AMSCO SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS, INC. 315 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 AMSCO Contributing Editors Auditi Chakravarty Director of Language Arts Amsco School Publications, Inc. Bonnie Boehme Editor Nesbitt Graphics, Inc. This book has been adapted from the following Amsco publications: Building Power in Writing By Henry I. Christ English Alive: Complete Edition By Harold Levine Text and cover design: Nesbitt Graphics, Inc. Composition: Nesbitt Graphics, Inc. When ordering this book please specify: Either R 798 W or GRAMMAR AND USAGE FOR BETTER WRITING Please visit our Web site at www.amscopub.com ISBN 1-56765-117-8 NYC Item 56765-117-7 Copyright © 2004 by Amsco School Publications, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 08 07 06 05 04 Contents Introduction: How to Use This Book vii Part ONE Parts of Speech 1 The Subject 3 The Predicate 7 Verbs 10 Action and Linking Verbs 13 Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases 16 Verbs in Contractions 19 Nouns 22 Common and Proper Nouns 24 Plural Nouns 27 Possessive Nouns 34 Compound Subjects 38 Compound Verbs 41 Nouns as Direct Objects 45 Nouns as Indirect Objects 48 Pronouns and Antecedents 52 Personal Pronouns 55 Pronouns in Contractions 58 Review of Verbs, Nouns, and Pronouns 61 Adjectives 68 Predicate Adjectives and Predicate Nouns 72 Adverbs 79 Forming Adverbs from Adjectives 84 Recognizing Adverbs and Adjectives 86 iii Review of Adjectives and Adverbs 89 Prepositions 94 Prepositional Phrases 98 Conjunctions 102 Interjections 108 Review of Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections 111 Part TWO Sentence Composition 115 Characteristics of Good Sentences 116 Comparing Sentences 117 Writing Sentences 120 Revising Sentences 121 Clear, Forceful Sentences 123 Conciseness (Economy) 123 Clarity and Specificity 126 Varying Sentences 132 Unity 145 Part THREE Common Usage Errors 149 Problems with Sentence Structure 150 Simple Sentences 150 Compound Sentences 151 Complex Sentences 152 Sentence Fragments 155 Run-on Sentences 164 Problems with Nouns 171 Plurals of Nouns 171 Possessives of Nouns 172 Problems with Verbs 175 Using the Correct Tense 175 Principal Parts of Verbs 177 Agreement of Subject and Verb 181 Troublesome Verb Pairs 185 Problems with Modifiers 189 Adjectives and Adverbs Confused 189 Double Negatives 190 Other Errors 191 iv CONTENTS Problems with Pronouns 193 Personal Pronouns 193 Indefinite Pronouns 196 Possessive Pronouns 198 Problems with Punctuation 201 End Punctuation 201 The Comma 202 Quotation Marks 209 Punctuating Titles 210 Problems with Capitalization 214 In Letters 214 In Quotations 214 First Words 214 Proper Nouns and Proper Adjectives 215 Problems with Spelling 221 Frequently Misspelled Words 221 Words Often Confused 223 Seven Helpful Spelling Rules 224 Contractions 230 Part FOUR Basic Paragraph Composition 231 The Paragraph 232 A Note About Paragraph Length 233 Unity in the Paragraph 235 The Topic Sentence 239 The Clincher Sentence 242 Developing a Paragraph with Reasons 244 Arranging the Reasons 245 Arranging the Reasons—Another Look 248 Developing a Paragraph with Examples 249 Varying Sentence Beginnings 253 Index 259 CONTENTS v [...]... waiting for us QUESTION 1: About whom is the sentence telling something? ANSWER: My sister Karen The subject is My sister Karen T H E P R E D I C AT E 7 2: What is the sentence saying about My sister Karen? ANSWER: My sister Karen is waiting for us The predicate is is waiting for us QUESTION Was Andy angry? QUESTION 1: About whom is the sentence asking something? ANSWER: Andy The subject is Andy 2:... that takes place in the mind and therefore cannot be seen or heard: We believed and trusted them because we knew them (Believed, trusted, and knew express mental action.) EXERCISE 1 If the italicized verb expresses physical action, write P in the space provided If it expresses mental action, write M Samples: Pat