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Common Writing Mistakes (Grammatical Rules and Commonly misspelled words) Rules for Common Writing Mistakes Your/ You're • Your (Belonging to you) What is your favorite song? • You're (Contraction for "You are") You're a great student. Accept/Except • Accept (To willing take something in) He didn't accept her apology. • Except (Not including/excluding AND "only") I looked forward to all of my classes, except for biophysics. I would go to the party, except I still have a fever. To/Too/Two • To (In the direction of) Max threw the ball to Fido. • Too (An excess of something and "Also") She had way too much makeup on. We hope you come along too! • Two (#2) There/Their/They're There (refers to location and anything else that doesn't fall under their or they're) There must be someone tending that station over there. Their (possessive, meaning "belonging to them/more than one person") They left their bikes out in the lawn. They're ( They are) I'm not sure if they're going to stay the night or not. It's/Its It's (Contraction for It is) It's been a really tough year. Its (Belonging to "it") The tiny bird couldn't find its nest. Common Capitalization Errors • Always capitalize words which refer to culture, ethnicity, nationality, etc. The French teacher fixed us some Chinese food on Christmas. • Do NOT capitalize most school subjects, such as language arts, science, etc.; do capitalize school subjects which refer to specific languages--French, Spanish, etc. Our homework for history class was about the Chinese language. • Capitalize the months and days of the week, but do not capitalize seasons. My birthday fell on a warm summer Friday in the eve of August. Commas *As a general rule, it's important to know that there are specific rules for when a comma is needed in most writing. The age-old rule of putting commas wherever one needs to pause is not effective, because it can cause comma overuse or underuse. Remembering the following rules should help you to know when a comma is needed: (SIIC) 1. Items in a Series (Put a comma between items, etc. when listing several things off). Jim, Katie, Stanford and Molly went camping together. 2. Intros and Extras (Put a comma between something additional that's added to the beginning or end of a sentence that could stand alone.) Wiping away her tears, Mara finally spoke up about what had been happening. -OR- The hiker edged along the cliff, shaking nervously. 3. Interrupters (put a comma on either side of a word or words that is placed in the middle of a sentence that could stand alone) Her mother, a person who has dedicated her life to helping others, was nominated for the award. 4. Compound Sentence (Put a comma in front of a conjunction that is combining two separate sentences into one.) I would have warned her about the quiz, but the teacher was hovering over us. YOU DO NOT NEED A COMMA BEFORE A CONJUNCTION IF THE WORDS COMING AFTER THE CONJUNCTION DO NOT MAKE A COMPLETE SENTENCE. Sentences, fragments, Run-ons Every sentence contains two parts, subject and predicate. • Subject: The person/thing doing the action in the sentence. • Predicate: The complete action in the sentence The baby screamed for his mother. subject: The baby predicate: screamed for his mother • A sentence missing either a subject or predicate is known as a fragment. • When two or more sentences are joined together without correct punctuation, this is known as a run on sentence. Semicolons Semicolons operate like periods to bring two sentences together that are related to one another. Semicolons are often used for fluidity of writing and to connect ideas. Semicolons do NOT operate like commas. We yearned for spring, with its promises of warmer weather and flowers in bloom; however, we found ourselves knee deep in six more weeks of winter. Then/Than • Then (Used when referring to "next" in sequence or for references to time) Back then, we used to paint our fingernails black, then take pictures of our hands. • Than (Used in comparisons) I feel more energized in spring than I do in winter. I/Me Rules 2 rules: 1.) Always put the guest in the sentence first , before yourself. 2.) Take the guest away and see if I or me works in the sentence. Would you like to go crazy with Lisa and me? Jim and I thought you would enjoy that. Apostrophes Apostrophes are used to show possession/ownership or to indicate a missing letter in a contraction. • 's (Add to a word to show possession/ownership) Mark's house is gorgeous. • s' (If a word already ends in s and you want to show possession, simply add an apostrophe to the end of the word. This is usually done for something plural.) The groundhogs' homes were destroyed by the tornado. Punctuation of Titles of Works As a general rule, you always underline the title of a larger work and put the smaller components of the work in quotes. Here are a few common examples: • Always underline the titles of books, yet put the chapter names in quotes • Always underline the title of a poetry book , but put the titles of poems in quotes. Always underline the title of a magazine, journal, etc, yet put the title of the articles in quotes. Affect/Effect It is important to know that Affect is a verb, whereas Effect is a noun. Affect (verb)--To influence The medication will affect his behavior in the afternoon. Effect (noun)--The result/impact The play had a profound effect on us. Less/Fewer Less (Use when referring to something which cannot be itemized/counted) There was less Jell-O in his bowl than I had in mine. Fewer (Use when referring to something that can be itemized/counted) Fewer people attended the performance than we had previously estimated. Using They, Their, Them • Only use the words they, them, and their when referring to more than one person. The brothers left their house at dawn. • When referring to one person, you must use the words he/she, him/her, his/her. The student must have forgotten to put his/her name on the quiz. That/Who/Whom/Which (Which pronoun to use?) Who--Only refers to people who are doing the action in a sentence. ( Who showed up late?) Whom--Only refers to people to/for whom the action is being done (who is receiving the action in a sentence.) (I'm not sure for whom I should buy gifts this year.) That--Refers to nonhuman things or animals in a sentence. (Grover was the dog that dug up the radishes.) Which--Refers to anything--humans, animals, etc.--in which you are specifying one in many. (Which dog from the shelter did you decide to take home?) Other Important Terms Nouns--person, place, thing, abstract idea (table, nurse, Iowa, illness) Verbs--The action that's happening in the sentence (is, jumped, dreamt) Adjectives--Words that describe nouns and often come right before the noun. (gorgeous, fragile, charming) Keep in mind that ing verbs are often times adjectives in a sentence if they're being used to describe something. Adverbs--Words that describe verbs or adjectives (and usually end in ly). (casually, cautiously, seemingly) Pronouns--Simple words which refer to more specific nouns. (that, I, he, her, who, it, etc. ) Prepositions--Words that give the position or relationship of something in space or time. (over, beside, in, to, before, on, etc.) Homophones--Words that sound the same but have different meanings. (Write/right, threw/through, weather/whether. Commonly Misspelled Words Absence Accommodate Beginning Beneficial Changeable Committee Convenient Defendant Difference Discipline Environment Existence February Accessible Acquaintance Believe Calendar Colonel Confident Counselor Definitely Dilemma Eighth Especially Familiar Fulfill Accidentally Balloon Basically Cemetery Column Consistent Criticize Dependent Disappoint Embarrass Exhaust Fascinating Foreign Genius Guarantee Heroes Independent Jealousy License Miniature Neighbor Occurred Peculiar Principal (School kind) Quizzes Recognize Restaurant Schedule Shining Success Temperature Unnecessary Valuable Volume Governor Happily Immediately Influential Knowledge Loneliness Muscle Naturally Opinion Permanent Privilege Realize Recommend Rhythm Secretary Stopped Suspicious Thorough Unique Villain Vacuum Grammar Height Immigrant Intelligence Length Manageable Necessary Occasion Parallel possess Psychology Receipt Religious Scenery Separate Subtle Technical Tomorrow Until Violence Yacht