Daniel Kies Department of English College of DuPage
Modern English Grammar English 2126		Contact Form

English Grammar Resources on the Internet

By

Cheryl Clark

Current work:   Days remaining this term: Notes: Add Note |  Log in? | Privacy | Change Name & Email Mail this page to a friend

Writing term papers, essays or research papers used to mean you had to spend time at the library. Once there, you would lay claim to an entire table so you could lay out encyclopedias, dictionaries, English books to help with punctuation and sentence structure. Now, term papers and writing assignments are as easy as turning on your computer. With a good word processor and a connection to the Internet, an A on your homework or a job promotion for your presentation is only a keystroke away.

The Internet can be a wonderful source of information for anyone who is looking for help with English or in writing letters, stories or essays. Of course, the best idea is to go straight to a search engine such as Infoseek, Yahoo or Alta Vista for help. A large number of the sites related to grammar are linked to each other. Everything is available on the Internet; grammar rules and examples of each; colleges that contain lessons and tests; explanations of punctuation rules and sites that merely 'talk' about the English language and the rules governing it. There are even sites that have all of the above. I have attempted to find a large sampling of the previously mentioned web sites that deal with grammar, punctuation, and writing.

WORDS ON THE WEB

The web sites that follow will deal in large part with words - sentence structure, phrases and clauses, etc.

WEB ADDRESS & DOMAIN NAME & DESCRIPTION

www.grammarbook.com/grammar/fr_gram.html The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Website offers 13 general rules of grammar plus examples followed by an exercise and test to check knowledge. It also covers Subject & verb agreement, use of Who & Whom, Who vs Which vs That, effective writing, misplaced and dangling modifiers.

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html Guide to Grammar and Style Links to articles and essays on subjects as varied as: "When to Use Semi-colons," "What is a Dangling Participle?" Also includes additional suggested reading on English Usage and on-line sources to English and writing resources.

www.channelone.com/fasttrack/big_index.html#english This site offers grammar and writing help. It includes help with style, parts of speech, phrases & clauses, and sentences. It also offers a dictionary, thesaurus, vocabulary help, help with public speaking and links to authors, poets, and playwrights.

www.grammarlady.com This site offers interactive help from a former teacher in the "English as a Second Language" program in Pittsburgh, Pa. This site has a grammar hotline, a newsletter and a help column.

www.edunet.com/english/grammar Online English Grammar Definitions of parts of speech. The list is quite extensive, but the definitions are very short and utilitarian. Examples are included following the definitions. This site also has a 'eForum' that looks very much like the COD eForum. By clicking on "Subject Index" you arrive at an alphabetic listing of all grammar subjects covered at this site.

http://pw1.netcom.com/~rlederer/rllink.htm This site is a potpourri of all things relating to English grammar. There are 10 General headings with many, many related links under each. The headings and related links are: Etymology, Grammar & Usage (with link to COD Grammar 126), linguistic links, newsgroups, puns, reference (dictionaries and thesauri), word games, word & letter play and word watching and vocabulary development.

http://168.229.236.7/~bcurtis/grammar.htm Also http://members.aol.com/hu4wahz/ug/index.html This site contains an essay called "Why Good Grammar?" at the bottom of the essay is a link to The Underground Grammarian.

www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/help/grammar_help/ Interactive site starting with how to use parts of speech correctly. This is followed by a long list of grammar and word games, puzzles and short quizzes.

http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/grammar.htm Guide to Grammar and Writing Topics start at the sentence level, progress to the paragraph level and culminate in the essay level where "Principles of Composition." are discussed. The site also includes examples of business letters, memos, resumes and research papers. It offers a help column, interactive quizzes, a list of online resources, quotes from famous writers about writing and grammar goofs and misspellings from college and high school essays. Ends with Websters dictionary and thesauris.

http://www.stormloader.com/garyes/its.html Only one page to this web site. It is dedicated to the difference between "it's" and "its". Also included is a link to "Grammar and Style" web site.

www.dsoe.com/explore/english/english.html This is also a relatively small site - It covers "Anatomy of English" (parts of speech) and "Style Elements" (capitalization, punctuation and spelling)

www.theslot.com/contents.html The Curmudgeons Style Book Written as a supplement to the AP stylebook, this site helps with word choice, capitalization, compounds and punctuation.

www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/ University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Writers Workshop This site offers assistance with the parts of speech, phrases and clauses, usage problems and sentence elements. It also has links to a writer's workshop and other sites that offer help with writing everything from research papers to resumes.

