Write Well Right Now

A Guidebook on English Grammar, Punctuation, and Writing

William H. Koenecke

• Publisher: Write Well Right Now
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780578875828
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Studienhilfen
• Subtopic: Studienführer

A simple guidebook on English grammar, punctuation, and writing for anyone at any age who struggles with these areas of communication. It is not a textbook per see; it is more of a reference book for people who need to look up specific questions relating to the correct use of grammar, punctuation, and writing which can be found in the index. There are many tips and short-cut suggestions throughout the book. In addition, there are numerous exercises after each chapter. The answers are included in the appendixes near the end of the book. Also, the rationale for the answer is explained along with the page number in the book for additional information and examples you can read. Chapter 5 contains the "Yellow Pages" of an extensive list of homonyms and confusing words that can be consulted and checked to ascertain if you are using the correct word choice for your sentences.

Chapter 1
Parts of Speech

“The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The parts of speech are the essential tools of grammar that enable a poor writer to become an effective written communicator. It’s amazing that the entire English language can be departmentalized into just eight categories. Each one is responsible for predetermined functions, and there are specific rules that govern the use of each group. For the most part, the rules, believe it or not, make eminently good sense. And the people in power—bosses, teachers, etc.—expect you to follow most of the major rules depending upon the style manual that is usually used in your profession. I taught at Murray State University (MSU) in the College of Education (COE), and we used the style manual published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

On the other hand, MSU’s English Department used the Modern Language Association (MLA) style manual. The majority of the examples in this book will be those espoused by the APA Manual because most, if not all, colleges of education use it for research papers and journal articles. Proper grammar and punctuation start with being able to identify these parts of speech. You can divide these eight parts of speech into two types: (1) working words and (2) glue words.

Working Words

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are the main four parts of speech. To this list, we can add the pronouns that primarily denote people (e.g., he, she, you, they) and a few others. These words are responsible for the central message of your written communication; however, there are a few others—conjunctions, prepositions, other pronouns, and interjections— that do have some meaning. The main point of what you say ordinarily rides on the back of the working words.

Glue Words

The other parts of speech, those that are not the working words, “glue” the parts of the English language together. Prepositions, conjunctions, and some types of pronouns (words like that and which) have the necessary task of gluing words to other words in sentences. As a side thought, unsophisticated writers often use too many prepositions and other glue words. In many cases, leaving out these types of words enables one’s writing to be succinct and easier for the reader to understand the content of the sentences.

The final part of speech is the interjection. It announces elements of surprise but seldom appears in formal writing. “I’m like wow!” is an example of an interjection. Interjections are frequently used in speech, but rarely see the light of day in formal writing, primarily because people who use lots of these expressions don’t write a lot of formal manuscripts. After looking briefly at the eight parts of speech and two basic types of words, let’s discuss the eight categories and learn how they are used in becoming better-written communicators. We will study them one at a time.

Nouns

Nouns are words that name something, for example, names of persons, places, objects, ideas, qualities, or activities.

There is no su...

Table of contents

• Praise for Write Well Right Now
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Parts of Speech
• Chapter 2 Introduction to Grammar
• Chapter 3 Punctuation and Capitalization
• Chapter 4 Writing
• Chapter 5 The Yellow Pages of Homonyms and Confusing Words
• Glossary
• Answers to quizzes, pre-tests, tests, and exercises
• Selected Bibliography
• Self-Publishing Books & How to Start Writing (Authors)
• Index
• About Author