2/2007

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.

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.

Speaking and writing errors signal Social backgroundEducational background/levelOne's concern for correctness

SpellingPunctuationCapitalizationPronounsVerbsSentence FragmentsRun-on Sentences

UsageDangling/Misplaced ModifiersParallel StructureHomonyms

Serious Errors: common wordsBe aware of your “enemies”

Words you often misspellCreate mnemonic tricks

Help remember

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

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

Titles—all words 4+ letters longFirst word in complete sentence

Including direct quotesProper nounsNames with Titles—President BushSacred Names—God, Allah

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

1. Subject Who is doing the

action2. Verb

Action—State of being

3. Complete Thought

Independent Clause—IC Stands alone

Dependent Clause—DC Must be

attached

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

Who Did (What)Subj. Verb Obj.

Tom hit the ball.

Where?

When?How?Why?

Where?

When?How?Why?

(Optional)

Moveable

(Optional)

Moveable

CommasApostrophesQuotation marksUnderliningSemi-colons

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

!

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

!

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

!

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

!

Possessives ‘s singular noun dog’s Mary’s s’ plural noun or

ends in -s

dogs’ 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

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.

Underline the titles of long works Books Magazines Newspapers Movies

“Quotes” around titles of short works Short stories Poems Chapters Magazine articles Songs Essays

Between IC not joined by a ,conjBetween IC joined by one of the following:

However, therefore, consequently, moreoverBetween 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.

Titles—all words 4+ letters longFirst word in complete sentence

Including direct quotesSpecific nounsNames with Titles—President BushSacred Names—God, Allah

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

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

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?

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 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

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.

She lived in China. Where her parents were missionaries.

She lived in China, where her parents were missionaries.

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.

Because she was too tall.

Because she was too tall, Anna had to duck to enter the room.

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.

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—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

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

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.

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.