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Stepping
Stones
A Guided Approach to Writing
Sentences and Paragraphs


For Bedford/St. Martin’s
Executive Editor: Carrie Brandon
Developmental Editors: Beth Castrodale and Caroline Thompson
Senior Production Editor: Rosemary Jaffe
Senior Production Supervisor: Nancy Myers
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Editor in Chief: Karen S. Henry
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Managing Editor: Elizabeth M. Schaaf

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Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing
by the Publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
(617-399-4000)
ISBN-10: 0–312–46657–9
0–312–48606–5

ISBN-13: 978–0–312–46657–2
978–0–312–48606–8

(Student Edition)
(Instructor’s Annotated Edition)

Acknowledgments
Sarah Adams. “Be Cool to the Pizza Dude.” Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Adams. From the book This I Believe,
edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Adams. Copyright © 2006 by This
I Believe, Inc. Reprinted by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Angela Adkins. “Dr. Dana.” Originally appeared in the University of Akron Wayne College’s Student Writing
Awards publication. Used with permission.
Sherman Alexie. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” Originally published in The Most
Wonderful Books, edited by Michael Doris and Emilie Buchwald, Milkweed Editions, 1997. Copyright
© 1997 by Sherman Alexie. Reprinted by permission of Nancy Stauffer Associates.
Lynda Barry. “The Sanctuary of School.” From the New York Times Education Section, January 5, 1992, issue,
p. 58. Copyright © 1992 the New York Times. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Used by permission
and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or
retransmission of the Material without express written permission is prohibited.
Acknowledgments and copyrights are continued at the back of the book on page K-25, which constitutes an
extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever
without the written permission of the copyright holder.



Stepping
Stones
A Guided Approach to Writing
Sentences and Paragraphs

Chris Juzwiak
Glendale Community College

Bedford/St. Martin’s
Boston

◆

New York


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Preface for Instructors

If your teaching experiences are like mine, many of the students entering your
classroom have encountered repeated failure in the past. As children or young
adults, they may have had negative experiences learning writing and grammar,
considering these pursuits boring or confusing. They may even enter your course
expecting to fail. Their prospects for success are not improved by textbooks that
assume that students can make great strides in their writing skills based on minimal examples and activities. For example, how many students can truly learn to
generate good ideas based on a few examples of clustering, listing, and freewriting and a few activities? And will they really be able to organize their ideas effectively based on only one or two examples of outlining? Often, when students are
asked to make big leaps from their current skill levels to the skill levels required
for college success, they become frustrated — and many of them give up.

Stepping Stones addresses these challenges head-on. The book is based on
the premise that if students are taken through a thorough and seamless sequence
of engaging instruction and activities, they will master writing and grammar
skills with enthusiasm. More advanced students will proceed quickly through the
activities, gaining confidence, while less skilled students will get all the “stepping
stones” they need to reach mastery. All along, students learn by doing, not by
being told how to write. Also, I have designed the tasks and practices to grow
incrementally more challenging to build skills and confidence gradually while
leaving no student behind.

BACKGROUND ON THE PEDAGOGY
The pedagogical innovations in this text reflect my ten years of experience teaching basic writing; my personal drive to provide engaging, effective materials for
students; and, more recently, sponsored research into how students write and
learn. Over my years of teaching, I became dissatisfied with the available textbooks, finding that they either presented material in a manner that did not interest students or oversimplified instruction, making it difficult for students to
truly learn writing and grammar concepts and transfer them to their own writing.
Therefore, I spent nights and weekends writing my own writing and grammar
materials, developing carefully sequenced instruction and exercises. The response
from my students was immediate and enthusiastic. When I sought to avoid boredom
and confusion with clear, inventive, and fun materials, I saw a transformation in
students’ attitude and behavior: They became readily self-motivated, demanding
more high-quality, high-interest learning activities and tools.

v


vi

Preface for Instructors
More recently, I directed a three-year Carnegie Foundation SPECC
grant (Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges)

in which my colleagues and I were able to test more thoroughly the materials that I developed and to study students’ writing and learning processes. We spent countless hours observing students as they wrote and
completed exercises, and we studied hours of videotape of students’ work
at computer monitors, noting how they started and stopped compositions; cut, added, and moved text; and generally worked through their
individual composing processes. We also interviewed students in detail
about their writing processes and responses to various learning materials.
Like my own students, the students in the study responded enthusiastically to the instruction and exercises that I had developed, and their skills
improved markedly. Through this research, my colleagues and I became
convinced that developmental learners flourish when their critical thinking and imagination are challenged with fresh, precisely honed sequences
of instruction and activities.
The positive responses to the materials that I developed prompted
me to write Stepping Stones. As I worked on the book, I further refined
the instruction and exercises, benefiting all along from the insights of
an expert team of reviewers from around the country. With this text in
hand — in your hands and the hands of your students — we trust that
your classroom will come alive with unparalleled intellectual energy and
excitement.
Stepping Stones recognizes that all students have the potential to
become better writers and just need the right tools to succeed.