tagged the runner P Did you understand the lesson? M 1 I forgot the combination 2 Open... the sentence asking about Andy? ANSWER: Was Andy angry? The predicate is Was angry QUESTION Position of the Predicate The predicate usually comes after the subject, but it can also appear in other positions PREDICATE AFTER THE SUBJECT: The parking lot is next to the stadium S P PREDICATE BEFORE THE SUBJECT: Next to the stadium is the parking lot P S PREDICATE PARTLY BEFORE AND PARTLY AFTER THE SUBJECT:... temperature dropped suddenly Has the plane landed? Has landed Under the tree lay many rotting apples 8 dropped suddenly Under the tree lay PA R T S O F S P E E C H 1 Has our teacher recovered from the flu? 2 Behind the wheel was my sister Maria 3 How comfortable these new seats are! 4 Finally, the suspect surrendered to the police 5 A flock of seagulls landed on the beach EXERCISE 2 Complete the... the V space Samples: froze S.S You (understood) Wash your hands V Wash S.S You P Did hear the wind V 1 Comb your hair froze during the night P Did you hear the wind? pond V Wash your hands S.S P The pond froze during the night Did hear S.S P V 2 The bus will come at any minute S.S P V VERBS 11 3 Has it been coming on time lately? S.S P V 4 For some time, light rain has been falling S.S P V 5 It must... by mistake S.S P V 12 PA R T S O F S P E E C H Action and Linking Verbs ACTION VERBS What Is an Action Verb? An action verb is a verb that expresses action There are two kinds of action verbs: 1 Verbs that express physical action—action that can be seen or heard: The car skidded, left the road, and smashed into a telephone pole (Skidded, left, and smashed express physical action.) 2 Verbs that express... teacher coaches the bowling team 5 The bowling team is coached by our math teacher Simple Subject and Complete Subject When a subject consists of more than one word, the main word in that subject is called the simple subject The seats on the bus are very comfortable SIMPLE SUBJECT: seats The simple subject and the words that describe it are together known as the complete subject COMPLETE SUBJECT: The... cold She turned the page How Can a Linking Verb Be Recognized? If a verb can be replaced with some form of the verb be, it is a linking verb Question 1: Is feels a linking verb in the following sentence? Jordan feels angry Answer: We can replace feels with is (a form of the verb be) Jordan is angry Therefore, feels, in the above sentence, is a linking verb Question 2: Is feels a linking verb in the following... Helping Verb? Sometimes a verb consists of more than one word: The letters have been mailed verb In have been mailed, mailed is the main verb; have and been are helping verbs The letters have been mailed H.V H.V M.V Helping verbs are verbs that come before and “help” the main verb A main verb may have as many as three helping verbs ONE HELPING VERB: Anne has mailed the letters H.V TWO HELPING VERBS:... day 4 We should have waited a bit longer 5 Our team could have done better Reminder: Did you end each of your questions above with a question mark? Composition Hint Shorten your verb phrases whenever possible Avoid wordiness—the use of unnecessary words Aim for conciseness—brief, uncluttered expression WORDY: CONCISE: If you do not run for president, she may (The main verb run is understood.) WORDY: Jim . Interjections 11 1 Part TWO Sentence Composition 11 5 Characteristics of Good Sentences 11 6 Comparing Sentences 11 7 Writing Sentences 12 0 Revising Sentences 12 1 Clear, Forceful Sentences 12 3 Conciseness. (Economy) 12 3 Clarity and Specificity 12 6 Varying Sentences 13 2 Unity 14 5 Part THREE Common Usage Errors 14 9 Problems with Sentence Structure 15 0 Simple Sentences 15 0 Compound Sentences 15 1 Complex. Parts of Verbs 17 7 Agreement of Subject and Verb 18 1 Troublesome Verb Pairs 18 5 Problems with Modifiers 18 9 Adjectives and Adverbs Confused 18 9 Double Negatives 19 0 Other Errors 19 1 iv CONTENTS Problems