Serving as a rhetoric, reader, and handbook, Progressions provides unusually extensive support for the student by specifically showing what to do in every step of the writing process. Extensive attention is given to multiple strategies for working through every level of the writing process and students  are encouraged to develop their own effective writing processes.

Table of Contents:
Tips Strategies for Learning from Textbooks xxi Strategies for Succeeding in College xxii Preface xxiii    PART ONE Succeeding in College 1 CHAPTER 1 Why Am I in This Class? 1 How Fast Can I become a Better Writer? 2 Understand the Writing Process 2 Read and Write Every Day 2 Use Your Resources 3 Why Do I Make So Many Mistakes When I Write? 3 Why Do I Need This Book? 4 How Will Writing Help Me in Other Classes? 4 How Can I Succeed in College? 5 Writing Assignment 7   PART TWO Writing Paragraphs and Essays 9 CHAPTER 2 The Writing Process: Planning a Paragraph 9 The Process of Writing 9 Planning Your Writing 10 Establishing Your Purpose and Audience 10 Generating Ideas 12 Freewriting 12 Listing 14 Clustering 15 Combining Techniques 16 Outlining Your Writing 16 Contents Succeeding in College: Use Strategies for Generating Ideas 17 Tips: Planning Your Paragraph 17 Writing Assignment 18   CHAPTER 3 The Writing Process: Writing and Rewriting a Paragraph 19 The Parts of a Paragraph 19 The Topic Sentence 21 Writing Your Topic Sentence 22 Considering Your Topic Sentence 23 Including an Assertion 23 Limiting Your Topic Sentence 23 Supporting Details 25 Identifying Kinds of Supporting Details 25 Including Facts and Examples 26 Telling a Story 26 Explaining Effects 26 Giving Reasons 27 Providing Adequate Supporting Detail 27 Considering Your Purpose and Audience 28 Using Transitions 28 The Closing 32 Writing and Rewriting 33 Writing 33 Rewriting 34 Revising 34 Editing 36 Succeeding in College: Use Your Writing Knowledge in All Your Classes 37 Tips: Writing and Rewriting 38 Writing Assignment 38   CHAPTER 4 Writing an Essay 39 The Parts of an Essay 39 The Introduction 44 Writing Your Thesis 44 Writing Your Hook 46 Supporting Paragraphs 47 The Conclusion 48 Outlining Your Essay with an Outline Form 49 Rewriting Your Essay 50 Succeeding in College: Use the Outline Form for Reworking and Studying Your Class Notes 51 Tips: Writing an Essay 52 Writing Assignment 53   PART THREE Understanding the Sentence 55 CHAPTER 5 Identifying Subjects and Verbs 55 Subjects and Verbs 55 Identifying Verbs 55 Action Verbs 56 Linking Verbs 58 Helping Verbs 60 Sentences with More Than One Verb 63 Identifying Subjects 65 Complete and Simple Subjects 65 The Location of the Subject 68 Action-Word Subjects 68 Subjects with Prepositional Phrases 69 Sentences with More Than One Subject 72 Sentences That Are Commands, Requests, or Suggestions 74 Learning from Textbooks 77 Succeeding in College: Notice the Subjects and Verbs in Your Textbooks 79 Tips: Identifying Subjects and Verbs 79 Writing Assignment 80   CHAPTER 6 Improving Sentences with Coordination and Subordination 81 Showing How Ideas in a Sentence Relate to Each Other 81 The Difference between Clauses and Phrases 82 Independent and Dependent Clauses 83 Coordination 84 Joining Independent Clauses with a Coordinating Conjunction 84 Joining Independent Clauses with a Conjunctive Adverb 89 Joining Independent Clauses with a Semicolon 94 Subordination 98 Joining an Independent and a Dependent Clause with a Subordinating Conjunction 98 Joining an Independent Clause with a Relative Clause 102 Learning from Textbooks 109 Succeeding in College: Notice Coordinating Conjunctions, Conjunctive Adverbs, and Subordinating Conjunctions 110 Tips: Improving Sentences with Coordination and Subordination 111 Writing Assignment 112   CHAPTER 7 Correcting Sentence Fragments 113 Recognizing Sentence Fragments 113 Correcting Sentence Fragments 114 Missing Subject Fragments 114 Incomplete Verb Fragments 118 Missing Subject and Verb Fragments 121 Dependent Clause Fragments 122 Learning from Textbooks 128 Succeeding in College: Use Fragments and Abbreviations in Note-Taking 129 Tips: Finding and Correcting Sentence Fragments 129 Writing Assignment 130   CHAPTER 8 Correcting Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices 131 Recognizing Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices 131 Correcting Run-ons and Comma Splices 132 Using a Period and a Capital Letter 132 Using a Comma and a Coordinating Conjunction 133 Using a Semicolon, Conjunctive Adverb, and Comma 134 Using a Semicolon 137 Learning from Textbooks 140 Succeeding in College: Make Inferences When You Read 141 Tips: Finding and Correcting Run-On Sentences and Comma Splices 142 Writing Assignment 142 Comprehensive Posttest: Understanding the Sentence 143   PART FOUR Using Verbs Correctly 147 CHAPTER 9 Using the Present Tense and Achieving Subject—Verb Agreement 147 Understanding the Present Tense and Number 147 Making Subjects and Verbs Agree in the Present Tense 148 Using Am/Is/Are ( Forms of Be) 151 Using Am/Is/Are as Helping Verbs 152 Forming Contractions with Is/Are 152 Using Have/Has 155 Using Have/Has as Helping Verbs 155 Forming Contractions with Have/Has 155 Using Do/Does 157 Using Do/Does as Helping Verbs 157 Forming Contractions with Do/Does 158 Making Subjects and Verbs Agree in Special Situations 161 Compound Subjects 161 Collective Noun Subjects 162 Indefinite Pronoun Subjects 163 Subjects with Prepositional Phrases 165 Inverted Order 167 Relative Pronouns as Subjects 168 Learning from Textbooks 174 Succeeding in College: Speak Up in Class 175 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with the Present Tense and Subject—Verb Agreement 176 Writing Assignment 176   CHAPTER 10 Using the Past Tense 177 Understanding the Past Tense 177 Forming the Past Tense of Regular Verbs 177 Forming the Past Tense of Irregular Verbs 179 Using Was and Were (Forms of Be ) 183 Using Was/Were as Helping Verbs 184 Forming Contractions with Was/Were 184 Learning from Textbooks 187 Succeeding in College: Use the Past to Your Advantage 189 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with the Past Tense 189 Writing Assignment 190   CHAPTER 11 Using the Perfect Tenses and Choosing Active and Passive Voice 191 Understanding the Past Participle 191 Understanding the Present Perfect Tense 195 Understanding the Past Perfect Tense 197 Understanding the Active and Passive Voices 202 Learning from Textbooks 204 Succeeding in College: Speak Appropriately to Your Instructors about Grades 206 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with the Perfect Tenses and Active and Passive Voices 206 Writing Assignment 207   CHAPTER 12 Using the Progressive Tenses 208 Understanding the Present Participle 208 Understanding the Present Progressive Tense 209 Understanding the Past Progressive Tense 212 Learning From Textbooks 217 Succeeding in College: Determine Your Learning Style 218 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with the Progressive Tenses 218 Writing Assignment 219   CHAPTER 13 Eliminating Inappropriate Tense Shifts 220 Recognizing Tense Shifts 220 Understanding the Sequence of Tense 223 Learning from Textbooks 226 Succeeding in College: Avoid Tense Shifts in Note-taking 227 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Tense Shifts 228 Writing Assignment 228 Comprehensive Posttest: Using Verbs Correctly 229   PART FIVE Using Pronouns Correctly 233 CHAPTER 14 Using Pronouns 233 Understanding Nouns, Pronouns, and Antecedents 233 Making Pronouns Agree with Their Antecedents 235 Making Pronouns and Antecedents Agree in Special Situations 236 Compound Subject Antecedents 236 Collective Noun Antecedents 238 Phrases after the Antecedent 240 Indefinite Pronoun Antecedents 241 Nonsexist Usage 244 Using Pronouns as Subjects, Objects, and Possessives 246 Pronouns as Subjects 246 Pronouns as Objects 247 Pronouns as Possessives 248 Who, Whom, and Whose 249 Choosing Subject and Object Pronouns in Special Situations 251 Subject and Object Pronouns in Compounds 251 Subject and Object Pronouns in Comparisons 253 Subject and Object Pronouns Paired with Antecedents 255 Using Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns 258 Learning from Textbooks 261 Succeeding in College: Pay Attention to Pronouns 262 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Pronouns 262 Writing Assignment 263   CHAPTER 15 Solving Common Pronoun Problems 264 Avoiding Inappropriate Person Shifts 264 Eliminating Unnecessary Pronouns 267 Avoiding Unclear Antecedents 268 Avoiding Unstated Antecedents 269 Learning from Textbooks 273 Succeeding in College: Write on a Deadline with