magazines. See periodical articles
main clauses. See independent clause
main idea. See thesis
major premises, 173–74
manuscript format. See formatting
many, few, 563–64
maps, 270. See also visuals and media
margins, 266, 267–68. See also design; formatting
may, can, 753
meaning
clarifying, 355–56
mechanical errors. See capital letters; italics; punctuation; quotations
media, 756
media. See multimodal text; visuals and media
medium of publication. See also visuals and media
for arguments, 182–83
in CSE references, 526
in MLA works cited, 412
previewing, 126
reading critically, 124–25
reflecting on, 66
for research projects, 191–92
memorable prose, 678–83
antithesis, 681–82
emphatic sentences, 678–80
inverted word order, 682
for presentations, 274–76
Quick Help, 678–79
repetition, 681
strong verbs, 680–81
metacognitive learning, 125
microblogs. See Twitter and microblogs
might of, could of, 753
minor premises, 173–74
misplaced modifiers, 648–49
mixed metaphors, 383
MLA style, 402–50 The citation style guidelines issued by the Modern Language Association.
basics of, 402–4
citing sources without models, 412
explanatory notes, 403–4
integrating quotations, 233–34
in-
directory, 406
models for, 405–12
manuscript format, 405
sample student research project, 441–50
signal phrases in, 405–6
source maps
articles from databases, 428–29
articles in print periodicals, 422–23
books, 418–19
works from Web sites, 432–33
verb tense in, 580
works cited
directory to, 412–14
models for, 414–41
modal, 570, 571–73 A kind of helping verb that has only one form and shows possibility, necessity, or obligation: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought to.
modifier A word, phrase, or clause that acts as an adjective or an adverb, qualifying the meaning of another word, phrase, or clause.
in complete predicate, 550
in complete subject, 548
dangling, 652–53
disruptive, 651
meaningless, 661
noun as, 616
placement of, 648–53
Quick Help, 649
regional, 613
money, numbers for, 741
months, abbreviating, 738
MOOCs, 68
mood, 586, 626–27 The form of a verb that indicates the writer’s attitude toward the idea expressed. The indicative mood states fact or opinion (I am happy); the imperative gives commands (Keep calm); and the subjunctive refers to a condition that does not exist (If I were rich . . . ).
moral, morale, 756
more, most, 614–15
moreover. See conjunctive adverb
most, more, 614–15
much. See indefinite pronoun
much, little, 563–64
multilingual writers. See also directory on p. 814
capitalization, 733
clauses, 556–57
conditional sentences, 587–88
constructive criticism, 121
design, 266
determiners, 563–64
discourse, direct and indirect, 627–28
essay examinations, 334
exploring a topic, 46
gerunds, 554–55
idioms
in dictionary, 388
hundred, hundreds, 739
mastering, 382
prepositions in, 620–24
infinitives, 554–55
language
bringing in another, 38
for exploring ideas, 46
fancy, 379
global varieties of English, 370
for note-
mood, 587–88
noun clauses, 556–57
nouns and noun phrases, 562–66
adjectives with, 614
determiners with, 563–64
gerunds versus infinitives, 554–55
organizing information, 54
paragraphs, 98
participles, 617
phrases, adapting, 244–45
plurals, 614
predicates, 550–51
prepositions and prepositional phrases, 620–24
quotation marks, 715, 716
reading patterns, 266
sentences
conditional, 587–88
grammar of, 547
length of, 639
structure of, 244–45
topic, 98
shifts, in discourse, 627–28
sources, identifying, 237
spelling, 398
style, U.S. academic, 16–17
tense, 578–82
topic sentences, 98
transitions, 98
verbs and verb phrases, 569–73
helping (auxiliary) verbs, 570
infinitives versus gerunds, 554–55
intransitive verbs, 551
modals, 571–73
mood, 587–88
prepositional, 623
tense, 578–83
transitive verbs, 550–51
two-
multimedia presentations. See presentations
multimodal text, 285–90 A description of a text that may include oral, visual, or audio elements in addition to (or instead of) words on a page. See also visuals and media
audio for, 289–90
blogs, 288
design for, 262–71
media for, 36–37
nondigital, 290
note-
online assignments, 285
organizing, 56–57
portfolios, 337–43
presentations, 272–84
Quick Help, 286
revising, 86
social media, 288–89
tone in, 37
video for, 289–90
wikis, 289
multiple negatives, 616
Muslim, 365