Building Better Grammar / Edition 1

by Gina Hogan

Overview

The Building Better series evolved with developmental students in mind; however, the textbooks are designed to be inexpensive and flexible enough that all college students or writing instructors can use them as a quick reference guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780495905141
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	01/01/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Gina Baaklini Hogan is a tenured professor in the English department at Citrus Community College in Glendora, California. She has developed and taught developmental English courses, trained and mentored faculty in teaching developmental writing, and helped create Citrus College's Writing Across-the-Curriculum Center. She is the Chair of the College Success Committee, a committee that advocates the core principles of Citrus' developmental program. Gina has an MS in Business Administration and an MA in English Composition and Literature and is currently working on a doctorate in Education (Ed.D). Gina is a naturalized citizen of the United States, and English is her third language. She understands the challenges inherent to learning effective communication skills, and her passion is helping others learn to write clearly and to appreciate the English language.

Table of Contents

UNIT I: SUBJECTS, VERBS, AND SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT. 1. The First Building Block: Subjects. Nouns. Types of Nouns. Pronouns. Identifying the Subject. Simple and Compound Subjects. Recognizing Subjects in Tricky Situations. Subjects in Imperative Sentences. Subjects as Distinct from Prepositional Phrases. Subjects in Declarative Sentences with Here and There. Subjects in Interrogative Sentences. Sentences with Gerunds and Infinitives as Subjects. Infinitives. Chapter One Skills Review: Subjects. 2. The Second Building Block: Verbs. Action and Being Verbs. Simple and Compound Verbs. Verb Tenses. The Simple Tense. Simple Present. Simple Past. Simple Future. The Perfect Tense. Present Perfect. Past Perfect. Future Perfect. The Progressive Tense. Present Progressive. Past Progressive. Future Progressive. The Perfect Progressive Tense. Present Perfect Progressive. Past Perfect Progressive. Future Perfect Progressive. Regular and Irregular Verbs. Regular Verbs. Tricky Situations with Regular Verbs. Irregular Verbs. Tricky Situations with Irregular Verbs. Verb Tense Consistency. Passive and Active Voice. Chapter Two Skills Review: Verbs. 3. The Third Building Block: Subject-Verb Agreement. Subject-Verb Agreement. Rules for Subject-Verb Agreement. Singular Subject Rules. Plural Subject Rules. Subject Agreement and Regular and Irregular Verbs. Tricky Situations in Subject-Verb Agreement. Chapter Three Skills Review: Subject-Verb Agreement. UNIT II: PRONOUNS. 4. The Fourth Building Block: Pronouns. Pronoun Usage. Subjective Case. Objective Case. Possessive Case. Other Pronouns. Who vs. Whom. Demonstrative Pronouns. Relative Pronouns. Interrogative Pronouns. Reflexive Pronouns. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement. Pronoun Agreement with Person. Pronoun Agreement with Number. Tricky Situations with Pronouns and Numbers. Pronoun Agreement with Gender. Chapter Four Skills Review: Pronouns. UNIT III: CLAUSES AND KINDS OF SENTENCES. 5. The Fifth Building Block: Clauses. Clauses. Types of Clauses. Independent Clause: A Clause that Makes Sense on Its Own. Dependent Clause: A Clause that Requires More Information to Make Complete Sense. Chapter Five Skills Review: Clauses. 6. The Sixth Building Block: Kinds of Sentences. Simple Sentences. Sentence Variety. Joining Independent Clauses: Compound Sentences. Coordinating Conjunctions. Adverbial Conjunctions. Semicolons. Joining An Independent Clause with a Dependent Clause: Complex Sentences. Subordinating Conjunctions. Joining Multiple Independent and Dependent Clauses: Compound-Complex Sentences. Chapter Six Skills Review: Sentence Combining. 7. The Seventh Building Block: Avoiding Common Sentence. Errors. Fragments. Run-ons. Comma Splices. Chapter Seven Skills Review: Faulty Sentences UNIT IV: DESCRIPTORS, MODIFIERS, PARALLELISM. 8. The Eighth Building Block: Adjectives and Adverbs as Modifiers. Descriptive Modifiers. Adjectives. Adverbs. Common Mistakes with Adjectives and Adverbs. Comparative and Superlative Forms. Regular Adjectives and Adverbs. Irregular Adjectives and Adverbs. Four More Tricky Adjectives and Adverbs. Chapter Eight Skills Review: Adjectives and Adverbs. 9. The Ninth Building Block: Using Modifiers Correctly. Misplaced Modifiers. Dangling Modifiers. Chapter Nine Skills Review: Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers. 10. The Tenth Building Block: Parallelism. Parallelism. Parallelism with Pairs. Parallelism with Lists. Parallelism in Comparisons (Than or As). Parallelism with Paired Expressions. Chapter Ten Skills Review: Parallelism. UNIT V: PUNCTUATION. 11. The Eleventh Building Block: Comma Use. Commas Used to Separate. Commas and Conjunctions. Commas and Items in a List. Commas and Introductory Expressions. Commas to Enclose. Commas and Interrupters. Commas and Direct Address. Commas with Dates and Addresses. Chapter Eleven Skills Review: Commas. 12. The Twelfth Building Block: Other Types of Punctuation. Apostrophe. Semicolon. Colon. Dash and Parenthesis. Hyphen. Quotation Marks. Chapter Twelve Skills Review: Punctuation. APPENDICES. Appendix A: Parts of Speech. Nouns. Pronouns. Verbs. Adjectives. Adverbs. Prepositions. Conjunctions. Interjections. Appendix A: Skills Review: Identifying Parts of Speech. Appendix B: Spelling. Create Spelling Lists. Learn the ei/ie rule. Know Commonly Misspelled Words. Know Commonly Confused Words. Know Word Endings. Appendix Skills Review: Spelling Appendix C: English as a Second Language Concerns. Nouns. Articles. Verbs. Prepositions.

Editorial Reviews

"Many times textbooks are heavily emphasize terminology instead of practicality .The approach proposed for Building Better Grammar seems to be more in line with streamlining some of the wordiness involved that may sometimes turn off students and some instructors alike. Breaking down the learning process , so that it builds upon itself makes good sense. Developmental English learners cannot be assumed to know or understand some precepts, and this approach of covering material before we build upon it might work wonders for comprehension and application."

"Building Better Grammar is simple, accessible, and clear. It's a great place to begin—more than a reference—and not just a workbook."

"I'm very impressed with the clarity presented here, and I truly appreciate the practice sets! I so enjoy looking over the exercises here and imagining how I would employ individual and group work while covering this material. Students will gain excellent practice with each set of exercises designed for the new concepts presented. This allows for practice before the instruction is forgotten. Students get to employ what they are learning immediately! The exercises are fun and challenging. I sense confidence will be gained upon the completion of the exercises both in class and at home."

From the Publisher