FEATURES
Helps Students Tap Rich Sources of Ideas —
and Then Organize Those Ideas
Recognizing that two of the most serious challenges that developmental
writers face are, first, generating solid ideas and, second, organizing those
ideas, I wanted Stepping Stones to give more help with these tasks than
any other text of its kind.
Detective: At the Scene of the Crime
After getting advice on analyzing
Sometimes, you may be asked to write about an important event or place in your
and responding to writing assignments,

life. Suppose that you have selected for your topic my high school graduation.
students learn fun, innovative ways of
Now, imagine that you are a detective: you must recreate the scene. Close
your eyes, drift back in time, and walk through your entire high school graduation.
generating ideas for a topic (such as playLook carefully at everybody and everything. You are searching for clues about what
made the graduation an important event. Once you have allowed your imagination
ing the roles of a detective, an investigato recreate the event, you can begin to respond to the five Ws:
tive reporter, and so on), with scores of
Who? Name all the people involved in the graduation.
examples and activities.
Where? Describe all the details of the place of the graduation.
Next, an extensive, dedicated
When? Describe the date, time of day, season, or period of the graduation.
What? Describe every important thing that happened during the graduation.
chapter gives students unusually thorWhy? Give reasons why things happened or why people might have acted
ough guidance in organizing their ideas.
as they did.
For example, in preparation for in-depth
instruction in outlining, students first


Preface for Instructors
practice ordering single-word items, then
phrases, and then sentences.
A separate chapter provides fun and innovative activities to help students develop
vivid details to bring their ideas to life. The
chapter focuses on generating concrete details, action details, emotive details, quoted
details, and more.

Chapter 6


Developing Details
OVERVIEW OF
THIS CHAPTER
Recognizing
Imprecise and Unclear
Language 168

WARM-UP

Adding Precise
Details to Your
Paragraph 169

Picking a Cake

Developing Colorful
and Creative
Details 177

1. Imagine this situation:
You are planning a surprise engagement party for your sister. You
have spent lots of money on decorations, and you have invited relatives and all of your sister’s best friends. Now, you need to pick a
cake to serve at the party. Take a look at the ones on the right.

Bringing It All
Together 202

2. Stop and think!
Working alone or with classmates, decide which of the two cakes

you would like to serve at your sister’s party. Be sure to give specific
reasons why you would pick one cake instead of the other.
The basic ingredients and taste of each cake may be similar, but only
one cake shows a professional quality of work. Although cake 1 has
the main characteristics of a cake (layers and frosting), the baker
has not made a special effort to create an extraordinary dessert.
However, cake 2 is clearly special; the baker has added precise and
creative details (different-sized layers, colors, flowers, and dancing
figures) to excite the imagination and appetite of your guests.

Cake 1

Like a special cake, a paragraph written for college should be of
professional quality. In addition to the basic characteristics of a
paragraph (topic sentence, support points, and specific examples),
an outstanding paragraph must have something extra: it must have
precise (specific) and creative details that grab readers’ attention
and make them hungry for more. This chapter will help you add such
details to any paragraph.
Cake 2
167

Uses an Innovative and Proven System to Give
Students a Deep Mastery of Sentence Patterns

KEY TO
BUILDING BLOCKS
FOUNDATION WORDS

This system combines visual explanations, consistent labels,

NOUNS
extensive and carefully sequenced practices, and inventive acVERBS
tivities. In an introductory grammar chapter, students first learn
DESCRIPTIVE WORDS
the building blocks of sentences and their functions. These
ADJECTIVES
building blocks are color-coded within examples throughout
ADVERBS
the grammar chapters, showing how these words work together
CONNECTING WORDS
and imprinting the patterns of effective sentences (noun + verb;
PREPOSITIONS
noun + verb + comma + conjunction + noun + verb; etc.).
CONJUNCTIONS
With each successive chapter, students see how to use these
building blocks to construct progressively longer and more
complicated sentences.
Let’s look at one chapter (Chapter 11: The Simple Sentence). Students first
get a preview of the sentence patterns they will be asked to create.

Both of these are simple sentences. You’ll find out why in this chapter.
NOUN

+

VERB

+ . = Students study.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE


+,+

ADJECTIVE

+

NOUN

+

VERB

+

ADVERB

+.

= Before exams, good students study carefully.

Then, they see how to create progressively longer sentences and recognize important elements in them. At every stage, abundant practices grow incrementally
more challenging.
The process of building each sentence type is broken down into the smallest
possible steps — with plenty of examples and practice — to build competency in
all learners, including ESL and Generation 1.5 students.
At the end of most grammar chapters, students learn how to solve problems
in the sentence type at hand.

vii



viii

Preface for Instructors
Covers Grammar Problems in Context — Not as Isolated Errors
Instead of offering separate chapters on fragments, run-ons, comma splices, and
other common errors, Stepping Stones addresses these problems in the context of
the sentence patterns in which they are most common. This approach focuses
students on their abilities as problem-solvers rather than on their identities as
writers with problems. It also builds students’ awareness of situations in which
errors are most likely to occur, making them better editors of their own writing.

