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With her eyesight nearly gone due to macular degeneration,
Eliana Beam wrote Between or Among? or I’ll Be Hanged If
I’m Hung using large sheets of white paper, bold black
markers, and a magnifying glass, which she wears around her
neck. She set herself a goal of writing one verse per day
over her morning coffee. By lunchtime she’d be done. She
took the weekends off.
A
feature story in the Columbus, Ohio, newspaper in 2001
resulted in a rush of 250 book sales at her local Borders
bookstore. “Borders agreed to take five books on
consignment,” explains Beam. “Five minutes after the store
opened on Monday morning, they called to ask if I could rush
them 50 more books! Three days later they called for even
more books.”
Between or Among contains 101 witty verses covering
grammar, word usage, and pronunciation. It is aimed at
"high school" and "highbrow" alike, providing a lively
supplement to dry English grammar textbooks. It includes
tests to assess your skills. An expanded edition of 200
verses is scheduled for publication in 2007.
Beam, the daughter of Italian immigrants (who promptly
enrolled in English classes at the YWCA upon arriving in
America), is a zealot when it comes to preserving the
English language. When asked if she used to be an English
teacher, Eliana replies, “Well, it’s like this. There was
the Depression and I had to work, but I’ve been teaching
people proper English my whole life. I simply can’t resist
correcting their English. I can’t let an error pass
unnoticed. I even used to correct my high school English
teacher. Oh, she was such a dummy when it came to English
grammar!”
Eliana’s daughter, Amy (herself a former English teacher),
used to argue with her mother about word pronunciations.
Eliana’s retort was always, “Go look it up!” The revered
10-inch thick Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary sat on
its own pulpit stand. After she was proven right, she’d
gloat with her famous “So there!” Amy confesses, “Never
once was my mother wrong about a word’s pronunciation.
After years of being obstinate, I quit looking words up.
Now I just take my mother’s word for it. She’s the one who
taught me everything I know about English, and she’s still
teaching me.”
“For example, when I was a kid she taught me how to use
adverbs correctly. She was always telling me lee
every time I’d leave the l y off the end of a
word. I’d say ‘Talk slow,’ and she’d say ‘lee. Slow-ly.’”
In a teacherly tone that includes cajolery and skirts
sarcasm - all held together by outrageous humor - Beam
lectures like a favorite teacher. If you are too timid to
correct your co-workers' speech, slip them Between or
Among? or I’ll Be Hanged If I’m Hung. Even linguistic
purists will find some revelations in these pages.
Instructive and entertaining, this book will enliven any
discussion and enhance your office, powder room, or coffee
table. It makes a perfect gift for your teenager, spouse,
or boss.
Order now
Sample poems from Between or
Among? or I’ll Be Hanged If I’m Hung:
•
About and by the Author
•
I Feel Sad
•
Me or I?
•
This Is She
•
Convince and Persuade
Click
to
Test Your English Skills.
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