Continuously evolving to address the needs of today's students, the HODGES' HARBRACE HANDBOOK, 17E, guides student writers in developing their understanding of the rhetorical situation. This understanding enables even students with minimal experience or confidence in their writing to learn to write more effectively--to choose the most pertinent information, arrange it well, and use the most appropriate language when writing for any audience. This grammar-first handbook provides comprehensive coverage of grammar, style, punctuation, mechanics, writing, and research--all presented in the context of rhetorical concerns including the writer, reader, message, context, and exigence (reason for writing).

Bringing fresh insight to the comprehensive HODGES' HARBRACE HANDBOOK, Sixteenth Edition, rhetorician Cheryl Glenn and linguist Loretta Gray provide this market-leading handbook with groundbreaking treatment of writing.

Continuously evolving to address the needs of students, the Hodges' Harbrace Handbook, Sixteenth Edition, guides student writers in developing their understanding of the rhetorical situation. Through this understanding, they learn how to write effectively-how to choose the most effective information, how to arrange it effectively, and how to decide on the most appropriate language to use when writing for any audience. This grammar-first handbook comprehensively covers grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics as situated around rhetorical concerns-the writer, reader, message, context, and exigence (the reason for writing).

Cheryl Glenn, Professor of English and Women's Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, is widely known for her scholarship, leadership, and teaching. Besides coauthoring THE HARBRACE HANDBOOK, she is author of the prize-winning RHETORIC RETOLD: REGENDERING THE TRADITION FROM ANTIQUITY THROUGH THE RENAISSANCE, UNSPOKEN: A RHETORIC OF SILENCE, RHETORICAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA, and several other titles. Glenn's rhetorical scholarship has earned her many awards, including three National Endowment for the Humanities awards, the Conference on College Composition and Communication's Richard Braddock Award, Rhetoric Review's Outstanding Essay Award, and Best Book/Honorable Mention from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. She has served as President of the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, a member of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Executive Committee, Chair of the Modern Language Association (MLA) Division on the History and Theory of Rhetoric and Composition, and a member of the MLA Delegate Assembly. Glenn's teaching and scholarship have earned her three university teaching awards. At present, she is Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the largest organization of writing and rhetoric teachers in the world.Loretta Gray, Professor of English at Central Washington University, has three degrees related to her interest in composition and applied linguistics: Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language (School for International Training), Master of Arts in Spanish (Middlebury College), and Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics (Boston University). She has experience teaching English to nonnative speakers in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. In addition, she taught Spanish at Clemson University and applied linguistics at the School for International Training. Dr. Gray has been teaching composition and applied linguistics courses at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, since 1992. She also is author of the textbook entitled IDIOMATIC ENGLISH.

