The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes

MY HUSBAND AND I OWN SEVERAL PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN NEW JERSEY. WE HAVE MADE THE "BLUEBOOK" MANDATORY FOR ALL OUR STUDENTS. "JANE"-THANKS, YOU MAKE OUR JOB MUCH EASIER. BARBARA AND DANIEL R. DEL BAGNO--PRINCETON EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE--KENDALL PARK,NJ.

As an editor and lover of punctuation (yes I admit it), it is wonderful to know that there are books such as The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation out there. I find myself referring to it most days of the week. It is an indispensable tool, and I wouldn't be able to do my job well without it. It is easy to read, easy to search for topics, and contains the answers to the most common issues that arise during the process of writing and editing. Simply put, it is invaluable.

I'm not going to add any examples, because I have never even read this book, but just looking at the other reviews, I cannot let people buy this thing. Thus I had to make a new bad review to bring down the book's rating. I can't believe all the errors! I will give the book two stars instead of one, however, because it does seem to have SOME usable/correct information in it.

The company owner walks into my office, plucks the Blue Book off my shelf and murmurs a rather sheepish "I'm hooked." If you are passionate about getting things right, you will be too. I have turned to this resource more than any on my shelf since purchasing it. It is also valuable for winning office bets on things such as the word "irregardless" - one of my pet peeves - shot down in the tremendously useful "Confusing Words and Homonyms" section with a succinct "no such word exists." Thank you, thank you, Jane Straus!
The book includes examples to illustrate every rule, along with handy rule-of-thumb type tips (for example, "To test whether an 'ly word is an adjective, see if it can be used alone with the noun. If it can, use a comma when the -ly adjective is used with other adjectives.") Brilliant! Buy the book and you can also learn the invaluable "he/him method" to determine the correct answer to the age-old question of who vs. whom, or whoever vs. whomever. Although the quizzes are obviously aimed toward teachers and students, you will find that technical writers, marketing writers, QA analysts, or anyone who just believes in proper English will adore this book, along with its companion newsletter and web site.

I was going to use this book to plan lessons for my ESL class, but it's bad to almost a weird extent. For example, everyone else in the world talks about "subordinate clauses" and "independent clauses." This strange book uses the terms "weak clauses" and "strong clauses" instead. If your students are going to have to take standardized tests, stay away from this book! No test will ask them what a "weak clause" is--there is no such thing! Why not use the terms students will be asked about, or the terms used in other books they will study?

Then there are things that are even odder: made up rules that are not true. The book says, for example, "do not use a comma when the sentence starts with a strong clause followed by a weak clause." So, according to the book, the following is correct: "I was persuaded by my friends to buy the book although my teacher said it was bad." But that's absolutely wrong. There has to be a comma between "book" and "although". ("Although" begins a subordinate clause--or "weak clause" in the private lingo of this book.) I couldn't believe my eyes! Then I see that the author of the book actually obeys this non-rule and leaves commas out all over the place in the lessons.

So I went to the author's website (where all the rules in the book are available for free, anyway, so why buy it?) and found the following comments in the author's "Grammar Blog" for 2/12/08: "Thanks to Shawna L. for pointing out that the third example in my last newsletter had an error," and "Thanks to Kathy D. for pointing my sloppy grammar." What kind of grammar teacher needs students to point out his or her own grammatical errors? At least my visit to the site cleared up the mystery of this book. The author just doesn't know too much about grammar.