Appeals to Visual Learners with a Colorful, Innovative Design
Stepping Stones uses color and visuals to make information clearer and more appealing
to visual learners and to students who in the past may have been discouraged in reading
and writing. Aside from color-coding
the building blocks of sentences,
Moving from Outline to Paragraph:
Stepping Stones uses color to identify
Mrs. Nevis was my worst
An Opening Example
teacher.
main ideas, support, and other key
Take a look at how one student went from an outline to a successful paragraph:
writing concepts to underscore the
To begin with,
Mrs. Nevis, my eleventh-grade geography teacher, was the worst
structure of effective writing.
teacher I’ve ever had. To begin with, she always picked on students and

seemed to enjoy it. For example, my friend Jerry had a hard time memoAdditionally, color photographs
she picked on students.
rizing the names of countries, so she called him a “brainless wonder.” Also,
– used rude nicknames
and
illustrations engage students
she laughed at students when they made a mistake or answered incorrectly.
– laughed at us
– made us stay after school
I could never pronounce the word “Antarctic,” so she always made me
and clarify important concepts.
MAIN IDEA

TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSION

SUPPORT POINT 1

say it just so she could laugh at me. Her favorite way to pick on students,
however, was to make us stay after school for no reason at all. Once, when
I sneezed three times in a row, she said I was trying to annoy her, so she
assigned me one hour of detention. Next, she had very poor teaching skills.
For instance, she could never explain a problem or an idea clearly. One
time, when we asked her the difference between a glacier and an ice floe,
she got so confused that she told us to look it up on the Internet. When
she graded our essays, she never gave us useful comments. She once gave
me a grade of “C” on a paper, and her only comment was “Try harder.”
Finally, she had distracting personal habits. She actually liked to eat food
during class and even talked with her mouth full! Also, her clothes looked
like she had slept in them or cleaned out her garage in them. If there were
an award for worst teacher in history, Mrs. Nevis would get my vote.


TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSION

Next,
SUPPORT POINT 2

she had poor teaching skills.
– did not explain ideas clearly
– put no comments on essays

Offers a Thematic Reader
with High-Interest Topics
for Developmental Learners

TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSION

I have found that the themes in
many readers just don’t connect with
she had distracting personal
my students. For the reader in Part
habits.
We will now look at how each part of a paragraph is developed.
– ate food while teaching
Three of Stepping Stones, I chose
– wore dirty, wrinkled clothes
themes and selections that will resonate with students and spark writing that they will be invested in.
The themes include kindness and empathy, school and learning, making mistakes,
and more.
Accompanying each reading are comprehension questions, discussion questions, prompts asking students to examine the various rhetorical patterns used
by writers, and writing assignments. Also, additional assignments ask students

to draw on various readings and their own experiences to write about the themes
addressed in the reader.
Finally,

SUPPORT POINT 3

ANCILLARIES
For information on ordering the following ancillaries and to get ISBNs for packaging these resources with your students’ books, see page xi.


Preface for Instructors
Print Resources
Instructor’s Annotated Edition by Chris Juzwiak. Provides answers to activities,
teaching tips, and ideas for classroom activities — right at your fingertips. ISBN-10:
0-312-48606-5 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-48606-8

Resources for Teaching Stepping Stones by Chris Juzwiak, with additional articles
from a panel of expert instructors. Offers guidance on teaching with the book,
including advice on engaging all students, no matter their skill level; teaching
ESL and Generation 1.5 students and those with disabilities; facilitating collaboration; assessing writing; and more. ISBN-10: 0-312-48598-0 / ISBN-13:
978-0-312-48598-6

Tests and Exercises to Accompany Stepping Stones. Provides diagnostic pre- and
post-tests and additional practices to build students’ writing and grammar
skills. ISBN-10: 0-312-48601-4 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-48601-3
Teaching Developmental Writing: Background Readings, Third Edition. This
professional resource, edited by Susan Naomi Bernstein, former co-chair of the
Conference on Basic Writing, offers essays on topics of interest to basic writing
instructors, along with editorial apparatus pointing out practical applications for
the classroom. ISBN-10: 0-312-43283-6 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-43283-6

The Bedford/St. Martin’s ESL Workbook. Covers grammar issues for multilingual
students with varying English-language skills and cultural backgrounds. Instructional introductions are followed by illustrative examples and exercises. ISBN-10:
0-312-44503-2 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-44503-4

