Comma Errors, Spelling/Typographical Errors and Grammar Errors

Introductory Clauses• Introductoryclausesaredependentclausesthatprovidebackgroundinformationor"setthestage"forthemainpartofthesentence,theindependentclause.

• Clue: Introductoryclausesstartwithadverbslikeafter,although,as,because,before,if,since,though,until,when,etc.

▫ Iftheywanttowin,athletesmustexerciseeveryday.(introductorydependentclause,mainclause)

▫ Becausehekeptbarkinginsistently,wethrewtheballforSmokey.(introductorydependentclause,mainclause)

Introductory Phrases

• Introductoryphrasessetthestageforthemainactionofthesentence,buttheyarenotcompleteclauses.

• Commonintroductoryphrasesincludeprepositionalphrases,appositivephrases,participialphrases,infinitivephrases,andabsolutephrases.

▫ Tostayinshapeforcompetition,athletesmustexerciseeveryday.(introductoryinfinitivephrase,mainclause)

▫ Barkinginsistently,Smokeygotustothrowhisballforhim.(introductoryparticipialphrase,mainclause)

▫ Aftertheadjustmentforinflation,realwageshavedecreasedwhilecorporateprofitshavegrown.(introductoryprepositionalphrases,mainclause)

Introductory Words• Introductorywordslikehowever,still,furthermore,andmeanwhile createcontinuityfromonesentencetothenext.

▫ Thecoachesreviewedthegamestrategy.Meanwhile, theathletestrainedontheNautilusequipment.

▫ Mostoftheevidenceseemedconvincing.Still, thecredibilityofsomewitnesseswasinquestion.

When to Use a Comma:afteranintroductoryclause.(Doestheintroductoryelementhaveasubjectandverbofitsown?)

afteralongintroductoryprepositionalphraseormorethanoneintroductoryprepositionalphrase.(Aretheremorethanfivewordsbeforethemainclause?)

afterintroductoryverbalphrases,someappositivephrases,orabsolutephrases.

ifthereisadistinctpause.(Whenyoureadthesentencealoud,doyoufindyourvoicepausingamomentaftertheintroductoryelement?)

toavoidconfusion.(Mightareaderhavetoreadthesentencemorethanoncetomakesenseofit?)

When NOT to Use a Comma:afterabriefprepositionalphrase.(Ex:JackandJillwentup,thehill. Thereshouldbenocomma.)

toseparatethesubjectfromthepredicate.(Ex:TheprofessorofmyJapaneseclass,gaveaquizyesterday. Thereshouldbenocomma.)

afterbutorandinacompoundsentence.(Ex:They went downtown, but, they did not stay long. Thecommashouldonlybeinfrontofthebut.)

beforeandwhenitisjoiningtwosubjects,twoobjects,ortwoverbs.(Ex:Samwenttothestoretobuyeggs,andmilk.Thereshouldbenocomma.)

“Isthereacommabeforetheword‘and’attheendofaseries?”

• Ifyou’rewritingforanewspaperormagazine,NO.Newspapersandmagazineswanttosavespacewheneverpossible.

� Thereportersawflood,fireandfamine.

• Ifyou'rewritingaletterorapaperforschool,theanswerisusuallyYES.

� Thereportersawflood,fire,andfamine.

üDONOTrelysolelyonspellchecker!ItDOESNOTcatcheverything!

ü “Spellcheckwillnotfinedwordswitcharemissusedbuttspelledrite”.

ü Spellcheckerwillnotfindthefollowingerrors:

üPropernames,suchas“Smith”or“Jones”.

ü Improperuseofhomonyms,suchastheir/there,to/too/two,oraffect/effect.

üErrorsrelatedtospecializedwordsnotincludedintheirlexicon.

üTypographicalfauxpas.

Typographical Errors

Readaloud.Readingapaperaloudencouragesyoutoreadeverylittleword.

Printyourpaper.Ithelpscatchtyposandspellingerrorswhenyoureadfromaprinteddocument.

Isolateeachlinewithastraightedge(blankpieceofpaper)andpointtoeachwordwithapencilorpen.

Avoid Typos

Alwaysreadthroughyourwritingslowly.Ifyoureadatanormalspeed,youwon'tgiveyoureyessufficienttimetospoterrors

Readfromtheendratherthanthebeginningofalinesothatyoucan’tgetcaughtupinwhatyou’resaying.

