A Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usage, Sixth Edition

A Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usage is just what its name suggests: a straightforward, student-friendly grammar guide. The text’s modular lessons break down complex grammatical concepts with plain-language explanations, handy tips, and visual examples that show - rather than just tell - students how to recognize, correct, and learn to avoid errors in grammar. With hundreds of exercises in the book and thousands more available online for free at Exercise Central , students get ample practice finding and fixing errors in their writing. The text also includes writing coverage and brief documentation guides for MLA and APA, making it a useful reference for a variety of college courses. Read the preface. Cover Page......Page 1 Brief Contents......Page 3 Title Page......Page 5 ISBN 9780312697792......Page 6 Contents......Page 22 Preface for Instructors......Page 7 Why Use This Book? — for Students......Page 15 How to Use This Book......Page 17 Grammar without Tears......Page 29 OVERVIEW......Page 46 Lesson 1 Fragments......Page 48 Lesson 2 Run-ons: Fused Sentences and Comma Splices......Page 59 REVIEW......Page 69 OVERVIEW......Page 71 Lesson 3 Nearest-Noun Agreement Errors......Page 73 Lesson 4 Agreement with There is and There was......Page 81 Lesson 5 Agreement with Compound Subjects......Page 88 REVIEW......Page 94 OVERVIEW......Page 96 Lesson 6 Present, Past, and Tense Shifting......Page 97 Lesson 7 The Past and the Perfect Tenses......Page 105 REVIEW......Page 113 OVERVIEW......Page 115 Lesson 8 Pronoun Agreement......Page 117 Lesson 9 Vague Pronouns: This, That, and It......Page 126 Lesson 10 Choosing the Correct Pronoun Form......Page 135 Lesson 11 Who, Whom, and That......Page 144 Lesson 12 Eliminating Sexist Pronouns......Page 153 REVIEW......Page 161 OVERVIEW......Page 163 Lesson 13 Commas with And, But, Or, and Other Coordinating Conjunctions......Page 166 Lesson 14 Commas with Transitional Terms......Page 175 Lesson 15 Commas with Adverb Clauses......Page 184 Lesson 16 Commas with Introductory Elements......Page 192 Lesson 17 Commas with Adjective Clauses......Page 200 Lesson 18 Commas with Appositives......Page 209 Lesson 19 Unnecessary Commas......Page 218 REVIEW......Page 227 OVERVIEW......Page 230 Lesson 20 Apostrophes in Contractions......Page 231 Lesson 21 Apostrophes Showing Possession......Page 238 Lesson 22 Unnecessary Apostrophes......Page 247 REVIEW......Page 254 OVERVIEW......Page 257 Lesson 23 Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation......Page 259 Lesson 24 Semicolons......Page 266 Lesson 25 Colons......Page 274 Lesson 26 Capitalization......Page 282 REVIEW......Page 291 OVERVIEW......Page 293 Lesson 27 Parallelism......Page 295 Lesson 28 Passive Voice......Page 303 Lesson 29 Dangling Modifiers......Page 310 REVIEW......Page 319 OVERVIEW......Page 321 Lesson 30 I ncorrect Plurals and Indefinite Articles with Noncount Nouns......Page 324 Lesson 31 Using A/An, Some, and The......Page 331 Lesson 32 Making Generalizations without Articles......Page 339 REVIEW......Page 346 OVERVIEW......Page 350 Lesson 33 T he Progressive Tenses......Page 352 Lesson 34 Two-Word Verbs......Page 360 Lesson 35 Information Questions......Page 369 Lesson 36 Word Order in Noun Clauses......Page 377 REVIEW......Page 384 OVERVIEW......Page 387 Lesson 37 Using Direct Quotations and Paraphrases......Page 389 Lesson 38 Citing Sources Correctly......Page 400 REVIEW......Page 412 OVERVIEW......Page 415 Types of Assignments......Page 419 Understanding What You Read......Page 420 Critical Questions for Reading......Page 423 Determine Your General Purpose......Page 426 Understand Your Audience......Page 428 Connecting Purpose and Audience......Page 429 Explore Your Subject and Develop Support......Page 431 Write a Thesis Sentence......Page 433 Plan Your Paper’s Organization......Page 434 Critical Questions for Planning......Page 437 Lesson 41 Drafting......Page 439 Write Topic Sentences and Paragraphs......Page 440 Strategies for Writing a Single-Paragraph Assignment......Page 442 Put More Support into Paragraphs......Page 444 One Student’s Draft......Page 445 Critical Questions for Drafting......Page 448 Ask Questions as You Revise......Page 450 Using Questions......Page 454 Critical Questions for Revising......Page 457 Appendix A: Brief Documentation Guide for MLA......Page 459 Appendix B: Brief Documentation Guide for APA......Page 465 Appendix C: Guide to Grammar Terminology......Page 469 Appendix D: Glossary of Commonly Confused Words......Page 484 Appendix E: Glossary of Commonly Misspelled Words......Page 487 Appendix F: Glossary of Common Two-Word Verbs......Page 489 Answer Key......Page 492 Index......Page 521 ESL Index......Page 528 Correction Symbols......Page 530 Finding What You Need in This Book......Page 531