Product Description: The essential guide for all writers. With over 700 examples of original and edited sentences, this book provides information about editing techniques, grammar, and usage for every writer from the student to the published author.
Awesome Advice, Awful Execution Claire K. Cook's Line by Line contains invaluable information, but the delivery reads like a wall of text. Most novice writers will begin skimming from the start despite its wealth of knowledge.
All information passes to the reader in blocks that hampers like hammer blows. Lists, a numbered sequence, or individual chapters on each item would provide a better method that relaxes the reader with white space and breeziness.
Instead, the work presents passages like old textbooks used to torture elementary students. Despite my love of the written word, I regretted buying this book because of this reason alone. I cannot recommend.
Wolfe
Completely demystifies the process of self-editing Based upon the Modern Language Association guidelines, Claire Kehrwald Cooks' instructive 'how to' manual for aspiring authors, "Line By Line: How To Edit Your Own Writing" completely demystifies the process of self-editing, a vital aspect of honing, polishing, and otherwise preparing a manuscript for publication. All the relevant issues are addressed including basic grammar; pruning unnecessary words and phrases; balancing related sentence elements; making subjects and verbs agree; using pronouns accurately; the correct usage of punctuation marks; and avoiding the 'questionable usage' of words and phrases. A welcome and core addition to personal and professional writing reference collections, "Line By Line" is especially recommended reading for aspiring writers, published professionals, business managers and government officials needing to communicate with clarity, advertising and public relations professionals, scholars and students, as well as technical and science writers.
One of the Best I've bought a lot of grammer books over the years. Some of them are well written some are not. They don't help me much but I keep buying them and hoping that someday I'll find one that helps me with all my style problems. I consider Elements of Style the best of the lot, but this one is a close second. Her examples of good writing as opposed to poor writing are very helpful. She provides not only a poor sentence and an alternative one but also various alternatives of style and sentence structure. I think the process of working towards a clear crisp sentence very helpful.
Excellent help for aspiring writers I'm a working writer who has found this book very helpful. An original hardbound edition holds an honored place in my library.
If you want to improve your own writing, then this is the book for you. You would likely only need one of the copy editing books recommended by other reviewers if you are (or want to become) a working copy editor.
You've got to buy this book! Superb! I am a programmer by day and a writer of articles on programming at other times.
Growing up in England I was taught every miniscule detail of the English language. How to construct sentences and how pronunciation changes depending on word stems, Country of origin and so on. I had a pretty good grasp on writing. At work I spend some of my time re-writing briefing notes, user manuals, and proof-reading emails.
On top of this I study grammar and style manuals. You get a feel for where I'm coming from in terms of expertise.
This book changed my entire outlook on writing. I am only up to page 26 and already I have hacked through some articles like a whipper-snipper through a weeded garden. I found some habitual mistakes I constantly make and curbed some emerging ones. This is a fantastic book!
The last briefing note I edited started as a monstrosity of bad grammar and ended as a shining example of what this book has to offer.
I cannot recommend this book enough. It is only 200 pages but not a word is wasted. It is concise and packed full of information and is an example of its own subject.
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