The Modern Writer's Handbook

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ISBN: 9780205193424 | 0205193420
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/1/1996

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This book will help you develop and refine your writing skills with guidance from your instructor. It does not provide you with a foolproof formula for writing an essay for avoiding all errors. No such shortcuts exist. The book offers you options not laws.

Preface

xvii

PART I THE PROCESS OF WRITING

Preparation for Writing

(8)

Keeping a Journal

(1)

Reading and Being a Critical Reader

(5)

Checklist: Critical Reading

(2)

Writing Letters

(1)

Using Observation

(2)

The Process of Writing: First Draft

(25)

Prewriting

(15)

Checklist: Questions on Audience and Tone

(1)

Stating a Thesis

(4)

Outlining

(4)

Writing the First Draft

(2)

Checklist: Drafting Strategies

(1)

The Process of Writing: Revision

(23)

Revision Is Re-Vision

(5)

Checklist: Questions to Help you Revise Critically and Analytically

(2)

Checklist: Guidelines for Collaboration and Peer Critiques

(1)

Sample First Draft

(5)

The Final Draft

(6)

Components of the Essay

(5)

Proofreading and Editing

(2)

Checklist: Proofreading and Editing

(1)

Writing with a Computer

(8)

Overcoming Computer Phobia

(2)

Prewriting

(1)

Drafting

(1)

Revising

(1)

Collaboration

(1)

Editing and Formatting

(1)

Printing

(1)

Writing Coherent Paragraphs

(31)

Unity

(7)

Organizational Strategies

(4)

Patterns of Development

(7)

Transition

(3)

Transitional Paragraphs

(8)

Thinking Critically and Writing Arguments

(19)

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

(2)

Truth in Reasoning

(1)

Writing Arguments

(5)

Logical Fallacies

104

(12)

PART II GRAMMAR

The Parts of a Sentence and Parts of Speech

116

(31)

The Parts of a Sentence

116

(9)

Subjects

117

(3)

Predicates

120

(1)

Complements

121

(4)

The Parts of Speech

125

(22)

Nouns

125

(2)

Verbs

127

(5)

Verbals

132

(2)

Pronouns

134

(5)

Adjectives

139

(1)

Adverbs

140

(2)

Prepositions

142

(2)

Conjunctions

144

(3)

Interjections

147

(1)

Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences

147

(11)

Phrases

147

(3)

Prepositional Phrases

147

(1)

Verbal Phrases

148

(2)

Clauses

150

(3)

Independent Clauses

150

(1)

Dependent Clauses and Subordination

151

(2)

Sentences

153

(5)

Types of Sentences

153

(5)

PART III SENTENCE FORM

Fragments

158

(5)

Fragments Lacking a Subject

158

(1)

Fragments Lacking a Predicate

159

(1)

Phrase Fragments

160

(1)

Dependent Clause Fragments

161

(1)

Intentional Fragments

162

(1)

Comma Splices and Fused Sentences

163

(4)

Comma Splices

163

(2)

Fused Sentences

165

(2)

Verb Forms

167

(15)

Principal Parts for Regular and Irregular Verbs

167

(4)

Verb Forms for Tense, Voice, and Mood

171

(8)

Choosing Appropriate Forms for Troublesome Verbs

179

(3)

Subject--Verb Agreement

182

(10)

Compound Subjects

183

(1)

Intervening Phrases or Clauses

184

(1)

Collective Nouns

185

(1)

Nouns Plural in Form but Singular in Meaning

186

(1)

Indefinite and Relative Pronoun Subjects

187

(2)

Titles

189

(1)

Units of Measurement, Time, and Money

189

(1)

Inverted Sentence Order

190

(1)

Agreement with Subject, Not Predicate Nominative

190

(2)

Pronouns: Agreement, Reference, and Usage

192

(9)

Pronoun--Antecedent Agreement

193

(3)

Pronoun Reference

196

(3)

Pronoun Usage

199

(2)

Pronoun Case

201

(8)

Subjective, Possessive, and Objective

201

(8)

Adjectives and Adverbs

209

(8)

Misused Adjective Forms

209

(1)

Misused Adverb Forms

210

(3)

Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs

213

(2)

Double Negatives

215

(2)

Shifts and Mixed Constructions

217

(10)

Shifts

217

(8)

In Number

217

(1)

In Person

218

(1)

In Voice

219

(1)

In Mood

220

(1)

In Verb Tense

221

(1)

Tense with Clauses

222

(1)

Tense with Infinitives

223

(1)

Tense with Participles

224

(1)

Mixed Constructions

225

(2)

Mixed Sentence Structure

225

(2)

Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

227

(4)

Dangling Modifiers

227

(1)

Misplaced Modifiers

228

(2)

Squinting Modifiers

230

(1)

Sentence Completeness

231

(6)

Faulty Predication

231

(3)

False Comparisons

234

(1)

Incomplete Comparisons

234

(1)

Ambiguous Comparisons

235

(1)

Omitted Comparative Words

235

(2)

English as a Second Language

237

(25)

Nouns, Articles, and Quantifiers

237

(5)

Adjectives and Adverbs

242

(4)

Verb Forms

246

(9)

Verbs in Sentences

255

(7)

PART IV CLEAR SENTENCES

Coordination, Subordination, and Parallelism

262

(10)

Coordination

262

(2)

Subordination

264

(3)

Parallelism

267

(5)

