Exploring Writing Paragraphs and Essays FOURTH EDITION Zoé L. Albright Metropolitan Community College—Longview John Langan Atlantic Cape Community College EXPLORING WRITING: PARAGRAPHS AND ESSAYS, FOURTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2020 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 21 20 19 ISBN 978-0-07-353479-4 (bound edition) MHID 0-07-353479-X (bound edition) ISBN 978-1-260-16455-8 (loose-leaf edition) MHID 1-260-16455-1 (loose-leaf edition) Portfolio Manager: Penina Braffman Product Developer: Beth Tripmacher Marketing Manager: Byron Kanoti Content Project Manager: Lisa Bruflodt Buyer: Laura Fuller Designer: Jessica Cuevas Content Licensing Specialist: Brianna Kirschbaum Cover Image: (Hands): ©ImYanis/Shutterstock; (computer): ©CostinT/iStock.com; (woman using computer): ©Dragon Images/Shutterstock Compositor: Lumina Datamatics, Inc. All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Albright, Zoe L.
| Langan, John, author. Title: Exploring writing : paragraphs and essays / John Langan, Atlantic Cape Community College ; Zoâe L. Albright, Metropolitan Community College—Longview. Description: Fourth edition.
| New York, NY : McGraw-Hill Education, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018032683 (print) | LCCN 2018046001 (ebook) | ISBN 9781260164541 | ISBN 9780073534794 (bound edition : acid-free paper) | ISBN 007353479X (bound edition : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781260164558 (loose-leaf edition) | ISBN 1260164551 (loose-leaf edition) Subjects: LCSH: English language—Paragraphs—Problems, exercises, etc. | English language—Rhetoric—Problems, exercises, etc. | Report writing—Problems, exercises, etc.
Classification: LCC PE1439 (ebook) | LCC PE1439 .042076—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.gov/2018032683 The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.com/highered ABOUT THE AUTHORS Zoé L. Albright has been involved in diverse aspects of education for twenty-two years. For the last eighteen years, she has been a faculty member at Metropolitan Community College—Longview, teaching developmental writing, composi- tion, and literature.
She has created and implemented traditional and online curricula for high school and college English and composition courses and for a variety of literature courses. She continues to research new educational theory and practices. In addition to this extensive teaching experience, Zoé is the co-author of College Writing Skills with Readings 10/e and English Skills with Readings 9/e. She has also contributed to other Langan texts, Zoé L.
Albright including the Exploring Writing 3/e books and College Writing Skills Courtesy of Zoé L. Albright with Readings 9/e. She received her M. from Goldsmiths, University of London; B.
from the University of Idaho; and A. from Cottey College. She is currently pursuing a Ph. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kansas.
Travel is one of Zoé’s main passions. Whenever she travels, she incorporates what she has experi- enced and learned into her writing and teaching. Zoé currently resides outside Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband and teenage son. John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Community College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, for more than twenty-five years.
The author of a popular series of col- lege textbooks on both writing and reading, John enjoys the challenge of developing materials that teach skills in an espe- cially clear and lively way. Before teaching, he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. He also spent a year writing fiction that, he says, “is now at the back of a drawer waiting to be discovered and acclaimed posthumously.” While in school, he supported himself by working as a truck driver, a machinist, a battery assembler, a John Langan hospital attendant, and an apple packer. John now lives with his Courtesy of Judith Nadell wife, Judith Nadell, near Philadelphia.
In addition to his wife and Philly sports teams, his passions include reading and turning on non- readers to the pleasure and power of books. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit “Townsend Library”—a collection of more than one hundred new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age. iii BRIEF CONTENTS PART 1 Writing: Skills and 17. Introductions, Conclusions, and Process 2 Titles 315 1.
An Introduction to Writing 4 18. Patterns of Essay Development 329 2. The Writing Process 25 PART 5 Research-Based Writing 368 PART 2 Basic Principles of Effective Writing 58 19. The First and Second Steps in 20.
