Introduction 1 What You''ll Find 3 How This Workbook Is Organized 4 Part 1: The Questions 4 Part 2: The Answers 5 Beyond the Book 5 What you''ll find online 6 How to register 6 Where to Go for Additional Help 6 Part 1: The Questions 7 Chapter 1: Telling Time: Identifying the Verb and Choosing the Correct Tense 9 The Questions You''ll Work On 9 What to Watch Out For 9 Locating the Verb 10 Choosing Simple and Perfect Tense Verb Forms 11 Consistently Choosing the Right Verb Tense 14 Chapter 2: Working with Irregular, Helping, and Descriptive Verb Forms 17 The Questions You''ll Work On 17 What to Watch Out For 18 Handling Irregular Verbs 18 Dealing with To Be and To Have 20 Adding Meaning with Helping Verbs 21 Creating Questions with Helping Verbs 23 Detecting and Placing Descriptive Verb Forms 24 Selecting Tense for Descriptive Verb Forms 25 Chapter 3: One Cool and One Hot Topic: Forming Plurals of Nouns and Pronouns 27 The Questions You''ll Work On 27 What to Watch Out For 28 Forming Plural Nouns 28 Sorting Singular and Plural Pronouns 29 Chapter 4: Reaching an Agreement: Pairing Subjects and Verbs 33 The Questions You''ll Work On 33 What to Watch Out For 33 Locating the Subject 34 Fine-Tuning Subject-Verb Agreement 35 Chapter 5: Matchmaking: Pairing Pronouns and Antecedents 39 The Questions You''ll Work On 39 What to Watch Out For 39 Identifying Pronouns and Their Antecedents 40 Pairing Pronouns and Antecedents Correctly 41 Avoiding Vague Pronoun References 42 Chapter 6: Pronouns on a Case-by-Case Basis 45 The Questions You''ll Work On 45 What to Watch Out For 45 Sorting Subject, Object, and Possessive Pronouns 46 Using Subject and Object Pronouns Correctly 47 Chapter 7: Forming Complete Sentences 53 The Questions You''ll Work On 53 What to Watch Out For 53 Recognizing Complete Sentences 54 Combining Ideas Correctly 55 Correcting Run-Ons and Fragments 56 Chapter 8: Moving Beyond the Basics: Adding Descriptions 59 The Questions You''ll Work On 59 What to Watch Out For 60 Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs 60 Placing Adjectives and Adverbs in Sentences 61 Dealing with Articles 63 Hyphenating Descriptions 64 Chapter 9: Going Long: Descriptive Phrases and Clauses 65 The Questions You''ll Work On 65 What to Watch Out For 65 Identifying the Words Being Described 66 Avoiding Misplaced, Dangling, and Vague Descriptions 68 Chapter 10: Writing Gooder Better Comparisons 71 The Questions You''ll Work On 71 What to Watch Out For 71 Creating Comparative and Superlative Forms 72 Avoiding Incomplete, Illogical, or Vague Comparisons 73 Chapter 11: Correct with a Capital C: Capitalization 77 The Questions You''ll Work On 77 What to Watch Out For 77 Capitalizing Names, Titles, Relationships, and Ethnicity 78 Capitalizing Geographical Names, Quotations, and School References 80 Capitalizing the Titles of Artistic or Scientific Works 81 Chapter 12: Exercising Comma Sense: Placing Commas Correctly 83 The Questions You''ll Work On 83 What to Watch Out For 83 Commas in Lists 84 Using Commas with Identifying and Extra Information 85 Creating a Pause in a Sentence 87 Chapter 13: A Smooth Ride to Meaning: Apostrophes and Quotation Marks 89 The Questions You''ll Work On 89 What to Watch Out For 89 Creating the Possessive Form of Nouns 90 Creating Contractions with Apostrophes 91 Inserting and Deleting Apostrophes 91 Distinguishing Between Quotations and Paraphrases 92 Placing Quotation Marks and Other Punctuation 93 Punctuating Academic Work 94 Chapter 14: Seeking Unity and Balance: Parallelism 97 The Questions You''ll Work On 97 What to Watch Out For 97 Identifying Parallel Elements in Lists 98 Working with Paired Conjunctions 100 Creating Parallel Comparisons 101 Keeping Sentences Parallel 101 Chapter 15: Cutting Repetition and Wordiness 103 The Questions You''ll Work On 103 What to Watch Out For 103 Cutting Repetitive Words and Phrases from Sentences 104 Writing Concisely 105 Chapter 16: Breaking Patterns to Create Interesting Sentences 109 The Questions You''ll Work On 109 What to Watch Out For 109 Weaving Complex Sentences 110 Varying Sentence Patterns 115 Chapter 17: More on Verbs: Voice and Mood 119 The Questions You''ll Work On 119 What to Watch Out For 119 Identifying Active and Passive Verb Forms 120 Changing Passive Voice to Active 121 Using Subjunctive Verbs Properly 121 Chapter 18: Tailoring Your Writing for Electronic Media 123 The Questions You''ll Work On 123 What to Watch Out For 124 Presentation Slides 124 Composing emails and Texts 127 Chapter 19: Choosing Language to Suit Your Audience 131 The Questions You''ll Work On 131 What to Watch Out For 132 Identifying Levels of Formality 132 The Right Words for the Right Time 133 Chapter 20: Confusing Word Pairs 135 The Questions You''ll Work On 135 What to Watch Out For 135 Distinguishing between Words Resembling Each Other 136 Words Incorrectly Seen as Synonyms 139 Chapter 21: Making Proper Word Choices 143 The Questions You''ll Work On 143 What to Watch Out For 143 Selecting the Correct One- or Two-Word Expression 144 Eliminating Nonstandard Words 145 Chapter 22: Identifying Nonstandard Expressions 149 The Questions You''ll Work On 149 What to Watch Out For 149 Avoiding Double Negatives and Other Errors 150 Counting and Measuring Words 152 Strange Verb Pairs 153 Part 2: The Answers 155 Chapter 23: Answers 157 Index 313.