grammar review
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Proofreading & Editing
Grammar Skill Checks
Gayla S. KeeseeEducation Specialist
Mack Gipson, Jr.Tutorial & Enrichment Center
2/2007
Have You Ever?
Been penalized for too many errors on your paper? Sharpen your eye for correct English.
Make proofreading a habit. Learned something and then found
you couldn’t remember it? Practice and application of skills help you
remember.
Have You Ever?
Made a grammatical error but couldn’t explain why? Learn how to identify common errors and
ways to correct them—and why. Questioned whether you will ever use
what you are learning? You will be writing to communicate for the
rest of your life.
Errors = Social Markers
Speaking and writing errors signal Social background Educational background/level One's concern for correctness
Common Errors
Spelling Punctuation Capitalization Pronouns Verbs Sentence Fragments Run-on Sentences
Common Errors
Usage Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers Parallel Structure Homonyms
Spelling
Serious Errors: common words Be aware of your “enemies”
Words you often misspell Create mnemonic tricks
Help remember
Usage Errors
Usage—words often confused Accept, except Advice, advise Affect, effect Between, among Lie, lay Than, then Really, real Good, well
More errors A lot alot All right
alright Could have could
of From off of Regardless
irregardless Through thru
Homonym Errors
Homonyms—similar sounds; different meanings To, too, two Their, they’re, there Your, you’re Whose, who’s Coarse, course Complement, compliment Council, counsel Principal, principle
Capitalization
Titles—all words 4+ letters long First word in complete sentence
Including direct quotes Proper nouns Names with Titles—President Bush Sacred Names—God, Allah
Capitalization
Seasons Only when personified—Spring danced joyfully.
Directions When naming specific regions—The North won.
School Subjects Names of languages—French, English Numbered courses--Biology I, History 211
Review: Sentence Elements
1. Subject Who is doing the
action
2. Verb Action—State of
being
3. Complete Thought
Independent Clause—IC Stands alone
Dependent Clause—DC Must be
attached
Phrases
Prepositional phrase—most common Mnemonic trick: Preposition = anything a
plane can do to a cloud To, From Over, Under Through, Around Inside, Outside
The Subject will NOT be in a prep. phrase
Review: Sentence Structure
Who Did (What)Subj. Verb Obj.
Tom hit the ball.
Where?
When?How?Why?
Where?
When?How?Why?
(Optional)
Moveable
(Optional)
Moveable
Punctuation
Commas Apostrophes Quotation marks Underlining Semi-colons
Comma Usage
Compound Sentence IC ,conj IC (IC=Independent
Clause=sentence)
Coordinating Conjunctions—see mnemonic device F For A And N Nor B But O Or Y Yet S So
Tom hit the ball, and he ran the bases.
Comma Usage
Set off nonessential elements—not necessary to the meaning of the sentence Phrases/clauses
Mary, who has a great deal of talent, is a senior. Shaneka, wearing a jacket, walked into the room
Parenthetical expressions however, of course, for example
– Each student, however, expected a new computer.
Comma Usage
Separate items in a list—3+ The store sold potatoes, carrots, and beans.
Kevin ran, leaped, and pranced for joy.
She learned of her husband’s loss, of his great labor, and of other efforts to make amends.
Maintain Parallel Structure
Comma Usage
Who Did WhatSubj. Verb Obj.
Tom hit the ball.
WhereWhenHowWhy
Where,
When,How,Why,
At May Park,Saturday,With my bat,Because he was mad,
Separate introductory words, phrases, and clauses with a comma.
Parallel Structure
Items joined by a conjunction must be expressed in the same grammatical form. Word, word, and word
reading, dancing, and cooking Phrase, phrase, or phrase
over the hill, under the bridge, and into the cave
either move to Kansas or move to Texas
Parallel Structure
The new school is large, rambling, and it looks ugly.
The new school is large, rambling, and ugly.
All items needed to be adjectives. The last item was an IC.
Wrong
!
Parallel Structure
I enjoy reading, writing, and to dance.
I enjoy reading, writing, and dancing.
First two items end in –ing. The last item was an infinitive. (to + verb)
Wrong
!
Parallel Structure
Charlie is not only talented as a writer but also as an artist.
Charlie is talented not only as a writer but also as an artist.
Move verb to indicate both items. Items following not only and but also
must be worded exactly the same.
Wrong
!
