The Little Brown Workbook Book

Contents

ESL Guide to the Exercises xix

Guide to Exercise Types xxiii

Preface xxix

PART 1

The Writing Process 1

1 Assessing the Writing Situation 1

a. Understanding how writing happens 1

b. Analyzing the writing situation 1

c. Discovering and limiting a subject 2

d. Defining a purpose 3

e. Considering the audience 4

Exercise 1-1 Discovering a Subject (1c) 7

Exercise 1-2 Analyzing Purpose and Audience (1d, e) 8

Exercise 1-3 Analyzing Voice and Purpose (1d) 9

2 Developing and Shaping Ideas 11

a. Discovering ideas 11

b. Developing a thesis 15

c. Organizing ideas 18

Exercise 2-1 Developing a Subject through Freewriting (2a-4) 22

Exercise 2-2 Generating Ideas (2a) 22

Exercise 2-3 Thesis Statement: Developing (2b) 23

Exercise 2-4 Thesis Statement: Revising (2b) 24

Exercise 2-5 Outlining an Essay (2c-2) 25

Exercise 2-6 Writing an Outline for an Essay (2c-2) 27

3 Drafting and Revising 29

a. Writing the first draft 29

b. Revising the first draft 31

c. Editing the revised draft 33

d. Preparing and proofreading the final draft 35

e. Giving and receiving comments 36

f. Preparing a writing portfolio 38

Exercise 3-1 Revising the First Draft (3b) 41

Exercise 3-2 Using the Correction Symbols (3d) 43

4 Writing and Revising Paragraphs 45

a. Maintaining paragraph unity 46

b. Achieving paragraph coherence 47

c. Developing the paragraph 53

d. Writing special kinds of paragraphs 58

e. Linking paragraphs in the essay 61

Exercise 4-1 Identifying Irrelevant Details (4a) 63

Exercise 4-2 Identifying the Topic Sentence (4a) 64

Exercise 4-3 Organizing Paragraphs: Spatial Order (4b-1) 65

Exercise 4-4 Organizing Paragraphs: Chronological Order (4b-1) 66

Exercise 4-5 Organizing Paragraphs: Problem-Solution (4b-1) 67

Exercise 4-6 Organizing Paragraphs: Climactic Order (4b-1) 68

Exercise 4-7 Parallelism, Repetition, Pronouns, and Transitional Expressions: Identifying (4b-2, 3, 4, 6) 69

Exercise 4-8 Being Consistent (4b-5) 71

Exercise 4-9 Arranging and Linking Sentences (4b-6, 7) 73

Exercise 4-10 Using Paragraph Patterns of Development (4c) 74

Exercise 4-11 Opening and Closing an Essay (4d) 75

Exercise 4-12 Analyzing an Essay’s Coherence 77

5 Designing Documents 81

a. Designing academic papers and other documents 81

b. Considering principles of design 81

c. Using the elements of design 82

d. Preparing academic papers 83

Exercise 5-1 Designing Documents 85

PART 2

Reading and Writing in College 87

6 Developing Academic Skills 87

a. Managing your time 88

b. Listening and taking notes in class 88

c. Reading for comprehension 89

d. Becoming an academic writer 90

e. Preparing for exams 90

Exercise 6-1 Reading for Comprehension (6c) 93

Exercise 6-2 Summarizing (6c) 97

7 Forming a Critical Perspective 99

a. Using techniques of critical reading 99

b. Developing a critical response 102

c. Viewing images critically 103

Exercise 7-1 Reading Critically: Analyzing, Interpreting, Synthesizing, Evaluating (7a, b) 107

Exercise 7-2 Writing Critically: Analyzing, Interpreting, Synthesizing, Evaluating (7a, b) 109

Exercise 7-3 Viewing an Image Critically: Analyzing, Interpreting, Synthesizing, Evaluating (7c) 110