The Bedford/St. Martin’s Planner with Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips.
Includes everything that students need to plan and use their time effectively, with
advice on preparing schedules and to-do lists and blank schedules and calendars
(monthly and weekly) for planning. Integrated into the planner are tips from the
popular Grammar Girl podcast; quick advice on fixing common grammar errors,
note-taking, and succeeding on tests; an address book; and an annotated list of
useful Web sites. The planner fits easily into a backpack or purse, so students can
take it anywhere. ISBN-10: 0-312-48023-7 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-48023-3
From Practice to Mastery (study guide for the Florida Basic Skills Exit Tests
in reading and writing). Gives students all the resources they need to practice
for — and pass — the Florida tests in reading and writing. It includes pre- and
post-tests, abundant practices, and clear instruction in all the skills covered on
the exams. ISBN-10: 0-312-41908-2 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-41908-0

New Media Resources
WritingClass. WritingClass is the first online learning space shaped by the needs
of the developmental course. Students stay focused because assignments, grades,
and writing instruction are all in one place. It’s easy for you to monitor student
progress and offer feedback when it counts most. WritingClass comes preloaded
with our best media, for you to use when building your course: Exercise Central,

ix


x


Preface for Instructors
video tutorials for challenging concepts, writing guides, and more.
ISBN-10: 0-312-48604-9 / ISBN-13: 978-0-312-48604-4

Free book companion site, at bedfordstmartins.com/steppingstones.
Offers grammar and writing exercises with immediate scoring, annotated
examples of student writing, instructor PowerPoints, and more.
Re:Writing Basics, at bedfordstmartins.com/rewritingbasics. Collects in
one place the most popular Bedford/St. Martin’s resources for developmental writing, including annotated student models, a learning style inventory, diagnostics, interactive tutorials, and more.
For access to premium resources, there’s Re:Writing Plus, bedfordstmartins
.com/rewritingplus. This brings together a variety of fun, innovative
learning tools, such as Make-a-Paragraph Kit (see below), video tutorials, an online peer-review game, model documents, and more.

Just-in-Time Teaching, at bedfordstmartins.com/justintime. Looking for lastminute course materials from a source you can trust? We’ve culled the best
handouts, teaching tips, assignment ideas, and more from our print and online
resources and put them all in one place.
Make-a-Paragraph Kit with Exercise Central to Go. This fun, interactive CDROM includes an “Extreme Paragraph Makeover” animation teaching students
about paragraph development as well as activities that guide students through
creating their own paragraphs. Additionally, it offers a set of audiovisual tutorials
on fragments, run-ons and comma splices, subject-verb agreement problems, and
verb problems. Grammar exercises are also included. ISBN-10: 0-312-45332-9 /
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-45332-9


Preface for Instructors
Exercise Central to Go: Writing and Grammar Practices for Basic Writers. This
CD-ROM includes hundreds of practice items to help basic writers build their
writing and editing skills and provides audio instructions and instant feedback.
Drawn from the popular Exercise Central resource, the practices have been extensively class-tested. No Internet connection is necessary. ISBN-10: 0-312-44652-7 /
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-44652-9


Testing Tool Kit: A Writing and Grammar Test Bank. This CD-ROM allows instructors to create secure, customized tests and quizzes to assess students’ writing
and grammar competency and gauge their progress during the course. The CD
includes nearly 2,000 test items on 47 writing and grammar topics, at two levels
of difficulty. Also, ten pre-built diagnostic tests are included. Scoring is instantaneous when tests and quizzes are administered online. ISBN-10: 0-312-43032-9 /
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-43032-0

ORDERING INFORMATION
To order any of the ancillaries for Stepping Stones, please contact your Bedford/St.
Martin’s sales representative, e-mail sales support at ,
or visit our Web site at bedfordstmartins.com.
Use these ISBNs when ordering the following supplements packaged with
your students’ books:
Tests and Exercises to Accompany Stepping Stones
ISBN-10:
0-312-55387-0
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55387-6
The Bedford/St. Martin’s ESL Workbook
ISBN-10:
0-312-55382-X
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55382-1
The Bedford/St. Martin’s Planner
ISBN-10:
0-312-55761-2
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55761-4
From Practice to Mastery
ISBN-10:

0-312-55383-8
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55383-8
WritingClass
ISBN-10:
0-312-55379-X
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55379-1
Re:Writing Plus
ISBN-10:
0-312-55384-6
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55384-5
Make-a-Paragraph Kit
ISBN-10:
0-312-55381-1
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55381-4
Exercise Central to Go
ISBN-10:
0-312-55380-3
ISBN-13:
978-0-312-55380-7

xi


xii

Preface for Instructors


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Stepping Stones would not have been possible without the diligence, insights, and plain
hard work of a large number of instructors, students, and other contributors.

