The

83.

Sentence

84.
55. Period

Fault

56. Comma

85. Revision

Sentences

58. Misuse

of

Ideas

87.

Rambling Sentences
Choppy Sentences
Incompleteness

63. Word

88.
89.
90.

Order

91.

64.

SplitConstructions

92.

65.

DanglingModifiers
and
Mixed
structions
ConIllogical

66.


Using the Library
Choosingthe Topic

TakingNotes
Preparingthe Outline
Writingthe Paper
Making Footnotes
Making a Bibliography
The Precis and
the

67.

Paper

Dependent
86.

59. Related

62.

Proofreading

The Research

Clauses

61.


and

Fault

57. Fused

60.

Beginningsand Endings
ManuscriptForm

Paraphrase

Comparisons

68. Parallel Structure
69. Point of View
70. Coordination

71.

Emphasis

72.

Variety

and

93. The


Precis

94. The

Paraphrase

Writing

for

nation
Subordi-

95. Business
96.

73. Achievement

Tests

SpecialPurposes
Letters

Report Writing

97. Social Letters

The


Paragraph
Listeningand Thinking

74.

Topic Sentence

75. Substance
76. Methods
77. Order

of
of

of Ideas

78. Transitional
79.

Paragraph
Development
a

98.

and
99.

Devices


of Writers
Backgrounds

100.

Thinkers

TestingYour

Logic

PropagandaTechnique

Proportionand Length

80. Mechanics

The Whole

of the

Paragraph

Appendix

Theme
101.

81. Choice
82. Outlines


of

Topic

102.

Taking Tests
Sentence
Analysis
and

Diagraming



McGraw-Hill

HANDBOOK
OF

ENGLISH

VIRGINIA
Head

of

SHAFFER


English Department,

High

Park

School,

Baltimore,

Coordinator

College

of

The

of

Forest

land;
Mary-

Writing,

Johns

Coy

Mc-

Hopkins

University

HARRY

SHAW

Formerly
Composition,

WEBSTER

St.

Louis

DIVISION,

New

York

McGRAW-HILL

San

Francisco


Workshops

Director,

Dallas

New

York

University

Second

Edition

BOOK

COMPANY

Toronto

London

in


COPYRIGHT


We

wish

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and
these authors,pubhshers,

to thank

of

for permissionto
copyright
materials:
copyrighted

The

excerptsfrom

following
excerpts from

Sportsmanlike
Driving.
sion
Reprinted
by permis-


of the American
from

the

use

other holders

Association. ^

Automobile

The

William

Beebe. Reprinted
by
of Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc. ^ The excerpt from

High Jimgle,
by

excerpt

permission
Sister

My


Eileen,copyright
1938, by Ruth
of Harcourt, Brace
Ltd. i^

The

and

McKenney. Reprinted
by permission
and
Inc.
HartCompany,
Rupert

excerpt from

AnythingCan Happen, by
and Helen Papashvily.
by permissionof Harper
Reprinted
i^
The excerpt from This I Remember, by Eleanor
rs.
Reprintedby permissionof Harper " Brothers and
and Company."^* The excerpt from We
Took to the
n

Rich. Copyright1942, by Louise
y Louise Dickinson
^n Rich. Reprintedby permissionof J. B. Lippincott
pany

Wing, i"" The excerpt from

Willis K.

and

Man,

by ClydeKluckhohn.

Hill

Book

Book

Rumor,

of Rinehart "
in

for

" 1949 by the McGrawCopyright
Company, Inc. Reprintedby permission of the


McGraw-Hill

of Dame

Mirror

by

Dav^d

Inc. '^" The

Company,

College,"
by

Robert U.

Evening Post articleby
Remakes

Inc. ^^ The

excerpt from

Affairs
by permission
Jacobsen.