8 Writing in Academic Situations 111

a. Writing in response to texts 111

b. Determining purpose 112

c. Analyzing audience 113

d. Choosing structure and content 113

e. Using academic language 113

Exercise 8-1 Examining Academic Writing 115

9 Reading Arguments Critically 117

a. Recognizing the elements of argument 117

b. Testing claims 118

c. Weighing evidence 119

d. Discovering assumptions 120

e. Watching language, hearing tone 121

f. Judging reasonableness 121

g. Recognizing fallacies 122

Exercise 9-1 Testing Claims (9b) 125

Exercise 9-2 Examining Evidence (9c) 127

Exercise 9-3 Analyzing Assumptions (9d) 129

Exercise 9-4 Identifying Logical Fallacies (9g) 131

10 Writing an Argument 133

a. Finding a subject 133

b. Conceiving a thesis statement 134

c. Analyzing your purpose and your audience 134

d. Using reason 134

e. Using evidence 136

f. Reaching your readers 136

g. Organizing your argument 137

h. Revising your argument 138

i. Examining a sample argument 139

Exercise 10-1 Analyzing an Argument 141

11 Special Writing Situations 145

a. Writing effective electronic mail 145

b. Writing business letters and memos 146

c. Writing a job application 147

Exercise 11-1 Using Electronic Mail (11a) 149

Exercise 11-2 Writing a Business Letter or Application Letter (11b, c) 150

PART 3

Grammatical Sentences 151

12 Understanding Sentence Grammar 151

a. Understanding the basic sentence 151

b. Expanding the basic sentence with single words 157

c. Expanding the basic sentence with word groups 158

d. Compounding words, phrases, and clauses 167

e. Changing the usual word order 170

f. Classifying sentences 171

Exercise 12-1 Subjects and Predicates: Identifying and Comparing (12a-1) 173

Exercise 12-2 Nouns and Verbs: Writing Sentences (12a) 175

Exercise 12-3 Nouns, Verbs, and Pronouns: Identifying Functions (12a-2) 177

Exercise 12-4 Parts of the Sentence: Identifying (12a-3) 179

Exercise 12-5 Sentence Patterns: Combining Sentences (12a-3) 181

Exercise 12-6 Adjectives and Adverbs: Identifying Function (12b-1) 183

Exercise 12-7 Prepositions: Writing Sentences (12c-1) 185

Exercise 12-8 Prepositional Phrases: Identifying Function (12c-1) 186

Exercise 12-9 Verbal Phrases: Identifying Function (12c-2) 187

Exercise 12-10 Participles: Using -ing and -ed (12c-2) 189

Exercise 12-11 Verbal Phrases: Revising Sentences (12c-2, 3) 191

Exercise 12-12 Subordinate Clauses: Identifying Function (12c-4) 193

Exercise 12-13 Subordinate Clauses: Combining Sentences (12c-4) 195

Exercise 12-14 Subordinate Clauses: Writing Sentences (12c-4) 197

Exercise 12-15 Compound Constructions: Revising Clauses (12d) 199

Exercise 12-16 Compound Constructions: Combining Words and Phrases (12d) 201

Exercise 12-17 Order of Sentences: Rewriting Sentences (12e) 203

Exercise 12-18 Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences: Writing (12f) 205

13 Case of Nouns and Pronouns 207

a. Compound subjects and complements 208

b. Compound objects 208

c. We or us with a noun 209

d. Appositives 209

e. Pronoun after than or as in a comparison 210

f. Subjects or objects of infinitives 210

g. Who vs. whom 210

h. Case before a gerund 212

Exercise 13-1 Pronoun Case: Compound Subjects and Objects (13a, b) 213

Exercise 13-2 Pronoun Case: Who and Whom (13g) 214

Exercise 13-3 Pronoun Case: Review 215

Exercise 13-4 Pronoun Case: Rewriting a Text 217

14 Verbs 219

Verb Forms 220

a. Regular and irregular verbs 221

b. Sit and set, lie and lay, rise and raise 223

c. Omitted -s and -ed endings 224

d. Helping verbs 225

e. Verb plus gerund or infinitive 227

f. Verb plus particle 229

Tense 230

g. Appropriate tense for meaning 230

h. Sequence of tenses 233

Mood 234

i. Subjunctive verb forms 235

Voice 236

j. Active vs. passive voice 237

Exercise 14-1 Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs: Comparing Forms (14a, b) 239

