Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English

Rating:
Summary: A terrific reference!
Review: I can't get over how helpful this book is. I'm a college student and I use "Woe Is I" just about every day. It's the only grammar book around in plain English, and it's a lot of fun to read, too.

Rating:
Summary: To Infinitive and beyond
Review: The lamentable pronoun lives in the heart of this book (I have no idea what that means). This is a book about grammar. Now, before you hit your back button - this is a fun book about grammar. You may be asking "A fun book about grammar, isn't that kinda oxymoronic (or just moronic)?" No. The author offers a number of suggestions to correct one's grammar and does so with a sort of tongue in cheek sensibility. I'm sure I'm won't abandon my 'Handbook for Writers' that I've had since college, but WII does the job for which it was intended - to provide an easy to understand guide to better english for the average yokel (ie. me).

Rating:
Summary: A book that helps and delights you!
Review: Ms. O'Conner's witty humor added a lot of "spice" to Woe is I. Using all of the principles of "The Elements of Style", but for modern day teens and adults. She has put grammar within the grasp of the common man, and has made it a delight to read the book! I've read the book 11 times, by far, and have always finished refreshed. I recommend everyone to have a copy of this book. I know my bookshelf isn't complete without it!

Rating:
Summary: Make Your Editor Happy!
Review: It's sometimes scary, the alien punctuation and word usage I see as an editor. Creativity is welcome in the story line, not in grammar. Patricia O'Conner's WOE IS I is a great help. I have begun sending a copy of her delightfully witty and very informative tome to each new client I accept. It has made my job so much easier.

Rating:
Summary: Only a pedant could dislike this book.
Review: Anyone who wants a book that explains grammar in plain English should check out "Woe Is I." Only a pedant like the previous reviewer from Massachusetts could recommend such jargon-filled examples of academese as Onion's "Modern English Syntax," Mätzner's "Englische Grammatik," and Franz's "Die Sprache Shakespeares in Vers und Prosa." Enough said.

Rating:
Summary: Woe, woe are we--Anthony and Cleopatra 4.14.133
Review: The first place I went to find out about "woe is I" was in the index.I looked up "woe" but the word was not there. I looked up "I" whichdirects the reader to pages 10-13. "Woe is I" is not treated in thesepages. Not having a discussed topic listed in an index is a sign of apoor index. I had to find it for myself. Luckily, I did not have toread too far, because "woe is me" is briefly discussed in theintroduction:

"Hundreds of years after the first Ophelia cried "Woeis me" some pedants would argue that Shakespeare should have written"Woe is I" or "Woe is unto me." (Never mind that the rules of Englishgrammar weren't even formalized in Shakespeare's day.) The point isno one is exempt from having his pronouns second guessed."

First ofall, who are these pedants? O'Connor does not name them but I suspectshe is referring to an "On Language" column written by William Safireand republished in his "In Love with Norma Loquendi" pages xiii-xv.Secondly she does not explain the grammar of "woe is me" at all andgives no hint if she prefers that to "woe is I" or "woe is unto me."Did Shakespeare use the wrong case? Or is there something else goingon? My objection to O'Connor is that she raised the issue of "woe isme" but did not explain it. This is not just a matter of secondguessing which pronoun Shakespeare should have used. It is a matterof understanding the grammatical rules of Early Modern English. Weknow a great deal about the grammar of Early Modern English, theEnglish of Shakespeare, because of scholars like E. A. Abbott andWilhelm Franz. We know from them that the "me" in "woe is me" is notin the place of the nomanative "I" but a dative pronoun. We know fromthem that dative pronouns, indirect objects and the like, were muchless likely to have a preposition in front of them in Early ModernEnglish than in Present Day English. But O'Connor makes no mention ofthis. Readers will have to go else where to get this kind ofinformation. If you want to know more information "woe is me" I canrecommend a few books to look at. Abbott's "Shakespearian Grammar"and Onions' "Modern English Syntax" treat various constructions with"woe" with admirable brevity. For comprehensive treatment readersshould read Maetzner's "Englische Grammatik" and Franz's "Die SpracheShakespeares in Vers und Prosa."

As for the rest of O'Connor's bookI would recommned that readers be skeptical and suspicious of herconclusions.

Rating:
Summary: It's Really in Plain English
Review: This is the only grammar book I've seen that's written in plain English. You don't have to know a single technical term to understand it. It's amazing how Ms. O'Conner can explain such complicated things as subjunctives or dangling modifiers in simple language that anyone can understand.

Rating:
Summary: Adequate
Review: You'll probably find some rule you forgot about. That makes this book a worthy but not necessary read. Not bad.

Rating:
Summary: Simply hilarious!
Review: I'm constantly on the look out for grammar books that are educational and easy to read. This book covers a broad range of topics, and makes you laugh out loud at the same time. The examples in the book are so witty that I had to torture everyone around me by reading most of them out loud. This book really proves that you can learn something and have fun at the same time!

Rating:
Summary: I Love It
Review: I never thought I'd be saying I love a grammar book, but this one is different. It's so much fun that you don't realize how much you're learning until you have to write something.

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