Description

From grammar and punctuation to the creation of essays and business letters, The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook is a must-have reference tool for today's writer. As easy to use as a dictionary, this handbook is designed specifically for non-native English speakers:

• Pays extra attention to articles, phrasal verbs, subordinate clauses, and other commonly troublesome items
• Uses everyday language and simple sentence structure in both explanations and examples
• Examples reflect topics of multicultural interest
• Includes reference lists.

Each part focuses on a single topic, building from sentence structure and mechanics to writing, revising, and proper formatting. Students also learn how to write a research paper in the MLA and APA styles. Practice exercises provide immediate application, and 'Special Tips' throughout indicate common errors, explain confusing points, and offer helpful hints. The Essentials of English includes eight parts, an answer key, and an index.

Features

Features and Benefits

• F: Emphasis on problems common to intermediate to high-intermediate ESL writers.
• B: Gives students what they need without exposing them to material less relevant to their concerns.

• F: Simple and clear explanations and examples written in everyday language.
• B: Makes material accessible to students.

• F: Eight tabbed sections: The Basics; Clear Sentences; Grammar; Punctuation; Mechanics; Writing and Revising Formats; Lists; Appendices.
• B: Makes it easy for students to find what they are looking for.

• F: Sections on business letters, resume writing, memos, etc.
• B: Meets non-academic needs of students.

• F: Lists geared to ESL students’ needs, including irregular verbs, transition signals, two-word verbs, verb + gerund/infinitive, adjective + preposition.
• B: Provides quick and easy answers to common questions.

Table of Contents

PART 1 The Basics 1 Words

a Nouns

b Pronouns

c Verbs

d Adjectives

e Articles

f Adverbs

g Prepositions

h Conjunctions

i Interjections

2 Phrases

a Noun phrases

b Infinitive phrases

c Gerund phrases

d Prepositional phrases

e -ing and -ed phrases

f Appositive phrases

3 Clauses

a Independent clauses

b Dependent clauses

4 Sentences

a Sentence parts

b Sentence patterns

c Question patterns

d Kinds of sentences

PART 2 Clear Sentences 5 Connecting Ideas

a Coordination

b Subordination

c Coordination or subordination?

6 Connecting Ideas by Coordination

a Making compound sentences

b Connecting words coordinating conjunctions

c Connecting words with correlative conjunctions

d Using parallel forms

7 Connecting Ideas by Subordination

a Making complex sentences

b Using appositives

c Using -ing and -ed phrases

d Using shortened adverb clauses

8 Common Sentence Problems

a Fragments

b Run-together sentences

c Choppy writing

d Overuse of and, but, and so

9 Word Order

a Normal word order

b Inverted (verb-subject) word order

c Word order of direct and indirect objects

d Varying sentence openings

10 Word Choice

a Dictionaries and thesauruses

b Informal language and slang

c Gender-sensitive (sexist) language

PART 3 Grammar 11 Verb Forms and Tenses

a Verb forms

b Verb tenses

c Special tense combinations

d Modals

e Passive voice

12 Special Situations with Verbs

a Gerunds

b Infinitives

c Gerunds vs. infinitives

d Phrasal verbs

13 Subject-Verb Agreement

a Singular subject

b Singular or plural subjects

c Plural subjects

d Confusing situations

14 Nouns: Count and Noncount

a Count nouns

b Noncount nouns

c Count or noncount nouns

d Expressing quantity

15 Articles

a For generic nouns: a, an, or no article ( æ )

b For indefinite articles: a, an, or some

c For definite nouns: the

d Idiomatic uses of articles

e Choosing the right article

16 Pronouns

a Subject, object, and possessive forms

b Special situations

c Myself, ourselves

d Each other and one another

17 Pronoun Agreement

a With indefinite pronouns: someone, everybody

b With generic nouns: a student, an employee

c With collective nouns: team, class

d With either ...or and neither ... nor

18 Pronouns: Unclear Reference 19 Adjectives and Adverbs: Position

a Position of adjectives

b Position of adverbs

20 Special Situations with Adjectives

a Agreement of adjectives

b Order of adjectives

c Participial adjectives: boring or bored?

