Blackboard Books Helps You with the Grammar You Don’t Think You Need
As Empress of the Universe and All Points Beyond (that includes the internet), I take my responsibilities seriously. I know that additional laws are a burden and nuisance, so I keep my decrees to a minimum. However…from this date forward, all persons who use e-mail, blog, or engage in social media are required to own Blackboard Books, a slip-cased collection of three titles from Reader’s Digest. Furthermore, all subjects (that includes anything or anyone that breathes) are required to read and regularly consult this splendid set.
The three volumes in this set are i before e (except after c) by Judy Parkinson, I Used to Know That by Carolyn Taggart, and My Grammar and I…Or Should That Be Me? by Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines.
Carolyn Taggart’s contribution, I Used to Know That, is a refresher course of all those things you learned back in the day and can’t quite remember now. Chapters on English, Lit, Math, Science, History, Geography and General Studies re-inform us on basics like the carbon cycle and who Ronald Reagan was. There are brief synopses of classic literature, as well as introductions to famous, popular authors and writers. This book is highly recommended for blowhards who think they know everything about everything—double check your facts before spouting off in a scholarly thread.
i before e (except after c) is not just a spelling primer. It is a collection of mnemonic devices that help spell difficult words (“Do you turn Really Red and Smile Shyly when embarrassed?” reminds us that there are double r’s and s’s in embarrass; “Weird does not follow the i before e rule because weird is just weird.”) and remember lists of information (such as the cranial bones and nerves). What does “Camels Often Sit Down Carefully. Perhaps Their Joints Creak? Possibly Early Oiling Might Prevent Permanent Rheumatism” help us remember? Besides giving your camel’s joints a regular lube job, the first letter of each word is also the first letter of each Geological Period. From knowing the points of the compass to the symptoms of the flu, i before e (except after c) offers useful hints for hard-to-remember information.
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