English grammar and composition. complete course

806 Pages·1969·65.09 MB·English

by  John E. Warriner

WARRINER'S

REVISED EDITION

WITH SUPPLEMENT

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GRAMMAR
Agreement

The Parts of Speech

Noun, 4
Pronoun, 5

Adjective, 8
Verb, 10
Adverb, 14
Preposition, 16
Conjunction, 17

Interjection, 19

The Parts of a Sentence

Sentence defined, 23
Subject and
predicate, 23-24
Compound subjects
and verbs, 24, 25
Direct object, 27

Indirect object, 28

2i
|
Predicate nominative, 31
Predicate adjective, 31

The Phrase

Phrase defined, 36
Prepositional phrases,
36-38

Participial phrase, 41, 42
Gerund phrase, 45, 46

Infinitive phrase, 47, 48
Appositives, 50

The Clause

Clause defined, 53
Adjective clause, 55
Relative pronoun, 56
Noun clause, 59
Adverb clause, 62
Subordinating
conjunction, 63
Sentences classified
by structure and
purpose, 66, 68

Levels of Usage

Agreement of subject
and verb, 84-85
Singular and plural
pronouns, 87-88
Compound subjects, 91-92
Subject following verb, 95
Collective nouns, 95
Expressions of amount, 96

Titles, 96
Singular nouns plural

in form, 96
Predicate nominative
and agreement, 97
Every and many a, 97
Don't and doesn't , 97
One of those , 98
Agreement of pronoun
and antecedent, 100

Correct Use of Pronouns

Case forms, 105
Nominative case, 106-07

I
Objective case, 108, 111
Pronoun in clause, 115
Incomplete
constructions, 118
Emphatic pronouns, 119
Appositives, 119
Possessive with
gerund, 120
Subject of infinitive, 120

Correct Form and
Use of Verbs

Irregular verbs, 129
Tense, 144
Use of tenses, 147
Past perfect, 150, 151

Participial phrases, 152
Present infinitive, 153
Perfect infinitive, 153
Passive voice, 157
Subjunctive, 159

Correct Use of Modifiers

Modifiers following
verbs, 163, 164
Comparison, 167

Uses of comparatives
and superlatives, 169,
170
Double comparisons, 170

Glossary of Usage

COMPOSITION: SENTENCE
STRUCTURE

Sentence Completeness

.:
h|
Fragments, 199,201
Run-on sentences, 203

Coordination and

Subordination

Coordinating
connectives, 209
Subordinating
connectives, 211, 216
Faulty coordination, 218

Clear Reference

.
|
Ambiguous reference,
222

Indefinite reference, 228

Placement of Modifiers

Phrases and clauses, 230
Dangling modifiers, 233

Parallel Structure

Parallel ideas, 239
Completed
parallelism, 241, 242
Incomplete
parallelism, 244

Unnecessary Shifts in

Sentences

Shifts in subject, 248

Shifts in verb, 248

Sentence Conciseness

'«i
h|
Avoiding wordiness,
255, 258

Overwritten style, 265

Sentence Variety

Length and structure, 268
"Stringy" style, 275

Effective Diction

Trite expressions, 279
Jargon, 282
Figures of speech, 284-88
Appropriate diction, 292
Specific meaning, 294

Exercises in

Sentence Revision

COMPOSITION: PARAGRAPHS
AND LONGER PAPERS

The Effective Paragraph

Paragraph defined, 312
Topic sentence, 313
Paragraph
development, 316, 330

Unity, 331
Coherence, 334, 341

If
»lg-h

>2a

>2b-c
>2d

Expository Writing

Selecting subject, 345
Grouping ideas, 346, 348
Outlining, 349
Writing the first draft, 353
Revising, 361, 362
Specific problems,
368, 371

Language and Logic

Propositions, 381, 383
Answering arguments,
384
Sufficient evidence, 385
Generalizations, 389
Analogies, 392
Testing syllogisms, 394
Possible causes, 398

Irrelevant points, 399
Recognizing
propaganda, 404

CONTINUED ON
BACK END PAPER

English

Grammar

and

Composition

COMPLETE COURSE

JOHN E. WARRINER

FRANCIS GRIFFITH

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Donald W. Lee

vocabulary

Peter M. Miller and

Orville Palmer

college entrance examinations

m

HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH

New York
Chicago
San Francisco
Atlanta
Dallas
and
London

the series:

English Grammar and Composition 7
English Grammar and Composition 8
English Grammar and Composition 9
English Grammar and Composition 10
English Grammar and Composition
11

English Grammar and Composition: Complete Course

Test
booklet and
teacher's manual
for each
title above

CORRELATED BOOKS OF MODELS FOR WRITING!