Reviewers
Throughout the development of this book, a dedicated group of instructors, part
of an Editorial Advisory Board, reviewed every page of the manuscript, offering
helpful comments and fresh ideas, suggesting revisions large and small, and generally helping to shape the manuscript to make it more useful to students and other
teachers. A few of these instructors are expert in teaching ESL and Generation
1.5 students, and their comments helped us address the needs of those students
throughout the text. Following are the members of the Editorial Advisory Board:
●

Barbara Craig, Del Mar College

●

Kristen di Gennaro, Pace University

●

Matthew Fox, Monroe Community College

●

Sally Gearhart, Santa Rosa Junior College

●


Susan Brown Rodriguez, Hillsborough Community College

●

Valerie Russell, Valencia Community College

Additionally, many other instructors reviewed the manuscript at different
points or offered comments through focus groups or workshops: Shannon Bailey,
Austin Community College; Kay Blue, Owens Community College; Rhonda Carroll,
Pulaski Technical College; Frank Cronin, Austin Community College; Gigi
Derballa, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College; Connie Gulick,
Central New Mexico University; Lisa Hatfield, Portland State University; Paula
Ingram, Pensacola Junior College; Karen Lemke, Adams State College; Lourdes
Lopez-Merino, Palm Beach Community College; Craig Machado, Norwalk
Community College; Patricia McGraw, Cape Cod Community College; Caryn
Newburger, Austin Community College; Viethang Pham, Cerritos College;
Francie Quaas-Berryman, Cerritos College; Karen Roth, University of Texas, San
Antonio; Jennifer Rusnak, Florida Community College at Jacksonville; Kimberly
Samaniego, California State Long Beach; Jack Swanson, Cerritos College;
Melissa Thomas, University of Texas, San Antonio; Monette Tiernan, Glendale Community College; Julie Tilton, San Bernardino Valley College; Christine Tutlewski,
University of Wisconsin–Parkside; Rhonda Wallace, Cuyahoga Community College; Shelley Walters, Temple College; Ronald Weisberger, Bristol Community
College; Elizabeth Whitehead, Bristol Community College; Julie Yankanich,
Camden County College; and Betsy Zuegg, Quinsigamond Community College.

Students
Several student writers contributed paragraphs and essays to this book and its
supplements. I am grateful for their dedication and for their willingness to share
their work. These students include Angela Adkins, Jennifer Baffa, Samantha
Castaneda, Francisco Fragoso, Arlene Galvez, Leanna R. Gonzales, Susan



Preface for Instructors
Janoubi, Sarah Littmann, Cleva Nelson, Anallely Orozco, Adam F. Perez, Brian
Rickenbrode, Maurice Rivera, Ekaterina Savchenkova, and Angela Vargas.

Other Contributors
I am also grateful to a number of other people whose hard work made this book
possible. Julie Nichols of Okaloosa-Walton College carefully and energetically
crafted exercises for both the book and its supplements, while Karin Paque researched and wrote elegant author headnotes for the readings in Part Three.
Linda Finigan researched images and also cleared art permissions, while Warren
Drabek ably cleared text permissions under the guidance of Sandy Schechter.
Brian DeTagyos and Claire Seng-Niemoeller created colorful illustrations to aid
students’ understanding of writing and grammar points.
For their insightful contributions to Resources for Teaching Stepping Stones,
I would like to thank Matthew Fox of Monroe Community College, Sally Gearhart
of Santa Rosa Junior College, Erin M. O’Brien of University of Massachusetts
Boston, and Susan Brown Rodriguez of Hillsborough Community College.
At Glendale Community College, my colleague Denise Ezell deserves a
lion’s share of gratitude for her generous support when my morale and imagination were running low. At these junctures, she rescued me by co-writing various
activities and sample paragraphs for the book. Invariably, with her pedagogical
common sense and wit, she got the project back on track, infusing it with fresh
clarity and charm.
Also at Glendale Community College, several colleagues inspired me to
think outside the pedagogical box. For their guidance, I am grateful to Ida Ferdman,
Linda Griffith, Darren Leaver, Mark Maier, Alice Mecom, Brett Miketta, and
Monette Tiernan.

Bedford/St. Martin’s and Beyond
At Bedford/St. Martin’s, a large number of people were part of bringing Stepping
Stones into being. Early on, Stacy Luce, my Bedford/St. Martin’s sales representative, and Rachel Falk, former marketing manager for developmental English,

helped to connect me and Bedford/St. Martin’s. As the book headed toward signing, former editor David Mogolov helped me to shape my ideas and offered many
valuable suggestions based on his own market experience and extensive reviews.
Carrie Brandon, who succeeded David, has continued to share market knowledge
and other insights, and she’s helped us shape a strong message for the book.
Throughout the book’s development, President Joan E. Feinberg, Editorial
Director Denise B. Wydra, and Editor in Chief Karen S. Henry have generously contributed many wise ideas and thoughtful suggestions for Stepping Stones
based on years of experience listening to, and responding to the needs of, writing instructors. Throughout the development process, Stephanie Naudin assisted
with countless tasks large and small, from helping to find engaging readings to
running numerous review programs and managing a multitude of administrative
details. Later in the process, Anne Leung stepped in to help with the ancillaries,
and she insightfully edited Resources for Teaching Stepping Stones.

