6 x 9
181 pages
The Grammar of Alistair Barnstable
An Avocus Educational Text
John Gould
The Grammar of Alistair Barnstable is a story and a grammar and teaching text all in one. John Gould's engaging and amusing explanations of the basics prove that learning grammar can be fun.
Alistair Barnstable teaches students about grammar, usage and style by inviting them to correct mistakes they find in the delightful story of a chicken, a dog and their owner. Gould surprises and delights his readers with his careful, but good-humored, approach to the basics of grammar. Teachers and students will laugh out loud as they learn about sentence fragments, run-on sentences, the numerous roles played by nominals (with particular emphasis on pronouns), transitive and intransitive verbs and being and linking verbs, to name but a few elements of style and grammar. The good humor and fun belie a serious purpose: Alistair Barnstable teaches students that grammar is closely related to style and meaning in good writing, and not just an isolated set of rules and regulations.
Designed for use by those students who believe they already 'know' their grammar.
Reviews
"Alistair Barnstable offers an inviting, unintimidating, colorful, imaginative, and witty entrance into the study of that torpor-inducing subject: grammar. Grammar will be as fun for teachers to teach as it will be for students to learn. This book de-mystifies the study of grammar, the crucial understanding of which has been in society-wide decay since the 1970's."
Charles Timlin
Instructor in English
Choate Rosemary Hall
"Alistair Barnstable pulls you through a term of grammar unscathed."
Erik Berggren
10th Grade Student
Phillips Academy