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KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Unit TWO and introduction to Unit 3
Getting to know the Writing center
~
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
AGENDA:
Discuss week 2 content:
Sentence Structure
The KU Writing Center
This week’s assignments
Introduction to Unit 3
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Subject – what is this?
Let’s discuss…..
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Subject:
tells you who or what the sentence is
about
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Verb: what is this?
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
KU 121
Verb:
expresses action or state of being
COMPOUND SUBJECTS
Some sentences contain two or more subjects
joined together with a coordinating conjunction
(and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).
The subjects that are linked together form a
compound subject:
Carter’s liver pills and ivory soap are examples
of brand advertising
Calendars, toys, and posters carried
advertisements for early brand name products
SUBJECTS VS. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
Do not mistake a noun in a prepositional phrase for a
subject. The subject is never in a prepositional phrase.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with
a preposition (such as after, in, of).
Examples: on the house
(on) is the preposition;
house is noun (telling what)
VERBS
A verb is a word or word group that indicates what
the subject does or what happens to the subject.
Most verbs express action or a state of being:
Advertising IS bland without a slogan.
The announcer SPEAKS.
Often the main verb is accompanied by one or
more helping verbs.
The announcer WILL SPEAK.
(will is helping, speak in main verb)
COMPOUND VERBS
Some sentences have two or more verbs joined
together with a coordinating conjunctions (such as
and, or, but).
The “Uncle Sam Wants You” poster stirred
patriotism and increased enlistments.
Subject: poster
Compound verb: stirred; increased
Coordinating conjunction: and
CLAUSES
What is a clause?
Thoughts?....let’s discuss 
CLAUSES
A sentence must not only contain a subject and
a verb; it must also express a complete
thought.
A clause is a group of related words that
contains a subject and its verb.
There are independent clauses that express a
complete thought and dependent (subordinate)
clauses that do not express a complete thought.
When a dependent clause stands alone, it is a
fragment.
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
An independent clause has a subject and a verb
and can stand alone as a complete and correct
sentence.
Complete thought:
Advertising was not halted during WWII.
Subject: advertising
Verb: was, halted
DEPENDENT CLAUSES
A dependent clause has a subject and a verb but
cannot stand alone as a complete and correct
sentence.
Subordinating conjunctions signal dependent
clauses (after, when, if, before, etc.).
Incomplete thought:
After WWII ended.
(ask yourself, what happened? This is not a
complete thought therefore not a correct
sentence)
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Here is a list of common subordinating conjunctions:
After, if, though, unless, during, before, as far as, than, that,
since, even though, as soon as, because, until, whereas
HOW TO SPOT FRAGMENTS
Does the word group have a subject
Does the word group have a verb
Does the word group begin with a
subordinating conjunction
Does the word group begin with a relative
pronoun (who, whom, that, which)
RUN-ON SENTENCES AND COMMA SPLICES
All punctuation serves one primary purpose—
to separate.


in between-sentence punctuation (periods,
question marks, and exclamation points)
and
within-sentence punctuation (commas,
colons, semicolons, hyphens, dashes, etc.).
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing
as Longman
To correct and avoid run-on sentences and
comma splices, you need a good grasp of both
HOW TO RECOGNIZE RUN-ON SENTENCES
1.
Read each sentence aloud and place a slash
mark when you hear a pause. The pause
indicates the need for punctuation.
Example: The library has a copy machine it is very
conveniently located.
The library has a copy machine/it is very
conveniently located.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE RUN-ON SENTENCES
2.
Look for sentences that contain two
complete thoughts (independent clauses)
without punctuation to separate them.
Example: Houseplants are pleasant additions to
a home or office they add color and variety.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE RUN-ON SENTENCES
3.
Look for long sentences.
Example: Choosing a mate is one of the most
important decisions you will ever make unless
you make the right choice, you may be
unhappy.
HOW TO CORRECT RUN-ON SENTENCES
1.
Create two separate sentences.
Many students do not have a specific career goal
they do have some general career directions
in mind.
Many students do not have a specific career
goal. They do have some general career
directions in mind.
HOW TO CORRECT RUN-ON SENTENCES
Use a semicolon.
Our psychology instructor is demanding he
expects the best from all his students.
2.
Correct:
Our psychology instructor is demanding;
he expects the best from all his students
HOW TO CORRECT RUN-ON SENTENCES
3.
Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction.
Coordinating conjunctions:
, and
, but
, for
, nor
, or
, so
, yet
COMMA SPLICES
Like run-ons, comma splices are serious
sentence errors that confuse and annoy the
readers. They are corrected the same way as
run-ons.
They occur when only a comma is used to
separate two complete thoughts. A comma also
is not sufficient to divide two thoughts. A
stronger separation is necessary.
Example: Some people have strong
mechanical ability, they often prefer hands-on
tasks.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE COMMA SPLICES
To test a sentence to see if you have written a
comma splice, take the sentence apart at the
comma.
If the part before the comma is a complete
thought and the part after the comma is also a
complete thought, then you need to check
whether the second clause starts with a
coordinating conjunction (and, or, but, so, for,
yet, nor).
If you do not have a coordinating conjunction
to separate the two complete thoughts, then
you have a comma splice.
HOW TO CORRECT COMMA SPLICES
To correct comma splice use any one of the
methods you used to correct run-ons:
Thoughts?
How do we do this…..?
HOW TO CORRECT COMMA SPLICES
To correct comma splice use any one of the
methods you used to correct run-ons:
Separate the two complete thoughts into 2
sentences
Separate the two complete thoughts with a
semicolon
Join the two complete thoughts with a
common and a coordinating conjunction.
(and, but, for)
Make one thought dependent upon the
other by using a subordinate conjunction.
COMBINING AND EXPANDING YOUR IDEAS
Clauses either stand alone and accept the
responsibility for their own meaning, or they
depend on another clause to complete their
meaning.
Independent clauses can stand alone as
sentences.
Dependent clauses can never stand alone
because they are not complete sentences.
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Writing Center ~
Key areas and we’ll
take a tour!
KU 121
Introduction to Writing Skills and
Strategies
Assignments due this
week
•Complete reading
•Discussion
•Seminar
•MyWritingLab
•Quiz
KU121
Unit 3
Introduction
KU121
Unit 3
•Developing
our focus and prewriting
•Looking
at the writing process from the
beginning: Prewriting
•How
to choose a topic
•Prewriting
process
•Steps
of the writing process
•Parts
of speech
•Complete:
reading, discussion, seminar,
MyWritingLab, Quiz