This handbook for writers is designed to be a practical guide to the conventions of the English language in its written form. The handbook also offers information and advice on composition and grammar and on a selection of other editing- and publishing-related topics. Chapters in the book are: (1) Punctuation; (2) Capitals, Italics, and Quotation…

The 33 activities in this book reinforce the rules of written English by providing students with practice in editing a variety of formats. The activities help students develop a basic understanding of the rules of grammar and mechanics (generally taught in grades 8 and up) in context and exercise their critical thinking abilities by identifying…

This composition manual explains how to write a student essay: planning, organizing, and revising. It also offers standards for bibliography, format, grammar, and punctuation. (CNP)

"Writeability" is concerned with helping writers and editors produce materials on easier readability levels. A major input of most readability formulas is vocabulary difficulty. One way to increase readability is to use simple vocabulary or shorter words since word frequency studies show that more common words are shorter. The other…

The purpose of this book is to teach technical writing to social scientists. The authors argue that too few social scientists take enough care with words that are outside the technical vocabulary of the social sciences. Chapters discuss such topics as: the need for better social science writing, planning what is to be written, writing sentences…

Guidelines to aid the Extension Agent in writing articles for newspapers are presented. The manual is divided into the following sections: Why Use Newspapers?; Newspaper Public Relations; Before You Begin to Write; What Is News?; The Right Words; Feature Stories; Writing Columns; Newspaper Editorials; Editing; and Photography. In addition, a…

Emphasizes the need for proofreading instruction in a college technical writing class. Provides the locations of frequently undetected proofreading errors and a strategy for when and how to proofread. (RL)

A research study was conducted to determine the relative frequency of occurrence of English punctuation rules, features of typewritten format, selected elements of English style in written business communications, and frequency of error for each element. Tabulations were made on the frequency of errors and correct occurrences for each analyzed…

Presents worksheets formulated for high school juniors and seniors to help them learn rules for punctuation. (HTH)

Describes calls to a grammar hot line about usage, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Concludes that many people besides educators and professional writers care about exact and accurate language usage. (EL)

This grammar handbook emphasizes formal written usage, offering clues to help with comprehension. The seven sections discuss: (1) "Nouns" (e.g., most nouns can follow "the," and possessives can show more than possession); (2) "Pronouns" (e.g., pronouns come in small groups, and some pronouns defy logic); (3) "Verbs" (e.g., some plural subjects…

Providing grades 4-6 students with practice and reinforcement in editing for capitalization, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, usage, and content, this computer software program contains over 30 written accounts that have been sequenced from easier to more difficult. The program has 3 levels of play: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. At each…

This article reports that, after years of debate, representatives of German-speaking countries meeting in Vienna reached an agreement on measures to reform the spelling of the German language. Many linguists were disappointed that it was not decided to change the most unique characteristic of German spelling--the capitalization of German nouns.…