Reprinted

Company,

excerpt from "How

from the
Jameson.Reprinted

to

Stay

Saturday

permissionof the author. ^' The

excerpt

World, by James Stokley.
Reprinted
by permissionof Ives Washburn, Inc.

from

Science

Certain

Our


been copyrighted
parts of this book have previously

Rewriting (1955) by Harry Shaw
of CollegeComposition (1957) by
with the
and
S.
Harry Shaw and are reprinted
George
Wykoff
York.
kind permissionof Harper " Brothers,New
under the titles Writing and
and The Harper Handbook

McGraw-Hill

HANDBOOK

OF

ENGLISH

(c) 1960 by McGraw-Hill, Inc. All RightsReserved.
Copyright
Copyright1952 by Harry Shaw and VirginiaShaffer. All Rights
Reserved.
or


Printed

in the

parts thereof,may

not

United

be

States of America.

reproducedin

any

This

form

permission of the publishers.
IX

of CongressCatalogCard
Library

Number:


59-10723

book,

without


CONTENTS

Preface
Guide

10.

vii
to

Exercises

x

11.

DiagnosticTests
Subjectand Verb

12.

Pronoun


13.

Reference

14.

Case

15.

Parts
Principal

16.

Tense

and

Usage
Agreement
Antecedent
Agreement
in

of Pronouns

of Pronouns


64
70
84
91
97

of Verbs

of Verbs

112
122

17. Mood

129

18.

134

19.
20.

Adjectiveand Adverb Usage
Prepositionand Conjunction Usage
Achievement
Tests in Usage

143

146

iCapitalization I
21.

Use

of

CapitalLetters

152
iii


CONTENTS

Punctuation!
22.

Test on Commas,
Semicolons,
Diagnostic
Colons, Apostrophes,
QuotationMarks

161

23. The


Comma

164

24. The

Semicolon

192

25. The

Colon

197

Apostrophe:Possessives
QuotationMarks

26. The
27.

Tests

28. Achievement
29. The
30.

on


and

Plurals

Punctuation

Points

Exclamation

32. The

Hyphen

33.

Parentheses

34.

Italics

and

QuestionMarks

and
and

Syllabification

Brackets

of the

Word!

Dictionary

Spelling
VocabularyGrowth

41. Provincialisms

Colloquiahsms

45.
46.

231
242

244
259
268
268
269

43. Idioms
44.


222

227

Numbers

38. Pronunciation

42.

220

226

IThe

40.

217

224

35. Abbreviations

39.

212

218


Dash

37. Use

208

216

Period

31. The

36.

201

Vulgarisms
Improprieties
Slang

273

273
274

47. Triteness

275

48.


278

Jargon
Words
Specific
Writing

49. Concrete
50. "Fine"

and

280
282

51. Wordiness

285

Euphony

289

52.


CONTENTS



CONTENTS

83.
84.
85.

JTheResearch
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.

396

Beginningsand Endingsof Themes
ManuscriptForm
and Proofreading
Revision

Using the Library
Choosing the Topic of a
Taking Notes
Preparingthe Outline
Writingthe Paper
Making Footnotes
Making a BibHography


[The Precis

and

Paper

396
397

|
398

Research

407

Paper

410
414
415
417
421

the

Paraphrase

|


93. The

Precis

422

94. The

Paraphrase

424

[Writingfor Special Purposes
95. Business
96.

425

Letters

439

Report Writing

446

97. Social Letters

and
[Listening

98.
99.
100.

|

Backgroundsof Writers and
TestingYour Logic
Propaganda Techniques

Thinking
Thinkers

453
456
462

[Appendix[
101.
102.

