When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It
Ben Yagoda
Reading Time
at 250 WPM4h 1m
The average reader, reading at a speed of 250 WPM, would take 4h 1m to read When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It.
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9
days at 30 min/day
241
total minutes
When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It
by Ben Yagoda
Published
February 13, 2007
Publisher
Broadway
Pages
241
ISBN-13
9780767920773
ISBN-10
0767920775
Description
What do you get when you mix nine parts of speech, one great writer, and generous dashes of insight, humor, and irreverence? One phenomenally entertaining language book.In his waggish yet authoritative book, Ben Yagoda has managed to undo the dark work of legions of English teachers and libraries of dusty grammar texts. Not since School House Rock have adjectives, adverbs, articles, conjunctions, interjections, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs been explored with such infectious exuberance. Read If You Catch an Adjective, Kill It and:Learn how to write better with classic advice from writers such as Mark Twain ("If you catch an adjective, kill it"), Stephen King ("I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs"), and Gertrude Stein ("Nouns . . . are completely not interesting"). Marvel at how a single word can shift from adverb ("I did okay"), to adjective ("It was an okay movie"), to interjection ("Okay!"), to noun ("I gave my okay"), to verb ("Who okayed this?"), depending on its use. Avoid the pretentious preposition at, a favorite of real estate developers (e.g., "The Shoppes at White Plains"). Laugh when Yagoda says he "shall call anyone a dork to the end of his days" who insists on maintaining the distinction between shall and will. Read, and discover a book whose pop culture references, humorous asides, and bracing doses of discernment and common sense convey Yagoda's unique sense of the "beauty, the joy, the artistry, and the fun of language."
Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pages are in When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It?
This edition of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It has approximately 241 pages. Please note, this is an estimate and the exact page count can vary between hardcover, paperback, and e-book versions.
How long does it take to read When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It?
For most readers, When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It typically takes between 5h 1m and 3h 21m to complete. This is based on the book's length of approximately 60,250 words and common reading speeds.
Here's a detailed breakdown: • Continuous reading at 250 WPM: approximately 4h 1m of focused reading • Casual reading (30 minutes/day): you could finish in roughly 9 days • Estimated word count: 60,250 words
Your individual reading time will vary based on your personal reading pace, the amount of daily reading time, and your familiarity with the subject matter.
What is the word count of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It?
The estimated word count for When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It is approximately 60,250 words. This figure is calculated using industry-standard methods that consider genre-specific word density patterns, typical formatting and layout characteristics, and standard words-per-page ratios for published books.
This is an approximation — actual word count may vary based on font size, formatting, edition, and the presence of illustrations or charts.
Who is the author of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It?
When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It was written by Ben Yagoda.
When was When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It published?
The publication date for this specific edition is February 13, 2007. The original work may have been published on a different date.