The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing - Third Edition

254 Pages·2009·3.586 MB·English

by  Doug Babington, Don LePan, Maureen Okun

pocket.qxd:pocket.qxd 5/21/09 11:15 PM Page 1
This electronic material is under
Praise for The Broadview Guide to Writing: copyright protection and is
provided to a single recipient
for review purposes only.
“The Broadview Guide to Writing registers the
The
seriousness of academic writing yet reads
BBRROOAADDVVIIEEWW like an amiable conversation with writers.” TThhee BBrrooaaddvviieeww
Robyn Fowler, University of Alberta Pocket Guide to Writing 3/e
PP OO CC KK EE TT
“… impressive, especially when compared
GG UU II DD EE
to more costly yet comparable texts.”
Anne Maxham, Antioch University
“The time is right for an inexpensive,
no-frills composition text, and
The Broadview Guide is exactly that.”
Richard Spacek, University of New Brunswick
“It’s very good—clear without being Doug Babington, Don LePan, & Maureen Okun
condescending.”
to
Jonathan Sadow, State University of New York at Oneonta
WWRRIITT IINNGG
The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
3 / e
presents in concise form essential material
from the more comprehensive text The
Broadview Guide to Writing. Included are
summaries of key grammatical points and
Doug
BBAABBIINNGGTTOONN a reference guide to basic grammar; a
glossary of usage; tips on writing style;
Don
a guide to bias-free writing; coverage of
LL EE PP AA NN punctuation and writing mechanics; helpful
advice on Internet research; and much
more. For the third edition the section
&
on citation and documentation in four
commonly used styles (MLA, APA, Chicago,
Maureen and CSE) has been extensively revised.
OO KK UU NN
Doug Babington is Director of the
Writing Centre at Queen’s University;
Don LePan’s latest book is a novel,
Animals (Véhicule, 2009); Maureen Okun
is a professor both in the Department of
English and in the Department of Liberal
broadview press Studies at Vancouver Island University.
www.broadviewpress.com
pocket.qxd:pocket.qxd 5/21/09 11:15 PM Page 1
Praise for The Broadview Guide to Writing:
“The Broadview Guide to Writing registers the
The
seriousness of academic writing yet reads
BBRROOAADDVVIIEEWW like an amiable conversation with writers.” TThhee BBrrooaaddvviieeww
Robyn Fowler, University of Alberta Pocket Guide to Writing 3/e
PP OO CC KK EE TT
“… impressive, especially when compared
GG UU II DD EE
to more costly yet comparable texts.”
Anne Maxham, Antioch University
“The time is right for an inexpensive,
no-frills composition text, and
The Broadview Guide is exactly that.”
Richard Spacek, University of New Brunswick
“It’s very good—clear without being Doug Babington, Don LePan, & Maureen Okun
condescending.”
to
Jonathan Sadow, State University of New York at Oneonta
WWRRIITT IINNGG
The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
3 / e
presents in concise form essential material
from the more comprehensive text The
Broadview Guide to Writing. Included are
summaries of key grammatical points and
Doug
BBAABBIINNGGTTOONN a reference guide to basic grammar; a
glossary of usage; tips on writing style;
Don
a guide to bias-free writing; coverage of
LL EE PP AA NN punctuation and writing mechanics; helpful
advice on Internet research; and much
more. For the third edition the section
&
on citation and documentation in four
commonly used styles (MLA, APA, Chicago,
Maureen and CSE) has been extensively revised.
OO KK UU NN
Doug Babington is Director of the
Writing Centre at Queen’s University;
Don LePan’s latest book is a novel,
Animals (Véhicule, 2009); Maureen Okun
is a professor both in the Department of
English and in the Department of Liberal
broadview press Studies at Vancouver Island University.
www.broadviewpress.com
BroadviewPocket3e:Broadview.Pocket.2e 29/06/09 10:30 AM Page i
Review Copy
The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
3/e
BroadviewPocket3e:Broadview.Pocket.2e 29/06/09 10:30 AM Page ii
Review Copy
BroadviewPocket3e:Broadview.Pocket.2e 29/06/09 10:30 AM Page iii
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The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
3/e
Doug Babington, Don LePan, and Maureen Okun
broadview press
BroadviewPocket3e:Broadview.Pocket.2e 29/06/09 10:30 AM Page iv
Review Copy
© 2009 Doug Babington, Don LePan, and Maureen Okun
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval
system, without prior written consent of the publisher—or in the case of photocopying, a licence from
Acess Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto,
Ontario M5E 1E5—is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Babington, Doug
The Broadview pocket guide to writing / Doug Babington, Don LePan, and
Maureen Okun.—3rd ed.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55111-970-0
1. English language—Rhetoric—Textbooks. 2. English language—Grammar—Textbooks.
3. Report writing—Textbooks. 4. Bibliographical citations—Standards—Textbooks.
I. LePan, Don, 1954– II. Okun, Maureen Jeannette, 1961– III. Title.
LB2369.B24 2009 808'.042 C2009-902303-2
Broadview Press is an independent, international publishing house, incorporated in 1985.
