2/2007. Have You Ever? Been penalized for too many errors on your paper? Sharpen your eye for...
-
Upload
piers-owen -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of 2/2007. Have You Ever? Been penalized for too many errors on your paper? Sharpen your eye for...
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.