Working with Sources 385 Writing 60 21. Writing a Research Paper 417 4. The Third and Fourth Steps in Writing 90 PART 6 Handbook of Sentence 5. Four Bases for Revising Skills 434 Writing 126 SECTION I Grammar 436 PART 3 Paragraph 22.
Subjects and Verbs 437 Development 162 23. Regular and Irregular Verbs 468 9. Subject–Verb Agreement 476 10. Cause and/or Effect 206 28.
More about Verbs 481 11. Comparison and/or Contrast 216 29. Definition 230 and Reference 485 13. Adjectives and Adverbs 496 32.
Misplaced and Dangling PART 4 Essay Modifiers 501 Development 270 SECTION II Mechanics 511 15. Introduction to Essay 33. Capital Letters 512 Development 272 34. Numbers and Abbreviations 519 16.
Writing the Essay 285 iv BRIEF CONTENTS v SECTION III Punctuation 524 PART 7 Readings for 35. Quotation Marks 531 INTRODUCTION TO THE 37. Other Punctuation Marks 546 GOALS AND VALUES 594 SECTION IV Word Use 552 EDUCATION AND LEARNING 646 39. Commonly Confused Words 553 40.
Effective Word Choice 563 CHALLENGING SOCIETY 679 SECTION V Tests 570 Index 717 41. Editing Tests 571 CONTENTS Readings Listed by Rhetorical Mode xii Step 2: Support the Point with Preface xiv Specific Evidence 71 Reinforcing Point and Support 74 PART 1 Writing: Skills and The Importance of Specific Process 2 Details 77 The Importance of Adequate 1. An Introduction to Details 81 Writing 4 Writing a Paragraph 87 Point and Support 5 4. The Third and Fourth Benefits of Paragraph Writing 8 Steps in Writing 90 Writing as a Way to Communicate with Others: Audience and Step 3: Organize and Connect the Purpose 9 Specific Evidence 91 Writing as a Skill 12 Step 4: Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences 105 Writing as a Process of Discovery 14 5.
Four Bases for Revising Keeping a Journal 15 Writing 126 Using Technology to Work Base 1: Unity 127 Efficiently 17 Base 2: Support 133 MLA Format 22 Base 3: Coherence 136 2. The Writing Process 25 Base 4: Sentence Skills 142 Prewriting 26 Evaluating Paragraphs for All Four Bases: Unity, Support, Writing a First Draft 34 Coherence, and Sentence Revising 36 Skills 146 Editing 37 The Writing Process in Using Peer Review 40 Action 149 Doing a Personal Review 42 Review Activities 42 PART 3 Paragraph Development 162 PART 2 Basic Principles of 6. Exemplification 164 Effective Writing 58 Paragraphs to Consider 165 3. The First and Second Developing an Exemplification Paragraph 167 Steps in Writing 60 Writing an Exemplification Step 1: Begin with a Point 61 Paragraph 169 vi CONTENTS vii 7.
Division- Paragraphs to Consider 176 Classification 240 Developing a Narrative Paragraphs to Consider 241 Paragraph 178 Developing a Division-Classification Writing a Narrative Paragraph 180 Paragraph 244 Writing a Division-Classification 8. Description 184 Paragraph 247 Paragraphs to Consider 185 14. Argument 251 Developing a Descriptive Paragraph 187 Strategies for Arguments 252 Writing a Descriptive Paragraph 189 Paragraphs to Consider 257 Developing an Argument 9. Process 195 Paragraph 259 Paragraphs to Consider 196 Writing an Argument Developing a Process Paragraph 263 Paragraph 199 Writing a Process Paragraph 201 PART 4 Essay 10.
