Let's Eat Grandma?: A Workbook for Learning the Marvels of Punctuation and Improving Your Writing Skills

Learn to use punctuation tools, not follow rules. A tool-based approach to punctuation allows you to control the rhythm and meaning of sentences and paragraphs.

• Understand that punctuation decisions are made in the context of both sentences and paragraphs.
• Enjoy learning via engaging stories and humor. Engaged readers retain more information.
• Improve your writing skills as you discover how to compose sentences and paragraphs that are clear, concise, and effective. Effective writing does not depend on following rules. It reflects judgment, which you will learn with practice.
• Increase motivation as your skills progress. The marvels of punctuation give you a kind of superpower: the ability to teach, persuade, or entertain readers.

Let’s Eat Grandma? A Workbook for Learning the Marvels of Punctuation and Improving your Writing Skills is aimed at teenagers, young adults, and beginning writers of all ages. It emphasizes the skills beginning writers needs to develop:

• Use simple words and active verbs.
• Compose relatively short sentences and paragraphs.
• Employ punctuation effectively so that your meaning is clear. Wouldn’t you rather write “Let’s eat, Grandma?” Inserting the comma changes the meaning!

Leonard Beeghley is a retired college professor. He is the author or co-author of seven academic books. His book, The Emergence of Sociological Theory, co-authored with Jonathan H. Turner and Charles Powers, has been reprinted in seven editions. It has also been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese. His book, The Structure of Social Stratification, has been reprinted in five editions. After retirement, Professor Beeghley began tutoring Hispanic children and young adults. The goal was to make the lessons interesting, rather than mind-numbing, and to provide students with tools they can use to improve their writing skills. Let's Eat Grandma? A Workbook for Learning the Marvels of Punctuation and Improving your Writing Skills, originated as a series of punctuation and writing lessons for these students. Any beginning writer should benefit from it.