Exercise 14-2 The -s Forms of Verbs: Rewriting a Text (14c) 241

Exercise 14-3 The -ed Forms of Verbs: Rewriting a Text (14c) 243

Exercise 14-4 Helping Verbs and Main Verbs: Comparing Forms (14d) 244

Exercise 14-5 Gerunds and Infinitives: Using as Appropriate (14e) 245

Exercise 14-6 Two-Word Verbs: Understanding Meaning (14f) 246

Exercise 14-7 Verb Tenses: Writing Sentences (14g) 247

Exercise 14-8 Sequence of Tenses: Rewriting a Text (14g, h) 249

Exercise 14-9 Subjunctive Verb Forms: Rewriting Sentences (14i) 251

Exercise 14-10 Verb Forms, Tense, and Mood: Editing a Text (14g, h, i) 252

Exercise 14-11 Active and Passive Voices: Revising Text (14j) 253

15 Agreement 255

a. Agreement between subject and verb 255

b. Agreement between pronoun and antecedent 260

Exercise 15-1 Subjects and Verbs: Editing Sentences (15a) 265

Exercise 15-2 Subjects and Verbs: Rewriting Sentences (15a) 267

Exercise 15-3 Subject-Verb Agreement: Review (15a) 269

Exercise 15-4 Pronouns and Antecedents: Editing Sentences (15b) 271

Exercise 15-5 Agreement: Rewriting Text 273

Exercise 15-6 Agreement: Review 275

16 Adjectives and Adverbs 277

a. Adjectives only with nouns and pronouns 277

b. Adjectives with linking verbs 278

c. Adjectives with objects, adverbs with verbs 278

d. Comparative and superlative forms 278

e. Double negatives 280

f. Overuse of nouns as modifiers 280

g. Present and past participles as adjectives 280

h. A, an, the, and other determiners 281

Exercise 16-1 Adjectives and Adverbs: Comparing Forms (16a—e) 285

Exercise 16-2 Adjectives and Adverbs: Editing Forms (16a—e) 286

Exercise 16-3 Articles: Using Appropriately (16i) 287

PART 4

Clear Sentences 289

17 Sentence Fragments 289

a. Tests for sentence completeness; revision of fragments 290

b. Subordinate clause 292

c. Verbal or prepositional phrase 292

d. Other fragments 293

e. Acceptable uses of incomplete sentences 293

Exercise 17-1 Sentence Fragments: Revising I 295

Exercise 17-2 Sentence Fragments: Revising II 296

Exercise 17-3 Sentence Fragments: Revising III 297

Exercise 17-4 Sentence Fragments: Revising Text 299

18 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences 301

Comma Splices 302

a. Main clauses not joined by coordinating conjunction 302

b. Main clauses related by a conjunctive adverb or transitional expression 303

Fused Sentences 303

c. Main clauses with no conjunction or punctuation 303

Exercise 18-1 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences: Revising 305

Exercise 18-2 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences: Combining Sentences 307

Exercise 18-3 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences: Patterning 309

Exercise 18-4 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences: Review 311

19 Pronoun Reference 313

a. Clear reference to one antecedent 313

b. Clear placement of pronoun and antecedent 314

c. Reference to specific antecedent 315

d. Indefinite use of you 316

e. Clear use of it 316

f. Appropriate use of relative pronouns 316

Exercise 19-1 Pronoun Reference: Revising Sentences 319

Exercise 19-2 Pronoun Reference: Replacing Vague Pronouns 321

Exercise 19-3 Pronoun Reference: Combining Sentences 323

Exercise 19-4 Pronoun Reference: Review 325

20 Shifts 327

a. Person and number 327

b. Tense and mood 328

c. Subject and voice 328

d. Indirect and direct quotations and questions 328

Exercise 20-1 Shifts in Person and Number: Revising Sentences for Consistency (20a) 331

Exercise 20-2 Shifts in Tense: Revising Sentences for Consistency (20b) 332

Exercise 20-3 Revising Sentences for Consistency 333

21 Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers 335

Misplaced Modifiers 335

a. Clear placement of modifiers 335

b. Limiting modifiers 336

c. Squinting modifiers 336

d. Separation of subjects, verbs, and objects 336

e. Separation of parts of infinitives or verb phrases 337

f. Position of adverbs 337

g. Order of adjectives 338

Dangling Modifiers 338

h. Dangling modifiers 338

Exercise 21-1 Misplaced Modifiers: Revising Sentences 341

Exercise 21-2 Adjectives and Adverbs: Arranging Appropriately 343

Exercise 21-3 Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers: Revising Text 344

