- Updated and expanded, this book fills a double purpose as both a useful classroom text and a practical style manual for writers. It reviews English grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and correct word usage, and advises on adapting writing style to different formats, including both classroom assignments, business documents, and electronic communication. Readers will also find detailed instruction on essay writing, starting with outlining a subject, and going on to writing a draft and then editing and polishing it into a finished composition. New in this edition is a sample research paper that uses online sources and follows the widely popular MLA style for footnotes.