Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl, aka Mignon Fogarty, addresses 24 common communication errors under three broad topics: word choice ("affect" or "effect"), punctuation (colon or semicolon), and usage ("its" or "it's"). She may be an expert editor and grammarian, but she's a poor narrator. Her pace is fast, offering no variation in tempo or tone and no processing time for the listener. Her mnemonics range from the somewhat useful to downright confusing. The music introducing the program and providing transitions between topics is jarring -- too loud and grating on the ear. Since Fogarty's expertise is written communication, a book would be more useful than this audio, which induces a battle between confusion with the objective, boredom with the material, and exhaustion with the pace. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine


Fogarty states, "Writing badly is like dressing in a lime skort and an orange plaid sweater--people notice." However, she does not point out such gaucheries with glee. Her voice is encouraging; her advice sage for pros, business folk, or basic bloggers. Mignon launched "Grammar Girl" as a podcast in 2006 to help people remember simple grammar rules. In her book, she moves beyond common grammar questions to Twittering how-to's (in 140 characters with proper punctuation) and the etiquette of email. Advice is delivered in a witty, gracious manner with the clever use of mnemonics that make the audio delivery especially effective. In closing, Fogarty invites listeners to a "grammar party at my place" with free weekly podcasts and an email newsletter." D.P.D. 2009 Audies Finalist (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine