Introduction 1 Part 1: Getting Started with Basic English Grammar 9 Chapter 1: Getting a Grip on Grammar 11 Chapter 2: Language in Action 25 Part 2: Meeting the Parts of Speech 35 Chapter 3: People to See, Places to Go, Things to Remember: Recognizing Nouns 37 Chapter 4: Perfecting Pronouns 51 Chapter 5: Doing and Being Words: Verbs 67 Chapter 6: Describing with Adjectives and Adverbs 83 Chapter 7: Building Relationships with Prepositions 101 Chapter 8: Connecting and Commenting: Conjunctions and Interjections 113 Part 3: Creating Correct Sentences 125 Chapter 9: Making Progress: Verbs Ending in -ing 127 Chapter 10: Putting the Past in Order: The Perfect Tenses 139 Chapter 11: Seeking Subjects 153 Chapter 12: Adding Meaning with Complements 169 Chapter 13: Writing Complete Sentences 183 Part 4: Punctuation and Capitalization 197 Chapter 14: Applying Apostrophes Accurately 199 Chapter 15: Catching a Break with Commas 213 Chapter 16: Who Said What: Quotation Marks 229 Chapter 17: Going Big: Capital Letters 243 Part 5: Grammar in Action 259 Chapter 18: Texting, Emailing, and Posting 261 Chapter 19: Presentation Slides and Bulleted Lists 271 Chapter 20: Writing at School and on the Job 283 Part 6: Fine-Tuning Your Writing 297 Chapter 21: Tricky Word Traps 299 Chapter 22: Avoiding Common Mistakes 311 Chapter 23: Finishing Touches: Advanced Grammar Topics 323 Part 7: The Part of Tens 339 Chapter 24: Ten Spelling Tips to Remember 341 Chapter 25: Five "Always" and Five "Never" Rules of English Grammar 347 Index 351.