The Modern Writer's Handbook,9780205195893

The Modern Writer's Handbook

by ;
Edition: 4th
ISBN13: 9780205195893
ISBN10: 020519589X
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 1996-06-01
Publisher(s): Allyn & Bacon
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Table of Contents

Preface xvii
PART I THE PROCESS OF WRITING
Preparation for Writing
2(8)
Keeping a Journal
2(1)
Reading and Being a Critical Reader
3(5)
Checklist: Critical Reading
6(2)
Writing Letters
8(1)
Using Observation
8(2)
The Process of Writing: First Draft
10(25)
Prewriting
10(15)
Checklist: Questions on Audience and Tone
24(1)
Stating a Thesis
25(4)
Outlining
29(4)
Writing the First Draft
33(2)
Checklist: Drafting Strategies
34(1)
The Process of Writing: Revision
35(23)
Revision Is Re-Vision
35(5)
Checklist: Questions to Help you Revise Critically and Analytically
37(2)
Checklist: Guidelines for Collaboration and Peer Critiques
39(1)
Sample First Draft
40(5)
The Final Draft
45(6)
Components of the Essay
51(5)
Proofreading and Editing
56(2)
Checklist: Proofreading and Editing
57(1)
Writing with a Computer
58(8)
Overcoming Computer Phobia
59(2)
Prewriting
61(1)
Drafting
62(1)
Revising
62(1)
Collaboration
63(1)
Editing and Formatting
64(1)
Printing
65(1)
Writing Coherent Paragraphs
66(31)
Unity
68(7)
Organizational Strategies
75(4)
Patterns of Development
79(7)
Transition
86(3)
Transitional Paragraphs
89(8)
Thinking Critically and Writing Arguments
97(19)
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
97(2)
Truth in Reasoning
99(1)
Writing Arguments
99(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)
Other Documentation Styles
477(4)
Sample Research Papers
481(39)
Sample MLA Paper
481(17)
Sample APA Paper
498(22)
PART IX ACADEMIC AND BUSINESS WRITING
Writing in the Humanities and about Literature
520(16)
Writing about Literature
521(7)
Checklist: Literary Topics
524(4)
Sample Literary--Art Analysis
528(8)
Writing in the Social, Natural, and Applied Sciences
536(11)
Writing in the Social Sciences
536(4)
Writing in the Natural Sciences
540(4)
Writing in the Applied Sciences
544(3)
Writing Essay Examinations
547(7)
Preparing for the Examination
547(1)
Evaluating the Question and Timing Yourself
548(1)
Deciding on a Response Strategy
549(1)
Planning and Prewriting
550(1)
Drafting Your Response
550(1)
Revising
551(1)
Sample Essay Examination Response
551(3)
Checklist: Strategies For Taking Essay Examinations
553(1)
Writing for Business
554(14)
The Memo
554(2)
The Business Letter
556(7)
Facsimile Transaction
563(1)
The Resume
564(4)
Glossary of Usage 568(17)
Glossary of Grammatical Terms 585(16)
The User's Self-Help Section 601(12)
Index 613

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