Basic English Revisited: A Student Handbook

This book served me well through middle school and high school, and is now being used in college. Lucid, well-indexed, concise, yet detailed enough to be useful to students of all levels, this book cannot be recommended highly enough.Unfortunately, it has not been updated in many years, and lacks information on how to cite electronic resources, etc. It's still worth buying if you can find a copy, though.

Basic English Revisited: A Student Handbook was a required resource by my english teacher when I was a junior in high school. Not only did the book prove useful for her class, but for my life even after graduation. The mark of a truly valuable book is one that keeps revealing information in new ways during the passage of time; you can go back to it, in other words, learning new information in new ways. "Basic English Revisited" is one of those books.The book is designed to span all aspects of writing, from simple punctuation to the authoring of a theme paper. Every rule for every punctuation mark is explained, complete with examples. How many people do you know that really know how to write using semi-colons? Sentence structure are covered, as well as paragraph formation, bibliographies, etcetera.This is a book worth searching for. If you can find a copy - even with a shabby cover - latch onto it and don't let go. You won't be sorry. I promise.

I have used this book as a reference for the past 15 years! I was hoping to get another copy for my office, as I was fearful of misplacing my ancient high school copy. What a shame it is now out of print.

I just realized that the copyright date on my copy of this book is from 1980! I have never needed another grammar book in the 18 years I have owned this one. It has the two features I consider essential in a grammar book (or any instructive reference book): It's brief (124 pages cover to cover), and it's thorough. A brief summary of the table of contents includes, in addition to the basic stuff of English grammar, e.g. parts of speech, punctuation, parts of the sentence, etc., a short dictionary of commonly misspelled words, guides to more effective writing and reading, the Greek alphabet, a map of the world, emergency first aid, copymarking symbols, instructions on how to format and write a business letter, the alphabet in sign language, and more! In addition (!!!) it has a unique organizational scheme and an extensive index, making it very easy to find things, especially when you're not exactly sure what you're looking for.It is a real shame this book is no longer in print. If you see a copy for sale, buy it. If, for some reason, you decide not to keep it, give it to a child -- you'll have a friend for life.

I stole a copy from my high school (paid the fine too) because this book was a great reference tool.Now as an adult and marketing copywriter, I still consider it one of the best reference tools available. Wish more schools would use and hand it out.Best of all, this book was written by educators from Burlington, Wisconsin, my home state.