A Way With Words Part III

What didn’t you like about the narrator’s performance?

The author narrates, which is unfortunate, as, for my British ears, both his American accent, and humour, I found jarring.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I had to listen to the author in small sittings.

Any additional comments?

The content is excellent, so if you are happy with the narration, then you will enjoy the book.

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4 people found this helpful

Inspired to Learn More...

What did you like most about A Way With Words Part III?

I want to listen to it again because it was logical and entertaining: having learnt some of the history behind the conventions, I now have a deeper understanding; this deeper understanding is also likely to improve memorisation. That said, I will print out the guidebook, read it and make notes so I can cement the invaluable lessons contained within this course.

This course has answered many questions, but it has also evoked a thrist for more knowledge about grammar. I am particularly interested in learning more about the history of the English language and Chomsky's transformational grammar.

This is the third A Way With Words course by Professor Michael D. C. Grammaticus that I have listened to, and I always hate it when I have to stop listening to go to work etc; he's very knowledgeable, clear, logical, entertaining and his critical thinking skills make him open to see the pros and cons of the various schools of thought on the given topic. I love the 'take the good and leave the stupid' approach. For example, using tools such as, correction punctuation for clarity and ignoring irrational Latin grammar rules, which don't apply to English.

My only negative criticism is that I feel that the course was too short; it did feel rushed in places. On the other hand, no one course can provide all of the answers and this course makes me want to learn more; it's great to get the perceptive of a philologist.

The course is made up of fourteen lectures:
Lecture 1 The Red Panda and the Drout Way: A Sensible Approachto Grammar
Lecture 2 What Is Grammar?
Lecture 3 Why It Is the Way It Is: The Short History of the English Language
Lecture 4 G-H-O-T-I Spells Fish
Lecture 5 Word Classes
Lecture 6 Pronouns and the Noun System
Lecture 7 The Verb System I
Lecture 8 The Verb System II: Infinitives, Participles, Gerunds
Lecture 9 The Verb System III: Truly Irregular Verbs
Lecture 10 Subjects and Predicates and Objects, Oh, My!
Lecture 11 Transformations
Lecture 12 Phrases and Clauses, Word Choices and Pauses
Lecture 13 Punctuation: Pause and Effect
Lecture 14 Fight! Fight! Fight! For English (for English?)

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8 people found this helpful

A clear and enjoyable guide to English grammar

I needed to ensure that I knew when to use "its" or "it's", "who" or "whom", "and I" or "and me", and avoid other easily made mistakes in the English language. Michael Drout not only provides the answers but gives tips on how to remember them, backing up his information with interesting and often entertaining stories about the history of English and how we came to have the words and usage that we have today.

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13 people found this helpful

Part of a secret grammar club

Having been won over by Professor Drout's excellent A Way With Words IV on poetry, I decided to give this grammar audiobook a a go. I've learned a bit about English grammar from learning a second language as an adult (oh hai Spanish subjunctive) but like many people I still felt a bit unclear about stuff. This audiobook changed it all. Drout carefully reveals how weird English quirks have a reason buried somewhere in history, which his signature engaging style (wait until you find out about the red panda!) I feel like I know so much more about grammar now.
The only reason this isn't a 5 star for story is just that there are some more complicated concepts that really can't be explained by audio alone. However, there's a 100 page PDF which I will be reading to get more of a steer on that.

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