you punch in your credit card number, check out the online tests. If the results are not what you expect, order immediately!
If you have questions like, "Where do I put the comma in this sentence?" or "Where do I put the quotation marks in this sentence?" Linda Devore promises to answer simple queries within 24 hours, on her site GrammarNow. She has also provided links to more resources for improving your writing skills.
Two important aspects that can help in gaining some degree of mastery over the English language are style and composition. Bartleby, a publisher of books and reference usage guides gives a list of references you can use to improve writing style, including the 'American Heritage Book of English Usage' and 'Strunk's Elements of Style' which contains useful chapters on diction, style and word formation.
Another place where you can find tutorials on English is Tutorialfind. Writing for the Internet has its share of challenges. For example, is it email, E-Mail or E-mail; html or HTML? Find out more about online grammar, here.
If you are interested not only in writing, but speaking better too, this site, through a series of nine videotapes, helps you master spoken English. If you are going on a visit to the US, on business, work or to study, and someone says 'mifitrnfuran--ami' - don't be confused. Pick up a few tips from American Spoken English to help figure out that what it means is: "My feet are in front of me."
If you want to learn English the fun way, try Hungry for Words. Through the use of flashcards, you can learn a new word everyday. The site chooses a word, defines it, and shows how you can use it in a sentence. You can also choose to listen to the word and pronounce it -- an easy and fun way to improve your language skills.
The British Council has a site that helps you learn English and has sections for kids, teenagers and adults. The lessons are fun and you can polish your grammar, take part in exciting games, send postcards and also test yourself online.
Then, the BBC's English Learning Service deals with questions on the English language, grammar and idioms through a question and answer section called 'Learn It'. You can also test your level of proficiency with the 'Quiznet' section. There are also other areas like 'World in the News' where you can listen to the news and also learn the meaning of new words.
English, baby! Unlike what the name suggests, this is not about someone born in England, but a site that helps you learn English, and make friends too, in the process. You will need to register to use its services like Ebaby Pals, but you can access other sections like Movies, Music, TV and Message Boards, or take a weekly quiz.
The power over words can be a heady feeling. It often leads to common deviations of language, such as using big words in place of simple ones; lengthy, meandering sentences, to show that the author has achieved a high level of mastery of the language; and, most commonly, telling a story in five paragraphs when it could have been done in two, effectively. Read about how to avoid some common mistakes in this article by Roger Allen.
With all this help, we hope you're equipped with enough skills to draft that impressive cover letter for your dream job, make that awesome presentation at your workplace, write a great article for your local paper and pen an expressive love letter that's sure to impress your sweetheart. Now that you've mastered the finer points of the English language, go ahead. Let the power of words do all the work for you!
Additional Links
About.com's Writers' Exchange
Links to resources on grammar, better writing, copy editing and style.
Online Writing Lab (OWL)
From Purdue University, OWL has resources that will be useful for people with writing concerns -- grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Copy Editing Style FAQ
When do you use capitals? When do you use an apostrophe? Is a preposition at the end of a sentence acceptable? Get all these queries answered here.
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Learn how you can avoid clichés and redundancy in writing, frame concise sentences, and more.
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