A Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usage 6e

by Beason, Larry; Lester, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780312697792
• ISBN10: 0312697791
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Spiral Bound
• Copyright: 2011-11-24
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

A Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usageis 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.

Author Biography

LARRY BEASON is associate professor of English and director of composition at the University of South Alabama. His teaching interests include composition, grammar, and the teaching of writing. He has published in journals such as Research in the Teaching of English and Journal of Business Communication.

 

MARK LESTER, former professor of English at Eastern Washington University, is the author of over a dozen books on grammar and linguistics. He has served as the chair of the department of English as a Second Language at the University of Hawaii and chair of the department of English at Eastern Washington University.

Table of Contents

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.