The Macmillan Handbook of English [antikvár]

PREFACE The fifth édition of The Macmtllan Handbook of English, like its predecessors, is a rhetoric and handbook combined. It may be used as either or as both. Material that can be most profitably used in classroom instruction has been placed in the rhetoric. Material most useful in the marking and revision of papers has been placed in the handbook. Of course, one part suppléments the other and enables the teacher to repeat instruction, when necessary, with new materials and a fresh approach. The first part of the book attempts to give the beginner the sort of helpful, common-sense advice about writing that he most needs. The student is introduced to the concept of English as a living and growing language. He is then taken through discussions of grammar as a tool of effective writing, of building good sentences and good paragraphs, to the process of planning, writing, and revising various kinds of compositions. The first section includes a discussion of a long paper based on the investigation of published material, the most elaborate and ambitious project the student will undertake. The first seven chapters of the book—the parts constituting the rhetoric—have been substantially rewritten. In several of these chapters there is a more detailed analysis of structure and language than in former éditions, a more detailed commentary on the illustrations used, and a firmer linking of rhetorical discussions with the specific problems of writing facing the student. The section dealing with rhetorical patterns of sentences has been strengthened and enlarged. It is now a separate chapter. The chapter dealing with the paragraph has been enriched by the addition of new examples with a running commentary on each selection. In the chapter on planning and writing, a new arrangement of the parts will make this complex material [vîi]