Scholastic — Complete English Grammar

Grammar is the plumbing of writing. You don't see it when it works, but everything floods when it breaks. Scholastic’s Complete English Grammar is a solid set of pipes for any writer's house. Have you tried this book? Let me know in the comments if it helped your student (or you) finally master the past perfect tense!

Let’s be honest: grammar books usually fall into two categories. First, there are the colorful, playful workbooks that are fun but skip the tricky rules. Second, there are the massive, dense reference guides (looking at you, Strunk & White ) that make a 5th grader—or even an adult—want to run for the hills. complete english grammar scholastic

After spending a month using this with my middle schooler (and brushing up on my own commas), here is my honest take. First, forget the boring black-and-white text. This is Scholastic, so the layout feels like a mix between a textbook and a puzzle book. Grammar is the plumbing of writing

For example, instead of just saying "A verb is an action word," the book uses a box. It asks: "Can you put 'tomorrow' after the word? If yes, it is probably an action verb." Have you tried this book

It doesn't try to be a novel. It doesn't try to be a dictionary. It is simply the most efficient, least painful way to go from "I think I need a comma there" to "I know why that comma belongs there."

So, when I picked up the , I was skeptical. Can a single workbook really bridge that gap?