The Oxford Essential Guide To Writing

Acknowledgments

This book is based on The Oxford Guide to Writing: A Rhetoric and Handbook for College Students, and thanks are due

once more to those who contributed to that book: my friend

and colleague Leonard J. Peters; Professors Miriam Baker of

Dowling College, David Hamilton of the University of Iowa,

Robert Lyons and Sandra Schor of Queens College of the

City University of New York, and Joseph Trimmer of Ball

State University, all of whom read the manuscript and contributed perceptive comments; Ms. Cheryl Kupper, who

copyedited that text with great thoroughness and care; and

John W. Wright, my editor at the Oxford University Press.

For the present edition I am again grateful to Professor

Leonard J. Peters and to John W. Wright. In addition I wish

to thank William P. Sisler and Joan Bossert, my editors at

Oxford University Press, who encouraged, criticized, and improved, as good editors do.

Contents
Introduction 3
1. Subject, Reader, and Kinds of Writing 5
2. Strategy and Style 9
3. Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics 13
PART 1 The Writing Process
4. Looking for Subjects 19
5. Exploring for Topics 23
6. Making a Plan 29
7. Drafts and Revisions 34

PART II:The Essay 43
8.Beginning 45
9.Closing 60
10.Organizing the Middle
11.Point of View, Persona,
67
and Tone 74
PART 3 The Expository Paragraph 87
12. Basic Structure 89
13. Paragraph Unity 95
14. Paragraph Development: (1) Illustration and
Restatement 106

15. Paragraph Development: (2) Comparison, Contrast,
and Analogy 114
16. Paragraph Development: (3) Cause and Effect 125
17. Paragraph Development: (4) Definition, Analysis,
and Qualification 132
PART 4. The Sentence 149
18. The Sentence: A Definition 151
19. Sentence Styles 161
20. The Well-Written Sentence: (1) Concision 191
21 . The Well-Written Sentence: (2) Emphasis 200
22. The Well-Written Sentence: (3) Rhythm 223
23. The Well-Written Sentence: (4) Variety 234
PART v. Diction 241
24. Meaning 243
25. Clarity and Simplicity 262
26. Concision 281
27. Figurative Language 295
28. Unusual Words and Collocations 325
29. Improving Your Vocabulary: Dictionaries 336
PART vi. Description and Narration 349
30. Description 351
31 . Narration 366
PART VII. Punctuation 377
Introduction 379
32. Stops 383
33. The Other Marks 417
Name Index 439
Subject Index 445

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