Introduction

In today's English-speaking world, especially in America, grammar seems often to be a lost art. Many schools aren't even teaching it any more, leaving kids to pick it up on their own. And how likely is the average ten-year-old to go around assigning him/herself more homework? Not very likely. Result: a large number of adults who, although perfectly intelligent and able to communicate, use terrible grammar and have very little grasp of the basics.

Not for nothing am I called "the English Chick" on some online circles (read why), and therefore, in the summer and fall of 1997, by popular demand I posted a series of grammar lessons on the Xena's Campfire Grrls email list. At long last, I am getting around to putting these on the WWW for the enjoyment and, hopefully, edification of all.

Note that although most of the examples used in the lessons are related to the television show Xena: Warrior Princess, you need not be familiar with XWP to understand the lessons. All you really need to know is that Xena is a reformed warrior who fights bad guys, and that Gabrielle is her sidekick, friend and companion.

The Lessons

We begin with Remedial Grammar. Start here if you aren't sure what nouns, verb, adjectives and participles are.

After that, your choices are:

• Punctuation: the proper use of commas, apostrophes, etc.
• Confused Words: a collection of words that are frequently confused or used incorrectly
• Common Mistakes: things that a lot of people do wrong, and/or that you may have heard about. What's a dangling participle? Why shouldn't you say "ATM machine"?
• Spelling issues
• Links to other grammar sites of interest

Disclaimer: The English Language was not harmed during the production of this webpage.