Download Grammar & Mechanics

GRAMMAR & MECHANICS
Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling
Grammar
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Subjects and Verbs
Adjectives and Adverbs
Nouns
Prepositions
Pronouns
Sentence Structure
Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
Subjects and Verbs
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Subject- a word or phrase (a person, place, or
thing) doing or being something.
Verb- a word that describes an action .
Ex:
The blue bird flew across the beautiful sky.
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjective- a word
whose purpose is to
modify, or describe, a
noun.
 Ex:
The little puppy was
completely adorable.
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Adverb- a word whose
purpose is to modify
or describe verbs,
adjectives, and
clauses.
 Ex:
She quickly exited the
store.
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Nouns and Pronouns
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Noun- a word used to
name a person, place,
thing, or idea.
Ex:
Sharon drove to the
store.
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Pronoun- a word that
replaces a noun or
another pronoun such
as he, she, or it.
Ex:
She drove to the store.
Prepositions
Preposition- a word that links nouns, pronouns, and
phrases and signals the beginning of a
prepositional phrase.
 Up, on, upon, by, to, and down are some examples
of prepositions.
Prepositional Phrase Ex:
by the barking dog
Prepositional Phrase Ex:
She quickly ran by the barking dog.
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Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
“Many verbs in English are followed by an adverb
or a preposition (also called a participle), and these
two-part verbs, also called phrasal verbs, are
different from verbs with helpers. The particle that
follows the verb changes the meaning of the
phrasal verb in idiomatic ways.
 Idiom- a saying, usually in terms of common
language, that can not be explained literally.
Ex: A drop in the bucket
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Two-Part Verbs (Idioms)
Ex:
Drop off
 Drop off-decline gradually
 Drop off-fall asleep
 Drop off-stop and give something to someone
Note: Some idioms are not appropriate for formal
writing venues.
Sentence Structure
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Appositives
Dangling Modifiers
Independent and Dependent Clauses
Subject and Verb Agreement
Run-ons, Comma Splices, and Fused Sentences
Sentence Fragments
Improving Sentence Clarity
Appositives
Appositive- a noun or pronoun, often with modifiers,
set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or
identify it.
Ex:
My teacher, Mr. Brown, is really interesting.
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Dangling Modifiers
Dangling Modifier- is a word or phrase that
modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence.
 A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail
about a concept.
Ex:
After finishing her homework, Sam turned on the
radio.
After finishing her homework, the radio was turned on.
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Independent and Dependent
Clauses
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Independent clause- is
a group of words that
contains a subject and
verb. In other words, it
is a complete idea.
Ex:
Ben and Maria love to
go on vacation to
Mexico city.
Dependent clause- is a
group of words that
contains a subject and
verb but does not
express a complete
thought.
Ex:
Purse ripped open
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Subject and Verb Agreement
Singular
Ex:
I was planning on buying
lunch today.
Incorrect:
Ex:
I were planning on
buying lunch today.
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Plural
Ex:
We were planning on
buying lunch today.
Incorrect:
Ex:
We was planning on
buying lunch today.
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Run-ons, Comma, and Fused
Sentences
Run-ons, comma splices, and fused sentences are all
names given to compound sentences that are not
punctuated correctly.
 So, run-ons and fused sentences are terms
describing two independent clauses which are
joined together with no connecting word or
punctuation to separate the clauses.
Incorrect Ex:
I love to go to the store, in the morning after I’ve had
my coffee when I get up early.
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Rules For Avoiding Run-ons And Comma
Splices
1.
Join the two independent clauses with one of the
coordinating conjunctions (but, for, or nor, so, yet),
and use a comma before the connecting word.
Ex:
I need to go to class, but I have to eat breakfast first.
Rules Continued…
2.
When you do not have a connective word (or when
you use a connecting word other than and, but, for,
or nor, so, or yet between the two independent
clauses) use a semicolon (;).
Ex:
He often watched TV when there were only reruns;
she preferred to read instead.
Rules Continued…
3.
A semicolon may also be followed by a connecting
word, followed by a comma.
Ex:
He often watched TV when there were only reruns;
however, she preferred to read instead.
Sentence Fragments
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In order to be complete, a sentence must contain a
subject, a verb, and a complete thought.
Sentences are made up of clauses; sentence
fragments are nothing more that dependent clauses.
