Preface for Instructors
Why Use This Book — For Students
How to Use This Book
Grammar without Tears
Unit One: Understanding the Basic Sentence
1. Fragments
2. Run-ons: Fused Sentences and Comma Splices
Unit Two: Making Subjects and Verbs Agree
3. Nearest-Noun Agreement Errors
4. Agreement with There is and There was
5. Agreement with Compound Subjects
Unit Three: Using Correct Verb Tenses
6. Present, Past, and Tense Shifting
7. The Past and the Perfect Tenses
Unit Four: Understanding Pronouns
8. Pronoun Agreement
9. Vague Pronouns: This, That, and It
10. Choosing the Correct Pronoun Form
11. Who, Whom, and That
12. Eliminating Sexist Pronouns
Unit Five: Using Commas Correctly
13. Commas with And, But, Or, and Other Coordinating Conjunctions
14. Commas with Transitional Terms
15. Commas with Adverb Clauses
16. Commas with Introductory Elements
17. Commas with Adjective Clauses
18, Commas with Appositives
*19. Unnecessary Commas
Unit Six: Using Apostrophes Correctly
20. Apostrophes in Contractions
21. Apostrophes Showing Possession
22. Unnecessary Apostrophes
Unit Seven: Using Other Punctuation and Capitalizing Words
23. Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation
24. Semicolons
25. Colons
26. Capitalization
Unit Eight: Writing Clear Sentences
27. Parallelism
28. Passive Voice
29. Dangling Modifiers
Unit Nine: ESL: Choosing the Right Article
30. Incorrect Plurals and Indefinite Articles with Noncount Nouns
31. Using A/An, Some, and The
32. Making Generalizations without Articles
Unit Ten: ESL: Using Verbs Correctly
33. The Progressive Tenses
34. Two-Word Verbs
35. Information Questions
36. Word Order in Noun Clauses
*Unit Eleven: Documenting Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
*37. Using Direct Quotations and Paraphrases
*38. Citing Sources Correctly
Unit Twelve: A Commonsense Writing Guide
39. Reading
40. Planning
41. Drafting
42. Revising
Appendix A: Brief Documentation Guide for MLA
*Appendix B: Brief Documentation Guide for APA
Appendix C: Guide to Grammar Terminology
Appendix D: Glossary of Commonly Confused Words
Appendix E: Glossary of Commonly Misspelled Words
Appendix F: Glossary of Common Two-Word Verbs
Answer Key
Index
ESL Index
Correction Symbols
* new to this edition.