xiii


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Preface for Instructors
Making Stepping Stones colorful and engaging while ensuring its ease of use
was a design challenge ably met by Art Director Anna Palchik and Designer Claire
Seng-Niemoeller. Their creativity, energy, and problem-solving skills resulted in a
design as attractive as it is practical. Elise Kaiser also contributed many useful suggestions for the design. Additionally, Elise and Elizabeth M. Schaaf oversaw many
details regarding the production of the book. Production Editor Rosemary Jaffe
skillfully guided the book through the production process, offering many practical
suggestions and helping to solve a range of problems with patience, intelligence,
and good humor. Rosemary brought on Jacqueline Rebisz and Steven Patterson as
the copyeditors and Linda McLatchie and Andrea Martin as the proofreaders, and
they deserve praise for their thoroughness and careful eye for details.
Also contributing to the look of the book was Sara Gates, who designed the
appealing cover with the aid of Billy Boardman and Donna Dennison. Additionally, Martha Friedman helped with the art program in the early stages.

In New Media, several talented people helped to shape and produce the
electronic ancillaries for Stepping Stones. Daniel Cole helped with the early stages
of developing WritingClass with Stepping Stones e-Book; Kamali Thornell and
Rebecca Merrill produced an attractive and robust companion Web site; Kim
Hampton advised on the creation and formatting of online exercises; and John
Amburg ably oversaw the copyediting of the online materials. Nick Carbone
continues to travel the country, gathering information on how to develop the
best online resources for Stepping Stones and Bedford/St. Martin’s other texts and
responding to instructor needs for workshops and other support for online instruction. I am also grateful for the new-media expertise and endless creativity of
Alanya Harter, Katie Schooling, and Harriet Wald.
In marketing, sincere thanks go to Karen R. Soeltz, Jane Helms, and Casey
Carroll for their creative ideas in getting out the word on Stepping Stones. Casey
Carroll, as marketing manager, helped to shape the book’s message and coordinate a number of sales efforts for it. Also, Karita dos Santos assisted with market
development, offering many innovative ideas.
Additionally, I would like to thank those who developed and produced promotional materials for the book: Kim Cevoli, who designed an attractive brochure with the guidance of Shelby Disario, and Jessamyn Jones McEnoy, who
oversaw the production of catalog materials.
My enduring gratitude goes to Beth Castrodale, who as editor of this book
and professional mentor, sustained and elevated me through the composition process with her insightful criticism, intellectual rigor, and collaborative generosity.
I couldn’t imagine a more auspicious or edifying introduction to the work of textbook writing than my partnership with Beth. Merci beaucoup, mon amie.
I also want to thank my family members and friends, whose unflagging enthusiasm and patience were as crucial to this work as any other component: Doug
Mann, Lael Mann, Estella Martinez, Ruth Owens, Sandra and Ernie Gomez, Catherine Leh, James Geyer, Shelley Aronoff, Michael Ritterbrown, Christine Menardus,
George Gharibian, Ildy Lee, and Marilyn Selznick.
— Chris Juzwiak


Brief Contents
PART ONE

1
2

3
4
5
6
7
8
PART TWO

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
PART THREE

18
19
20
21
22
23
24
APPENDICES

The Academic Paragraph


1

Seeing the Big Picture 3
Understanding and Working with Writing Assignments 34
Gathering Support for Your Topic 54
Organizing and Outlining 84
Composing the Paragraph 130
Developing Details 167
Revising 203
Moving from Paragraphs to Essays 227

Grammar for Academic Writing

257

Grammar for Academic Writing: An Introduction
The Building Blocks of Language 267
The Simple Sentence 276
The Compound Sentence 304
The Complex Sentence 354
More Complex Sentences 382
Sentences with Modifiers 420
Using Verbs Correctly 452
Using Pronouns Correctly 501

A Writer’s Reader

259

523


Empathy and Kindness 525
School and Learning 537
Marriage 553
Addiction 568
Making Mistakes 580
Religious Diversity 591
Parents and Parenting 603
Appendix A: Patterns of Development A-1
Appendix B: Punctuation and Capitalization A-28
Appendix C: ESL Guidelines A-43
Answers to Odd-Numbered Activities K-1
Acknowledgments K-25
Index I-1
Correction Symbols CR-1
Helpful Lists, Charts, and Visuals CR-3
Sentence Parts and Patterns (inside back cover)

xv


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Contents

Preface for Instructors v
Readings by Patterns of Development xxix
Introduction for Students xxxi


PART ONE

The Academic Paragraph

1 Seeing the Big Picture
WARM-UP:

1

3

Making a Movie 3

Understanding Paragraphs 4
Paragraphs in Journalism 5
Paragraphs in Business Writing 6
Paragraphs in Popular Fiction and Nonfiction 7
Paragraphs in Personal Writing 9
Paragraphs in Academic Writing 10
Review 13
Understanding Your Purpose: Why You Will Write
Know Your General Purpose 18
Know Your Specific Purpose 19
Identify a Personal Purpose 20