Confidence 274 Tips: Finding and Correcting Common Pronoun Problems 275 Writing Assignment 276 Comprehensive Posttest: Using Pronouns Correctly 277   PART SIX Using Modifiers Correctly 279 CHAPTER 16 Using Adjectives and Adverbs 279 Using Adjectives 279 Using Adverbs 280 Choosing Adjectives and Adverbs in Special Situations 283 Good/Well 283 Bad/Badly 284 Avoiding Double Negatives 286 Using Adjectives and Adverbs in Comparisons 288 Comparing Two with Comparative Forms 288 Comparing More Than Two with Superlative Forms 290 Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms 293 Learning from Textbooks 296 Succeeding in College: Think Positively 297 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Adjectives and Adverbs 297 Writing Assignment 298   CHAPTER 17 Using Prepositional Phrases, Participles, and Infinitives 299 Understanding Prepositional Phrases 299 Using In, On, and At 302 Using Prepositions in Common Expressions 303 Understanding Participles and Participle Phrases 307 Understanding Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases 311 Avoiding Dangling Modifiers 314 Learning from Textbooks 317 Succeeding in College: Use Computers Wisely 319 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Prepositional Phrases, Participles, and Infinitives 320 Writing Assignment 320 Comprehensive Posttest: Using Modifiers Correctly 321   PART SEVEN Improving Sentences 323 CHAPTER 18 Achieving Sentence Variety 323 Begin with One or Two — ly Adverbs 323 Begin with a Present Participle or Present Participle Phrase 325 Begin with a Past Participle or a Past Participle Phrase 328 Begin with a Prepositional Phrase 329 Begin with a Dependent Clause 331 Learning from Textbooks 335 Succeeding in College: Listen Actively 337 Tips: Improving Sentence Variety 337 Writing Assignment 338   CHAPTER 19 Solving Special Sentence Structure Problems 339 Achieving Parallelism 339 Achieving Parallelism with Words in Series or Pairs 339 Achieving Parallelism with Paired Conjunctions 343 Avoiding Simple Subjects in Prepositional Phrases 346 Avoiding Illogical Equations with Forms of Be 348 Avoiding Mixed Sentence Structures 350 Learning from Textbooks 353 Succeeding in College: Overcome Procrastination 354 Tips: Finding and Correcting Special Sentence Structure Problems 354 Writing Assignment 355 Comprehensive Posttest: Improving Sentences 357   PART EIGHT Capitalizing, Punctuating, and Spelling Correctly 359 CHAPTER 20 Using Capital Letters and End Marks 359 Using Capital Letters 359 Using End Marks 365 Learning from Textbooks 368 Succeeding in College: Study Images 369 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Capital Letters and End Marks 370 Writing Assignment 370   CHAPTER 21 Using Commas 371 Using Commas to Separate Items in a Series 371 Using Commas after Introductory Elements 373 Using Commas with Coordination 374 Using Commas with Interrupters 376 Using Commas with Dates and Addresses 380 Learning from Textbooks 382 Succeeding in College: Build Your Vocabulary 383 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Commas 383 Writing Assignment 384   CHAPTER 22 Using Apostrophes 385 Using Apostrophes to Show Possession 385 Using Apostrophes for Contractions 389 Learning from Textbooks 394 Succeeding in College: Improve Your Concentration 396 Tips : Finding and Correcting Problems with Apostrophes 397 Writing Assignment 397   CHAPTER 23 Punctuating Quotations 398 Understanding Direct Quotations 398 Punctuating Direct Quotations 399 Understanding Indirect Quotations 403 Learning from Textbooks 408 Succeeding in College: Know What to Listen To 409 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Punctuating Quotations 410 Writing Assignment 410   CHAPTER 24 Using Frequently Confused Words and Spelling Correctly 411 Using Frequently Confused Words 411 A/An 411 A lot/Alot 413 Accept/Except 413 Advice/Advise 413 Affect/Effect 414 All Ready/Already 415 All Right/Alright 415 Been/Being 415 Beside/Besides 417 Buy/By 417 Can/Could 418 Good/Well 419 Have/Of 419 Hear/Here 419 Its/It’s 420 Know/No and Knew/New 421 Lie/Lay 421 Loose/Lose 422 Passed/Past 423 Principal/Principle 424 Quiet/Quit/Quite 425 Rise/Raise 425 Sit/Set 426 Suppose/Supposed 427 Than/Then 428 There/Their/They’re 429 Threw/Through 430 To/Too/Two 431 Use/Used 431 Were/We’re/Where 432 Who’s/Whose 433 