THE GRAMMAR GIRL'S QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS TO CLEAN UP YOUR WRITING

"Grammar Girl," aka Mignon Fogarty, addresses 24 common communication errors under three broad topics: word choice ("affect" or "effect"), punctuation (colon or semicolon), and usage ("its" or "it's"). She may be an expert editor and grammarian, but she's a poor narrator. Her pace is fast, offering no variation in tempo or tone and no processing time for the listener. Her mnemonics range from the somewhat useful to downright confusing. The music introducing the program and providing transitions between topics is jarring -- too loud and grating on the ear. Since Fogarty's expertise is written communication, a book would be more useful than this audio, which induces a battle between confusion with the objective, boredom with the material, and exhaustion with the pace. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]