Cover
Copyright page
Contents
Preface
On Looking at Sentences
1 Loose, Baggy Sentences
Profile of a Wordy Sentence
Weak Verbs
Ponderous Nouns
Strings of Prepositional Phrases
Shortcuts
Routine Condensing
Choosing Bargain Words
Leaving Unsaid
2 Faulty Connections
Putting Modifiers in Their Places
Adjectives
Adverbs
Verbal Phrases
Appositive and Contrasting Phrases
Prepositional Phrases
Clauses
Jockeying for Position
Clarifying the Structure
Subject-Verb Connections
Ambiguous Words
Placement of Objects
3 Ill-matched Partners
Unbalanced Pairs and Series
Parallelism and Correlative Conjunctions
Parallelism and Clarity
Other Incompatibles
4 Mismanaged Numbers and References
Subject-Verb Disagreement
Compound Subjects
Subjects Subverted by Other Words
What, All, and None as Subjects
Other Tricky Subjects
Alternative Subjects
Pronoun-Antecedent Disagreement
Shifts in Person
Gender Problems
Shifts in Number
Other Disagreement Problems
Faulty References
Missing Antecedents
Obscure Antecedents
Ambiguous Pronouns
5 Problems with Punctuation
Commas—Good, Bad, and Indifferent
Helpful Commas
Before Conjunctions Joining Independent Clauses
Between Adjacent Parallel Items
Around Parenthetical Elements
Nonrestrictive Modifiers
Expletives and Other Deletables
Interrupters
Introductory Modifiers
In Sequences Where Needed to Prevent Misreading
In Special Contexts
Harmful Commas
Discretionary Commas
After a Short Introductory Phrase or Clause
Around Transitional Adverbs and Similar Interpolations
Before a Conjunction Joining Short, Closely Related Independent Clauses
Before a Conjunction Joining Words, Phrases, or Subordinate Clauses That Differ in Form or Emphasis
Between a Conjunction and an Introductory Modifier
Before an Interrupting Modifier Following the Conjunction that
Summary
Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes and Parentheses
Semicolons
Colons
Dashes and Parentheses
Afterword
Appendix A: The Parts of a Sentence
Structural Elements
Subjects and Predicates
Objects and Complements
Word Groups as Sentence Elements
Modifiers
Types of Sentences
Parts of Speech
Verbs
Nouns
Pronouns
Adjectives and Adverbs
Prepositions and Conjunctions
Interjections
Converts and Hybrids
Appendix B: A Glossary of Questionable Usage
Selected Bibliography
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y