Summary
This is not a grammar book (though there is an appendix that gives an overview of English grammar). It is a book designed to improve your writing. It helps you make solid decisions about sentence structure, placing punctuation, and choosing the right words. This book can help guide you through some of the thorniest and most subjective aspects of writing English.
The product of author’s years as a copy editor for the Modern Language Association (every writer should also own the MLA Handbook) Claire Cook's "Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing," is not for the faint-hearted, nor is it for those who have yet to memorize "the little book" by Strunk and White. Even an English major and MFA holder who has written for newspapers, magazines, and literary journals will benefit greatly, and improve his or her chances of publication, by "eliminating the stylistic faults that most often impede reading and obscure meaning." A straightforward, five-chapter sequence addresses overwritten sentences, bad transitions, "mismanaged" references, problems with punctuation (at the advanced level), and other mistakes that doom writing, whether you're attempting to fine-tune a newsletter, a scholarly paper, a business proposal, or a short story.
One of the neatest things about this book is that, in addition to the copious examples, the text itself serves as an example of excellent writing. Perhaps the major drawback is that after reading this book, you will end up being much more critical of the writing you encounter!
Description of Chapters
Chapter 1 Introduction : On looking at sentences, loose, baggy sentences.
Chapter 2 Faulty connections.
Chapter 3 Ill-matched partners.
Chapter 4 Mismanaged numbers and references.
Chapter 5 Problems with punctuation.
Reference
Cook, C. K. (1985). Line by Line : How to Edit Your Own Writing. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company.
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