GRAMMAR

1. GRAMMAR

2. Titles • Underline or Italicize titles of novels or plays: Wuthering Heights or Wuthering Heights (obviously, if you are writing, you cannot italicize) • Titles of poems, short stories or articles should be in quotation marks: “Sonnet 138” or “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

3. Mixing Homonyms Try not to confuse the following words:

4. Homonyms cont. • Their house is over there • My dog, it’s moving its food • It’s its (possessive) bone • My friend, who’s a teacher too, whose name is Amy, lives in Texas.

5. Seeming Homonyms Than (comparing) vs. Then (time) • I am older THAN my brothers. • I am shorter THAN most of the kids in class. • I went to the store, THEN I went home. • I want to eat dinner THEN do my work. • Affect (verb) vs. Effect (noun) • Accept (verb) vs. Except (adjective)

6. Seeming Homonyms CONTINUED Affect (verb) vs. Effect (noun) • My parents’ divorce AFFECTED me negatively. • Walter’s choices AFFECT everyone in the family. • The/One EFFECT of not doing your homework is your grade will go down. • There are many negative EFFECTS of doing drugs.

7. Seeming Homonyms CONTINUED Accept (verb) vs. Except (adjective) • He ACCEPTED my apology. • I hope the school ACCEPTS me. • I hate all eggs EXCEPT hard boiled. • I love all my students EXCEPT that one boy from my first year of teaching.

8. Good vs. Well Good (adjective) is not to be confused with Well (adverb) • A good job well done. • He is a good man. • I write pretty well. • How did you do on the test? I did well. • How are you feeling? Pretty well. • Have you had a good day? Pretty good.

9. TENSE • When you write about literature, you write in PRESENT TENSE; this makes your essay seem more in the moment than as if you were telling a story, e.g.: • “In Wuthering Heights Catherine is not a very kind woman; she takes advantage of others to make herself happy.”

10. TENSE CONTINUED • Additionally, you MUST NOT switch back and forth between tenses in your writing in this class, to do so makes the reader question your control over your writing.

11. Contractions • In formal writing, you should avoid contractions

12. ITS vs. IT’S • Since you should not be using contractions, this should not be an issue, but if it is, ITS is a possessive pronoun. • That means you use ITS when you are saying a thing owns something e.g.: “I live in a duplex. Unfortunately itsroof is about to fall in.”

13. THAT vs. WHO When you are describing a PERSON, and are adding more information, please use WHO instead of that: • Julius Caesar, who is killed by his friends and colleagues, exhibits tyrannical behavior.

14. SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT • The subject (what is “doing” the verb) and the verb have to agree, or go together. • E.g. I eat cake (SVO) • Subjects (always try to put these BEFORE the verb) include the following:

15. SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT continued The verbs have to change to match up with the subjects, for example for the verb “walk:” • I WALK • You WALK • He/She/It WALKS • We WALK • You (all) WALK • They WALK • Notice how the verb “walk” changes for He/She/It (or in 3rd person singular).

16. PASSIVE vs. ACTIVE VOICE • Make sure that when you are writing, your subject is directly DOING the verb rather than being DONE BY the verb • PASSIVE: The website is updated by me. • ACTIVE: I update the website. • PASSIVE: Caesar was killed by Brutus. • ACTIVE: Brutus killed Caesar.

17. I vs. Me • “I” is the subject, it is always “doing” the verb • “Me” is the object, it is always “being done” by the verb: • I am going to the store • She is going with me to the store • Amy and I are going to the store • That present is for Andrew and me

18. I vs. Me continued • Break them down to check when you have TWO people: • Amy and I are going to the store…Amy is going to the store…I am going to the store, therefore: Amy and I • That present is for Andrew…That present is for me, therefore, that present is for Andrew and me.

19. I vs. Me continued Examples: • The party is for Benson and I. • James and me are going to school. • Jeffrey and me are friends. • He was speaking to Jason and I. • Stephen and me are weird. • That idea is perfect for Alex and I.

20. WHO vs. WHOM WHO is a subject, meaning it is always DOING the verb e.g.: • Who is there? • My friend, who is older than me, is weird. • Heathcliff, who is in love with Catherine, is a wretched man.

21. WHO vs. WHOM continued WHOM is an object, meaning it is always BEING DONE by the verb. Usually you know you need to use whom when you see a preposition e.g.: • To Whom It May Concern: • For whom did you buy that cake? • With whom did you go to the store No one actually talks like this (except me sometimes); this is for formal writing

22. PERSON • In formal writing, you should avoid writing in 1st person (I/WE) • In formal writing, you should also avoid writing in 2nd person (You, You all) • Therefore, you should write in…

23. THIRD PERSON!!!!!!!!!! PRONOUNS INCLUDE: • SUBJECT: He/She/It/They • OBJECT: Him/Her/It/Them • POSSESSIVE SUBJECT: His/Her/Its/Their • POSSESSIVE OBJECT His/Hers/Its/Theirs • REFLEXIVE: Himself/Herself/Itself/Themselves

24. PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT • A pronoun must AGREE with its antecedent (the word or phrase it replaced). • Just like with Subject/Verb Agreement, if you do not match up your pronouns and antecedents, your writing becomes very confused.

25. PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT continued Try and figure out what is wrong: • Mary is studying biology, a course you need in order to prepare for medical school. • Each nation has their own culture and our nation has their own culture too. • Ashley and Leia cannot find her gloves. • Uncle Arthur sent us a package, but we never arrived.

26. PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT continued And some more: • Few in the class gave its approval. • Our friends gave Joe and myself a party. • The story was exciting, but they did not explain what happened at the end. • When Caesar entered the Senate, Brutus and the other conspirators began to crowd around. Even so, he did not sense any danger.

27. SEMI-COLON • The semi-colon is less final than a period, but calls for more of a pause than a comma. • The semi-colon separates two clauses, but allows you to show that there is a connection between these two clauses. • The semi-colon is a good way of combining ideas and avoiding choppiness of many short sentences.

28. SEMI-COLON continued Use a semi-colon to join independent clauses that are not already joined by a conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet); for sentences using conjunctions, use a comma. • James celebrated his birthday with a cake, and everyone ate several pieces of it. • James celebrated his birthday with a cake; everyone ate several pieces of it.

29. SEMI-COLON continued A semi-colon should not be used between unrelated sentences. The two clauses should be related in meaning and structure. • My favorite dinner begins with a steaming bowl of soup; I wonder why mother is not home yet. • We ate until we could not eat another bite; we were all hungry after our hike.

30. COLON • The easiest way to think of a colon is to think of it at an arrow or pointer. • It tells the reader to look ahead to find out more information about something just read • NB—the clause before the colon must be an independent clause

31. COLON continued • The additional information following a colon may be a list, a quotation (if you do not use “says,” “explains,” or other introductory word), an explanation, etc. Which is correct? • On the hike we brought: apples, nuts, and raisins. • The snacks we brought for the hike were very healthy: apples, nuts, and raisins.

32. COLON continued More examples… • Eric watched the gymnast on the bars: “Your technique is good, but you need more practice.” • Today, we will discuss a well-known and interesting text: Hamlet. • The chef concluded her speech with one important thought: she said that fresh ingredients are the best.

33. FRAGMENTS • A fragment is a group of words that does not express a complete thought • Identify the fragments in the following passage: Totally bored with the movie. Shannon left her seat to get popcorn. She returned a few minutes later and found Andrew sleeping in his seat. Apparently was also bored. She nudged him and he awoke with a start.

34. MORE FRAGMENTS • Leaving early in the morning. • A bouquet of freshly cut flowers. • Will arrive between one and two. • Wanting to write you. • Seeing my friend at the concert. • If the train is not late. • Because the rain has stopped. • Which hangs on the wall. • Swimming, skiing, or boating on the lake. • In the jar on top of the fridge.

35. RUN-ONS A run-on sentence is two or more complete sentences that are not properly joined or separated: • Darryl sat bolt upright chills of fear ran through his body. • My grandmother loved Wuthering Heights she read it years ago.

36. RUN-ONS continued Another type of run-on is a COMMA SPLICE, which is a run-on made up of two independent clauses with only a comma between them: • The animals were not hungry, they had already eaten. • The typical sonnet has fourteen lines, ten syllables make up each line.

37. RUN-ONS continued • There are five ways to fix a run-on. The first way is USING END MARKS:

38. RUN-ONS continued • The second way to correct a run-on is USING COMMAS AND CONJUNCTIONS:

39. RUN-ONS continued • The third way is USING A SEMICOLON TO CONNECT TWO CLOSELY RELATED IDEAS:

40. RUN-ONS continued • The fourth way is FORMING A SIMPLE SENTENCE:

41. RUN-ONS continued • The final way to correct a run-on is REWRITE TO FORM COMPLEX SENTENCES:

42. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION • Parallel construction is when you express ideas that go together in a similar way. • The similar form allows the reader a way to recognize the likeness in what is being expressed. • The FORM itself reinforces the similarity of ideas.

43. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION continued A familiar example of parallel construction is the Beatitudes: • Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. • Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. • Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

44. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION continued • Which is the example of parallel construction?

45. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION continued • Which is the example of parallel construction?

46. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION continued • Which is the example of parallel construction?

47. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION continued • Which is the example of parallel construction?

48. BE SURE OF YOURSELF! Do not use phrases that bring into question whether you know what you are talking about: • Apparently • It seems • Maybe • Assuming • Perhaps

49. And please… • Don’t use the following words when you are writing formally:

50. FYI Could of, should of, would of, and must of (and any phrases remotely close to these) are not actually used…EVER The correct way to say these is could have, should have, would have, and must have