Index
vi

Taking Tests
Sentence
Analysisand

469


Diagraming

480
491


PREFACE
The
is

McGraw-Hill

designed

describes

with

and

and

writers

stating

the

thinking


facts
book

and

intelligentreading
are

and

analyzed

student's

ability to
and

writing

own

This

contains

believe
format

of


of

of

essential
studies

well.

as

with

the

placement
his

tests

to

the

of

of

clear


and

to

faulty thinking
the

develop

to

such

his

in

errors

A

form
and

him

brings together

of sentence


analysis and
student

in

in

one

provides
needs

place
the
to

Expanded
and

and

ence
refer-

his
the

which
review


he
of

all of the

other
dent
stu-

and

entrance

explanations
master

new

nence
promi-

acquaints

college

comprehensive

diagraming

the


ways

A

dictionary, and

English

tests

of

the

lish
Eng-

authors

increased

instruction

in

content

shows
A


for

taking

the

numbers.
of

work

on

and

gives

of

book.

the

of

use

materials


section

which

section

the

student's

performance.

sentences

people

Handbook

color

usage,

writing provide

report

addition

In


expression

avoid

usefulness

second

a

levels

on

sion
expres-

importance

features

new

rules, principles, and

to

careful

educated


that

McGraw-Hill

the

employing

sections

the

enhance

will

others.

the

and

It

speaking.
number

a


of

provided

are

recognize

edition

new

kinds

some

listening.Types

exercises

to

appropriateness.

effective

to

needs


by

language

both

skills he

than

emphasizes

essential

an

as

about

Edition,

actually used

why

effective

more


this

know,

shows

the
and

it is

as

Second

English,

build

student

English

considered

are

of

clarity,ease,


American

speakers

must

the

help

to

himself

express

to

Handbook

prove
im-

can

sentence

principles
and


tice
prac-

them.
vii


PREFACE

book

This

makes

usage, and

grammar,

and
illustrated,
enables

completelyfunctional approach to

a

mechanics.


Rules

clearly stated,

are

immediatelyapplied.Abundant
the student

familiarize

to

drill

himself

with

terial
ma-

portant
im-

and helpshim to see how
principles
they apply to
his own
writing.

The natural-sounding
in the McGrawpracticesentences
Hill Handbook
the task of both
of English greatly
simplify

teacher

and

student.

to embody
solely
seven

thousand

Often

these

on

safe

lifeof

a


an

student

sentences

broadens

grammar.
The authors make
levels of instruction.

arrangedin
and

sentences

appear

sentences

They

error.

themes

from


analyzedfor
the

form

written

not

were

drawn

are

in

appear

travel,or
driving,
so
literary
figure,

and

is

These


this purpose.

of

a

paragraph
from

incident
illuminating

an

that the student adds

his cultvu-al outlook

to

the

his knowledge
studies his

he

as


than

more

for different
effort to pro\'ide
special
The drill that follows each major principle
sections. The firstbeginswith easy
two
a

moves

on

to

the kind

of

that

sentences

The
writing.
These
greater maturity.


in careful student

second

mally
nor-

section

of
providessentences
may be used
have
with students who
for superiorstudents or for review
mastered
the simplersentences.
Thus, the teacher who
do so.
wishes to use
homogeneous grouping can readily
In recognitionof the fact that language changes,the

authors

of the McGraw-Hill

Edition, have


scrutinized

Handbook

every

illustrative
explanation,
its appropriateensure
ness

to
example,and practicesentence
modern
in a handbook
reflecting
While making clear that the standards

with
to

the needs

remind

standards.
standards

of those who


use

the

student

at

This

book

of written

that

English,Second

of

American

of

Enghsh change

it,the authors
any

describes


fullyand
Englishtoday.
VIRGINIA

viii

are

careful

there

given time

HARRY

usage.

are

the
accurately

SHAFFER

SHAW


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


For

assistance

indebted

are

to

former
Park
former

teacher

advice

her

superior

assistants

the

from
Ellis


are

Newton

have

Park

Hopkins

No.

Hodes,
49

offered

Supervisor

of School

section

the

the

"The

School

who

materials

Mrs.

Theme"

people
and

and

at

McCoy

have

made

in

this

the

timore,
Bal-


valuable
needs

of

Director

Library,

in

more,
Balti-

library.Suggestions
and

Bloom,

Anna

Research

"The
The

revision.
to

in


trative
locating illuspeople.
young

the

and

the

Free

Libraries
of

use

Round,

incorporated in

University,

using

on

Simeon


all these

High

Pratt

help in
popular with

books

in

Enoch

invaluable

on

been

grateful to

Forest

while

Mr.

the


at

gave

Wiese,

examined

Paper"

and

son
Patter-

Thea

Mrs.