16

Understanding Your Audience: For Whom You Will Write 21
Identify Your Audience 22
Understand the Needs and Expectations of Your Audience 22

Use Language That Is Appropriate for Your Audience 24
Include Information That Is Appropriate for Your Audience 25
Understanding Your Rhetoric: How You Will Write
Identifying Different Features of Paragraphs
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

26

30

33

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xviii

Contents

2 Understanding and Working with Writing Assignments
WARM-UP:

Playing to Win

34

Understanding the Parts of Writing Assignments 35
Practical Information 35
The Topic 36
Supporting Information 36

Understanding Broad, Limited, and Narrow Topics 38
Narrowing a Broad Topic 40
Considering the Required Length of an Assignment 41
Considering What Interests You (Finding Your Personal Purpose)
Strategy 1: Finding a Personal Connection 42
Strategy 2: Interviewing 43
Strategy 3: Searching the Internet 45
Working with the Supporting Information 46
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

53

3 Gathering Support for Your Topic
WARM-UP:

54

Getting the Details Down 54

Understanding What Support Is 55
Understanding the Sources of Support 55
Personal Experience and Knowledge 55
Assigned Texts 55
Independent Research 56
Accessing Support 56
The Five Ws of Critical Thinking 57
Role-Playing 59
Detective: At the Scene of the Crime 59
Investigative Reporter: On the Beat 60
Archaeologist: On the Big Dig 61

Fortune-Teller: At the Crystal Ball 62
Psychologist: With the Patient 62
Judge: On the Bench 63

Recording Support 64
Clustering 64
Listing 75
Freewriting 79
Freewriting with the Five Ws and Role-Playing 81
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

83

42

34


Contents

4 Organizing and Outlining
WARM-UP:

84

Shopping for a Party 84

Organizing Basics
Ordering 85


85

Single-Word Items 85
Phrases 87
Sentences 89
Grouping 91
Single-Word Items 91
Phrases 93
Sentences 95
Eliminating 98
Single-Word Items 98
Phrases 99
Sentences 101
Combining Strategies 103

Outlining Basics 109
Understanding Key Features of Outlines

111

Feature 1: The Main Idea 111
Feature 2: The Support Points 112
Feature 3: The Specific Examples 114
Filling in Outlines 115

Using Transitional Expressions in Outlines
Solving Problems in Outlines 119

118


A Missing Item 120
An Item That Does Not Fit 122
An Item That Repeats Another Item 125
An Item That Is Unclear 126
Combined Problems 127
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

129

5 Composing the Paragraph
WARM-UP:

130

Reaching Your Destination 130

Moving from Outline to Paragraph: An Opening Example

131

Writing an Effective Topic Sentence 131
Six Ways to Form a Topic Sentence 132
1. A Basic Topic Sentence 132
2. A Topic Sentence That Adds a Description 133
3. A Topic Sentence That Creates a Contrast 133
4. A Topic Sentence That Identifies Your Support Points 134
5. A Topic Sentence That Creates a Contrast and Identifies the Support Points
6. A Topic Sentence That Uses Creative Language 136

135


xix


xx

Contents
Problems with Topic Sentences

138
Problem 1: Leaving Out a Key Word from the Main Idea 139
Problem 2: Changing a Key Word in the Main Idea 141
Problem 3: Adding Inappropriate New Information to the Main Idea

Writing the First Support Point 147
Remember Transitional Expressions 149
Do Not Write Support Points as Fragments 150
Avoid Combining the First Specific Example with a Support Point

143

151

Writing the Specific Examples 154
Discuss the Specific Examples One at a Time 154
Write at Least One Complete Sentence for Each Specific Example 155
Add Some Colorful Details to the Specific Examples 157
Use Transitional Expressions to Introduce Examples, to Move from One Example to Another,
and to Introduce Details 158
Completing the Paragraph 161

Write the Second and Third Support Points with the Specific Examples
Write the Concluding Sentence 163
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

6 Developing Details
WARM-UP:

166

167

Picking a Cake 167

Recognizing Imprecise and Unclear Language
Adding Precise Details to Your Paragraph

168

169

Developing Colorful and Creative Details 177
Using Concrete Details 177
Using Action Details 180
Using Sensory Details 183
Using Quoted Details 187
Using Emotive Details 191
Using Humorous Details 194
Using Comparative Details: Metaphors and Similes 198
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER


7 Revising
WARM-UP:

202

203

Taking a Closer Look

203

Understanding the Revision Process: An Overview
Revising for Unity

204

204

162


Contents
Four Major Problems with Unity

204
Problem 1: A Flawed Topic Sentence 206
Problem 2: An Unstated or Unclear Support Point 206
Problem 3: A Missing Transitional Expression 207
Problem 4: Digressive Details 207
Some Helpful Revision Strategies 211

Revise with Fresh Eyes 211
Use Your Outline 211
Get Peer Review 212

Proofreading for Grammar, Mechanics, and Word Choice 214
Proofreading for Grammar and Mechanics 214
Proofreading for Word Choice (and Missing Words) 215
Some Helpful Proofreading Strategies 220
Identify Your Style of Proofreading 220
Use Spelling and Grammar Checkers — but Cautiously 221
Proofread in Two Views 221
Proofread Backwards 222
Use a Grammar Guide 222
Keep Logs for Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary 222
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

226

8 Moving from Paragraphs to Essays
WARM-UP:

Planning a Toast

227

227

Understanding the Difference between Paragraphs and Essays
Comparing the Structures of Paragraphs and Essays 228
Naming the Parts of Paragraphs and Essays 232

Knowing When to Write an Essay
By Design 235

235

Finding the Main Idea 235
Generating Support 236
Writing an Advanced Outline 237
By Division 239
What You Have to Say 239
How Much You Have to Say 241

Forming Complete Body Paragraphs

243

Adding an Introduction and Thesis 247
Hooking the Reader 247
Starting with a Series of Questions 249
Starting with a Story 249
Starting with a Comparison 249
Starting with an Imaginary Scenario 249
Starting with a Quotation 250
Popping the Thesis 250

228

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xxii

Contents
Adding a Conclusion

253
Giving Advice to the Reader 254
Making a Prediction 254
Ending with Some Thought-Provoking Questions 254
Making a Personal Growth Statement 254
Finishing the Story That You Used in Your Introduction 255

Revising and Proofreading 255
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

PART TWO

256

Grammar for Academic Writing

257

9 Grammar for Academic Writing: An Introduction
Grammar: Using the Rules to Your Advantage

259

Grammar + Attitude = Grammattitude! 260
Poetic License: Breaking the Rules of Grammar


261

English in Electronic Communication 264
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

266

10 The Building Blocks of Language
How We Construct Language
Foundation Words: Nouns
Foundation Words: Verbs

267

267

268
270

Descriptive Words: Adjectives and Adverbs

271

Connecting Words: Prepositions and Conjunctions 273
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

11 The Simple Sentence

275


276

Building Simple Sentences 276
Building Short Simple Sentences 276
Building Longer Simple Sentences 279
Building Even Longer Simple Sentences 281
Using Various Building Blocks of Sentences 283
Recognizing Simple Sentences 285
Identifying Subjects When There Is More Than One Noun 286
Identifying Subjects When There Are Prepositional Phrases 287
Identifying Both Subjects and Verbs 288
Identifying Compound Subjects and Verbs 292
Identifying Subjects and Verbs in Whole Paragraphs 293

259


Contents
Solving Problems in Simple Sentences: Fragments Caused by Incomplete Verbs or Missing
Subjects 294
Fixing Fragments That Have Incomplete Verbs 295
Fixing Fragments That Are Missing Subjects 297
Fixing Fragments That Have Missing Subjects and Incomplete Verbs 299
Fixing Fragments in Whole Paragraphs 301
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

303

12 The Compound Sentence


304

Building Compound Sentences 304
Understanding the Meanings of Different Conjunctions 305
Distinguishing Compound Subjects/Verbs and Compound Sentences
Using a Semicolon in Place of a Conjunction 313
Building Longer Compound Sentences 318

308

Adding Descriptive Words and Prepositional Phrases 318
Including Compound Subjects and Verbs 321
Joining Three Simple Sentences Instead of Two 324

Recognizing Compound Sentences 328
Recognizing Separate Subjects and Separate Verbs in Compound Sentences 328
Recognizing Correct Punctuation in Simple and Compound Sentences 331
Solving Problems in Compound Sentences: Run-ons and Comma Splices 334
Understanding How Run-ons and Comma Splices Occur 335
Understanding Words That Can Cause Run-ons and Comma Splices 338
Personal Pronouns 338
Demonstrative Pronouns 341
Additive Expressions 342
Transitional Expressions 344

Reviewing Causes and Corrections of Run-ons and Comma Splices 349
Fixing Run-ons and Comma Splices in Whole Paragraphs 350
■■ BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER


353

13 The Complex Sentence

354

Building Complex Sentences 354
Understanding Coordinating versus Subordinating Conjunctions 355
Understanding Relationships Shown by Subordinating Conjunctions 358
Combinations with Time 358
Expected and Unexpected Results 359
Possibilities and Alternatives 361
Review 365

Forming and Punctuating Complex Sentences 366
Building Sentence Variety 367
Recognizing Complex Sentences 370
Recognizing Separate Subjects and Separate Verbs in Complex Sentences 370
Recognizing Correct Punctuation in Complex Sentences 373

xxiii