Conciseness versus Wordiness

272

(7)

Wordiness and Repetition

272

(4)

Flowery Language

276

(1)

Directness of Assertion

277

(2)

Variety and Emphasis

279

(15)

Variety of Sentence Structure

280

(7)

Emphasizing Important Elements of a Sentence

287

(7)

PART V DICTION AND STYLE

Appropriate Word Choice

294

(7)

Slang

296

(1)

Colloquialisms

297

(1)

Jargon

298

(1)

Gobbledygook

299

(2)

Sexist and Biased Language

301

(6)

Sexist Language

301

(4)

Biased Language

305

(2)

Exact Word Choice

307

(9)

Specific and General Words

307

(1)

Concrete and Abstract Words

308

(2)

Denotation and Connotation

310

(6)

PART VI PUNCTUATION AND MECHANICS

End Punctuation

316

(5)

The Period

316

(2)

The Question Mark

318

(1)

The Exclamation Point

319

(2)

The Comma

321

(18)

Between Coordinate Elements

321

(4)

After Introductory Words, Phrases, and Clauses

325

(1)

Before Certain Terminal Elements

326

(3)

Around Interrupting Elements

329

(5)

Unnecessary Commas

334

(5)

The Semicolon

339

(4)

Between Independent Clauses

339

(2)

Between Items in a Series

341

(1)

Misused Semicolons

341

(2)

The Colon

343

(4)

Before Elements Introduced Formally

343

(1)

Before Formal Appositives

344

(1)

Between Two Independent Clauses

344

(1)

In Salutations and Bibliographical Entries

345

(1)

Misused Colons

345

(2)

The Dash

347

(2)

With an Introductory Series

347

(1)

With Parenthetical Elements

347

(1)

With Terminal Elements

348

(1)

Parentheses

349

(3)

With Parenthetical Comments and Additional Information

349

(2)

With Items in a Series

351

(1)

With Other Punctuation Marks

351

(1)

Brackets

352

(2)

With Inserted Information

352

(1)

With Parentheses

353

(1)

Quotation Marks

354

(7)

For Direct Quotations

355

(1)

Block Quotations

355

(2)

For Quotations within Quotations

357

(1)

For Titles of Short Works

357

(1)

With Other Punctuation Marks

358

(1)

Misused Quotation Marks

359

(2)

Ellipsis Points

361

(1)

Italics or Underlining

362

(3)

For Titles

362

(1)

For Words

363

(2)

The Apostrophe

365

(5)

In Possessive Forms

365

(3)

In Plural Forms

368

(1)

For Omissions

368

(1)

In Contractions

368

(2)

The Hyphen

370

(6)

In Compound Nouns

370

(1)

In Compound Adjectives

370

(2)

In Compound Numbers and Fractions

372

(1)

With Prefixes and Suffixes

372

(1)

For Word Division at the End of a Line

373

(3)

The Slash

376

(1)

Abbreviations

377

(4)

For Titles or Designations

377

(1)

For Acronyms and Organizational Abbreviations

378

(1)

In Dates and Numbers

379

(1)

Avoiding Unconventional Abbreviations

380

(1)

Numbers

381

(4)

Numbers versus Words in Sentences

381

(1)

For Conventional Identifications

382

(3)

Manuscript Form

385

(5)

For All Papers

385

(1)

For Computer-Generated Papers

386

(1)

For Typewritten Papers

387

(1)

For Handwritten Papers

388

(2)

PART VII SPELLING

Spelling Accurately

390

(8)

Doubling the Final Consonant

390

(2)

Dropping the Silent e

392

(1)

Changing the y to i

393

(1)

Choosing between ei and ie

394

(1)

Forming Noun Plurals

394

(4)

Troublesome Words

398

(4)

A List of Troublesome Words

398

(3)

Homonyms

401

(1)

Capitalization

402

(8)

First Words of Sentences or Verses

402

(1)

Titles, Names, and Words Based on Names

403

(3)

Conventional Capitalization

406

(4)

PART VIII THE RESEARCH PAPER

Selecting and Limiting a Topic

410

(5)

Exploring Resources

412

(1)

Exploring Purpose

413

(1)

Exploring Scope

414

(1)

Checklist: Determining Scope

414

(1)

Doing Research

415

(20)

Finding Information

415

(11)

Primary and Secondary Sources of Information

426

(7)

Checklist: Evaluating Primary and Secondary Sources

427

(6)

Compiling a Working Bibliography

433

(2)

Writing the Research Paper

435

(16)

Taking Notes

435

(5)

Prewriting

440

(1)

Formulating a Preliminary Thesis and Constructing a Working Outline

441

(1)

Constructing a Formal Outline

442

(2)

Writing and Revising the Paper

444

(3)

Checklist: Revising Your Research Paper

445

(2)

Avoiding Plagiarism

447

(4)

Checklist: Avoiding Plagiarism

450

(1)

Documenting Sources---MLA Style

451

(15)

Preparing the List of Works Cited

451

(3)

Sample MLA Works Cited Entries

454

(7)

Sample In-Text Parenthetical Citations---MLA Style

461

(4)

Content Notes

465

(1)

Documenting Sources---APA and Other Styles

466

(15)

Preparing the List of References

467

(2)

Sample APA References

469

(6)

Sample In-Text Parenthetical Citations---APA Style

475

(2)

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The Modern Writer's Handbook

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials