Cover: Bedford Basics, 3rd Edition by Diana Hacker; Wanda Van Goor

Bedford Basics

A Workbook for WritersThird Edition ©1998 Diana Hacker; Wanda Van Goor

In a workbook format, Bedford Basics incorporates a streamlined version of the text from the highly successful Bedford Handbook with lower-level exercises. Because Bedford Basics follows the handbooks organization, it can easily be used in conjunction with the handbook in a comp...
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ISBN:9781457648571

Cover: Bedford Basics, 3rd Edition by Diana Hacker; Wanda Van Goor

In a workbook format, Bedford Basics incorporates a streamlined version of the text from the highly successful Bedford Handbook with lower-level exercises. Because Bedford Basics follows the handbooks organization, it can easily be used in conjunction with the handbook in a composition sequence or it can stand alone in any developmental writing class. For the new edition, the exercises have been carefully revised after much classroom testing. In addition, several new features have been added to make this book more useful for culturally diverse students, students working on a computer, and students using the book on their own.

Features

Written in Diana Hackers clear, concise writing style and friendly, unpretentious tone.

Successful reference features from The Bedford Handbook adapted for the workbook, including hand-edited sentences, quick-reference charts, and a user-friendly index.

Abundant exercises -- most of them connected discourse -- written specifically for developmental students and using engaging cross-curricular topics to introduce, drill, and then review the points.

Guided practice exercises in every section that identify problem sentences and show students where to look for explanations and revision strategies.

Clear and simple advice for culturally diverse students, in a separate section and now in boxes throughout the book.

New to This Edition

ESL notes included throughout the text alert students to possible trouble spots.

Grammar-checker boxes throughout the book explain what computerized grammar checkers can -- and cannot -- do.

Tutorials at the front of the book show students how to consult the text on their own.

New icons keyed to the books parts appeal to todays visually oriented students.

Digital Options

Table of Contents

PART I. THE WRITING PROCESS
1. Generating ideas; sketching a plan
2. Roughing out an initial draft
3. Making global revisions; revising sentences
4. Choosing a document design

PART II. CONSTRUCTING PARAGRAPHS
5. Focusing on a main point
6. Developing the main point
7. Improving coherence

PART III. CLEAR SENTENCES
8. Coordination and subordination
9. Parallelism
10. Needed words
11. Mixed constructions
12. Misplaced and dangling modifiers
13. Shifts
14. Emphasis
15. Variety

PART IV. WORD CHOICE
16. Wordy sentences
17. Appropriate language
18. Exact Words

PART V. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCES
19. Sentence fragments
20. Run-on sentences
21. Subject-verb agreement (is or are, etc.)
22. Pronoun-antecedent agreement (singular or plural)
23. Pronoun reference (clarity)
24. Pronoun case (I or me, etc.)
25. Who or whom
26. Adjectives and adverbs (good or well, etc.)
27. Standard English verb forms
28. Verb tense, mood, and voice

PART VI. ESL TROUBLE SPOTS
29. Special problems with verbs
30. The articles a, an, and the
31. Other trouble spots

PART VII. PUNCTUATION
32. The comma
33. Unnecessary commas
34. The semicolon
35. The colon
36. The apostrophe
37. Quotation marks
38. End punctuation
39. Other punctuation marks: the dash, parentheses, brackets, the ellipsis mark, the slash

PART VIII. MECHANICS
40. Abbreviations
41. Numbers
42. Italics (underlining)
43. Spelling
44. The hyphen
45. Capital letters

PART IX. GRAMMAR BASICS
46. Introduction
47. Parts of speech
48. Sentence patterns
49. Subordinate word groups
50. Sentence types

Glossary of Usage
Answers to Tutorials, Guided Practice, and Preview Exercises
Index

Headshot of Diana Hacker

Diana Hacker

Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over thirty-five years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include A Writer's Reference, Eleventh Edition (2025); A Pocket Style Manual, Tenth Edition (2025); The Bedford Handbook, Twelfth Edition (2023); Rules for Writers, Tenth Edition (2022); and Writer’s Help 2.0, Hacker Version.

Headshot of Wanda Van Goor

Wanda Van Goor