Re: grammar

["Sally S. Foster" <wlsally@showme.missouri.edu>]

Speaking of the *ease* of using grammar handbooks reminds me of software
manuals.  When I taught myself Pagemaker, it might have well as been a
second language. The manual ranged from confusing to inscrutable. 

Imagine my shock when, after producing a newsletter for a few months, I
picked up the manual again and found it clear, lucid, lyrical (well not
quite!) But it did really help reinforce my knowledge and fill in
some gaps.

That's how I find handbooks most helpful in tutorials with both native and
non-native speakers of English. Once they struggle with usage within a
context and get it right, going to the manual can then be a very
clarifying and intelligible thing. And brief! 

Sally

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Sally Foster at wlsally@showme.missouri.edu                           
	University of Missouri Learning Center                           
	The Online Writery
	http://www.missouri.edu/~writery
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