Broadview believes in shared ownership, both with its employees and with the general public;
since the year 2000 Broadview shares have traded publicly on the Toronto Venture Exchange
under the symbol BDP.
We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications—please feel free to
contact us at the addresses below or at [email protected].
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Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]
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www.broadviewpress.com
BROADVIEW PRESS ACKNOWLEDGES THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA THROUGH THE BOOK
PUBLISHING INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (BPIDP) FOR
OUR PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES.
This book is printed on paper containing 100% post-consumer fibre.
PRINTED IN CANADA
BroadviewPocket3e:Broadview.Pocket.2e 29/06/09 10:30 AM Page v
Review Copy
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The goal of The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writingis to
provide a concise reference text that is easy to use in every
respect. We've made the book easy to carry around, and
easy to use lying flat on a desk. We've also tried to keep the
organization simple so that the book will be easy for you to
find your way round in. There are two ways to locate
information in the text:
• index: Go to the index at the back of the book to find the
location in the book for any topic, large or small.
• table of contents: The detailed table of contents at the
beginning of the book sets out the sections, chapters, and
headings within chapters.
In order to keep the book concise and convenient, we have
not included any sample essays, but you may find several of
these on the Broadview Press adjunct writing website:
• sample essays, providing examples of essay style and
structure, as well as examples of different referencing styles
(APA, Chicago, and CSE as well as MLA), are available
through the Broadview Press website; go to
www.broadviewpress.com, and click on LINKS.
For the third edition we have updated our coverage of the
various systems of citation and reference; we include the same
comprehensive coverage of MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles
as is provided in the full Broadview Guide to Writing.
This book does not provide one feature that you will find in
many other writing reference books: highlights in blue or red or
green throughout the book. Largely because the text is printed in
one colour, however, the publisher is able to offer The
Broadview Pocket Guide to Writingat a substantially lower
price than most other texts; this is one other respect in which we
hope TheBroadview Pocket Guide to Writing will be a truly
student-friendly text.
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Contents
CLEAR WRITING: A CHECKLIST
1
1. CHOOSING THE BEST WORDS 2
a. Be as Clear and Specific as Possible 2
b. Watch for Redundancy 2
c. Avoid Wordiness 3
d. Watch for Missing Parts 3
e. Choose the Best Verb 3
2. ORDER AND CONNECT YOUR IDEAS 4
a. Paragraphing 4
b. Joining Words 5
c. Order and Weight Your Ideas According to Their Importance 9
d. Watch for Ambiguity 9
3. MAKING YOUR WRITING CONSISTENT 10
a. Agreement among the Grammatical Parts of Your Writing 10
b. Watch for Mixed Metaphors 12
4. RHYTHM AND VARIETY 12
5. TONE, VOICE, AND
SPECIAL WRITING SITUATIONS 14
a. Academic Writing 14
b. Writing About Literature 15
c. Writing in Other Academic Disciplines 19
d. Business Writing 22
e. Slang and Informal English 24
6. BIAS-FREE USAGE 25
a. Gender 25
b. Race, Culture, and Sexual Orientation 29
c. Bias-free Vocabulary: A Short List 31
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GRAMMAR
33
7. VERBS AND VERB TENSE DIFFICULTIES 34
a. The Infinitive 34
b. The Simple Present Tense 34
c. Subject-Verb Agreement 34
d. Survey of Verb Tenses 36
e. Voice 36
8. COMBINING VERB TENSES 37
a. The Past Perfect Tense 37
b. Combining Tenses—Quoted Material 38
9. IRREGULAR VERBS 39
10. DANGLING CONSTRUCTIONS 43
11. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS 45
a. Singular and Plural Nouns 46
b. Singular Pronouns 47
c. Unreferenced or Wrongly Referenced Pronouns 47
d. Subject and Object Pronouns 48
12. ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS 49
a. Comparatives and Superlatives 50
13. SENTENCE FRAGMENTS/
INCOMPLETE SENTENCES 51
14. RUN-ON SENTENCES/COMMA SPLICES 52
15. FOR THOSE WHOSE NATIVE LANGUAGE
IS NOT ENGLISH 54
a. Articles 54
b. Frequently Used Non-count Nouns 55
c. Continuous Verb Tenses 57
d. Omission or Repetition of the Subject 57
e. The Conditional 58
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PUNCTUATION
61
16. THE PERIOD 62
17. THE COMMA 62
a. Extra Comma 63
b. Commas and Lists 63
c. Commas and Non-restrictive Elements 64
d. Thatand Which 65
18. THE QUESTION MARK 66
19. THE EXCLAMATION MARK 66
20. THE SEMI-COLON 66
21. THE COLON 67
22. THE HYPHEN 68
23. THE DASH 69
24. PARENTHESES 69
25. SQUARE BRACKETS 70
26. THE APOSTROPHE 70
a. Contractions 70
b. Possession 70
27. QUOTATION MARKS 71
a. Other Uses of Quotation Marks 72
b. Misuse of Quotation Marks to Indicate Emphasis 73
c. Single Quotation Marks 74
28. ELLIPSES 74