When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It:
The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse
by Ben Yagoda
For anyone who loves the English language or good writing or both this is a brief but essential book. With wry humor the author skewers the abusers of English while providing an important message for those who are able to calm down after each fit of laughter.
In some ways this seems like a high-brow version of Richard Armour, but just not too high. The book covers parts of speech from Adj. to V. and seven others in between. With quips like this - "Every word, when a grammarian knows not what to make of it, he calls an adverb." - from the Roman Servius. Or there are examples of words that go rogue like prepositions that end up being adverbs or phrasal verbs. For what it's worth I enjoyed the ride and survived to, hopefully, use adjectives and other words with a bit more circumspection than I may have in the past.
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