(Another word for a fragment is dependent clause.)
Sentence Clarity
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Think of your writing as a ‘big picture’. Each
sentence should be concise and complete. As you
build on your writing, each sentence should add to
and not detract from previous sentences.
Always go from old information to new information,
and don’t assume that the reader knows what you
are trying to say.
Punctuation: Commas and Apostrophes
Comma- separates the
structural elements of
sentences into
manageable segments.
Apostrophe- The
apostrophe is a
punctuation mark used
to mark omissions and
possessives of nouns
and pronouns.
Comma
1.
2.
3.
Use commas to separate independent clauses
when they are joined by any of these seven
coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so,
yet.
Use commas after introductory clauses, phrases, or
words that come before the main clause.
Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence
to set off clauses, phrases, and words that are not
essential to the meaning of the sentence.
Commas Continued…
4. Do not use commas to set off essential elements of
a sentence.
5. Use commas to separate three or more words,
phrases, or clauses written in a series.
6. Use commas to separate two or more coordinate
adjective that describe the same noun.
7. Use a comma near the end of a sentence to
separate contrasted coordinate elements or to
indicate a distinct pause or shift.
Commas Continued…
8. Use commas to set off phrases at the end of the
sentence that refer back to the beginning or middle
of the sentence.
9. Use commas to set off all geographical name, items
in dates (except the month and day), addresses
(except the street number and name), and titles in
names.
Birmingham, Alabama, gets its name from
Birmingham, England.
July 22, 1959, was a momentous day in his life.
Commas Continued…
10. Use a comma to shift between the main discourse
and a quotation.
Sally said with joy, “I just won the lottery!”
11. Use commas wherever necessary to prevent
possible confusion or misreading.
Comma Abuse
1. Don’t use a comma to separate the subject from the
verb.
Incorrect:
An eighteen year old in California, is now considered
an adult.
2. Don’t put a comma between the two verbs or verb
phrases in a compound predicate.
Incorrect:
We laid out our music and snacks, and began to study.
The Apostrophe
The Apostrophe has three uses:
1.
To form possessives of nouns
2.
To show the omission of letters
3.
To indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters
Apostrophe: Possessives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Add ‘s to the singular form of the word
Add ‘s to the plural forms that do not end in (s)
Add ‘ to the end of plural nouns that end in (s)
Add ‘s to the end of compound words
Add ‘s to the last noun to show joint possession of
an object
Twelve Common Errors
1.
2.
Sentence Fragments- incomplete thoughts
Sentence Sprawl-appropriate variations in
sentence length
Errors Continued…
3. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers- Modifiers
should be near the words in which they are
describing.
Incorrect:
When writing a proposal, an original task is set for
research.
Correct Revision:
When writing a proposal, a scholar sets an original
task for research.
Errors Continued…
4. Faulty Parallelism- be sure to use grammatically equal
sentence elements to express two matching ideas.
Incorrect:
The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a
national health program, and the educational system.
Correct Revision:
The candidate’s goals include winning the election,
enacting a health program, and improving the
educational system.
Errors Continued…
5. Unclear Pronoun Reference- All pronouns must
clearly refer to definite nouns.
Incorrect:
Einstein was a brilliant mathematician. This is how he
was able to explain the universe.
Correct Revision:
Einstein, who was a brilliant mathematician, used his
ability concerning numbers to explain the universe.
Errors Continued…
6. Incorrect Pronoun Case- determine whether the pronoun
is being used as a subject, an object, possessive in the
sentence, and select the pronoun form to match.
Incorrect:
Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an
ideological conflict between he and President Kennedy.
Correct Revision:
Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an
ideological conflict between him and President
Kennedy.
Errors Continued…
7. Omitted Commas
Incorrect:
When it comes to running people differ in their racing
times.
Correct Revision:
When it comes to running, people differ in their racing
times.
Errors Continued…
8. Superfluous commas
9. Comma splices
10. Apostrophe Errors
11.Words Easily Confused
Ex: There, Their, and They’re
12. Misspellings
Top Ten Goof-ups of Grammar
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Comma splices
The abused
apostrophe
Subject verb
disagreement
Incorrect conjunction
use
Double negatives
. Misplaced modifiers
7. Unclear antecedents
8.
Preposition Overuse
9.
Fragments
10. Run-ons
6
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Finally…
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Resources
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