Download Your Super Duper Grammar Guide

Your Super Duper Grammar Guide
Active vs. Passive Voice
Good writers strive to write in active voice. They want to avoid passive voice. But what do these terms
mean?
Well, it’s really quite simple. As you probably know, verbs are the action words in a sentence and
subjects are nouns at the beginning of sentences. In most sentences, the subject performs the action.
This is active voice. In some sentences, though, the subject performs no action at all. These sentences
are examples of passive voice, which should be avoided. To test whether a sentence is active or passive
voice, simply find the subject and the verb and determine whether the subject is performing the action.
In many cases, passive sentences include forms of the verb “to be.” These forms include: is, are, was
and were.
Active Voice Examples
Jason changed the flat tire.
The student read the story in one hour.
The teacher answered the student’s question.
Passive Voice Examples
The tire was changed by Jason.
The story was read by the student in one hour.
The question is answered by the teacher.
Using Paragraphs
In essay writing, you start a new paragraph when the topic or theme changes.
In news stories, you start a new paragraph every 3-4 sentences and before and after a quote.
In essay writing, you always indent five spaces for a new paragraph.
In news writing, you skip a line.
Using Capitals
Remember to use capital letters for all proper nouns. But be careful. A noun may be specific but not be
a proper noun.
Specific common Noun: a chocolate chip cookie
Proper Noun: a Mrs. Smith’s cookie
Specific Common Noun: A red four-wheeler
Proper Noun: A red Kawasaki
Always use capital letters when writing acronyms, one-letter abbreviations for words.
Examples: ROTC, OMG, TTYL, CIA, NASA
Using Commas
Never use a comma unless you can state whey you need to use it.
Always use a comma when you join two sentences together with a conjunction. Be careful, though. If
you have one subject and two verbs, you don’t have two sentences and don’t need a comma.
Use a comma for quotations.
Use a comma for items in a series and for numbers higher than 100 (1,000. Not 1000)
Use a comma between the day and year when writing down a date and between city and state.
Always use a comma between two adjectives that can be reversed. These are called coordinating
adjectives. Non-coordinating adjectives cannot be reversed without changing the meaning.
Coordinating Example: the big, red truck (can be written as red, big truck)
Non-coordinating Example: the red fire truck (can’t be written as fire, red truck)
Always use a comma after an introductory phrase or beginning adverb clause. Beginning adverb
clauses come before the subject and verb. They tell when, why, how, where, who or under what
conditions the subject and verb took place.
Examples
During the scary part of the movie, Karen grabbed Jim’s hand. (tells when)
With a giant burp, Emily announced her arrival at the lunch table. (tells how)
Although I had a broken leg, I ran away from the grizzly bear. (under what conditions)
In a strange forest, I found a river flowing with chocolate. (tells where)
Using Apostrophes

Apostrophes show ownership, or possession. They are used almost exclusively at the end of
words and they are used for words that modify nouns.
Examples
The man’s dog ate the bone. The boy’s sister punched him in the arm. John’s bike was stolen.
 If a word is plural, it should end in s followed by an apostrophe.
Example: The dogs’ owner.
 If a word is singular, it should end with an apostrophe followed by an s.
Example: The dog’s owner.

Don’t add an apostrophe to every word that ends in “s.” Only add it to show ownership.
Apostrophes don’t belong at the end of verbs or plural nouns that don’t show ownership.
 An apostrophe also is used in contractions to replace a letter that has been left out, or omitted.
Examples: can’t, shouldn’t
A few words are special cases. Never use an apostrophe for its, yours, ours, theirs.
Confusing Words
Homophones have similar spelling and sound alike or similar. But they have different meanings.
To/Too/Two
 To can be part of a prepositional phrase. The students went to the school store.
 To also can be part of a verb: Mr. White loves to write.
 Too can be an adverb that can mean extreme or excessive: I ate too much.
 Too can be used as a synonym for “also”: Joe ate pizza, and I ate some, too.
 Two is a number.
Accept/Except
 Accept is a verb that means to receive.
I accept your apology.
 Except is a preposition that means excluding or other than.
I ate everything except my spinach
Affect/Effect
 Affect is almost always a verb meaning influenced.
The lemon affected the flavor of the drink.
 Effect is usually a noun that means the change that occurred.
The loss had a major effect on the team.
There/Their/They’re
 There is sometimes a pronoun. It is often used as the subject of a sentence.
There is a place I love.
 There also can be an adverb describing where.
The house is over there.
 There is a possessive pronoun. It tells who or what thing the noun belongs to.
Their car was a Chevy.
 There is a contraction combining “they” and “are.”
They’re a nice family.
Than/Then
 Then means one thing occurred first before another thing. It shows passage of time.
I ran for the ball. Then John ran for it, too.
 Than is a comparison word.
John is taller than me.
Allowed/Aloud
 Allowed means you let someone do it.
She allowed the boy to run in the garden.
 Aloud means it can be heard.
The students read aloud.
Its/It’s
 Its is a possessive pronoun. It tells who a noun belongs to.
The coat fell from its hanger.
 It’s is a contraction meaning “it is”.
It’s a great day to be alive.
Parallel Structure
Within each sentence, make sure your words follow the same patterns when you use more than one
verb or items in a series. If you lack parallel structure, your sentences will be awkward and may not
make sense. It is more difficult to do this correctly when you have longer sentences. So look carefully
at those long sentences.
Incorrect: Jeff likes to swim, hiking and to fly kites.
Correct: Jeff likes swimming, hiking and kite-flying.
Incorrect: Mr. White eats, will sleep and can drink journalism.
Correct: Mr. White eats, sleeps and drinks journalism.
Subject-Verb Agreement and Noun-Pronoun Agreement
Most writers can match a singular subject with the singular form of the verb and the plural subject
with the plural form of the verb.
Singular: John writes a song.
Plural: Students write a song.
But things become confusing when writers replace nouns with pronouns and when writers aren’t sure
whether a noun is singular or plural.
Let’s look at team. A team is composed of many players. But a team is “one thing.” Therefore, it is
singular, and it needs to have a singular form of the verb. It also should be replaced with a singular
pronouns “it” and “its” and not with the plural pronouns “they” and “their.”
Correct Example: The chorus team sings its song.
Incorrect Example: The chorus team sings their song.
Spelling
Correctly spelling words is a matter of memorization. As humans, we can’t memorize everything. And
sometimes we have lapses in thinking.
Nobody expects you to spell every word correctly. But you MUST check every word you spell. With
today’s technology, this is easy. If you aren’t sure how to spell a word, google it or check an online
dictionary or one you will find in most classrooms. After you finish writing in Microsoft Word, go to
“tools” and click on spell check. Notice that there is also a word count option and a grammar checker.
Be careful, though, Microsoft Word sometimes makes mistakes.
If you are writing on your phone, be extra careful. Autocorrect is not sufficient for checking your
spelling, and it will put spelling and grammar mistakes in your writing.
For newspaper writing, adhere to the rules of AP style. Use these links for help.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/02/
https://www.apstylebook.com/