The Writer’s World: Sentences and Paragraphs

Cover
......Page 1
Title Page
......Page 2
Copyright Page
......Page 3
Brief Contents
......Page 4
Contents
......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
PART I The Writing Process......Page 16
What Is Exploring?......Page 18
Purpose......Page 19
Exploring Strategies......Page 20
Journal and Portfolio Writing......Page 23
What Is Developing?......Page 26
Narrow the Topic......Page 28
The Topic Sentence......Page 29
The Supporting Ideas......Page 34
The Paragraph Plan......Page 40
The First Draft......Page 41
What Are Revising and Editing?......Page 43
Revise for Unity......Page 44
Revise for Adequate Support......Page 46
Revise for Coherence......Page 48
Revise for Style......Page 50
Edit for Errors......Page 51
The Final Draft......Page 54
What Are Paragraph Patterns?......Page 56
A) The Illustration Paragraph......Page 57
B) The Narration Paragraph......Page 61
C) The Description Paragraph......Page 65
D) The Process Paragraph......Page 70
E) The Definition Paragraph......Page 74
F) The Comparison and Contrast Paragraph......Page 78
G) The Cause and Effect Paragraph......Page 83
H) The Classification Paragraph......Page 88
I) The Argument Paragraph......Page 93
Exploring the Essay......Page 99
Explore Topics......Page 102
The Thesis Statement......Page 103
The Supporting Ideas......Page 105
The Essay Plan......Page 106
The Introduction......Page 108
The Conclusion......Page 109
The First Draft......Page 110
The Final Draft......Page 111
PART II The Editing Handbook......Page 114
6 Nouns, Determiners, and Prepositions......Page 116
Nouns......Page 117
Count Nouns and Noncount Nouns......Page 121
Determiners......Page 122
Prepositions......Page 126
Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement......Page 132
Indefinite Pronouns......Page 134
Vague Pronouns......Page 136
Pronoun Shifts......Page 137
Pronoun Case......Page 139
Problems with Possessive Pronouns......Page 140
Relative Pronouns......Page 144
Reflexive Pronouns (-self, -selves)......Page 146
8 Identifying Subjects and Verbs in Simple Sentences......Page 150
Identifying Subjects......Page 151
Identifying Prepositional Phrases......Page 154
Identifying Verbs......Page 155
9 Present and Past Tenses......Page 161
The Simple Present Tense......Page 162
The Simple Past Tense......Page 168
Avoiding Double Negatives......Page 175
Past Participles......Page 179
The Present Perfect Tense: Have/Has + Past Participle......Page 184
The Past Perfect Tense: Had + Past Participle......Page 187
The Past Participle as an Adjective......Page 189
The Passive Voice: Be + Past Participle......Page 190
11 Progressive Tenses......Page 196
Present Progressive......Page 197
Past Progressive......Page 199
Using Complete Verbs......Page 201
Other Progressive Forms......Page 202
12 Other Verb Forms......Page 205
Modals......Page 206
Nonstandard Forms: Gonna, Gotta, Wanna......Page 209
Conditional Forms......Page 211
Gerunds and Infinitives......Page 214
13 Subject–Verb Agreement......Page 219
Basic Subject–Verb Agreement Rules......Page 220
Verb Before the Subject......Page 224
More Than One Subject......Page 225
Special Subject Forms......Page 226
Interrupting Words and Phrases......Page 228
Consistent Verb Tense......Page 233
Comparing Simple and Compound Sentences......Page 239
Combining Sentences Using Coordinating Conjunctions......Page 240
Combining Sentences Using Semicolons......Page 244
Combining Sentences Using Transitional Expressions......Page 245
Understanding Complex Sentences......Page 250
Using Subordinating Conjunctions......Page 252
Using Relative Pronouns......Page 255
Combining Questions......Page 257
Vary the Opening Words......Page 262
Vary the Length and Structure of Sentences......Page 264
Identifying Fragments......Page 268
Phrase Fragments......Page 269
Explanatory Fragments......Page 270
Dependent-Clause Fragments......Page 272
19 Run-Ons......Page 277
Identifying and Correcting Run-Ons......Page 278
20 Faulty Parallel Structure......Page 284
Identifying Parallel Structure......Page 285
Correcting Faulty Parallel Structure......Page 286
21 Adjectives and Adverbs......Page 293
Adjectives......Page 294
Adverbs......Page 298
Comparative and Superlative Forms......Page 301
22 Mistakes with Modifiers......Page 309
Misplaced Modifiers......Page 310
Dangling Modifiers......Page 314
23 Exact Language......Page 320
Using a Dictionary and Thesaurus......Page 321
Using Specific Vocabulary......Page 323
Avoiding Clichés......Page 325
Slang versus Standard English......Page 326
24 Spelling......Page 329
Writing ie or ei......Page 330
Adding Prefixes and Suffixes......Page 331
Writing Two-Part Words......Page 336
120 Commonly Misspelled Words......Page 337
25 Commonly Confused Words......Page 342
Commonly Confused Words......Page 343
Understanding Commas......Page 352
Commas in a Series......Page 353
Commas After Introductory Words and Phrases......Page 354
Commas Around Interrupting Words and Phrases......Page 355
Commas in Compound Sentences......Page 357
Commas in Complex Sentences......Page 358
Commas in Business Letters......Page 361
Understanding Apostrophes......Page 365
Using Apostrophes in Contractions......Page 366
Using Apostrophes to Show Ownership......Page 369
Using Apostrophes in Expressions of Time......Page 371
28 Quotation Marks and Capitalization......Page 375
Quotation Marks......Page 376
Capitalization......Page 381
Titles......Page 383
29 Editing Practice......Page 387
PART III Reading Strategies and Selections......Page 394
Reading Strategies......Page 396
“Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan......Page 399
“Your World’s a Stage” by Josh Freed......Page 401
“An Immigrant’s Summer of Firsts” by Margarita Gokun Silver......Page 403
“Celanthropists” by Katrina Onstad......Page 406
“A Cultural Minefield” by William Ecenbarger......Page 410
“Fads” by David A. Locher......Page 413
“Shopping for Religion” by Ellen Goodman......Page 415
“The Cat Bin Lady” by Matthew Fraser......Page 418
“The Smell of Hope” by Al Andrews......Page 422
“Stargazing” by Bill Bryson......Page 424
“Saving Animals” by Tom Spears......Page 426
“Is It Love or a Trick?” by Jon Katz......Page 428
“How to Beat Work Stress” by Stephanie Goddard......Page 432
“The Allure of Apple” by Juan Rodriguez......Page 434
“How to Remember Names” by Roger Seip......Page 437
“The Psychology of Price” by Terry O’Reilly......Page 439
“Don’t Be a Work Hero” by Jim Braude......Page 442
Appendix 1 Grammar......Page 446
Appendix 2 Verb Tenses......Page 448
Appendix 3 Combining Ideas in Sentences......Page 449
Appendix 4 Punctuation and Mechanics......Page 450
Appendix 5 Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary Logs......Page 453
Credits......Page 457
Index......Page 459