EnglishGuide.us is a notepad of thoughts as I prepare to re-enter college. I have to take the English assessment test and decided it would be a good idea to brush up on my grammar skills. I picked up a couple books to help me out:

Essentials of English (Barron’s Essentials of English), 4th Edition by Vincent E. Hopper, Cedric Gale, Ronald C. Foote and Benjamin W. Griffith and published by Barron’s.

The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition, 3rd Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White published by Macmillan.

I quickly realized that I have forgot a lot about the English language, including terminology and the nuanced exceptions that make it one of the hardest languages to learn in the world.

Don’t get me wrong - I read and write daily. I manage several websites that include blogs that require regular material. But I don’t really remember why I write the way I do.

So I got these books and started reading them and some of the examples just didn’t make sense and some stuff floated a bit over my head and a lot, I realized, was not going to stick. I needed a new approach so that I could get into the English course I wanted and just be done with it. Dissecting sentences is not my idea of a good time.

My new approach was to write notes. I’m one of those people that you probably hate: I write it down and it sticks. I rarely ever even look at my notes after that. Then I started thinking, as long as I’m doing this for me, why not share what I learn with others? After all, when the examples are unclear or I jot an idea down that helps straiten a concept out for me, it would probably help someone else as well.

$7 and a quick trip by Goddady and I had my domain. The rest you see in front of you. Enjoy!

PS. As a convention everything in this site comes from one of the two books listed above. They are both terrific and highly recommended. If I get information from another source I will link to it in context.

PPS. I’m in the United States so everything discussed will be about American English which can be quite different than UK or Australian, etc.

PPPS. Some of the links are affiliate links. This means that I may get paid a small amount if you purchase the products listed on the other side. I only link to websites or products that I think are worth while. And these links are how I cover the costs for this website. This website is not for sale but if you have something I should look into please contact me.