PART I: GRAMMAR. 1. Sentence Sense. Parts of speech. Subjects and predicates. Subjects and complements. Basic sentence patterns. Phrases. Clauses. Conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. Sentence forms. Sentence functions. 2. Sentence Fragments. Recognizing sentence fragments. Phrases as sentence fragments. Dependent clauses as sentence fragments. 3. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. Punctuating independent clauses. Methods for identifying comma splices and fused sentences. Revising comma splices and fused sentences. Divided quotations. 4. Adjectives and Adverbs. Recognizing adjectives and adverbs. Comparatives and superlatives. Double negatives. 5. Pronouns and Case. Recognizing pronouns. Pronoun case. 6. Agreement. Subject-verb agreement. Pronoun-antecedent agreement. 7. Verbs. Verb forms. Verb tenses. Voice. Mood. PART II: MECHANICS. 8. E-Documents. Document design and purpose. The conventions of document design. Design and function. Graphics and purpose. Composing Web documents. Visual elements and purpose. 9. Capitals. Proper names. Titles and subtitles. Beginning a sentence. Computer terms. Unnecessary capitals. 10. Italics. Works published separately. Foreign words. Legal cases. Names of ships. aircraft, etc. Words, letters, or figures referred to as such. Emphasizing words. 11. Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Numbers. Proper names. Addresses in correspondence. Abbreviations in source documentation. Acceptable abbreviations. Acronyms. General uses of numbers. Special uses of numbers. PART III: PUNCTUATION. 12. The Comma. Before a coordinating conjunction linking independent clauses. After introductory words, phrases, or clauses. Separating elements in a series. With nonessential elements. With geographical names and items in dates and addresses. With direct quotations. 13. Unnecessary or Misplaced Commas. Not between subject and verb or verb and object. Not after coordinating conjunctions. Not between elements in a compound predicate. Not with restrictive (essential) words, phrases, or clauses. Not before the first or after the last item of a series. 14. The Semicolon. Connecting independent clauses. Separating elements that contain commas. Revising common semicolon errors. 15. The Apostrophe. Indicating ownership. Marking omissions. Forming certain plurals. 16. Quotation Marks. Direct quotations. Titles of short works. For tone or unusual usage. With other punctuation marks. 17. The Period and Other Marks. Period. Question mark. Exclamation point. Colon. The dash. Parentheses. Square brackets. Ellipsis points. Slash. PART IV: SPELLING AND DICTION. 18. Spelling, the Spell Checker, and Hyphenation. Spell checker. Spelling and pronunciation. Words that sound alike. Prefixes and suffixes. Confusion of ei and ie . Hyphens. 19. Good Usage. Usage and the rhetorical situation. Style. Word choice. Inclusive language. Dictionaries. Thesaurus. 20. Exactness. Precise word choice. Evocative language. Idioms and collocations. First and second person. Clear definitions. 21. Conciseness. Eliminating wordiness. Unnecessary repetition. Elliptical constructions. 22. Clarity and Completeness. Including necessary words. Completing comparisons. Completing intensifiers. PART V: EFFECTIVE SENTENCES. 23. Sentence Unity. Choosing and arranging details. Revising mixed metaphors. Relating sentence parts. 24. Subordination and Coordination. Using subordination. Using coordination. Avoiding faulty or excessive subordination and coordination. 25. Misplaced Parts and Dangling Modifiers. Placement of modifiers. Dangling modifiers. 26. Parallelism. Recognizing parallel elements. Repeating words and forms. Linking two or more sentences. Correlative conjunctions. Emphasizing key ideas. 27. Consistency. Verb tense. Person and number. Tone and style. 28. Pronoun Reference. Ambiguous references. Awkward references. Implied references. The impersonal pronoun it. 29. Emphasis. Placement of words. Periodic and cumulative sentences. Ordering from least to most important. Repeating important words. Active and passive voice. Inverting word order. An occasional short sentence. 30. Variety. Sentence length. Sentence openings. Questions, commands, and exclamations. PART VI: WRITING. 31. The Rhetorical Situation. Understanding the rhetorical situation. Writing to an exigence. Writing with a specific purpose. Considering audience. Sending and receiving a message within a context. 32. Reading Rhetorically. Previewing for an initial impression. Reading for content. Rereading for understanding. Recognizing a personal response. Writing daily about your reading. 33. Planning and Drafting Essays. Selecting worthwhile subjects for writing. Focusing a subject idea into a specific topic. Conveying a clearly stated thesis. Arranging or outlining ideas. Getting your ideas into a first draft. Drafting well-developed paragraphs. Employing rhetorical methods of development. 34. Revising and Editing Essays. The essentials of revision. Guiding readers with your introductions and conclusions. Revising for unified and coherent paragraphs. Transitions within and between paragraphs. The benefits of peer review. Editing for clearer ideas, sentences, and paragraphs. Proofreading for an error-free essay. The final draft. 35. Writing Arguments. Determining the purpose of your argument. Considering differing viewpoints. Distinguishing between fact and opinion. Taking a position or making a claim. Providing evidence for an effective argument. Using the rhetorical appeals to ground your argument. Purposely arranging an effective argument. Using logic to argue effectively and ethically. Avoiding rhetorical fallacies. Studying a sample written argument of another student. PART VII: RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION. 36. Finding Sources Online, in Print, and in the Field. Research and the rhetorical situation. Finding books. Finding articles. Finding online sources. Field research. 37. Evaluating Sources Online and in Print. Credibility of authors. Credibility of publishers. Online sources. Relevance and timeliness. 38. Using Sources Responsibly. The rhetorical situation and the research paper. Organizing notes. Working bibliography. Integrating sources. Responding to sources. 39. MLA Documentation. MLA in-text citations. MLA list of works cited. MLA paper. 40. APA Documentation. APA in-text citations. APA reference list. APA paper. 41. Writing about Literature. Literature and its genres. Vocabulary for discussing literature. Approaches to interpreting literature. Active reading and literary interpretation. Types of literary interpretation. Conventions for writing about literature. A student essay interpreting literature. 42. Writing in Business. Special conventions. Business letters. Business memos. Résumés. Application letters. Business plans. Glossary of Usage. Glossary of Terms. Index.