21 Comparisons

a Equal degree: as big as, the same size as

b Comparative and superlative degrees: bigger than, the biggest; more difficult than, the most difficult

c Parallel forms with comparisons

22 Negatives

a No vs. not

b Double negatives

23 Adjective Clauses

a Subject pronouns: who, which, that

b Object pronouns: whom, which, that, æ (no pronoun)

c Possessive pronoun: whose

d Relative adverbs: where and when

e Punctuation of adjective clauses

PART 4 Punctuation 24 End Punctuation

a Periods

b Question marks

c Exclamation points

25 Commas

a In compound sentences

b After introducers

c Around extra-information modifiers

d With transition signals

e With direct quotations

f With items in a series

g Other uses of commas

26 Semicolons

a In compound sentences

b In compound sentences with transition signals

c In a series containing commas

27 Colons

a In sentences

b Other uses of colons

28 Apostrophes

a With possessives

b In contractions and in years

c With special plurals

29 Quotation Marks

a With direct quotations

b Other uses of quotation marks

30 Parentheses 31 Dashes 32 Brackets and Ellipses PART 5 Mechanics 33 Capital Letters

a Pronoun I

b First word of a sentence

c Proper nouns and most proper adjectives

d Titles and subtitles of works

e Greetings and closings in letters

f Certain abbreviations

34 Hyphens

a In compound words

b Dividing words at the end of a line

35 Underlining and Italics

a Titles of long works

b Foreign words

c Numbers, letters, and words used as words

36 Abbreviations

a Titles of people

b Dates and times

c Familiar abbreviations

d Postal codes

e Latin abbreviations

f Words usually not abbreviated

37 Numbers

a Numbers written as words

b Numbers written as numerals

c Forming plural numbers

38 Spelling

a ei or ie rule

b Adding suffixes

c Forming plurals

d British and American spelling

PART 6 Writing and Revising 39 Writing in English 40 The Writing Process

a Creating

b Organizing

c Writing

d Polishing

41 Paragraphs

a Topic sentence

b Supporting sentences

c Paragraph unity

d Paragraph coherence

e Concluding sentence

f Patterns of paragraph organization

42 Essays

a Introduction

b Body

c Conclusion

d Patterns of essay organization

PART 7 Formats 43 Writing on a Computer 44 Document Formats

a Academic papers (MLA style)

b Lab reports

c Business documents

d E-mail

45 Research Papers

a Making a schedule

b Taking a library tour

c Choosing a topic

d Collecting information

e Reading and taking notes

f Writing and revising the paper

g Citing your sources (MLA style)

h Sample research paper

PART 8 Reference Lists

46 Irregular Verbs

47 Verb + Prepositions Combinations

48 Phrasal Verbs

49 Adjective + Preposition Combinations

50 Pairs of -ing / -ed Adjectives

51 Proper Nouns with The

52 Connecting Words

53 Transition Signals

54 Troublesome Words

55 Editing Symbols

56 APA Style

Answer Key

Back Cover

From grammar and punctuation to the creation of essays and business letters, The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook is a must-have reference tool for today's writer. As easy to use as a dictionary, this handbook is designed specifically for non-native English speakers:

• Pays extra attention to articles, phrasal verbs, subordinate clauses, and other commonly troublesome items.
• Uses everyday language and simple sentence structure in both explanations and examples.
• Examples reflect topics of multicultural interest.
• Includes reference lists especially helpful to non-native speakers.

Each part focuses on a single topic, building from sentence structure and mechanics to writing, revising, and proper formatting. Students also learn how to write a research paper in the MLA and APA styles. Practice exercises provide immediate application, and 'Special Tips' throughout indicate common errors, explain confusing points, and offer helpful hints. The Essentials of English includes eight parts, an answer key, and an index:

• The Basics
• Clear Sentences
• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Mechanics
• Writing and Revising
• Formats
• Research Papers
• Reference Lists

Exercises to Accompany The Essentials of English provides additional practice related to the writing process, sentence structure, grammar, pronunciation, and more.

Reader Review(s)

Click here to read a review of this book.  The review was written by Julie Vorholt-Alcorn of Portland State University (OR).