The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know

I want to be June Casagrande's best friend. Seriously. I have loved every one of her books. I love her podcasts. I love her website. I'm sure I'd love her newspaper column too, if I'd ever read it. I have way too many books about grammar and writing and syntax and style. It would be different if I actually read each one cover to cover and then retained the information, but I never do. The exceptions are Casagrande's books. She is not only an exceptional writer (as you would expect, given the subject matter), but she's done all the homework for me, and she references her sources so I know exactly where to look if I need additional information. Best of all, she is unapologetic in her insistence that American English is ever-evolving. Whenever I find myself being critiqued by old school grammar snobs who cite outdated, silly rules that haven't applied to sentence structure or word usage for decades, I just reference this or another of Casagrande's books. Best of all (okay, the last "best of all" should have been "better than this..."), she writes in a way that is not only informative but also entertaining. She keeps me engaged from beginning to end. She makes learning fun. Isn't that what everyone wants in a best friend—someone who can answer all your syntax and grammar questions while keeping you entertained? I waited a long time for this book and it does not disappoint.

June Casagrande impressed me again. She explains in an easy to understand manner about sentences and its parts and usages.I liked how she tried not to "follow the rules", as any language learner might figure it out that there is no such thing because almost any grammar rule has an exception.One con of the book is its lack of examples. There are several examples, enough in my opinion, but way less if compared with other grammar books.One good thing about the book is that June decided to "explain" grammar rather than "present" it. This "process" made the reading easy to follow and understand.By the way, this is the first grammar book I saw some concepts, such as the "Less and Fewer" differences, "Flat Adverbs", and many others.All in all, a good and quick read. Easy to follow and understand. I was left with a sense of understanding grammar better rather than following rules.

June Casagrande takes the dreaded Grammarian and thrashes it to a slick smoothie of proper English. It was hard to imagine how anyone would manage to read all the way through a book on Grammar, rather like asking the dentist for a root canal for fun, but The Joy of Syntax reads like a novel. And for those of us with little or no education due to passing through the public school system in the fifties and sixties, it is a Godsend. Buy two copies one for yourself and one to give to some poor school student before the lack of education does permanent damage.

I've probably purchased 10 or so grammar books but so far this is the only one that's working for me. In many other books, the authors can't help but crucially use concepts that haven't been introduced yet or quickly get you bogged down in things that require memorization instead of understanding/processing. There's also a bit of magic to it because I swear the author manages to explain concepts that I had previously found illusive in just a sentence or two. If you're like me and need that RIGHT book to get your grammar game a good bit tighter, I would certainly recommend this. It's not just better but A LOT better, at least for my style of processing information.

I could not begin to count the number of Grammar books I have read, studied, outlined, and mind mapped to no avail. I was beginning to think my mind must be missing a necessary grammar function and was close to giving up hope.The Joy of Syntax has restored my faith in myself. This book is brilliant. It just makes sense.June has a way with words. Her ability to explain in clear understandable terms has left me agape after almost every sentence. "So that's it!"Thank you, thank you, thank you!(Hyperbole completely intended and justified.)

I would have rated this book higher, except there are no practice questions. The author presents succinct and detailed explanations of the subject matter. Particularly, she clearly defines the nature and use of a phrase and a clause. Although she fails to define the function of pronouns fully. Pronouns replace and refer to nouns, nouns phrases, and other pronouns.Most books written on the subject of American English grammar fail to offer up a complete definition of pronouns, as well as adjectives modifying other adjectives. In short, however, I do recommend that you should purchase this book if you are serious about expanding your knowledge of the language.

OK, I am one of those weird people who love words. I also like grammar, syntax, punctuation. I am sure that you get the picture. The Joy of Syntax is wonderful. I wish that it existed when I was a kid in school. The book is wonderfully written. It makes understanding syntax so much better than the way it was taught in school. It reminds me of things I had forgotten and somethings that I just never quite learned. Thank you Joy of Syntax.

Not a book to just sit by the fire and read but excellent reference to have when writing for review of seldom used English grammar usage. I love it.

I'm studying creative writing, so getting my grammar right is crucial. I couldn't honestly say I'm getting a lot of joy out of this book, but at least the author does everything she can to minimise the pain. There are aspects of grammar that are not easy to learn or to remember, but that's the nature of the subject, and no fault of the author. Can we have a Kindle edition, please?

Book was in fine condition and came earlier than promised. The content is excellent if you love grammar, the parsing of sentences and the use of tricky words and phrases. Requires concentration to stay with it, but it's everything you would ever want to know about sentence construction and the parts of speech. She has a certain wry humor in her approach, which helps to alleviate the density of the necessarily dry material. Note: this book would NOT be useful for those learning English as a new language.

This is in no way a grammar book. If someone understand this as a grammar book it is simply misleading. Never buy this book who is searching for grammar book. Total wastage of money. Good for nothing.

書名The Joy of Syntaxは紛らわしい。 syntax（統語論）は通例accidence(語形論)、morphology(形態論)に対するもので、文の構造や文の構成要素の相互関係を論じる分野である。しかし本書では「文法」という緩い意味合いで使われているようだ。大まかに内容を紹介するとPart I. Syntax では8品詞のほか句[節]の文法を扱い、Part II. Usage and Proprietyでは語法と適切性を論じている。Part Iの内容は初歩的で、あまり得るところはないが、Part IIは分割語法、論争語法を扱っていて読み応えがある。たとえば、単数のthey(e.g. Everyone in the building has their own cubicle.)は「言語の進化を示すものである。人々は必要を満たすため、（既存の）語を新しい意味用法で用いる。時が経過するとこれらの新用法は正用法となる。何事も生まれてしばらくの間は少しばかり収まりが悪いものだ」(p. 169)と述べている。英語の母語話者用に書かれた英語語法概論である。分割語法、論争語法についてはいろいろな考え方がある。それを知る上で本書は有益だろう。

A good book overall, but it doesn't cover the essential aspects needed for a student of linguistics.