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Holy smokes! If this had been my grammar book back in junior high, or whenever it was that the tedium of rules overcame my innate joy of learning, I'd have probably learned all this stuff. Learned it and spared countless teachers, professors and bosses along the way the trouble stumbling over my confusion of punctuation and mixed tenses. Want to tune up your grammar and have a good time doing so? Buy the book!
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A F EARLESS A DVENTURE IN G RAMMAR , S TYLE , AND U SAGE
GARY SPINA
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Copyright © 2006 by Gary Spina Cover and internal design © 2006 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Cover photo © Punchstock Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor in this book. Published by Sourcebooks, Inc. P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567–4410 (630) 961–3900 Fax: (630) 961–2168 www.sourcebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spina, Gary. The mountain man’s field guide to grammar : a fearless adventure in grammar, style, and usage / Gary Spina. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-0740-2 ISBN-10: 1-4022-0740-9 1. English language—Grammar—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English language—Rhetoric—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. English language—Usage—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. PE1112.S68 2006 428.2—dc22 2006003649 Printed and bound in the United States of America. IM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
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This book is for Bob Fleming and John Spina, two adventurers, two tramps in their younger days, two men of character, honor, and courage. Their passion is the woods and trout streams and the vast mountain wilderness of the far northwest. They love boats and cabins, wolves and hawks, and the wine country, which is anywhere they are. This book is for them and the good memories and the good times back when old Bob and young John caught some fair-sized salmon on Alaska’s Resurrection Bay. Few people will ever see the wild and experience it as they have.
C ONTENTS
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Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Preface: The Mountain Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 The Horse before the Travois: Parts of Speech and the Basic Sentence . . . . . . . . .8 Dogs a