Day 1

1. The Novel Explanations and Skills Day 1 Parenthetical Phrase A parenthetical phrase is a phrase that adds extra information to a sentence. It is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (non-restrictive) so it is set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or commas. Use of a Colon between Complete Sentences If you have two complete sentences on either side of a colon, capitalize the first word of the second sentence. I wonder if Sally is happy: Sally had always found happiness elusive.

2. Its versus It's Unlike nouns, pronouns do not use apostrophes for possession. Its is the possessive case for it while it's means "it is." his NOT hi's he's means he is her NOT he'r she's means she is its NOT it's it's means it is

3. Day 2 The Past Perfect Tense The past perfect tense (also known as the pluperfect) is used to show that one action in the past occured before another action in the past. It is formed by adding the auxilary verb had before the main verb. For example, if Myron called his mother before he told his friends she had said he couldn't go to the concert, you would use the past perfect tense for the verb about Myron calling his mother: Myron had called his mother and then told his friends he could not go to the concert. If the past perfect requires two had's as in "Myron had had to go to the concert because his mother forced him to go," do not put a comma between the two had's.

4. Capitalization of Religious Terms Religious terms such as Pope, Lord, God, and Savior are capitalized as are nouns and adjectives based on religion, such as Roman Catholic or Anglican. Commonly Confused Words: Affect versus Effect Affect is usually used as a noun. Effect is usually used as a verb.

5. Day 3 Plural Possessives of Nouns There are two ways to form the plural possessive: 1. Add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s: the children's game the geese's honking 2. Add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s: houses' roofs three friends' letters Spelling: -ceed, -sede and -cede There are three -ceed words: succeed, proceed, exceed. There is one -sede word: supersede. All others are spelled with -cede.

6. Use of Colon: Clarifying Idea or Material Colons are used to separate a rule, an explanation, an illustration, an idea that clarifies what comes before it, or an example from a preceding independent clause.

7. Day 4 Tag Questions Tag questions are questions added to the end of a declarative sentence. They are set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma and are followed by a question mark. You buried Milo where no dogs would dig him up, didn't you? Direct Address Direct address is when a person is called to by name in a piece of writing--usually in dialogue. This is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas. Frank, why did you eat that horse? Who do you think is evil, Mirabella? What, Fidel, is your problem?

8. Many a ___________ The phrase many a ___________ (child, doctor, family) takes a singular verb because it is referring to a singular noun. Many a child prefers to play rather than go to school.

9. Day 5 Empty Sentence An empty sentence is a sentence that does not add any new information to a piece of writing. Since it does not add anything to the writing, eliminate it. Series as singular The word series is singular (a collective noun) and thus takes a singular verb and pronoun. My favorite television series is Twin Peaks. It was cancelled too soon. Pronoun Case after As Often a sentence will end with as ___________ with a pronoun in the blank. I am as interested in the subjunctive mood as she. Note that the pronoun is in the subject (nominative) case. This is because the rest of the clause is implied: as she is interested in the subjunctive mood.