Related pages:
Best Books on how to Write Poetry. How to Write Poetry: A Recipe. Index. How to Read Poetry. How to Listen Poetry. Essays on how to write specific forms:
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Books on how to write well | Books on how to write Poetry Forms |
Check out the Best Books on Writing Poetry: books you can use without paying the big bucks for an MFA program. |
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My favorite is the concise description of when to use the subjunctive, which previously was merely miasma on the far horizon of my lingual skills.
"Be skeptical of stylebooks. . . .
understand the reasons behind the rules -- and therefore know when they should be ignored." |
The second half of his book is his "Curmudgeon's Stylebook", which begins with teaching the reader how to determine which indefinite article to use: the A or the AN. [His guideline means trouble for non-native speaker: use the pronunciation rule not the spelling rule.]
It ends with teaching the reader how to decide whether to use YES, I DO or YES, I HAVE. [His guideline has you use the auxiliary verb - unless (this clause must be the joy of grammarians, allowing them to nest deeper and deeper into arcana) - in reply to certain questions that were asked with particular stresses.]
Hale relishes words and their organization like other people relish food, wine, and a close personal relationship. She welcomes you to break the rules of grammar, as long as you know the rules, and know why you're breaking them.
The book has 3 main sections:
Words.
Sentences.
Music.
Subtopics within those give chapters that range from Interjection (in Words), through Phrases and Clauses (in Sentences), to Rhythm (in Music). For 16 such section, she gives you:
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