| Preface | xi |
| Acknowledgments | xv |
| Part I | Essentials of Grammar | 1 |
| 1 | Parts of Speech | 3 |
| Nouns | 4 |
| Proper, Common, and Collective Nouns | 4 |
| Functions of Nouns | 4 |
| Plural Nouns | 5 |
| Possessive Nouns | 5 |
| Pronouns | 7 |
| Personal Pronouns | 7 |
| Case of Personal Pronouns | 8 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | 8 |
| Possessive Pronouns | 9 |
| Relative Pronouns | 10 |
| Interrogative Pronouns | 11 |
| Demonstrative Pronouns | 11 |
| Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement | 11 |
| Who or Whom? | 13 |
| Verbs | 14 |
| Basic Verb Forms | 15 |
| Auxiliary Verbs | 15 |
| Verb Tenses | 16 |
| Regular Verbs | 16 |
| Functions of the Six Tenses | 18 |
| Irregular Verbs | 21 |
| Common Errors in Using Verb Tenses | 21 |
| Mood | 24 |
| Active and Passive Voices | 25 |
| Subject-Verb Agreement | 26 |
| Special Subject-Verb Agreement Cases | 27 |
| Adjectives | 29 |
| Demonstrative Adjectives | 30 |
| Limiting Adjectives | 30 |
| Comparisons | 31 |
| Compound Adjectives | 32 |
| Predicate Adjectives | 32 |
| Adverbs | 32 |
| Forming Adverbs | 32 |
| Types of Adverbs | 33 |
| Comparisons | 34 |
| Adverb Position and Meaning | 34 |
| Adjective or Adverb? | 35 |
| Prepositions | 36 |
| Phrasal Prepositions | 37 |
| Common Errors to Avoid | 37 |
| Prepositions Used with Verbs | 38 |
| Conjunctions | 39 |
| Coordinating Conjunctions | 39 |
| Correlative Conjunctions | 39 |
| Subordinating Conjunctions | 40 |
| Linking Adverbs | 41 |
| Interjections | 42 |
| Common Interjections | 42 |
| Punctuation | 43 |
| 2 | Punctuation and Punctuation Style | 45 |
| End Marks: Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point | 45 |
| Period | 45 |
| Question Mark | 46 |
| Exclamation Point | 47 |
| Comma | 47 |
| Series Comma | 48 |
| Independent Clauses | 48 |
| Introductory Clauses, Phrases, Expressions | 49 |
| Nonrestrictive Clauses and Nonessential Material | 49 |
| Direct Address | 49 |
| Commas and Clarity | 50 |
| Traditional Comma Uses | 50 |
| Comma Faults | 51 |
| Semicolon | 51 |
| Independent Clauses | 52 |
| Series | 53 |
| Colon | 53 |
| Before a Series or List | 53 |
| Between Independent Clauses | 54 |
| Time | 54 |
| Formal and Business Communications | 54 |
| Quotation Marks | 54 |
| Punctuation with Quotation Marks | 55 |
| Brief and Long Quotations | 56 |
| Single Quotation Marks | 56 |
| Titles | 56 |
| Terms and Expressions | 57 |
| Apostrophe | 57 |
| Possessive of Singular Nouns | 57 |
| Possessive of Plural Nouns | 58 |
| Possessive of Indefinite and Personal Pronouns | 58 |
| Individual and Joint Possession | 58 |
| Units of Measure as Possessive Adjectives | 59 |
| Plural Forms of Symbols | 59 |
| Contractions | 59 |
| Hyphen | 60 |
| Compound Numbers and Fractions | 60 |
| Continuous Numbers | 60 |
| Prefixes and Suffixes | 61 |
| Compound Adjectives | 61 |
| Word Division | 61 |
| Hyphenated Names | 62 |
| To Avoid Confusion | 62 |
| Dash | 62 |
| Parentheses | 63 |
| Brackets | 63 |
| Ellipses | 63 |
| Italics | 64 |
| Emphasis | 64 |
| Foreign Words and Phrases | 64 |
| Titles | 65 |
| Vehicles | 65 |
| 3 | Sentences and Sentence Patterns | 67 |
| Sentences, Fragments, and Run-Ons | 67 |
| Phrases and Clauses | 68 |
| Phrases | 69 |
| Clauses | 69 |
| Subject and Predicate | 70 |
| Forms of the Subject | 70 |
| Forms of the Predicate | 72 |
| Sentence Constructions | 74 |
| Simple Sentence | 74 |
| Compound Sentence | 74 |
| Complex Sentence | 75 |
| Compound-Complex Sentence | 75 |
| Modifiers in Sentences | 75 |
