for Language Arts Enrichment and Cross Curriculum Writing

Hilary Hardin

NGA

LMS

–Is it a fragment?• Remember that all true sentences MUST

HAVE 3 COMPONENTS: a subject, a verb, and a complete thought. –Example: Before Carolyn begins studying.

Carolyn is the subject and begins is the verb, but the phrase is a fragment because it makes no sense by itself.

FRAGMENTS

– Is it a run on? • A comma cannot join 2 simple sentences. The

following methods are acceptable– A COMMA AND A CONJUNCTION

» My dad bought me a car, but I have to pay him back.– A SEMICOLON

» In one way Ethel has proven to be a very sweet dog; she always greets Carl with a big sloppy kiss.

– A SEMICOLON, CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB , and COMMA » I don’t think I’ll be joining you for dinner; however,

Susan may be feeling well enough to meet you there now.

RUN-ONS

Commas are too wimpy to hold 2 independent clauses together. Connect them with semicolons instead.

Comma Splice: You need to work out more, your arms are really weak.

Corrected Sentence: You need to work out more; your arms are really weak.

COMMA SPLICES

• A SUBORDINATE CLAUSE before an independent one needs a comma. – Ex: If you want to win, you must work hard.

• Words that commonly begin a subordinate clause: if, when, since, because, as, as if, after, although, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, wherever, while, before, even though, in order that, in order to (SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS—ADVERB CLAUSES)

COMMA USE

RESPECT THE COMMA

• Use a semicolon to replace a comma when items in a series already have commas.– EX: I have lived in Huntsville, Alabama;

Shelbyville, Tennessee; and Tallahassee, Florida.

MORE ON COMMASAND SEMICOLONS

• Use a comma with a conjunction ONLY when the conjunction joins 2 sentences or 3 or more items in a series.

• Use a semicolon to join 2 sentences on the same topic.

More on commas and semicolons

• Quotation marks are to be used with DIRECT QUOTES—someone's EXACT words. Ex: Joe said, " I hate pickles."

• INDIRECT QUOTES do NOT require quotation marks. EX: Joe said that he hates pickles.

“QUOTATION MARKS”

• Use a colon at the END OF AN INDEPENDENT CLAUSE if a LIST of 3 or more things is to follow. – EX: Bring these items

in your backpack: binder, pencils, books, and lunch box.

COLON

• ITALICIZE WHOLE WORKS or WHOLE PIECES, names of vehicles, art and music. If the work is NOT a smaller part of something else, underline it. Ex: New York Times, Romeo and Juliet, Airforce One, Titanic.

• UNDERLINING IS THE SAME AS ITALICIZING WHEN A PERSON IS HANDWRITING SOMETHING.

• Use QUOTATION MARKS for works that are a smaller part of something larger. – “Article Title” (part of Magazine)

PUNCTUATING TITLES

• Proper nouns (names of people and things) need to be capitalized.

• Different from—not different than

Grammar tidbit

CONFUSING WORDS

• Too: also or extent – EX: too much cake or me too

• To: preposition– EX: to the store (has an

object)

• To: infinitive (to plus a verb)

– I was ready to eat.

• Two: 2– EX: She is two years old.

• Where: place– EX: Where is she?

• Were: past tense plural of to be.– EX: We were going to the

beach.

• Your: possessive pronoun – EX: your book

• You're: contraction for you are – EX: You're wrong.

CONFUSING WORDS

CONFUSING WORDS

• There: a place – EX: I live there.

• There: begins a sentence – EX: There is one child.

• Their: possessive pronoun – EX: their home

• They're: contraction for THEY ARE– EX: They're here.

AVOID THESE COMMON PROBLEMS!

• Make sure each PRONOUN AGREES with its ANTECEDENT.

• Be especially careful of pronouns that end in BODY, ONE, or THING; they are ALWAYS singular and take singular verbs and pronouns. EX: Everyone must wash HIS hands.

AGREEMENT MISTAKES

AGREEMENT MISTAKES• When EACH and EVERY are attached to a

compound subject they make it SINGULAR. – EX: EACH BOY and GIRL listen to the presentation.

• Avoid a TENSE SHIFT. – Ex: I ATE a burger, LISTEN to a CD, WATCH

television, and MAKE my bed. • Use the same tense throughout your

sentence. – Always match the first one used. EX: I ATE a

burger, LISTENED to a CD, WATCHED television, and MADE my bed.

TENSE SHIFT

PARALLELISM• Parallelism: Each item in a series should

FOLLOW THE SAME PATTERN. – EX: Jeremy drank some eggnog, then some

presents needed to be wrapped, he took a walk, and listened to Christmas music.

– SHOULD BE CHANGED TO: Jeremy drank some eggnog, wrapped some presents, took a walk, and listened to Christmas music.

– The pattern is verb-direct object, verb-direct object, and verb-direct object.