English grammar for the utterly confused (utterly confused series)

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English

Grammar

for the Utterly

Confused

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English

Grammar

for the Utterly

Confused

Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.

McGraw-Hill

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To Robert from Farmingdale... always and forever.

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I

would like to thank Barbara Gilson, the editorial director of Schaum. Barbara, you

are a dear friend, and it is always a treat working with you.

Thank you also to all the hard-working people at McGraw-Hill who take my manu￾scripts and turn them into books. They are Andrew Littell, Maureen B. Walker, and

Maureen Harper. You make me look so good!

And grateful acknowledgement to the wonderful staff of the Farmingdale Public

Library. From reference to circulation, youth services to technical processing, you

always manage to get me the material I need. Your experience, expertise, and kindness

are much appreciated. Finally, my thanks to my children, Charles and Samantha, and

their friends. When “book writing” gets tough, I can always count on the kids for a much￾needed break!

vii

Acknowledgments

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PART 1 WELCOME TO GRAMMARLAND 1

Chapter 1 Parts of Speech 3

Adjectives 4

Adverbs 5

Conjunctions 7

Interjections 7

Nouns 8

Prepositions 9

Pronouns 9

Verbs 12

It’s a Wrap 13

Test Yourself 14

Chapter 2 Using Pronouns Correctly 19

Overview of Pronoun Case 20

Using the Nominative Case 20

Using the Objective Case 21

Using the Possessive Case 22

Three Other Rules for Using Pronouns 23

Use Correct Pronoun Reference 24

The Generic Masculine Pronoun 26

ix

Contents

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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use.

x Contents

Using Who, Which, That 26

It’s a Wrap 27

Test Yourself 27

Chapter 3 Using Verbs Correctly 31

Overview of Verb Functions 32

The Six Verb Tenses 32

Regular and Irregular Verbs 33

How to Use Tenses 37

Active and Passive Voice 39

It’s a Wrap 40

Test Yourself 40

PART 2 USAGE AND ABUSAGE 45

Chapter 4 Using Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly 47

Is It an Adjective or an Adverb? 48

Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Degrees of Comparisons 49

Comparing with Adjectives and Adverbs 51

Using Predicate Adjectives after Linking Verbs 52

Double Negatives 54

It’s a Wrap 55

Test Yourself 55

Chapter 5 Agreement: Matching Sentence Parts 61

Like Peas in a Pod 62

A Singular Subject Must Have a Singular Verb 63

A Plural Subject Must Have a Plural Verb 65

Collective Nouns and Indefinite Pronouns 66

Special Problems in Agreement 69

Agreement of Pronouns and Antecedents 70

It’s a Wrap 71

Test Yourself 71

Chapter 6 The 25 Most Common Usage Problems 77

Top Trouble Spots in Writing 78

Most Common Grammar and Usage Errors 79

Most Common Sentence Errors 83

Most Common Spelling Errors 83

Most Common Punctuation Errors 92

Most Common Capitalization Errors 93

Most Common Proofreading Errors 93

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Contents xi

Improve Your Writing, One Step at a Time 94

It’s a Wrap 94

Test Yourself 94

PART 3 SENTENCE SENSE 99

Chapter 7 Phrases and Clauses 101

Overview of Phrases 102

Prepositional Phrases 102

Appositives and Appositive Phrases 103

Verbal Phrases 103

Infinitive Phrases 104

Overview of Clauses 105

Dependent Clauses 105

It’s a Wrap 108

Test Yourself 108

Chapter 8 Writing Correct and Complete Sentences 115

What Is a Sentence? 116

The Four Different Sentence Functions 117

The Four Different Sentence Types 117

Choosing Sentence Types 120

Sentence Errors: Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices 121

Sentence Errors: Fragments 122

It’s a Wrap 124

Test Yourself 124

Chapter 9 Sentence Coordination and Subordination 131

Coordinating Sentence Parts 132

Subordinating Sentence Parts 134

Coordination versus Subordination 136

Parallel Structure 137

It’s a Wrap 137

Test Yourself 137

PART 4 A WRITER’S TOOLS 145

Chapter 10 Punctuation 147

Apostrophes 148

Brackets 149

Colons 150

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xii Contents

Commas 150

Dashes 153

Ellipsis 153

Exclamation Marks 154

Hyphens 154

Parentheses 154

Periods 155

Question Marks 155

Quotation Marks 155

Semicolons 156

Slashes 156

It’s a Wrap 157

Test Yourself 157

Chapter 11 Capitalization and Abbreviations 163

Avoiding Capital Offenses: The Rules of Capitalization 164

Capitalize Names and Titles 164

Capitalize Names of Places and Events 167

Capitalize Names of Languages and Religions 167

Capitalize Proper Adjectives and Product Names 168

Capitalize Names of Organizations, Institutions, Courses, and Famous Buildings 169

Capitalize Names of Days, Months, and Holidays 169

Capitalize Time and Other Proper Nouns 170

Capitalize the First Word of . . . 170

Good Things Come in Small Packages: The Rules of Abbreviations 172

It’s a Wrap 174

Test Yourself 175

PART 5 STRUTTIN’ YOUR STUFF WITH STYLE 181

Chapter 12 Developing Your Own Writing Style 183

What is Style in Writing? 184

The Elements of Style 185

Audience and Style 187

Purpose and Style 188

Developing Your Style 189

It’s a Wrap 190

Test Yourself 190

Chapter 13 Diction and Conciseness 197

What is Diction? 198

Levels of Diction 198

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Contents xiii

Choosing the Appropriate Level of Diction 200

Less Is More: Be Concise 201

Three Ways to Write Concise Sentences 203

It’s a Wrap 206

Test Yourself 206

Chapter 14 Words and Expressions to Avoid 211

Use Nonbiased Language 212

Replace Clichés with Fresh Expressions 214

Avoid Empty Language 215

George Orwell on Style 217

It’s a Wrap 218

Test Yourself 218

Index 225

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