Rent 9780495899747 | Practical English Handbook (with 2009 MLA Update Card) | Watkins, Floyd; Dillingham, William; Hiers, John @knetbooks.com

Summary Table of Contents

The Practical English Handbook includes concise explanations, abundant examples and models, ample practice opportunity, and help with all stages of the writing process. A coding system breaks down topics and facilitates student use. The book's compact size allows it to fit comfortably in the hand, while the durable sewn binding will withstand constant use. The MLA and APA documentation guidelines thoroughly reflect the most recent changes. Students receive the most up-to-date information on MLA documentation with the enclosed tri-fold card providing NEW 2009 MLA Handbook formats.

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A Memo to Writers
Accuracy and Logic
Reliable sources
Accurate information
Sweeping generalizations
Exaggeration
Circular reasoning
False comparisons
Sticking to the point
Appeals to prejudice
Cause and effect
The either...or fallacy
Writing and Revising
Finding a worthy subject
Developing your ideas and planning your paper
Organizing systematically
Adapting to your audience
Using an appropriate tone
Choosing appropriate tense and number
Stating your thesis
Writing an appropriate length paper
Writing a first draft
REvising your draft
Model paper
Composing and revising on a computer
Writing Paragraphs
Writing a topic sentence
Unifying paragraphs
Developing paragraphs
Trimming, tightening, or dividing paragraphs
Using appropriate development methods
Using transitional devices Grammar
Grammar The Parts of Speech
Nouns
Pronouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Prepositions
Interjections The Parts of Sentences
Simple subjects, complete subjects, compound subjects
Simple predicates, complete predicates, compound predicates
Complements
Phrases
Clauses
Kinds of sentences Sentence Errors
Sentence Fragments
Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
Verb Forms
Tense and Sequence of Tenses
Present tense
Past tense
Future tense
Progressive tenses
Perfect tenses
Present infinitive
Consistency
Voice
Subjunctive Mood
Subject and Verb: Agreement
Singular verb with a singular subject
Plural verb with a plural subject
Compound subject
Compound subject with or, nor, etc
Phrases and clauses between a subject and a verb
Collective nouns
Nouns plural in form, singular in meaning
Indefinite pronouns
All, some, part, etc
There, here
Agreement with subject, not predicate nominative
After a relative pronoun
With titles or words used as words
Expressions of time, money, measurement, etc
Pronouns and Antecedents: Agreement, Reference, and Usage
Singular pronoun with a singular antecedent
Plural pronoun with a plural antecedent
Compound antecedent with and
Compound antecedent with or, nor, etc
Collective noun as antecedent
Each, either, etc
Vague and ambiguous antecedents
Which, who, that
Pronouns ending in -self, -selves
Case
Subjects and subjective complements
Direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions
Subjects and objects of infinitives
Appositives
After than or as
Who, Whom
Apostrophe or of phrase for possession
Words preceding a gerund
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adverbs modifying verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
After linking verbs be, become, seem, etc
After a verb and its object
Comparative and superlative degrees
Avoiding double comparatives and superlatives
Absolute concepts and absolute modifiers
Avoiding double negatives Sentence Structure
Choppy Sentences and Excessive Coordination
Subordination
Subordination of less important ideas
Avoiding overlapping subordination
Completeness
Omission of verbs and prepositions
Omission of that
Comparisons
Illogical comparisons
Using the word other
Awkward and incomplete comparisons
Consistency
Avoiding shifts in grammatical forms
Avoiding faulty predication
Avoid constructions is when, is where, or the reason is because
Position of Modifiers
Dangling
Misplaced
Limiting
Squinting
Separation of Elements
Subject and verb, parts of a verb phrase, or verb and object
A sentence containing a quotation
Split infinitives
Parallelism
With coordinating conjunctions
With correlative conjunctions
With and who, and which, or and that
Variety Punctuation
Commas
Between two independent clauses
In a series
Between coordinate adjectives
After introductory phrases and clauses
With nonessential elements
With sentence modifiers, conjunctive adverbs, and elements out of order
With degrees, titles, dates, places, addresses
For contrast or emphasis
With mild interjections and yes or no
With direct address and salutations
With expressions like he said, she remarked
With absolute phrases
To prevent misreading or to mark an omission
Unnecessary Commas
Between subject and verb, verb and object, adjective and word it modifies
Before coordinating conjunctions
Not with essential clauses, phrases, or appositives
After coordinating conjunctions
Before subordinating conjunctions
After the opening phrase of an inverted sentence
Before the first or after the last item in a series
Before than
After like or such as
With period, question mark, dash, exclamation point
Before parentheses
Semicolons
Between independent clauses not connected by a coordinating conjunction
To separate independent clauses
In a series between items that have internal punctuation
Not between elements that are not grammatically equal
Colons
After formal introduction of a quotation
After formal introduction of a series of items
After a formal introduction of an appositive
Between two independent clauses
In salutations, times, bibliographical entries
Not after linking verbs or prepositions
Dashes
Parentheses
Brackets
Quotation Marks
Direct quotations and dialogue
Quotation within a quotation
Titles of short works
Not with titles of your own papers
Not for emphasis, slang, irony, humor
Not with block quotations
With other punctuation
End Punctuation
Period at end of a sentence
Period after abbreviations
Ellipsis points for omission
Punctuation of titles
Question mark after direct question
No question mark within parentheses or exclamation point for humor
Exclamation point Mechanics
Manuscript Forms, Business Letters, and R?sum?s
Manuscripts
Business letters and applications
R?sum?s
Italics
Titles
Names of ships and trains
Foreign words
Words, letters, figures
Rarely use for emphasis
Not for titles of your own papers
Spelling
Spell-checking
Proofreading
Distinguishing homonyms
Spelling strategies
Hyphenation and Syllabication
Compound words
Compound adjectives
Compound numbers
Dividing a word at the end of line
Apostrophes
For possessive nouns not ending in s
For possessive of singular nouns ending in s
Without s for possessive of plural nouns ending in s
For possessive of indefinite pronouns
For joint possession
For omissions and contractions
For acronyms and words being named
Capital Letters
First word of sentence
In titles
First word of direct quotations
Titles with names
Title of head of nation
Proper nouns
Family names
The pronoun I and the interjection O
Months, days of the week, holidays
B.C., A.D, deities, religions, sacred books
Specific courses
Abbreviations and Symbols
Days, months, measurement, states, countries
Acceptable abbreviations
Acceptable symbols
Numbers
Spelled out
Consistency
For complete dates, addresses, page and chapter references, percentages, hours Diction and Style
Diction
Frequently using a dictionary
Precise meaning
Connotation
Colloquialisms and contractions
Slang
Dialect
Words used as the wrong part of speech
Idioms
Specialized vocabulary
Building a vocabulary
Style
Conciseness
Repetition
Flowery language
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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