Common Errors by Terry O'Brien Review

Book Review of Little Red Book of Common Errors by Terry O'Brien

I found Dr Terry O’Brien’s little book on Common Errors extremely useful. It is especially useful for students preparing for exams like PO, IBPS, Clerical, CAT, GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS etc. The structure of this book is simple. Each section deals with a specific portion in Grammar. For example, there are separate chapters on Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs etc. Common Errors come with examples – the incorrect ones, then the correct ones followed by explanations. Unlike other popular Grammar books available in the market, Common Errors by Terry O'Brien is concise and handy.

Personally, I believe that errors mentioned in this Little Red Book of Common Errors are committed as mere habit. The bulk of reading materials available in the internet are filled with Common Errors. Even the social networking thingy is not much helpful. The habits acquired in childhood remains till the end because we seldom examine what we read or what we write. This happens irrespective your educational background or the kind of job you’re in. I once met a High School teacher carelessly disregarding the subject verb agreement. I hear speeches that sound pompous and complicated due to excessive use of adverbs. These things can be avoided. Good Grammar, in my opinion can be grown into habit.

In exams like GRE, you are supposed to identify/rectify usage errors. In banking exams the focus is on reasoning and math section. So naturally English section gets neglected. We need a no-nonsense Grammar book that provides us what we need in a precise manner. Here Common Errors by Dr. Terry O’Brien comes for rescue. I will not only recommend this book, but also suggest that you add a hard copy to your collection and read it once in a while.

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