Best Books on grammar/tense/world building?

[Mark.W.Carson]

I heard that there's a free ebook of Orson Scott Card's on world building, but I've never had the problem once I actually sat down and thought about what a world needs.

Foods, clothing, fashion trends, religions, beliefs, superstitions, languages, factions, sects, etc. You hold all the keys .

[polymath]

For grammar, a spectrum of style manuals, dictionaries, English usage dictionaries, and grammar handbooks are available. U.S. English prose publishers generally use Chicago Manual of Style, Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary, and Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. The Little Brown Handbook is a staple primer of grammar handbooks.

Many online sources cover the literal uses of tense. For a discussion on the figurative uses of tense see Seymour Chatman's Story and Discourse. Chatman discusses the influence of tense on story and narrative time and how objective and subjective tenses impact believability.

Wikipedia hosts a survey article on worldbuilding, with links to more in-depth sources, like Poul Anderson's book including an essay on worldbuilding.
SFWA hosts essays on worldbuilding:
"Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: The World" by Patricia C. Wrede
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-wor ... -the-world
"Guest Post: Building Secondary Worlds" by Mark Charan Newton
http://www.sfwa.org/2011/03/guest-post- ... ary-worlds
And a signal essay about Tolkien's worldbuilding:
"Stages of Imagination: Exploring Theme and Vision in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth" by Rico Marcel Abrahamsen
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/enc ... Stages.htm

[Aimée]

I heard that there's a free ebook of Orson Scott Card's on world building...

Orson Scott Card has some really good books on the craft. His one on characters and point of view is invaluable!

[Mira]

There are so many grammar books out there that are good. But one I like alot, it's funny and very readable is:

Who Is I by Patricia O'Conner

I had to look up the last name, so here's the link, if you're interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Woe-Is-Grammarpho ... 1573226254

And I'd like to make a nod to Rowling's world building in the Harry Potter series. It's amazing, and well worth studying.

Good luck!