Parallel Structure
The juniors decided that they neither found the dance nor the breakfast enjoyable.
The juniors decided that they found neither the dance nor the breakfast enjoyable.
Place neither and nor directly in front of ideas that are parallel.
Wrong
!
Apostrophes
Possessives ‘s singular noun dog’s Mary’s s’ plural noun or
ends in -sdogs’ Charles’
Contractions Did not = didn’t Are not = aren’t It is = it’s
Do Not Add an ‘ to a possessive pronoun—your’s
Do Not Add an ‘ to form the plural of a noun—paper’s
Quotation Marks
Direct Quotations Mary said, “You will be hungry because it’s
late.”
“You will be hungry,” Mary said, “because it’s late.
Are you going to New York?” asked Bernie.
“I remember that she said, “Turn here,’” said Al.
Titles
Underline the titles of long works Books Magazines Newspapers Movies
“Quotes” around titles of short works Short stories Poems Chapters Magazine articles Songs Essays
Semicolons
Between IC not joined by a ,conj Between IC joined by one of the following:
However, therefore, consequently, moreover Between series of items if those items
contain commas The Student Council elected its officers: Sarah
Long, president; Megan Wright, vice-president; and Peg Miller, secretary/treasurer.
Capitalization
Titles—all words 4+ letters long First word in complete sentence
Including direct quotes Specific nouns Names with Titles—President Bush Sacred Names—God, Allah
Capitalization
Seasons When personified—Spring danced joyfully.
Directions When naming specific regions—The North
won. School Subjects
Names of languages—French, English Numbered courses--Biology I, History 211
Pronouns
Pronoun Shifts Do not shift between person
I, we, us He, she, it, they, them
Pronoun Reference Make sure clear
She was one of those people who is always helping others.
YOU
Pronouns
Pronoun Agreement Agree with antecedent
Number—singular, plural Gender—masculine, feminine Case—subject, object, possessive
Pronouns ending in –one, –body, or –thing Always singular
Has everyone brought his/her book?
Verb Forms
Subject-Verb Agreement Problem areas—finding the subject
Prepositional phrases Sentences beginning with It, There, Here Questions—verb before subject Appositive phrases
Problem areas—deciding number Indefinite pronouns—anybody, few, some Collective nouns—faculty, team, class Compound subjects—Tom and Shaneka
Verb Forms
Verb Tense—indicates time of action Keep tenses consistent Past perfect tense (had done, had left…)
Indicates which of two actions took place earlier
1. When we entered the room, the fire started.
2. When we entered the room, the fire had started.
-ing verbs must have a helping verb
Sentence Fragments
Missing one or more elements of an IC. Phrase Dependent Clause
Corrections: Add the element(s) Attach the fragment to the IC before or
after it.
Correcting Sentence
Fragments She lived in China. Where her parents
were missionaries.
She lived in China, where her parents were missionaries.
Correcting Sentence
Fragments Our country has many famous
musicians. Such as Pearl Bailey and Bing Crosby.
Our country has many famous musicians such as Pearl Bailey and Bing Crosby.
Correcting Sentence
Fragments Because she was too tall.
Because she was too tall, Anna had to duck to enter the room.
Correcting Sentence
Fragments I saw him carrying a package. A big
one with a red bow.
I saw him carrying a package, a big one with a red bow.
Run-On Sentences
Two or more sentences joined together (usually with only a comma)
Corrections: Use a period to separate the two sentences. Add ,conj Use a semi-colon—esp. if they’re closely
related. Rewrite the sentence completely.
Usage Errors
Usage—words often confused Accept, except Advice, advise Affect, effect Between, among Lie, lay Than, then Really, real Good, well
More errors A lot alot All right
alright Could have could
of From off of Regardless
irregardless Through thru
Homonym Errors
Homonyms—similar sounds; different meanings To, too, two Their, they’re, there Your, you’re Whose, who’s Coarse, course Complement, compliment Council, counsel Principal, principle
Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers
Modifiers—adjectives & adverbs Adjectives + nouns/pronouns
Which one? How many? What kind?
Adj, Adj + noun The small, blue hat Driving down the street, I ran over a bag of
trash.
Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers
Modifiers—adjectives, adverbs Must be placed as close to word being
described as possible
1. Running down the hall, his jacket caught on a nail.
2. At the age of four, Alice’s family moved to Texas.
3. To improve our wrestling team, new weight equipment was purchased by the school.
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