Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person

By: Barbara Venkataraman

Narrated by: Carrie Lee Martz

Fear not, gentle writer, Mrs. Grammar Person is here, and she has the answers to all of the questions you never thought to ask. As a dedicated and serious grammarian, she will do what it takes to be entertaining and enlightening but never vulgar or coarse. Heavens, no! Where are her smelling salts?

Warm and witty, Mrs. G.P. makes grammar interesting with rhyming, wishful thinking, storytelling, and a champagne toast. You are cordially invited to join her for a spot of tea!

©2015 Barbara Venkataraman (P)2015 Barbara Venkataraman

Just a fun cute story with grammar lessons thrown in.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I’ve got to admit this was not my kind of book. But it was still enjoyable. I would have never picked this out by myself.

But it’s a really cute story. I’m not sure who the target demographic is but I’d absolutely recommend this to teenaged students. Reading and rereading a book like this is a great way to learn how to avoid common pitfalls.

If one is reading this for knowledge I’d recommend an ebook or physical copy. I understood most of this book prior to listening so I got some of the subtle things in this book (like homophones) but someone unfamiliar with things like that might miss some meaning listening instead of reading.

However if you (like me) are just looking for a cute fun read that just happens to be grammar based the audio book is great. The reader did a great job and it was absolutely entertaining listening to this.

There are some super creative bits in this novella that must have taken a HUGE effort to write (like the rhyming bits). I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to come up with all of that. It was truly impressive.

This seems to me like a book that despite its short length likely took as long to write as a several hundred page novel (or maybe that is just my bias thinking this was a huge effort to write?). Seriously impressive to me!

It’s well worth reading if you are a grammar person and or you just want a good quick read that might teach you something.

A fun lesson about grammar...

A fun quirky look at our American language as Mrs Grammar teaches us the best way to use some words and points out how some of our language makes no sense at all. I like to listen to these Grammar audio books as I remember things that I correct myself at a later time. The book is short and to the point, yet covers a large bit of our English and how we use it vs how it should be used.

The author, Barbara Venkataraman does a great job at holding our interest and keeping us entertained all while teaching us something. The narrator, Carrie Lee Martz explains all these words and phrases to us in a clear tone making it easier to understand. Well done!

I received this audio book as a gift in exchange for a honest and unbiased review.

Cute Book

This book is filled with information and given in a way to make you remember. It helps with all those grammatical questions you may be wondering about. Mrs. Grammar Person reminds us of being weary of relying on things such as spell check (i.e. morning vs. mourning – huge difference!) There are many tidbits such as this throughout the book.

The presentation is very pleasant and enjoyable, which isn’t usually true for a grammar book. I listened to this one in my car. It’s the perfect audio book. I felt as if the narrator was in the car and we were having a conversation, not just being taught about grammar. It’s a quick book to listen to…I finished in one day.

This is a very cute way to learn important information.


FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

READ IT!!!

A friend alerted me to this book and I was delighted to find it as Whispersync on the cheap!
Separated into chapters, this fun little English language book settles the differences between similar sounding words that are often misused, as well as other words which are frequently a puzzlement. I wish that everyone who texts would grab a copy of this very funny yet incredibly useful book!
Carrie Lee Martz increases the fun level with her clear narration

Good reminders for us all

If you could sum up Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person in three words, what would they be?

Funny, helpful, practical

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mrs. GP, as she knows it all.

Have you listened to any of Carrie Lee Martz’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think so. I enjoyed listening to her.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, this was a good one to stop at the end of each chapter and pick up again later. Let some of that great information sink into my brain before adding more.

Any additional comments?

A couple of times I wished I were reading it in print, but really enjoyed listening to it overall.

Who Knew That Learning Grammar Could Be Fun?

Any additional comments?

Who knew that a refresher course in grammar could be so much fun? I truly enjoyed listening to “Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person” by Barbara Venkatamaran; so much so that I will absolutely listen to it again. Like many people who last studied grammar many years ago, I sometimes wonder if my usage is correct. Mrs. Grammar Person helped confirm that, yes, I was using our language properly most of the time, but I still have much to learn and remember. I recommend this book to others who want to write or speak intelligently but are too lazy to drudge through an old textbook. I’m hoping for a sequel to cover any areas not covered.

I was given a copy of this book by the author but not required to write a review. I am doing so because I truly think it’s well worth a listen/read. The book is quite entertaining as well as very informative.

Fun & educational!

This was a fun and educational piece! Full of humor and grammatical rules, I think many folks (writers, knowitalls, kids, folks trying to understand the crazy rules of the English language) would get a lot out of this. I especially enjoyed this audio version because of the rhyming.

Told in a ‘let’s have a nice chat’ voice, the author starts Mrs. G.P. off with some simple grammar rules. The subjects become increasingly more complex as you move towards the end of the book. Such grammar subjects as the subjective, transition phrases, and the plurals of odd words are tackled. The original rhymes are fun and also help me remember some of these more difficult rules. At the end, Mrs. G.P. tosses in how the English language is built out of many other languages. I especially enjoyed this point, along with all the examples.

This little book had me chuckling to myself over the cleverness. I think if you are struggling with some grammar rules, or perhaps you didn’t even know such things existed in such convoluted detail, I think this book would be a boon to you. I also liked the little fact that Mrs. G. P. has a beau, Mr. Syntax.

I won a copy of this book from the Lazy Day Library Reviews FB group.

The Narration: Carrie Lee Martz has narrated several other books by this author, specifically her cozy mystery series. So I have enjoyed her narration before. It was excellent to hear her again. I think she had fun with the rhyming. She did a great job of clearly enunciating similar words so that the listener can clearly hear the differences in word choice.

Witty and useful

A compilation of blog posts, Teatime takes this author's love of grammar to the next level. While I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this, it might also be a useful educational tool. Martz did a great job narrating and enunciating the often difficult to distinguish words in this piece, as the writer made quite a lot of puns and quirky little vocab jokes, requiring the reader to spend extra time carefully pronouncing each word to completely understand the humor.