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Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects, 8th edition

Published by Pearson (January 4, 2016) © 2017

  • Martha J. Kolln The Pennsylvania State University
  • Loretta S. Gray Central Washington University

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For courses in first-year composition and advanced composition.

Grammar as a valuable tool for the writer

Rhetorical Grammar encourages writers to recognize and use the grammatical and stylistic choices available to them and to understand the rhetorical effects of those choices on their readers. The Eighth Edition offers a more intuitive content organization, updated passage selections, and current exercises and examples. It maintains its hallmark revision strategies and systematic discussions about reader expectations, sentence rhythm and cohesion, subordination and coordination, punctuation, modification, diction, and many other essential principles.


Kolin and Gray ask students to regard composing sentences as an artful way to elicit a desired emotion or reaction – rather than a list of tedious rules to remember. In this way, grammar is defined as an intellectual exercise that opens students' minds to the versatility, beauty, and possibilities of language.

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Pearson Writer makes it easy to stay organized, track tasks, and stay on top of writing projects. Students can set milestones prior to the due date, manage their sources, organize their notes visually in the Notebook, and even get automatic feedback on their prose. Pearson Writer is now available with Noteclipper, which allows students to save online sources quickly and easily. 


Students, if interested in purchasing this title with Pearson Writer, ask your instructor for the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.

  • NEW! Extensive revisions throughout support student learning.
    • NEW! New terminology for the two major word categories: the open classes (formerly called form classes) and closed classes (formerly called structure classes) helps students avoid the possible confusion caused by other uses of the terms form and structure. 
    • More detailed explanations of grammar, in Chapter 1, help students who have little experience with the subject matter. 
    • Coverage of sentence structure and patterns, in Chapter 2, uses information based on students' own language expertise to boost their confidence in language ability and help make sense of punctuation.
    • The revisions on punctuation in Chapter 13 give students the opportunity to review the punctuation rules they have studied in previous chapters and to learn the distinction between open and closed punctuation.
    • NEW! Coverage of adverbials, adjectivals, and nominals has been moved forward so that students can more readily draw on their knowledge of sentence patterns, coordination, and subordination when studying these chapters.
  • NEW! An exercise or discussion prompt has been added to each chapter. Whenever possible, sentences in an exercise form connected discourse or center on a single theme or topic.
    • “Your Turn” activities ask students to use what they already know to talk about their own writing and the writing of published authors.
    • Prompts for group discussions promote collaboration in the classroom, and are also conducive to use in online courses.
    • In-chapter exercises and discussion questions are useful for in-class and small-group activities and for peer editing. Answers to odd-numbered exercises foster self-teaching.
  • A discussion and a glossary of punctuation, found in Chapter 13, illustrate the available punctuation options, their effects, and the rationale behind them. 

Also available with Pearson Writer
Pearson Writer is a revolutionary digital tool for writers at all levels. Built for mobile devices, it streamlines the tedious and time-consuming aspects of writing, so that students can focus on developing their ideas.
Pearson Writer makes it easy to stay organized, track tasks, and stay on top of writing projects. Students can set milestones prior to the due date, manage their sources, organize their notes visually in the Notebook, and even get automatic feedback on their prose. Pearson Writer is now available with Noteclipper, which allows students to save online sources quickly and easily. 


  • The chapters include new terminology for the two major word categories: the open classes (formerly called form classes) and closed classes (formerly called structure classes). This change has been made to help students avoid the possible confusion caused by other uses of the terms form and structure.
  • Coverage of adverbials, adjectivals, and nominals has been moved forward so that students can more readily draw on their knowledge of sentence patterns, coordination, and subordination when studying these chapters.
  • More detailed explanations of grammar, in Chapter 1, help students who have little experience with the subject matter. The revisions on punctuation, in Chapter 13, give students the opportunity to review the punctuation rules they have studied in previous chapters and to learn the distinction between open and closed punctuation.
  • An exercise or discussion prompt has been added to each chapter. Whenever possible, sentences in an exercise form connected discourse or center on a single theme or topic.
  • New passages from published sources have replaced those that are old or no longer considered fair use. New sample student assignments have also been added.
  • Explanations and examples have been revised throughout for clarity, accuracy, and currency.

Also available with Pearson Writer

Pearson Writer is a revolutionary digital tool for writers at all levels. Built for mobile devices, it streamlines the tedious and time-consuming aspects of writing, so that students can focus on developing their ideas.


Pearson Writer makes it easy to stay organized, track tasks, and stay on top of writing projects. Students can set milestones prior to the due date, manage their sources, organize their notes visually in the Notebook, and even get automatic feedback on their prose. Pearson Writer is now available with Noteclipper, which allows students to save online sources quickly and easily.

