Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
by Constance Hale
List Price:
Our Price: $7.97
You Save: $6.98 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.40 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Constance HaleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-03-20
ISBN: 0767903099
Number of pages: 289
Publisher: Broadway Books
Book Reviews of Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
Book Review: The bones, flesh, sins, and pleasures of prose
Summary: 5 Stars
Dangling modifiers. Loose pronouns. Mixed metaphors. Sentence fragments . . . aw crap.
Whatever your sin, Sin and Syntax is an all-purpose grammar guide that helps not only to improve your grammar but also to polish your prose.
Constance Hale divides her book into three sections: words, sentences, and music. In words, she defines the fundamental building blocks of grammar (nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.). In sentences, she teaches sentence mechanics and variation. In music, she explains how to add verve to your writing by experimenting with techniques such as assonance, metaphor, and beat.
Her book, however, is not simply about correcting wrongs. Hale informs writers when you can break the rules and when you look illiterate when you do. Putting prepositions at the end of the sentence? Not a big deal. Peppering foreign words into your story? Sure, just don't go crazy. Nouning verbs and verbing nouns? We have a bit of a problem here.
Hale did her homework. She provides extensive examples from politicians and writers to illustrate her concepts. She references numerous other style guides and also provides a handy list of them in the appendix. Most importantly, however, anyone can benefit from reading her book. She writes at a level that's easy enough for the grammatically-challenged to understand, but she also explains advanced material that's still useful to experienced writers. She doesn't delve too deeply into grammar terminology; she focuses her energies on improving your style all-around.
Frank, clear, and amusing, Sin and Syntax is one of the best grammar guides when it comes to perfecting your craft.
Summary of Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
Today?s writers need more spunk than Strunk: whether it's the Great American e-mail, Madison Avenue advertising, or Grammy Award-winning rap lyrics, memorable writing must jump off the page. Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone.With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Syntax covers grammar?s ground rules while revealing countless unconventional syntax secrets (such as how to use?Gasp!?interjections or when to pepper your prose with slang) that make for sinfully good writing. Discover how to:
*Distinguish between words that are ?pearls? and words that are ?potatoes?
* Avoid ?couch potato thinking? and ?commitment phobia? when choosing verbs
* Use literary devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, and metaphor (and understand what you're doing)
Everyone needs to know how to write stylish prose?students, professionals, and seasoned writers alike. Whether you?re writing to sell, shock, or just sing, Sin and Syntax is the guide you need to improve your command of the English language.
You gotta love a grammar guide that calls verbs "moody little suckers" and adverbs "promiscuous." Constance Hale (Wired Style) relishes prose that is deliberate, beautiful, and bold. Go ahead and break the rules, she says; just know the rules first, and know why you are breaking them. In Sin & Syntax, Hale examines the elements of grammar from four angles: the "bones" (the grammar lesson), the "flesh" (the writing lesson), "cardinal sins" (what she calls "true transgressions"), and "carnal pleasures" (the beauty that results from either "hew[ing] exquisitely to the underlying codes of language," or not).
For illustration, Hale hails Walt Whitman and Roger Angell, and rails upon Alexander Haig and the Gump's catalogue. She hauls in Joan Didion to make a case for writing in the first person, Mark Twain to promote the killing of adjectives, C.S. Lewis to advocate showing rather than telling, and Loudon Wainwright III to lament the abuse of the word like. But Hale has no problem making her own points. "Euphemisms," she says, "are for wimps." She dismisses a particularly heinous example of scholarly prose as "a bunch of big words thrown into an Osterizer." Even other grammarians don't escape her derision: "Get a grip," Hale says. "Hopefully as a sentence adverb is here to stay." But what distinguishes Sin and Syntax most is its enthusiasm for prose that takes risks. "Even if you have to check with a lawyer," says Hale, "isn't a kick-ass piece of writing worth the effort?" --Jane Steinberg
Words & Language Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Words & Language Books
Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writersby Lynn Quitman Troyka
Prentice Hall College Div; Published: 1998-08-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Fundamentals of English Grammar (Black), Student Book B (Without Answer Key), Third Editionby Betty Schrampfer Azar
Pearson ESL; Published: 2002-07-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Side by Side Book 1 (2nd Edition)by Steven J. Molinsky, Bill Bliss
Prentice Hall; Published: 2001-12-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.69
Price in other shops:
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition (Book & Audio CD)by Betty Azar, Stacy A. Hagen
Pearson ESL; Published: 2009-03-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.09
Price in other shops:
Words that Sell: More than 6000 Entries to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideasby Richard Bayan
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2006-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.64
Price in other shops:
Practice Makes Perfect: English Grammar for ESL Learners (Practice Makes Perfect Series)by Ed Swick
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2004-12-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
Spanish Verb Drillsby Vivienne Bey
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2003-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industryby Brooke A. Wharton
Harper Perennial; Published: 1997-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops:
American Sign Language Dictionary, Third Editionby Martin L.A. Sternberg
Harper Perennial; Published: 1998-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.82
Price in other shops:
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Printby Renni Browne, Dave King
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know about Writingby Patricia T. O'Conner
Mariner Books; Published: 2000-09-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
The Describer's Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms & Literary Quotationsby David Grambs
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1995-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomedby Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Pantheon; Published: 1993-08-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.93
Price in other shops:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuationby Lynne Truss
Gotham; Published: 2006-04-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.68
Price in other shops:
The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Wellby Paula LaRocque
Marion Street Press, LLC; Published: 2003-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops:
Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writingby Claire Kehrwald Cook
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 1985-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.80
Price in other shops:
The Art of Styling Sentencesby K.D. Sullivan, Ann Longknfe
Barron's Educational Series; Published: 2002-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.88
Price in other shops:
The Elephants of Style : A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American Englishby Bill Walsh
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2004-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.85
Price in other shops:
It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentencesby June Casagrande
Ten Speed Press; Published: 2010-07-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.83
Price in other shops:
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writerby Roy Peter Clark
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops: