Fundamental College Composition: A Grammar and Style Guide

by William P. DeFeo

Overview

Fundamentals of College Composition (FCC) is a compact, college level writing text that presents the underlying grammatical structures of Standard American English in a format that is understandable without prior formal grammar training. The book's purpose is to improve the clarity and precision of undergraduate writing. College instructors know that far too many undergraduates write poorly. University English departments teach literature, not fundamental writing; university writing departments teach higher level creative-commercial writing, not fundamental writing. Other disciplines must focus on teaching course content, and have precious little time to devote to improving their undergraduate's composition skills.

A popular reaction to the undergraduate writing dilemma has been to institute discipline-specific writing classes. These classes tailor writing assignments to their particular disciplines, and a wide array of specialized writing texts are being published to meet the needs of these specialty writing courses. Often, Strunk and White's Elements of Style (ES) is used as a companion to these texts. ES is an excellent volume, but it was written in 1908 for a classification of students who possessed solid foundations in formal grammar studies. Twenty first century undergraduates no longer possess those foundations and a text that presumes they do fails despite its distinguished and noble history. FCC is designed to address this "grammatical gap." It provides a sub-structure of grammar study sufficient to bring a modern student to a basic understanding of the foundations of compositional language arts. It confronts struggling writers with their compositional shortcomings, presents them with a kit of fundamental grammatical tools, explains the tools' purposes and functions, and invites students to write, revise, and re-write in short bursts of directed prose. It avoids every intricacy of grammatical science that does not apply directly and practically to the production of clear, concise sentences and structured paragraphs.

Good writing requires labor. FCC imposes the burden of good writing equally on student and instructor. Writing, revising and re-writing are obligations placed squarely on the student, but they are of little consequence without the pointed, deliberate, and supportive correction of the instructor. FCC coordinates these student-instructor efforts and provides a base of writing information and a spectrum of writing activities that will build tangible writing skills.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160811253
Publisher:	BrownWalker Press
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

William P. DeFeo is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies at Western Connecticut State University, a practicing attorney in New York and Connecticut, and a retired Connecticut State Judge. He holds a B.A. in English from Iona University, an M.A. in 17th Century English Literature from Fordham University, and a Law Degree from Pace University Law School.

The author lives with his wife in a small town in Western Connecticut. He teaches and writes, and busies himself between visits from his children and grandchildren, which are never as frequent as he would prefer. He believes a writing textbook should support development of a writing style that places clarity of thought in the forefront.

Editorial Reviews

This book is a great guide for student writers. It concisely and clearly presents useful style and grammar techniques. I assign it in all my writing classes, and my students swear by it. I even used it as a reference when I wrote my first textbook. Anyone who uses this book will become a better writer.

Associate Professor, Justice and Law Administration, Western Connecticut State University, co-author of Business Law: Fo - Thomas A. Miller, J.D.

Fundamental College Composition provides a concise and accessible explanation of grammar components and importance. DeFeo's prose is fluid and an excellent style example for writers to model. All writers should memorize this quote from the text, "Electronic, immediate, thoughtless communication has tainted the substructures of academic, formal written communication."

Adjunct Professor, Western Connecticut State University. - Deanna Schaab