Composition: Models and Exercises 7
Composition: Models and Exercises 8
Composition: Models and Exercises 9
Composition: Models and Exercises 10
Composition: Models and Exercises 11
Advanced Composition: A Book of Models for Writing

authors: John E. Warriner has taught English for 32 years, in junior
and senior high schools and in college. He
is also a coauthor of the

English Workshop series. Francis Griffith, who holds a doctor's degree
in education from Columbia University, was for many years Chair-
man of English and Speech in a Brooklyn, New York, high school.

special contributors: Donald W. Lee, Associate Professor of Eng-
lish at the University of Houston, is a coauthor of the Harbrace Vo-
cabulary Workshop. Peter M. Miller, who wrote the material on Col-
lege Entrance and Other Examinations, was formerly on the staff of
Educational Testing Service and
is now Associate Director of Ad-

missions
at the
California
Institute of Technology. Orville Palmer,

who assisted in the planning and editing of the chapter on examina-
tions, is a member of Educational Testing Service.

Copyright © 1 969, 1965,
J 963, 1957, copyright 1951 by

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and
re-

trieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ISBN 0-15-312000-2

Preface

The
teacher of senior
English
occupies a
difficult
but

challenging position. Because the course he teaches
is
in

large part a summary of all the English courses that have

preceded
it, he feels obligated to review, or reteach, every-

thing. Two thoughts impress upon him the magnitude of

his
responsibilities. The
first
is
the image of the
college

English
instructor
lurking
in
the
future
of
his
college-

bound
students, ready and,
it often seems, eager to
find

weaknesses in
their high school preparation. The other is

the even more sobering knowledge
that for
his terminal

students the senior English class may be the last chance to

master language skills that will help them meet the speak-

ing and writing demands of a lifetime.

Although
teaching
literature may be more
interesting

and
less wearing than
teaching
writing,
the
experienced

teacher recognizes that the
latter
is the more
critical
re-

sponsibility. This
is so because, in a practical sense, a per-

son
is more handicapped in college and in
life by failures

in self-expression than by ignorance of literature. Writing

faults are specific and easily detected
; literary ignorance
is

less apparent and more easily overcome with effort. Rela-

tively few college students fail because of inadequate prepa-

ration
in
literature
compared
to
the number who
fail

because they cannot write.

In teaching expository writing, a teacher must deal with

four kinds of composition problems:
the problem of the

word;
the problem
of the
sentence;
the problem of the

paragraph; and the problem of the longer composition. A

teacher may at times choose to deal with one kind of prob-
lem in isolation—sentence structure, for example—over a

stretch of several lessons, and he may at other times deal

with
all four kinds of problems in the course of a single

iii

iv
Preface

class period. The order in which he takes them up during the

course will be dictated by the needs of his class or the se-

quence of his local course of study. But whatever plan and

order he chooses, he must cover these four kinds of com-

position problems.

Problems of word usage
involve
three
areas of study.

First, the study of grammatical correctness in the use of

inflected
forms
(agreement,
pronoun
usage,
verb
usage,

etc.) ; second, the study of the conventions of usage and of

appropriateness
in word
choice;
third,
the
study of vo-

cabulary and diction as a means to a more powerful style.

Seniors should begin to have a sophisticated view of lan-

guage. They should know about the changes that are con-

stantly occurring in their language. They should understand

usage levels. They should be able to use formal standard

English when
it is appropriate, and they should be trained

to use common reference tools efficiently.

The
attack on problems
of sentence
structure
in
the

senior year should include training in the writing of sen-

tences
that
are both
clear and smooth. The words
in a

sentence may be correct grammatically and appropriate in

a usage sense, but the sentence
itself may
still be unclear.

Also, a sentence may be correct and clear but unfelicitous

or awkward in
its structure. The
efficient way to provide

this
training in sentence building
is to teach students
to

recognize and correct those sentence structure faults which

commonly cause confusion or awkwardness. Specific terms

for sentence
faults may
eventually be
forgotten,
but
ex-

tensive
practice
in
revising
poor
sentences
to
produce

good sentences gives the student an understanding of the

difference between a good sentence and a poor one.