Exercise 21-4 Dangling Modifiers: Revising Sentences 345

22 Mixed and Incomplete Sentences 347

Mixed Sentences 347

a. Mixed grammar 347

b. Mixed meaning (faulty predication) 348

Incomplete Sentences 348

c. Compound constructions 348

d. Comparisons 349

e. Careless omissions 350

Exercise 22-1 Mixed Sentences: Revising 351

Exercise 22-2 Incomplete Sentences: Revising 353

Exercise 22-3 Mixed and Incomplete Sentences: Review 355

Exercise 22-4 Omissions and Faulty Repetitions: Revising Text 356

PART 5

Effective Sentences 357

23 Emphasizing Ideas 357

a. Using subjects and verbs effectively 357

b. Using sentence beginnings and endings 358

c. Arranging parallel elements effectively 358

d. Repeating ideas 359

e. Separating ideas 359

f. Being concise 359

Exercise 23-1 Emphasis: Revising Sentences 361

Exercise 23-2 Emphasis: Combining Sentences 363

24 Using Coordination and Subordination 365

a. Coordinating to relate equal ideas 366

b. Subordinating to distinguish main ideas 367

c. Choosing clear connectors 369

Exercise 24-1 Coordination: Combining Sentences 371

Exercise 24-2 Subordination: Combining Sentences 373

Exercise 24-3 Coordination and Subordination: Revising Text 375

25 Using Parallelism 377

a. Using parallelism for coordinate elements 378

b. Using parallelism to increase coherence 379

Exercise 25-1 Parallelism: Writing Sentences 381

Exercise 25-2 Parallelism: Combining Sentences 383

Exercise 25-3 Parallelism: Editing Text 385

26 Achieving Variety 387

a. Varying sentence length and structure 387

b. Varying sentence beginnings 388

c. Inverting the normal word order 389

d. Mixing types of sentences 389

Exercise 26-1 Sentence Beginnings: Revising for Variation 391

Exercise 26-2 Varying Sentences in Paragraphs 393

Part 6

Punctuation 395

27 End Punctuation 395

a. The period 395

b. The question mark 395

c. The exclamation point 396

Exercise 27-1 End Punctuation: Editing Sentences 397

28 The Comma 401

a. Main clauses linked by coordinating conjunction 402

b. Introductory elements 403

c. Nonessential elements 404

d. Absolute phrases 406

e. Phrases expressing contrast 406

f. Series and coordinate adjectives 406

g. Dates, addresses, place names, long numbers 408

h. With quotations 408

i. To prevent misreading 409

j. Misuse and overuse 409

Exercise 28-1 Commas between Main Clauses and after Introductory Elements: Revising Text (28a, b) 413

Exercise 28-2 Commas in Sentences with Nonessential Elements, Absolute Phrases, and Phrases of Contrast: Editing (28c, d, e) 415

Exercise 28-3 Commas with Nonessential Elements, Absolute Phrases, and Phrases of Contrast: Combining Sentences (28c, d, e) 417

Exercise 28-4 Commas with Series, Coordinate Adjectives, Dates, Addresses, Long Numbers, and Quotations: Editing (28f, g, h) 419

Exercise 28-5 Misused Commas: Editing (28j) 420

Exercise 28-6 Commas: Editing Text 421

29 The Semicolon 423

a. Main clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction 423

b. Main clauses related by a conjunctive adverb or transitional expression 423

c. Long or internally punctuated main clauses 424

d. Long or internally punctuated series items 424

e. Misuse and overuse 424

Exercise 29-1 Semicolon: Editing Sentences 427

Exercise 29-2 Commas and Semicolons: Editing Text 429

30 The Apostrophe 431

a. Possession 431

b. Misuse with noun plurals, verbs, and personal pronouns 433

c. Contractions 433

d. Plurals of abbreviations, dates, and words or characters named as words 434

Exercise 30-1 Apostrophes for Possessive Case: Changing Words 435

Exercise 30-2 Apostrophes for Contractions and Plurals 436

Exercise 30-3 Apostrophes: Editing Text 437

31 Quotation Marks 439

a. Direct quotations 439

b. Quotation within a quotation 439

c. Dialog 441

d. Titles of songs, short stories, and other short works 441

e. Words used in a special sense 442

f. Overuse 442

g. Placement with other punctuation 442

Exercise 31-1 Quotation Marks: Editing Sentences 445

Exercise 31-2 Quotations: Rewriting Text 447

32 Other Punctuation Marks 449

a. The colon 449

b. The dash 451

c. Parentheses 452

d. Brackets 452

e. The ellipsis mark 453

f. The slash 453

Exercise 32-1 The Colon, the Dash, Parentheses, Brackets, the Ellipsis Mark, and the Slash: Editing Sentences 455