Table of Contents

PART I. The Structure of Sentences

  1. A Review of Words and Phrases
    • Chapter Preview
    • Open Classes
    • Nouns and Verbs
    • The Noun Phrase
    • The Verb Phrase
    • NP + VP = S
    • Adjectives and Adverbs
    • Prepositional Phrases
    • Key Terms
  2. Sentence Patterns
    • Chapter Preview
    • Rhetorical Effects
    • The Be Patterns
    • The Linking Verb Pattern
    • The Intransitive Verb Pattern
    • The Basic Transitive Verb Pattern
    • Transitive Patterns with Two Complements
    • Sentence Pattern Summary
    • The Optional Adverbial
    • Questions and Commands
    • Punctuation and the Sentence Patterns
    • Basic Patterns in Prose
    • The Short Paragraph
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminder
  3. Our Versatile Verbs
    • Chapter Preview
    • The Expanded Verb
    • Using the Expanded Verbs
    • Special Uses of the Present Tense
    • Other Auxiliaries
    • Do-Support
    • Modal Auxiliaries
    • The Passive Voice
    • Forms of the Passive Voice
    • Using the Passive Voice
    • The Missing Agent
    • Well-Chosen Verbs: Showing, Not Telling
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
  4. Coordination and Subordination
    • Chapter Preview
    • Coordination within the Sentence
    • Parallel Structure
    • Coordination of the Series
    • Climax
    • Coordination with Correlative Conjunctions
    • Subject-Verb Agreement
    • Compound Sentences
    • Conjunctive Adverbs and Transitional Phrases
    • Compound Sentences with Semicolons
    • Compound Sentences with Colons
    • Punctuation Pitfalls
    • The Compound Sentence: Punctuation Review
    • Subordination: The Dependent Clauses
    • Effective Coordination and Subordination
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders

PART II. Making Choices: Form and Function

  1. Choosing Adverbials
    • Chapter Preview
    • The Movable Adverbials
    • Adverb Phrases
    • Prepositional Phrases
    • The Proliferating Prepositional Phrase
    • Noun Phrases
    • Verb Phrases
    • Dependent Clauses
    • Punctuation of Adverbial Clauses
    • The Movability of Adverbial Clauses
    • The Because-Clause Myth
    • The Elliptical Adverbial Clause
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders
  2. Choosing Adjectivals
    • Chapter Preview
    • The Noun Phrase
    • Preheadword Modifiers
    • Determiners
    • Adjectives and Nouns
    • Modifier Noun Proliferation
    • Postheadword Modifiers
    • Prepositional Phrases
    • Adjective Phrases
    • Participial Phrases
    • The Prenoun Participle
    • The Movable Participial Phrase
    • The Dangling Participle
    • Relative Clauses
    • The Relatives
    • The Broad-Reference Clause
    • Punctuation of Phrases and Clauses
    • A Punctuation Rule Revisited
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders
  3. Choosing Nominals
    • Chapter Preview
    • Appositives
    • Colons and Dashes with Appositives
    • Avoiding Punctuation Errors
    • The Sentence Appositive
    • Nominal Verb Phrases
    • Gerunds
    • The Dangling Gerund
    • The Subject of the Gerund
    • Infinitives
    • Nominal Clauses
    • Nominals as Delayed Subjects
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders
  4. Other Stylistic Variations
    • Chapter Preview
    • Style
    • Absolute Phrases
    • The Coordinate Series
    • Repetition
    • Word-Order Variation
    • Ellipsis
    • Antithesis
    • The Deliberate Fragment
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders

PART III. Controlling the Message

  1. Cohesion
    • Chapter Preview
    • Reader Expectation
    • Repetition
    • The Known–New Contract
    • The Role of Pronouns
    • Personal Pronouns
    • Demonstrative Pronouns
    • The Role of the Passive Voice
    • Other Sentence Inversions
    • Parallelism
    • Parallelism and Repetition versus Redundancy and Wordiness
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
  2. Sentence Rhythm
    • Chapter Preview
    • Your Sense of Rhythm
    • End Focus
    • Controlling Rhythm
    • The It-Cleft
    • The What-Cleft
    • The There-Transformation
    • Transitional Phrases and Conjunctive Adverbs
    • Power Words
    • Adverbials of Emphasis
    • The Common Only
    • Correlative Conjunctions
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminder
  3. The Writer’s Voice
    • Chapter Preview
    • Tone
    • Diction
    • Metaphor
    • Verbs and Formality
    • Nominalized Verbs and Abstract Subjects
    • Contractions
    • Metadiscourse
    • Point of View
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders

PART IV. Your Way with Words

  1. Words and Word Classes
    • Chapter Preview
    • Your Lexicon
    • Parts of Speech
    • The Open Classes
    • Nouns
    • Plural-Only Forms
    • Collective Nouns
    • Proper Nouns
    • Verbs
    • Adjectives
    • Adverbs
    • Derivational Affixes
    • The Closed Classes
    • Determiners
    • Auxiliaries
    • Qualifiers
    • Prepositions
    • Particles
    • Conjunctions
    • Pronouns
    • Personal Pronouns
    • The Missing Pronoun
    • Case Errors
    • The Unwanted Apostrophe
    • The Ambiguous Antecedent
    • Reflexive Pronouns
    • Intensive Pronouns
    • Reciprocal Pronouns
    • Demonstrative Pronouns
    • Indefinite Pronouns
    • The Everyone/Their Issue
    • Key Terms
    • Rhetorical Reminders
    • Punctuation Reminders

PART V. Punctuation

  1. Punctuation: Its Purposes and Its Rhetorical Effects
    • Chapter Preview
    • The Purposes of Punctuation Marks
    • Syntax
    • Prosody
    • Semantics
    • Open and Close Punctuation
    • The Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • Key Terms

Glossary of Punctuation

Glossary of Terms

Bibliography

Answers to the Exercises

Index

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