School

at

manuscript

People's Work

Bernice


Mr.

children

nelly,
Con-

the

at

to suit the
adjustment of the material
Philip Edwards,
varying ability.Mrs.

paragraphs
Miss

the

of

parts

of

Young

and


of

and

Baltimore,

authors

EHzabeth

Miss

people.

English Department

in

the

manuscript,

the

on

students

of


of the

School

High

the

preparing

number

a

Head

read

of

in

students

College

of The

authors

at

the

Johns

helpful suggestions

book.

IX


EXERCISES

TO

GUIDE
Asterisks

indicate

Grammar

41-42;

clauses,
of

recognition


of, 3;

of

and

USAGE

'^achievement

135-136,

single subject,

pronouns,

lay, 121-122;
145;

pronoun,

like

as,

reference

of, 126-128;


118-120;

review,

of, 49-50;

tests,

145; prepositions
of, 94-97;

128-129;

past

and

sit

subjunctive,

subject,

64-69;

of

lie and

conjunctions,


set,

and

tense

and

104-105;

and

and
tecedent,
an-

verb

compound

diagnostic

17.

and

80-84;

99-102,


pronouns,

verbs,

and,

pronoun

review,
and

^variety

adjectives

146-151;

verb

choppy,

122;

'^

tense,

participle,


past

132-133.

*capitoZzzafion,157-159.

CAPITALIZATION"

flbbreDiaiions,

PUNCTUATION"

review,

76-77;

34-35;

sentences,

of, 14; verbals

in,

tion
recogni-

adverbial,

kinds


verb

108-112;

sequence

in, 212-215;

and

personal

and

of, 36-37;

^agreement,

141-143;

72-73,

""case, of

relative

tests

of, 7; plurals,


case

31-32;

noun,

principal parts

subject

87-90;

of

adverbial,

capitahzing, 2;

of

recognition

nition
recog-

of, 44-45;

of


nouns,

kinds

on

tests.

kinds

on

recognition

simple, 51-52;

verbs,

adverbs,

test

objective

test

recognition

in, 51-52;


78-79;

and

nominative

combining

"

achievement

of, 25; adverbs,

43-44;

noun,

adjective, 33-34;

function

51-52;

achievement

^achievement

3; phrases,
of


*

adjective, 39-40;

recognition

feminine

and

exercises

adjectives, recognition

"

of, 26;

key

"^apostrophe, 205-207;

176-177;

colon,

and

review


227;

^achievement

capital
with

letter

and

semicolon,

tests
comma

198-


GUIDE

TO

EXERCISES

188and limiting
expressions,
appositives
ductory

189; before coordinate conjunction,165-168; after introelement, 170-172; with nonrestrictive
expressions,
dress,
of ad183-184; with parenthetical
expressionsand terms

201;

with

comma,

178-180; review, 186, 187, 190-92;

in series, 174-176;

dash, 219; diagnostic
tests, 161-164; end, 220; hyphen,222;
and
brackets,
225; numbers, 228-229; parentheses
italics,
223-224; quotationmarks, 211-212; semicolon, 194-196,

WORD

rhyme, 290-291; choice
of, 276-277; *review of choice, 287, 302-4306;simple,284words, 281, 282; dictionary,
243^247; "fine"
285; specific

writing,284-285; idiom, 271-272; prgon, 279-280; pronunciatio
256245-248; adding suffixes,
243-244; spelling,
of
258; of plurals,
lists,
248-251; vocabulary,
254; spelling
business words, 261-262; of foreignwords, 263; growth,
260-261; matching exercises, 265-267; of medical
terms,
"

diction, alliteration and

264; of musical terms, 264; of scientific terms, 264; words
that are similar,246, 247; ^wordiness, and wordy,286-289.