The most important and perhaps most difficult thing to

achieve
in teaching expository
writing
is good
organiza-

tion. Organization can be most concretely taught through

the paragraph which,
in small compass, demands most of

the important writing
skills. No matter how many times

Preface
v

students may
have
been
taught
the
topic
sentence,
the

methods of developing a paragraph, the common
transi-

tional devices both within and between paragraphs, they

can
still
profit from more
experience
in
organizing and

writing the single-paragraph composition. More demand-

ing than
the
single-paragraph composition
is
the
longer

paper
of many
paragraphs.
Planning
and
organization

again
are the important
goals.
Students should be given

experience
in
writing many
kinds
of exposition:
exposi-

tion that defines; exposition that informs; exposition that

explains. In learning to write opinion and argument, they

should
be
instructed
in
the
elements
of clear
thinking.

They
will
benefit from
practice
in
writing such
specific

expository forms as the precis, the factual report, the busi-

ness letter, and the research paper.

Sometimes referred to as the "kitchen work" of com-

position
teaching,
instruction
in
mechanics
is
frequently

necessary
in the senior course. Manuscript form,
capital-

ization, punctuation, and spelling are areas in which com-

petence
is
rightfully
expected
of high
school
graduates.

Here again, the senior must be mature enough to find
in

reference books the answers to questions of technique. The

composition teacher urges him to become independent to

the extent that he can use his own textbook in this way.

Students write best when they have something interesting

and important to say. The competent composition teacher

realizes that he must help his students with the subject matter

as well as the techniques of writing. When
literature and

composition are taught in the same class, a large part of

the writing can and should be about the
literature being

studied, especially about ideas derived from
it. Neverthe-

less, a very considerable proportion of the subject matter

of student themes should come from the students' experi-

ence and special interests. Showing students that they do
have
information,
ideas,
and
experiences
worth
writing

about
is one of the
teacher's most important
tasks. The

vi
Preface

new
supplement,
"Making
Writing
Interesting,"
shows

students how to use narrative, attractive introductions, and

concrete words to make their writing come alive.

The teacher of writing must never lose sight of his goal,

which
is the improvement of his students' writing ability

as shown in their compositions. The carry-over from class-
room
instruction
and
practice
exercises
to
the
student

theme is not automatic. It can be assured only if the teacher

insists
on
it.
Composition
assignments, made
regularly

and motivated carefully, are the indispensable features of
any course in writing. In them the student applies all that
he has learned
in
class; through them
his teacher both

evaluates the student's achievement and, by judicious crit-

icism, helps him to display more and more effectively the
major writing skills which he has been taught.

In his endeavor to bring his seniors up to a high level

of competence in written English, the good teacher needs
and deserves the best available
tools. Most important of

these is a good textbook.
It is the intent and the hope of

authors,
editors, and publishers of English Grammar and

Composition:
Complete
Course
that
this book
will
serve

both students and teachers in their important work.

J. W.

The authors and publishers wish to acknowledge the valuable

critical help given by the many teachers who contributed sugges-

tions for this book. Special thanks are due to Mr. Henry Aronson,

International School of The Hague, Netherlands; Dr. John R.

Arscott, Coordinator, Senior Division, West Essex High School,

North Caldwell, New Jersey; Mrs. Margaret R. Bonney, Lexing-

ton High School, Lexington, Massachusetts; Miss Jean E. Crab-

tree, Garden City Senior High School, Garden City, New York;