| 4 | Capitalization, Abbreviations, and Numbers | 77 |
| Capitalization | 77 |
| Proper Nouns and Adjectives | 77 |
| Hyphenated Names and Prefixes | 78 |
| Family Relationships | 78 |
| Nationalities and Races | 79 |
| Languages and School Subjects | 79 |
| Religious Names and Terms | 79 |
| Academic Degrees and Personal Titles | 81 |
| Historic Events, Special Events, and Holidays | 81 |
| Historical Monuments, Places, and Buildings | 82 |
| Calendar Days, Months, and Seasons | 82 |
| Documents | 82 |
| Titles of Publications | 82 |
| Compass Points | 83 |
| Geographic Names and Regions | 83 |
| Scientific Terms | 84 |
| Capitals with Numbers | 86 |
| Abbreviations | 86 |
| General Guidelines | 86 |
| Personal Names and Titles | 87 |
| Company Names | 90 |
| Agencies and Organizations | 90 |
| Geographic Terms | 91 |
| Time | 94 |
| Scholarly Abbreviations | 96 |
| Measures | 97 |
| Science and Technology | 98 |
| Commercial Abbreviations | 99 |
| Numbers | 100 |
| Arabic Numbers and Roman Numerals | 100 |
| Figures or Words | 101 |
| Ages | 103 |
| Names | 104 |
| Governmental Designations | 104 |
| Organizations | 105 |
| Addresses and Thoroughfares | 106 |
| Time of Day | 106 |
| Dates | 107 |
| Money | 109 |
| Percentages | 110 |
| Fractions and Decimals | 110 |
| Measures | 111 |
| Temperature | 112 |
| Parts of a Book | 112 |
| Inclusive Numbers | 113 |
| 5 | Spelling and Word Division | 115 |
| Spelling Guidelines | 115 |
| Prefixes | 115 |
| Suffixes | 118 |
| Plurals | 126 |
| The i and e Rules | 131 |
| Word Division | 132 |
| General Rules | 132 |
| Syllables and Word Division | 132 |
| Single-Letter Syllables | 133 |
| Final and Double Consonants | 134 |
| Hyphenated Words | 134 |
| Proper Names | 135 |
| Figures and Abbreviations | 135 |
| Part II | Style Considerations | 137 |
| 6 | Sentences | 139 |
| Use Clarity and Meaning as the Criteria for Good Sentences | 139 |
| Include Only One to Two Ideas in Each Sentence | 140 |
| Vary Sentence Patterns to Avoid Monotonous Use of Any Particular Construction | 141 |
| 7 | Brevity | 145 |
| Avoid the Phrases There Is and There Are | 145 |
| Condense Clauses Beginning with Which, That, or Who into Fewer Words | 145 |
| Strike Out the Article the Wherever Possible | 146 |
| Eliminate Wordy and Redundant Phrases and Expressions | 146 |
| 8 | Clarity | 149 |
| Keep Words Fresh | 149 |
| Jargon | 149 |
| Buzzwords | 150 |
| Cliches | 151 |
| Keep Words Specific and Concrete | 151 |
| Keep References Clear | 152 |
| Keep Modifiers Close to Words They Modify | 153 |
| Place Adverbs Close to Words They Modify | 153 |
| Keep Subject and Verb Together | 153 |
| Make Sure That Antecedents Are Clear | 154 |
| Keep Structures Parallel | 155 |
| 9 | Accuracy | 157 |
| Double-Check Figures, Dates, Specifications, and Other Details | 157 |
| Be Sure That All Names, Titles, and Abbreviations Are Spelled Properly | 157 |
| Verify the Accuracy of Direct Quotations | 157 |
| Make Sure That Ideas Are Presented Clearly | 158 |
| Make Sure Your Work Is Neat and Legible | 158 |
| 10 | Gender-Inclusive Language | 159 |
| Nouns and Pronouns | 159 |
| Alternative Noun Forms | 161 |
| Suffixes ess, ette, ix, and ienne/ine | 162 |
| Social Titles | 164 |
| Salutations | 164 |
| Occupational Titles | 165 |
| Appendix A | Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs | 167 |
| Appendix B | Verb-Preposition Combinations | 169 |
| Appendix C | Frequently Confused Words | 175 |
| Appendix D | Frequently Misspelled Words | 183 |
| Glossary | 189 |
| Index | 195 |
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