Exercise 32-2 Punctuation: Review of Chapters 27—32 457

PAR 7

Mechanics 461

33 Capitals 461

a. First word of a sentence 461

b. Titles of works 461

c. Pronoun I and interjection O 462

d. Proper nouns and adjectives 462

e. Titles before proper names 463

f. Misuses of capitals 464

Exercise 33-1 Capitals: Rewriting Sentences 465

34 Italics or Underlining 467

a. Titles of books and periodicals 467

b. Names of ships, aircraft, spacecraft, trains 468

c. Foreign words and phrases 468

d. Words, letters, and numbers named as words 468

e. For emphasis 468

f. In online communication 468

Exercise 34-1 Italics or Underlining: Editing Sentences 469

35 Abbreviations 471

a. Titles before and after proper names 471

b. Familiar abbreviations and acronyms 472

c. BC, BCE, AD, CE, AM, PM, no., and $ 472

d. Latin abbreviations 472

e. Inc., Bros., Co., and & 473

f. Misuse with units of measurement, geographical names, and so on 473

Exercise 35-1 Abbreviations: Editing Sentences 475

36 Numbers 477

a. Numerals vs. words 477

b. Dates, addresses, and so on 477

c. Beginning sentences 478

Exercise 36-1 Using Numbers: Editing Sentences 479

Part 8

Effective Words 481

37 Using Appropriate Language 481

a. Revising nonstandard dialect 482

b. Revising the shortcuts of electronic communication 482

c. Using slang only when appropriate 482

d. Using colloquial language only when appropriate 483

e. Using regionalisms only when appropriate 483

f. Revising neologisms 483

g. Using technical words with care 483

h. Revising indirect or pretentious writing 484

i. Revising sexist and other biased language 484

Exercise 37-1 Appropriate Words: Revising Text (37a—g) 487

Exercise 37-2 Biased Language: Revising Sentences (37i) 489

38 Using Exact Language 491

a. Using a dictionary and a thesaurus 491

b. Using the right word for your meaning 492

c. Balancing the abstract and concrete, the general and specific 493

d. Using idioms 493

e. Using figurative language 494

f. Using fresh, not trite, expressions 495

Exercise 38-1 Using the Dictionary (38a) 497

Exercise 38-2 Denotation: Comparing Forms (38b) 499

Exercise 38-3 General and Specific Words, Abstract and Concrete Words: Revising Text (38c) 501

Exercise 38-4 Idioms: Comparing Forms (38d) 502

Exercise 38-5 Trite Expressions: Revising Sentences (38f) 503

39 Writing Concisely 505

a. Focusing on the subject and verb 506

b. Cutting or shortening empty words and phrases 506

c. Cutting unnecessary repetition 507

d. Reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single words 507

e. Revising there is, here is, and it is constructions 508

f. Combining sentences 508

g. Rewriting jargon 508

Exercise 39-1 Writing Concisely 509

40 Spelling and the Hyphen 511

a. Recognizing typical spelling problems 511

b. Following spelling rules 514

c. Developing spelling skills 515

d. Using the hyphen to form or divide words 520

Exercise 40-1 Commonly Confused Words (40a) 523

Exercise 40-2 Spelling Rules: Practice (40b) 525

Exercise 40-3 The Hyphen in Compound Words, Fractions, and Compound Numbers: Practice (40d) 527

Exercise 40-4 Dividing Words Correctly (40d) 529

Exercise 40-5 Dividing Electronic Addresses (40d) 530

Part 9

Working with Sources 531

41 Writing a Short Documented Paper 531

a. Using summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation 531

b. Avoiding plagiarism 534

c. Taking notes 535

d. Evaluating sources 536

e. Documenting sources 536

f. Sample short documented paper 540

Exercise 41-1 Writing Paraphrases (41a) 547

Exercise 41-2 Identifying Plagiarism (41b) 549

Exercise 41-3 Writing Bibliographic Entries (41e) 551

Acknowledgments 553

Index 555