Alpha Teach Yourself Grammar and Style in 24 Hours
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Puzzled about punctuation? Having trouble getting your nouns and verbs to agree? Terrified at the thought of writing a paper or report? Whether you're struggling with structure or looking to spice up your writing, Macmillan Teach Yourself Grammar and Style in 24 Hours gives you the knowledge you need to achieve your goals. This straightforward guide presents invaluable information in a series of 24 one-hour lessons, helping you master the basics of grammar and style--one hour at a time.
(NOTE: Each chapter begins with Chapter Summary and concludes with Hour's Up! and Recap.) Introduction. I. GRAPPLING WITH GRAMMAR. Hour 1. Understanding Grammar. Grammar's Six Senses. The Logic of Grammar. Nuances, Trivia, and Important Stuff. Hour 2. Mastering the Basic Parts of a Sentence. The Subject of the Subject. Subjects on the Loose. The Predicate Defined. Sentence Types. Task: Find the Flaw. Sentence Variation. Sentence Rules. II. GETTING GROUNDED IN GRAMMAR. Hour 3. Elementary Sentence Components I: Nouns. Noun Gender. Gerunds. Task: Form Fitting. Hour 4. Elementary Sentence Components II: Pronouns. Contractions. Reflexive Pronouns. Avoiding Pronoun Pitfalls. Other Agreement Rules. Noun or Pronoun Case. Last Minute Rules and Refreshers. Hour 5. Elementary Sentence Components III: Verbs. Setting the Mood. Understanding Verb Tense. Progressive Tense. Regular Verbs. Irregular Verbs. Action Verbs. Linking Verbs. Helping Verbs. Verb Voice: Active Versus Passive. “To Be,” “To Do,” and “To Have” Ordinary Verbs. Hour 6. Expanding Sentences with Articles, Adjectives, and Adverbs. Adjectives. Adjective Form and Functions.Adjective Endings. Adverbs. Adjective and Adverb Comparisons. Hour 7. Reaching Agreements. Avoiding Unclear Pronoun Reference. Subject and Verb Agreement. Agreement of Adverbs. Q&A. Hour 8. Other Considerations. Infinitives. Contractions. Conjunctions. Faulty Parallelism. Participles. Metaphors. Simile. Idioms. Collocation. Clichés. Subjunctives. Hour 9. Phrases. Verbal Phrases. Infinitive Phrases. Phrases and Cases. Hour 10. Main and Subordinate Clauses. Subordinate Clauses. Complex Sentences. Compound-Complex Sentences. Noun Clauses. Adjective Clauses. Q&A. Hour 11. Controlling the Comma and the Semicolon. Semicolon. Q&A. Hour 12. Other Forms of Punctuation. Question Mark. Exclamation Mark. Colon. Apostrophe. Ellipsis. Hyphen. Dash. III. GETTING YOUR STYLE. Hour 13. The Importance of Knowing the Rules. What Spell Checks Can't Tell You. Mutable Meanings. Task: Evaluate Your Audience. Nouns and Verbs. Grammatical Ambiguity. Workshop: Logic and Clarity. Perspective and Point of View. Hour 14. Forego the Fluff. The Rules of Effective Communication. Use Everyday Language. Performance Art. Task: Write It Right. Can the Clichés. Frugal, Yet Forceful. Keep It Simple. Versatile Variables. Practical Paragraphs. Word Position to Emphasize Meaning. Keep Things Active. Clutter-Free Commentary. Task: Cut, Don't Paste. Conversational Narrative. Research, Then Record. Task: Get the Picture. Find Your Own Voice. Pedestrian Patter. Timing Your Edits. Practical Punctuation. Hour 15. Getting the Job Done. Task: Adapting to Your Audience. Selling Ideas. Appealing Presentations. Press Releases. Preparing a Personal Biography. Task: Reflect Your Personality. Add Flesh to the Skeleton. Hour 16. Leads and Closings. Solid from Start to Finish. Lead Me, and Lead Me NOW! Task: Take It from the Movies. Leads for Nonfiction Writing. In Fiction, Lead with Your Write. In the Beginning. All's Well That Ends Well. The Finishing Touches. IV. PUTTING YOUR STYLE INTO PRACTICE. Hour 17. Developing Ideas. Discovering What's News. Sources of Idea Stimulators. The Tickling Continues ... It Works for Fiction Writing, Too. Workshop: Turning Nonfiction into Fiction. Hour 18. Managing Your Research. The Range of Research. Task: Overall Research Planning. Getting to Work. Conducting the Professional Interview. Task: Organizing the Material. Proper Documentation. Workshop: Hone to the Bone. Hour 19. The Ins and Outs of Italics, Parentheses, Quotation Marks, and More. Parentheses. Brackets. The Slash/Virgule. Quotation Marks. Task: Avoid Incorrect Run-On Quotes. Single Quotation Marks. And You Can Quote Me on That. Hour 20. Remain on Task. Words to Remember. Why You Need Take-Away Value. Task: Guarantee Take-Away Value. Workshop: Blueprints and Work Permits. Getting Around the Block. Hour 21. Getting Beyond Your First Draft. Proofreading Techniques. Inadvertent Errors. Punch the Puns. Editing. Workshop: Checking Revisions. Learn from Other Writers. Reading with a Purpose. Hour 22. Putting Your Style into Practice I. Presenting Your Information. Business Writing. Preparing a Resumé or Curriculum Vitae. Task: Using Action Words in Your Resumé. Hour 23. Putting Your Style into Practice II. Writing the Essay. Writing About Law. Writing about Science. Specialized Science Writing. Criticism and Reviewing. Seriously Funny. Academic Writing. Sports Writing. Hour 24. Problem Words and Expressions. Styles Change. Problems When the Rules Keep Changing. Problems That May Not Be Problems. Problem Words. Problem Expressions. Appendix A. Glossary. Appendix B. Resources. Dictionaries. Online Resources. Appendix C. Tables. Irregular Verbs With Spelling Changes. Slang. Index.