Mr. Raymond E. Kavanagh, Levittown Memorial High School,

Levittown, New York; Mrs. Gladys Kronsagen, Glenbard Town-

ship High School, Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Contents

Preface

PART ONE:
GRAMMAR

1. The Parts of Speech
3

Their Identification and Function

2. The Parts of a Sentence
22

Subjects, Predicates, and Complements

3. The Phrase
35

Kinds of Phrases and Their Functions

4. The Clause
52

The Function of Clauses

PART TWO:
USAGE

5.
Levels of Usage
72

Appropriate Language
• The Varieties of English
•
Stan-

dard and Substandard English
• Two Kinds of Standard

English (Formal and Informal)
• Improving Your Usage

6. Agreement
84

Subject and Verb, Pronoun and Antecedent

Agreement of Subject and Verb
•
Intervening Phrases
•

Indefinite
Pronouns
as
Subjects
• Other
Problems
in

Agreement
• Agreement of Pronoun and Antecedent

vii

viii
Contents

7.
Correct Use of Pronouns
104

Nominative and Objective Case;
Special Problems with Pronouns

Uses of Nominative Forms
• Uses of Objective Forms
•

Who and Whom
• Pronouns in Incomplete Constructions

8.
Correct Form and Use of Verbs
125

Principal Parts; Tense, Voice, Mood

Kinds of Verbs
•
Principal Parts
• Regular and Irregular

Verbs
• Tense
•
Special Problems of Tense Usage
Active

and Passive Voice
• Retained Object
•
Subjunctive Mood

9.
Correct Use of Modifiers
162

Form of Adjectives and Adverbs,
Comparison

Adjective and Adverb Forms
• Comparative and Super-

lative Forms
•
Irregular Comparison
• Use of Compar-

atives and Superlatives
• Double Comparisons

10.
Glossary of Usage
172

PART THREE:
COMPOSITION:

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

11. Sentence Completeness
198

Fragments and Run-on Sentences

12.
Coordination and Subordination
207

Relationship Between Ideas

Contents
ix

13. Clear Reference
222

Pronouns and Antecedents

Ambiguous Reference
• General Reference
• Weak Refer-

ence
•
Indefinite Use of Pronouns

14. Placement of Modifiers
230

Misplaced and Dangjing Modifiers

Misplaced
Modifiers
• Dangling
Modifiers
• Two-Way

Modifiers

15.
Parallel Structure
239

Structures of Equal Rank;

Correcting Faulty Parallelism

Kinds of Parallel Structure
• Completed Parallelism

16. Unnecessary Shifts in Sentences
247

Awkward Changes in Subject
and in Verb Forms

17. Sentence Conciseness
254

Avoiding Wordiness and Overwriting

Superfluous Words and Unnecessary
Repetition
• Con-

ciseness Through Reduction
• The Overwritten Style

18. Sentence Variety
268

Interest and Emphasis

19.
Effective Diction
279

Appropriate Choice of Words

20.
Exercises in Sentence Revision
300

x
Contents

PART FOUR:
COMPOSITION:

PARAGRAPHS AND LONGER PAPERS

21. The Effective Paragraph
312

Developing Unified, Coherent Paragraphs

The
Topic
Sentence
• Development
of the Topic
Sen-

tence
• Unity
• Coherence
• Linking Expressions

22.
Expository Writing
344

The Whole Composition

Selecting and
Limiting the
Subject
• Assembling Mate-

rials
• Organizing Materials—Outlining
•
Outline Form
•

The
First
Draft
• Paragraphing
•
Transitions
Between

Paragraphs
• The Transitional Paragraph
•
Revising the

First Draft
• Revision Checklist
•
Specific Kinds of Ex-

pository Writing
• Suggested Topics for Composition

23. Language and Logic
380

Propositions, Evidence, Reasoning

The
Arguable
Proposition
• Minor
Propositions
•
Evi-

dence
• Inductive
Reasoning
•
Generalizations
• Anal-

ogies
• Deductive
Reasoning
• The
Syllogism
• Clear

Thinking
• Argument and Propaganda

24.
Exercises
in Composition
408

The Precis, The Factual Report

25. The Research Paper
424

The Formal Composition

Finding the Right Subject
• Typical Areas for Research
•

Limiting the Subject
• The Preliminary Outline
• The Note

Card
• The Final Outline
• Footnotes
• The Bibliography

26.
Letter Writing
456

Standard Practice in Letters

Contents
xi

PART
FIVE:
AIDS TO GOOD ENGLISH

27. Information in the Library
488

Resources of the Library

28. Reference Books
503

Special Sources of Information

29. The Dictionary
519

Content and Uses of Dictionaries

30. Vocabulary
536

Meaning Through Context; Word Analysis

PART
SIX:
SPEAKING AND LISTENING

31.
Discussion and Debate
570

Types of Discussion; Debating

32.
Effective Speech
596

Pronunciation and Enunciation

PART SEVEN:
MECHANICS

33.
Capitalization
608

Standard Uses of Capital Letters

34. Punctuation
622

End Marks and Commas

35. Punctuation
643

Other Marks of Punctuation