SENTENCE

achievement

"

363;

electivesentences, 360diagraming,489^90; comparison,340-

and
analysis


342; clauses,errors

in the

test

use

on

of, 315; emphasis,354-355;
*

330constructions, 338-339; modifier, dangling,
illogical
332, 333, 334-336; 'misplaced,
324-327; 'parallel
structure,
344-348; sentences, balanced, 355; choppy, 319; effective,
352; fused, 312; incomplete,
309, 321-322; loose and periodic,
354; review
"run-on," fused), 312-314;
(incomplete,

"run-on," 311; unity in, 317, 318, 319; varietyin, 358-360;
in construction, in verb tense, 349-350; split
constructions,
shifts

329; word

order, 324-327.

PARAGRAPH

^coherence, through order of ideas, 375incoherent
377; throughtransitional expressions,
380-381; letters,
377; topicsentence, 367, 373-374; "^ unity in, 368.
"

xi


GUIDE

WHOLE

use

of
use
*^^^^"^!/.

PAPER"

of Readers'

Guide, 406;


limiting
topic,409;
PRECIS

AND

EXERCISES

392-395.
*^^^^'^^^"

THEME"

RESEARCH

TO

THE

use

card

401;
catalogue,

of reference

books, 402;


412, 414.
taking,

note

F^cfs

PARAPHRASE"

and

phrase,
para-

423-424.

WRITING

FOR

SPECIAL

VURVOSES"
and-butter,450; formal invitations and

betters,*bread-

447; friendly,
replies,

452; 'informal invitations and replies,
450; order, 438-439;
439; sympathy,450; *thank-you,
*requestfor adjustment,
450; report writing,445.
""

THINKING"
LISTENING
AND
of speakersor writers, 454-455;

listening,
background
propaganda techniques,

about advertisements,464;
464; thinking,
name-calling,
466.
logicin, 459^61, 466-467; in readingstatistics,

464;

TESTS

"

achievement


achievement

in

in

effective

punctuation,212-215;

360-363;

sentences,
achievement

in

age,
us-

ogies,
146-151; CollegeEntrance, 476-479; completinganal474-476; kinds of clauses,44-45; kinds of phrases,

36-37; punctuationdiagnostic,
161-164; usage
470-473.
64-69; vocabulary,

xu


diagnostic,


Grammar

Grammar

is

put

men

not

life into

new

different

slow";

but

these

formal

writing.


help

this part

in

given

the

student

the
different
that

types
kinds

speech.

It

another,

are

to


write

of

words

be

a

the

in

reviewed.
of the

variations

are

a

favorite

could

see

any

to

in

appear

when

they

Because
effectively.
in

remember

to

the

part of

same

sentence,
How

a

many


a

word

verb
is

in

used

it is.

the
a

bay. (Verb)
small
sailingvessel.

(Adjective)

follow, the essential

If there

forms

has


been

commonly

principlesof grammar
some
tendency to permit
accepted as correct, these

presented.

grammatical
you,

third.

"Drive

or

function

as

versation,
con-

explanations


important

used

for

sport. (Noun)

glossary of grammatical
If

me,"

only

more

one

part of speech

that

pages

is

in

noun


sailingacross
we

it

informal

and

here

always

We

off

speak

levels

course,

valuable

defined

not


adjective

were

and

sentences,

my

variations

61.

book

Sailingis

are

A

of the

is

what

Far


In

definitions

of

may

an

determines

The

word

given

a

of

not,

use.

for

is


"It's

using

are

would

forms

of

English

as

grows

different

has

it

casual

people today

many


Grammar

it, and
the

In

occasions.

and

thing. It changes

static

a

turn

to

the

terms

terms

used

appears

in

this

on

book

pages
are

52familiar
un-

glossary.
1


"

CI^IS

NOUNS

1. NOUNS

la.
A

Definition.

is the

noun

of

name

a

person,

Thomas
officer,

man,

or
place,
thing.

park,street, desk, team,
Jefferson,

courage

lb. Kinds
A

of


common

nouns.

