The Elements of Grammar for Writers

A Word about Grammar. 1. Sentences and Sentence Boundaries. Writing Complete Sentences. Finding Verbs. Finding Subjects. Usage Note: What Is Syntax? Resolving Complications. Recognizing Clauses. Checking for Subordinate Words. Useful List: Common Subordinating Words. Identifying Phrases. Telling Verbs from Verbals. Usage Note: When Is a Verb not a Verb? Revising Fragments. Separating Sentences Clearly. Revising Fused Sentences. Revising Comma Splices. Using Conjunctive Adverbs Effectively. Achieving Parallelism. Parallel Structure Illustrated. Joining Elements with Coordinating Conjunctions. Putting Elements in Series. Connecting Elements with Correlative Conjunctions. Balancing Elements in Comparisons. Writing Tip: How Can I Smooth Out Choppy Style? 2. Verbs. Managing Verbs. Handling Irregular Verbs. Helpful List: Frequently Used Irregular Verbs. Using Helping Verbs. Keeping Regular Verbs Regular. Sorting Out Sound-Alike Verbs. Usage Note: What Is a Transitive Verb? Making Subjects and Verbs Agree. Compound Subjects and Verbs Agree. Compound Subjects. Collective Nouns. Expletives. Keeping Predication Clear. Clearing Up Mixed Constructions. Using Tense Consistently. Writing Tip: What Tense Do I Use for Writing about Lit and Film? Using Active and Passive Voice. 3. Pronouns. Choosing the Correct Case of Pronouns. Useful List: Cases of Pronouns. Using Pronouns with Compounds. Using Pronouns with Prepositions. Using Pronouns with Appositives. Writing Tip: Do I Write You and I or You and Me ? Using Pronouns as Predicate Nominatives. Using Pronouns in Comparisons. Choosing Who or Whom. Using Possessive Pronouns. Making Pronoun Reference Clear. Using This and Which. Usage Note: What Does This Mean. Achieving Agreement. Using Indefinite Pronouns. Avoiding Exclusive Pronouns. Possessive Pronouns with Gerunds. 4. Modifiers. Keeping Adjectives and Adverbs Straight. How Adjectives Function. How Adverbs Function. Knowing When to Use an Adverb. Usage Note: Do I Use Well or Good ? Avoiding Double Negatives. Using Comparative and Superlative Modifiers. Double Comparisons. Modifiers That Don''t Compare. Arranging Modifiers Effectively. Dangling Modifiers. Writing Tip: Where''s the Best Place to Put a Modifier? 5. Punctuation. Deciding about Commas between Main Sentence Elements. Finding Sentence Elements. Commas in Long Sentences. Commas in Compound Sentences. Setting Off Sentence Elements with Punctuation. Commas Setting Off Beginning Structures. Commas Setting Off Mid-Sentence Interrupters. Commas Setting Off Ending Structures. Writing Tip: Where Do I Put the Commas? Using Dashes and Parentheses. Usage Note: What''s the Difference between a Colon and a Semicolon? Using Apostrophes. Possessives. Plural Possessives. Possessives without Apostrophes. Telling Plurals from Possessives. Contractions. Maverick Apostrophes. Using Quotation Marks. Reporting Tag at the Beginning. Reporting Tag at the End. Reporting Tag in the Middle. Punctuating Dialogue. 6. Mechanics. Using Capital Letters. First Word in a Sentence. Proper Nouns and Adjectives. People''s Titles. Usage Note: What Nouns Do I Capitalize? Words in Titles. I and O. Using Abbreviations. Commonly Accepted Abbreviations. Abbreviating Less Familiar Words. Avoiding Inappropriate Abbreviations. Writing Tip: How Do I Write Numbers. Using Italics (Underlining). Italicizing Titles and Names. Usage Note: What Titles Do I Italicize? Italicizing Words and Phrases. Using Italics for Emphasis. Dividing Words. One-Syllable Words. Acceptable Divisions. Compound Words. Preparing a Manuscript. Choosing Appropriate Materials. Following Standard Format. Proofreading. Appendix A. Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs. Appendix B. Tenses of Verbs. Glossary of Grammatical Terms.Funk, Robert is the author of 'The Elements of Grammar for Writers' with ISBN 9780023401411 and ISBN 0023401419.