You would probably say: It doesn’t matter. In informal conversation, we tend to use contractions. For example, we combine does with not, forming the contraction doesn’t. Note that not, the second word in the contraction, loses the letter o, and in place of that o we have an apostrophe: doesn’t. In contractions consisting of a verb plus not, not loses an o. | Grammar Usage for Better Writing AMSCO AMSCO SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS INC 315 Hudson Street New York . 10013 Contributing Editors Auditi Chakravarty Director of Language Arts Amsco School Publications Inc. Bonnie Boehme Editor Nesbitt Graphics Inc. This book has been adapted from the following Amsco publications Building Power in Writing By Henry I. Christ English Alive Complete Edition By Harold Levine Text and cover design Nesbitt Graphics Inc. Composition Nesbitt Graphics Inc. When ordering this book please specify Either R 798 W or GRAMMAR AND USAGE FOR BETTER WRITING Please visit our Web site at ISBN 1-56765-117-8 NYC Item 56765-117-7 Copyright 2004 by Amsco School Publications Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 08 07 06 05 04 Contents Introduction How to Use This Book vii Part ONE Parts of Speech 1 The Subject 3 The Predicate 7 Verbs 10 Action and Linking Verbs 13 Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases 16 Verbs in Contractions 19 Nouns 22 Common and Proper Nouns 24 Plural Nouns 27 Possessive Nouns 34 Compound Subjects 38 Compound Verbs 41 Nouns as Direct Objects 45 Nouns as Indirect Objects 48 Pronouns and Antecedents 52 Personal Pronouns 55 Pronouns in Contractions 58 Review of Verbs Nouns and Pronouns 61 Adjectives 68 Predicate Adjectives and Predicate Nouns 72 Adverbs 79 Forming Adverbs from Adjectives 84 Recognizing Adverbs and Adjectives 86 .
