Reviews for When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style

The average rating for When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-10-06 00:00:00 Terry Donovan taught this book in my media writing course this fall at Kent. does a fine job of describing language without getting bogged down in the little skirmishes of style/usage but the tone, in its attempt to talk to students in cool-teen voice, is train-brakes-level bad. like my students have volunteered the opinion that this book's tone actually makes them feel embarrassed. extremely reminiscent of the time Mr Burns dresses up like a teenager to petition Principal Skinner for some of the school's oil strike money. the attempt to relate 2 teens in teen 'tudes is so bad that mocking it has actually become a successful part of my teaching practice.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-07-15 00:00:00 Jeannine Zuercher Grammar plagues me as a teacher. I mean, split infinitives? Anyone? Bueller? When Words Collide helps. This is one of the most well-written guides to style and grammar. Without long, overwrought explanation, Kessler dives right into examples. Her chapter on passive voice (worst rookie mistake ever) is thorough, to-the-point, and clear enough to use in a 9th grade classroom. Hooray! Grammar is rarely fun (except for me), and this book takes some of the monotony out of teaching the difficult rules (dangling modifiers, anyone)