Download I Believe

Warm-Up: Setting Up Your Clocking
Cover Sheet
1) Number every line in your essay. Ignore double-spaced gaps.
2) Set up a clean sheet like this:
Your name
Date
Title of your essay
CLOCKING
CRITERIA
Reader’s Name Errors w/Line #s
Clocking for “I Believe” Essay
Mr. Johnson
AP English Language and Composition
Austin High School
Commas: As introductory dependent
clauses
• Sentence Pattern: periodic
• Construction:
DC (or
Nonessential
modifier)
at the start
,
IC
Commas: In compound sentences
• A comma and coordinating conjunction are
used to join two independent clauses.
• Sentence pattern: balanced (each part of
equal importance)
For
• Construction:
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So
IC
,
IC
Other uses of commas; semicolons
• You can also join two independent clauses
with a semicolon:
IC
;
IC
Complex Sentences
• No comma between clauses
IC
DC Marker:
because,
before, since,
while,
although, if,
until, when,
after, as, as if,
etc.
DC
Mid-Sentence Modifiers
•Information inserted into a sentence but which is not
grammatically necessary should be set off by commas on
each side. This includes appositives and participial phrases.
•“Many doctors, including both pediatricians and family
practice physicians, are concerned about the rising death
rate from asthma.”
I ,
Nonessential
clause/
phrase
C
,
Parallelism
• In sentences containing clauses arranged in parallel,
make sure that each part of the list or pair is
constructed the same way as the other part(s)
• “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal
sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism
is the equal sharing of miseries.”
--Winston Churchill
• The (adj.)(noun) of (subject 1) is the (adj.) (verb)
(noun) ; the (adj.) (noun) of (subject 2) is the (adj.)
(verb) (noun).
Faulty Parallelism
Nickelback Examples
• The French, the
Italians, Spanish,
and Portuguese
Correct Examples
•The French, the
Italians, the Spanish,
and the Portuguese
• It was both a long
ceremony and very
tedious.
•The ceremony was
both long and tedious.
• A time not for
words, but action
•A time not for words,
but for action
Subject-Verb Agreement: agreement in number
• Plural nouns (nouns ending in –s) must have plural verbs
(verbs not ending in –s):
 If the noun indicates multiple groups or individual entities
(“parts”) treat it as plural.
– “Many AHS teachers take their coffee with cream and sugar.”
– “Fort Bend ISD schools hope to improve their AP scores.”
• Singular nouns (nouns not ending in –s) must have
singular verbs (verbs ending in –s):
– “Mr. Johnson takes his coffee with cream and sugar.”
 If the noun is a singular organization (schools, sports teams,
business groups, etc.), treat it as a singular noun:
– “AHS hopes to improve its AP scores,” (also note the singular
pronoun).
Pronouns and Antecedents
• Make sure antecedent (the noun that is replaced by the
pronoun) is clear. Generally, the farther away the pronoun
is, the less clear.
– Make note of any places where the antecedent of a pronoun is
unclear to the reader.
• A pronoun must agree in number with the noun that it
replaces.
• Pronouns must agree with the nouns that they replace.
• The same rules apply as with subject-verb agreement:
– Singular nouns (including groups that function as a whole) take
singular verbs.
– Plural nouns (including parts of groups that act as separate
individuals) take plural pronouns.
Subject-Verb Agreement: Tense
Number
Subject
Point of View
Verb
Present
Past (add-ed)
Singular (one)
I voice (1st)
I walk.
I walked.
You voice (2nd)
You walk. You walked.
He/she/it voice (3rd) He walks. She walked.
(-s or –es)
Plural
(more than one)
We voice (1st)
You voice (2nd)
They voice (3rd)
We walk. We walked.
You walk. You walked.
They walk. They
walked.
Spelling
• Simply look over the work backwards; this
eliminates the temptation to read everything.
MLA Check: Basic Format
Griffin 1
Peter Griffin
Mr. Johnson
ELCAP, Period 1
26 September 2011
Correct MLA Format
It is vital that you correctly format your essay according to
MLA conventions. Make sure to double-space all lines,
including the title and header. Include your last name and
page number at the top right of the header. Use 1” margins.
Make sure your title is formatted in the same fashion as the
body of the essay—do not use bold, italicized, or underlined
text in the title.
MLA Check: Works Cited
See Trimmer’s A Guide to MLA Documentation:
• Sample Entries: Books in Print
3
• Sample Entries: Articles in Print Periodicals
• Sample Entries: Miscellaneous Print and
Nonprint Sources
• Sample Entries: Web Publications
• Placing and Punctuating Parenthetical
Reference (and examples)
7
9
10
14-15
Lightning Round!
• Read over the essay and locate as
many errors as you can (any
errors.) Make a note of each on
the clocking cover sheet for that
essay.