Cause and/or Development 270 Effect 206 15. Introduction to Essay Paragraphs to Consider 207 Development 272 Developing a Cause and/or Effect Paragraph 208 What Is an Essay? 273 Writing a Cause and/or Effect Structure of the Traditional Paragraph 210 Essay 273 Parts of an Essay 275 11. Comparison and/or Diagram of an Essay 278 Contrast 216 Important Considerations in Essay Paragraphs to Consider 217 Development 282 Methods of Development 218 16. Writing the Additional Paragraph to Consider 222 Essay 285 Developing a Comparison and/or Step 1: Begin with a Point, or Contrast Paragraph 223 Thesis 286 Writing a Comparison and/or Step 2: Support the Thesis with Contrast Paragraph 226 Specific Evidence 293 Step 3: Organize and Connect the 12.
Definition 230 Specific Evidence 298 Paragraphs to Consider 231 Step 4: Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences 304 Developing a Definition Paragraph 233 Revising Essays for All Four Bases: Unity, Support, Coherence, and Writing a Definition Sentence Skills 311 Paragraph 235 viii CONTENTS 17. Introductions, Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Division and Conclusions, and Classification 361 Titles 315 Developing an Essay with Emphasis Introductory Paragraph 316 on Argument 362 Concluding Paragraph 319 Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Identifying Introductions and Argument 365 Conclusions 322 Titles 323 PART 5 Research-Based Essay Writing Assignments 324 Writing 368 18. Patterns of Essay Development 329 19. Information Developing an Essay with Emphasis Literacy 370 on Exemplification 330 Using Online Sources Writing an Essay with Emphasis Effectively 371 on Exemplification 333 Using the Library in the Developing an Essay with Emphasis Context of the Digital on Narration 334 World 377 Writing an Essay with Emphasis on 20.
Working with Narration 338 Sources 385 Developing an Essay with Emphasis on Description 339 Identifying and Avoiding Plagiarism 386 Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Description 342 Writing a Summary 386 Developing an Essay with Emphasis Writing a Paraphrase 397 on Process 343 Using Direct Quotations 400 Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Writing a Literary Analysis or Process 346 Source-Based Essay 402 Developing an Essay with Citing Sources 406 Emphasis on Cause and/or Effect 347 21. Writing a Research Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Paper 417 Cause and/or Effect 349 Step 1: Get Started by Creating a Developing an Essay with Schedule 418 Emphasis on Comparison and/or Contrast 350 Step 2: Select a Topic That You Can Readily Research 419 Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Comparison and/or Step 3: Limit Your Topic and Make Contrast 353 the Purpose of Your Paper Clear 419 Developing an Essay with Emphasis on Definition 354 Step 4: Brainstorm and Gather Information on Your Limited Writing an Essay with Emphasis on Topic 419 Definition 357 Step 5: Keep Track of Your Sources Developing an Essay with and Take Notes 420 Emphasis on Division and Classification 358 Step 6: Write the Paper 420 CONTENTS ix Step 7: Create a “Works Cited” Verb before Subject 477 Page 421 Compound Subjects 477 A Model Research Paper 421 Indefinite Pronouns 478 28. More about Verbs 481 PART 6 Handbook of Verb Tense 481 Sentence Skills 434 Helping Verbs 482 SECTION I Grammar 436 Verbals 483 22. Pronoun Agreement Verbs 437 and Reference 485 A Simple Way to Find a Pronoun Agreement 485 Subject 437 Pronoun Reference 487 A Simple Way to Find a Verb 437 30.
Pronoun Types 490 More about Subjects and Subject and Object Verbs 438 Pronouns 490 Possessive Pronouns 493 23. Sentence Sense 442 Demonstrative Pronouns 494 What Is Sentence Sense? 442 Turning On Your Sentence 31. Adjectives and Sense 442 Adverbs 496 Summary: Using Sentence Adjectives 496 Sense 444 Adverbs 498 24. Misplaced and Dangling Dependent-Word Fragments 445 Modifiers 501 -ing and to Fragments 448 Misplaced Modifiers 501 Added-Detail Fragments 451 Dangling Modifiers 502 Missing-Subject Fragments 453 SECTION II Mechanics 511 25.
Run-Ons 457 What Are Run-Ons? 457 33.