Will/Would 434 Your/You’re 434 Spelling Correctly 436 Spelling List 446 Learning from Textbooks 448 Succeeding in College: Use Mnemonics 449 Tips: Finding and Correcting Problems with Frequently Confused Words and Spelling 450 Writing Assignment 450 Comprehensive Posttest: Capitalizing, Punctuating, and Spelling Correctly 451   PART NINE From Reading to Writing 453 CHAPTER 25 Becoming a Better Reader 453 The Connection between Reading and Writing 453 Active Reading 454 A Sample Active Reading 455 Karen S. Peterson “The Truth about Our Little White Lies” 456 Active Reading of College Textbooks 457 Readings 459 Kathleen Carlin “You Become What You Wear” 459 Amy Tan “Fish Cheeks” 462 Larissa MacFarquhar “New Math” 464 Frederick Douglass “How I Learned to Read and Write” 467 Courtney Housam “Proud to Be ADD” 471 David Bodanis “What's in Your Toothpaste?” 473 Tunku Varadarajan “Baby Names, Big Battles” 476 Mark Twain “Two Views of the Mississippi” 479 Nancy Gibbs “Sticks and Stones” 481 Irene Sullivan “Keeping Kids outside the System” 484 Sue Horton “There's Teaching, and There's Learning” 487   CHAPTER 26 Writing Essay Examination Answers 490 Writing Essay Examination Answers 490 Two Answers to Study 492 Appendix Editing Workshop 495 Editing for One Kind of Error 495 Editing for a Mix of Errors 501 Credits 509 Index 511   Tips Planning Your Paragraph 17 Writing and Rewriting 38 Writing an Essay 52 Identifying Subjects and Verbs 79 Improving Sentences with Coordination and Subordination 111 Finding and Correcting Sentence Fragments 129 Finding and Correcting Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices 142 Finding and Correcting Problems with the Present Tense and Subject—Verb Agreement 176 Finding and Correcting Problems with the Past Tense 189 Finding and Correcting Problems with the Perfect Tenses and Active and Passive Voice 206 Finding and Correcting Problems with the Progressive Tenses 218 Finding and Correcting Problems with Tense Shifts 228 Finding and Correcting Problems with Pronouns 262 Finding and Correcting Common Pronoun Problems 275 Finding and Correcting Problems with Adjectives and Adverbs 297 Finding and Correcting Problems with Prepositional Phrases, Participles, and Infinitives 320 Improving Sentence Variety 337 Finding and Correcting Special Sentence Structure Problems 357 Finding and Correcting Problems with Capital Letters and End Marks 370 Finding and Correcting Problems with Commas 383 Finding and Correcting Problems with Apostrophes 397 Finding and Correcting Problems with Punctuating Quotations 410 Finding and Correcting Problems with Frequently Confused Words and Spelling 450 Strategies for Learning from Textbooks Identifying Subjects and Verbs 77 Using Coordination and Subordination 109 Noticing Sentence Fragments 128 Avoiding Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices 140 Using the Present Tense and Achieving Subject—Verb Agreement 174 Using the Past Tense 187 Using the Perfect Tenses and Active and Passive Voice 204 Using the Progressive Tenses 217 Avoiding Tense Shifts 226 Using Pronouns 261 Avoiding Pronoun Problems 273 Using Adjectives and Adverbs 296 Using Prepositional Phrases, Participles, and Infinitives 317 Achieving Sentence Variety 335 Solving Sentence Structure Problems 353 Using Capital Letters and End Marks 368 Using Commas 382 Using Apostrophes 394 Punctuating Quotations 408 Using Frequently Confused Words and Spelling Correctly 448   Strategies for Succeeding in College Use Strategies for Generating Ideas 17 Use Your Writing Knowledge in All Your Classes 37 Use the Outline Form for Reworking and Studying Your Class Notes 51 Notice the Subjects and Verbs in Your Textbooks 79 Notice Coordinating Conjunctions, Conjunctive Adverbs, and Subordinating Conjunctions 110 Use Fragments and Abbreviations in Note-taking 129 Make Inferences When You Read 141 Speak Up in Class 175 Use the Past to Your Advantage 189 Speak Appropriately to Your Instructors about Grades 206 Determine Your Learning Style 218 Avoid Tense Shifts in Note-taking 227 Pay Attention to Pronouns 262 Write on a Deadline with Confidence 274 Think Positively 297 Use Computers Wisely 319 Listen Actively 337 Overcome Procrastination 354 Study Images 369 Build Your Vocabulary 383 Improve Your Concentration 396 Know What to Listen To 409 Use Mnemonics 449