Download CAPITALIZATION

Essay Writing Grammar Checklist
7th Grade
CAPITALIZATION
______ Capitalize the beginning word of a new sentence
______ Capitalize proper nouns
______ Capitalize proper adjectives
______ Capitalize the personal pronoun “I”
END PUNCTUATION
_____ End all sentences with the proper punctuation
Exclamatory= exclamation point
Declarative= period
Interrogative= question mark
Imperative= either period or exclamation point
SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION
______ Avoid sentence fragments:
Rodger, Kathy, and Bob. (no predicate)
Went shopping. (no subject)
Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went. (incomplete thought/predicate)
_______ Avoid run on sentences:
NO: Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went shopping they bought all kinds of goods.
YES: Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went shopping; they bought all kinds of goods.
YES: Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went shopping, and they bought all kinds of goods.
YES: Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went shopping. They bought all kinds of goods.
YES: When Rodger, Kathy, and Bob went shopping, they bought all kinds of goods.
________Vary sentence types and sentence structure
Try starting off sentences with prepositional phrases: Through the woods, I traveled quickly.
Try starting off with adjectives: Light, and lilting, my mother’s voice soothed me to sleep.
Try starting with an appositive phrase: My heart racing, my breath heavy, I ran onward.
COMMA USAGE
_______ Use a comma after each transition word or phrase:
To begin with, many students enjoy choosing out their outfits in the mornings, which makes them
excited for the school day.
In addition, three out of five students said they would feel that their individuality would be affected
negatively by school uniforms.
_______ Use serial commas when listing:
I bought jam, bread, and butter.
_______ Use a colon when introducing an example or list of examples:
There are many ways to eat a Reeses: eat it in one bite, eat off the chocolate, or nibble it!
_______ Use a semi-colon to join to complete, related sentences:
Joe loves Reeses; he could eat them all day long!
_______ Use a comma to set off an interrupter or an appositive phrase:
Joe, the boy she likes, is in my class.
_______ Use a comma with a noun of address:
Joe, would you give me the butter?
Would you give me the butter, Joe?
Hey, Joe, could you pass me the butter.
_______ DO NOT use a comma to join two sentences together (comma splice)
NO: I went to the store, I bought bread.
_______ DO NOT use a comma with a coordinating conjunction unless you have two complete sentences.
NO: I like bread, and butter.
YES: I like bread and butter.
YES: I like bread, and I also like butter.
APOSTROPHES
______ Use an apostrophe to show a contraction of two words:
Can not= can’t will not= won’t should not= shouldn’t
they are= they’re
let us= let’s
have not= haven’t
it is= it’s
______ Use an apostrophe to show possession
John’s= it belongs to John
exception: do not use apostrophe to show relationships when using pronouns: hers, its, theirs, ours, etc.
______ DO NOT use an apostrophe to show plurality!
High-fives= more than one high five
PRONOUNS
_______ DO NOT use a pronoun unless you have already used the noun:
He is really scared because he sees a ghost. (WHO IS HE?)
John is really scared because he sees a ghost. (Ah hah!)
VERBS
_______ Stay in the same verb tense and do not shift from past to present
_______ SPELLING (mistakes are circled)
_______ HOMONYMS:
Their= possessive pronoun
they’re= they are
there= indicates directions