is the

noun

of any

name

It
or
places,
things.

persons,
letter.

is not

of

one

written

class of


a

with

capital

a

horse, child,garden,alley,
tub, book, engineer
A
or

proper

is the

noun

with

It is written
thing.
General

from

abstract
any


a

of

particular
person, place,
letter. (See Section 21g.)
capital
a

Park, Linden

Grant, President Lincoln, Patterson

Avenue,
An

name

Soil Conservation
is the

noun

Service

of

name


idea

an

or

a

quality
apart

object.

honesty,
intelligence,
grace
A

collective

noun

names

class,crowd, army,
Note:
common

Abstract


nouns

or

objects.

fleet,family
and

collective

nouns

are

usually

nouns.

EXERCISE

the proper nouns
Identify
them with a capital
letter on

2

of persons


group

a

1
in the
a

write

separatesheet of paper.

company
high school

maryland

secretary

english

north

listand
following

southern
school


l^ir^g

high



" "^B
1e.

NOUNS

Case.
have

tliree cases:

objective,
possessive.
Nouns
in the nominative
have the same
and objective
cases
form:
The
boy (nominative),boy (objective).
possessive
case
requiresan apostrophe(boys') or an apostropheand 5
(See Section 26.)

(boy's).
Nouns

If. Uses
The
are

of

nominative,

in the nominative

nouns

of

important uses

most

case.

in the nominative

nouns

case

the


following:
Subjectof a verb. (See

1.

S.

The

3.)

Section

V.

mid-ocean.

caught the shipin

storm

s.

V.

Suddenly the winds

roared


in

s.

V.

the deck

Across

swept huge

S.

The

great blast of fury.

a

waves.
s.

V.

rushed

passengers

to


their cabins

the

when

waves

V.

rolled

the

over

2. Predicate

It follows the verb
some

other

s.

used

noun


Terms)
be (am,

to

in

the

predicate(see

point back

to

ject.
the sub-

been, be, were

is,are, was,

)

p.n.

V.

are


the

peoplewho

have

led the

struggle

liberty.
s.

Those

a

hoy to play halfback.

Anwricans

for

or

p.n.

Jerryis the
The


called

verb (become, seem).
linking

V.

s.

predicatecomplement,
subjectivecomplement. (See

also

noun,

predicate nominative,
Section
14b.)
A predicatenoun
is
Glossaryof Grammatical
or

deck.

V.

girlswere


p.n.

the

winners

of the

basketball

ment.
tourna-


19

NOUNS

s.

The

V.

man

on

the witness


in direct address.

3. Noun

Bruce, will you
4. Noun

in

ride

absolute

an

Appositivewith
Section 14j.)

a

(See
expression.
camped

of

Uses

The


(For

We

(See

case.

the corral.

objectivecase.
of

in the

nouns

case
objective

Section
see
explanation,
adverbial objective.)

14. See

also

verb.


objectof a
the game.

won

72e. )

Section

further

Section 4d for
1. Direct

me?

the trail.

near

from

me

important uses

most

follow.


in the

nouns

)

in the nominative

noun

Melody,my horse, saw
1g.

with

of honesty.

person

.

the canyon

Night havingfallen,we
5.

a

23f


Section

(See

to

p.n.

seemed

stand

is the direct

(Game

objectof

the verb

won.)

Jean gave

a

of the verb
party. (Partyis the direct object


gave. )
2. Indirect

objectof

a

verb

(objectof

to

or

for

stood
under-

)

.

Shall I

give Ted

objectof
3.


sweater

a

at

Christmas?

the verb. Sweater

{Ted

direct
is the in-

is the direct

object.)

Objectof a preposition.
Mother

broughtsome
City is

4.

Appositivewith
Section 14j.)

We

met

Mr.

from

Atlantic

lantic
City. {Atthe object
of the prepositionfrom.)
a

souvenirs

noun

in

the

objectivecase.

Townley,the sheriff.

(See