HELP WITH WRITING

Resources to Make You the Next Wm. Shakespeare

That last web address for the University of Illinois makes a nice segue into a listing of web sites devoted to the business of writing. Pick up your pen, and come with me ----

www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk Online Version of "Elements of Style" by Wm. Strunk Designed to aid the student who is combining Composition with literature course. Covers the Elementary Rules of Usage, Principals of Composition, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused

http://www3.sympatico.ca/bill.cutler/INDEX.HTM Grammar Grabbers Professional Tips for Amateur Writers A humorous look at grammar choices that will make your writing clearer and more interesting. Offers help with misused words and phrases, suggestions for simplifying word choices, a brief section of grammar assistance, web page design tips and a section on being "gender neutral."

www.library.ca/www/utel/index.html University of Toronto English Library This site, like so many others, covers more than one category. It includes links to History of English, English Composition and writers' resources.

www.idbsu.edu/english/cguilfor/paradigm Paradigm Online Writing Assistant This site is specifically for learning to write. There are pages explaining how to decide what to write, how to organize, revise & edit what you write. Also has help writing informal, exploratory & argumentative essays.

www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/errors.html Common Errors in English Interesting web site that lists the most common errors in English and explains why they are errors. For Instance: affect/effect, capital/capitol, compare & contrast, for all intensive purposes, different than. There are also supplementary pages of usages people keep telling you are wrong but which are perfectly okay. Site lists other resources (with a link to Dan Kies' Modern English Grammar).

PUNCTUATION ON THE WEB

Help Making Your Sentences Readable

The following web sites are related to punctuation. Some of the sites will have a smattering of grammar and writing assistance.

www.awbi.com/classes/english/punctuation/01 from: The Utah Valley State College and The Association of Web Based Learning. This site appears to be an English class online. There are 10 basic rules of punctuation with links to examples and participation questions. When answered and submitted, the computer will assess your understanding of the rule.

www.powa.org/punctuat.htm There are no cute graphics or interesting looking pages with this site. It is just one long page of punctuation rules, explanations and examples. The few links that are included cover "coordinating conjunction", "base clauses," "dependent clause," "sentence," "main & independent clauses," and "basic sentence concepts."

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writers/by-topic.html Purdue University has an online writing lab that covers grammar and punctuation. It can be linked to the writing lab which includes instructional handouts and writing resources

www.cas.usf.edu/JAC/pms/index.html Punctuation information from "The writing Group." The site presents an overview of punctuation and pages of explanations and examples of 5 major means of punctuation: the apostrophe the colon the dash the comma the semicolon

http://sti.larc.nasa.gov/html A Functional Concept of Punctuation This site seems to be part of a larger site that is a 'Handbook for Technical Writers and /Editors' called Grammar, Punctuation and Capitalization. This is Chapter 3 and covers the apostrophe, colon, comma, Em dash, En dash, hyphen, italics, parentheses, ellipsis, period, question marks, quotation marks, semicolon and slash

www.lifelong.com/AcademicWorld/Punctuation/home.html Lifelong Universe:Punctuation Made Plain (high school & up) As the title shows, this site deals mostly with punctuation. It explains and demonstrates sentences, intonation, questions, & exclamations. The site includes a glossary of terms that covers everything from adverbial clauses to verbs. The definitions include examples and occasionally a link to more information. Each page of explanations has an unusual graphic.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/Punctuation.html Purdue University Online Writing Lab This site offers links to pages that explain the usage of commas, apostrophe, quotation mark, hyphen, semicolon, dash, and parenthesis. You will also find help with run-on sentences, comma splices and fused sentences. there is also a page of definitions of such terms as: independent and dependent marker, independent & dependent clauses, coordinating conjunction, and some common errors to avoid

HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT?

Dictionaries on the Web

Necessary resources for anyone writing anything, including letters, are dictionaries and thesauri. If you have a good word processor, chances are there is also a spell checker. However, maybe you're using paper and pencil or an old-fashioned typewriter.

www.m-w.com/home.htm Merriam Webster Online - The Language Center Online dictionary with search function. Also online thesauris with search function. Plus - A Brief Look at the History of English

http://eserver.org/langs/ Languages and Linguistics page from E-Server Offers links to dictionaries in several languages, including English-German, French, Russian, Spanish. Also links for learning foreign languages, including Japanese, Arabic, and Russian. Links concerned with Linguistics, oxymorons and acronyms.

www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/diction.html An Index of Online Dictionaries (multi-lingual and specialized English) A web of online grammars, linguistic fun, thesauri and other vocabulary aids.

www.perseus.tufts.edu/ Project Perseus - An Evolving Digital Library Contains book texts, English word and phrase search and an English-Greek search tool.

BOOKS ONLINE

Finally, the result: English grammar & punctuation & good writing & dictionaries & thesauri=Books!

www.americanliterature.com/ARCHIVES/ARCHIVES.HTML Links to each chapter of great American books including: "Little Women," "Winesburg, Ohio," and "The Red Badge of Courage"

www.promo.net/pg/ Project Gutenberg Site dedicated to putting complete text of books "online"

This completes my list of Internet resources for anyone interested in English grammar. There are more sites that could be included, but since most of the sites are linked to each other it would be repetitious.

We've taken the search for grammar and writing assistance to the Internet and found enough resources to write essays, research papers or a novel. In fact, there are also resources for writing fiction (and getting published once you've written it) on the web.

^Take Note! | Table of Contents | Syllabus | eForum | Search

The HyperTextBooks | The English Main Page | The Composition Links