Askanotherpersontoreadyourpaper.He/shemaycatchmistakesyoumissed.

Putasideyourpaperforsometimeandthencomebacktoitandproofreaditonceagain.

Subject/Verb Agreement• Ifyoursubjectissingular,yourverbmustalsobesingular.Ifyoursubjectisplural,yourverbmustalsobeplural.

"Theboyeatsthepie.""Thepeopleeatthepie.“

• Tofixsubject/verbagreementerrors:

� Isolatethemainverbineachsentence.� Thenmatchthatverbtoitssubjectandmakesuretheyagreeinnumber.

• Thetrickistomakethenumbersagree(i.e.onethingIS/twothingsARE).

Apostrophes

• Theapostrophehasthreeuses:

* toformpossessivesofnouns* toshowtheomissionofletters* toindicatecertainpluralsoflowercaseletters.

• ApostrophesareNOT usedforpossessivepronounsorfornounplurals,includingacronyms.

1) To form possessives of nouns

• Toseeifyouneedtomakeapossessive,turnthephrasearoundandmakeitan"ofthe..."phrase.▫ theboy'shat=thehatoftheboythreedays'▫ journey=journeyofthreedays

• Ifthenounafter"of"isabuilding,anobject,orapieceoffurniture,thennoapostropheisneeded!▫ roomofthehotel=hotelroom▫ doorofthecar=cardoor▫ legofthetable=tableleg

2) To show the omission of letters

• Contractionshaveoneormoreletters/numbersmissing,thusshowinganexampleofthistypeofomission:

don't=donotI'm=Iamhe'll=hewill'60=1960

3) To indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

• Heretheruleappearstobemoretypographicalthangrammatical(E.g."threeps"versus"threep's”)

• Toformthepluralofalowercaseletter,place's aftertheletter.

• Thereisnoneedforapostrophesindicatingapluraloncapitalizedletters,numbers,andsymbols(thoughkeepinmindthatsomeeditors,teachers,andprofessorsstillpreferthem).

� The1960swereatimeofgreatsocialunrest.� TherearetwoG4scurrentlyusedinthewritingclassroom.

Apostrophes

• Don'tuseapostrophesforpossessivepronounsorfornounplurals.▫ possessivepronounsalreadyshowpossession-- theydon'tneedanapostrophe(EX:His,her,its,my,yours,ours areallpossessivepronouns)

WRONG CORRECT

1)His’book Hisbook2)Afriendofyours’ Afriendofyours3)Shewaitedfor3hours’togetaticket. Shewaitedfor3hourstogetaticket.4)Thegroupmadeit’sdecision. Thegroupmadeitsdecision***It’sisacontractionfor“ITIS”.ItisNOTthesamethingasits.

Itsisapossessivepronounmeaning“BELONGINGTOIT”.

Sentence Fragments

• ThreeMainFragmentTypes:

1) aphraseorclausethatisdisconnectedfromanindependentclause(sentence)

2) amainclausethatlackseitherasubjectoraverb

3) aclausethatcontainsacompletesentencebutcannotstandalonebecauseofamisplacedorunnecessaryword

Sentence Fragments• Whenaphraseorclauseisdisconnectedfromanindependentclause,usetheproperpunctuationtoconnectthem.

• Example:

▫ Incorrect: TheUniversityhasresourcestohelpyouwithwriting.Suchasgrammarhandbooks,dictionaries,anddocumentationstylebooks.

▫ Correct: TheUniversityhasresourcestohelpyouwithwriting,suchasgrammarhandbooks,dictionaries,anddocumentationstylebooks.

Sentence Fragments

• Whenafragmentlackseitherasubjectoraverb,addtheappropriateelementtomakeitasentence.

• Example:

▫ Incorrect:Anappointmentwithadoctor.

▫ Correct:Anappointmentwithadoctorcanhelpimproveyourhealth.

Sentence Fragments• Whenthefragmentcontainsacompletesentencebutcannotstandalonebecauseofamisplacedorunnecessaryword,removethewordthatpreventsthefragmentfrombeingasentence.

• Example:

▫ Incorrect:Bypayingtoomuchattentiontogrammarandpunctuationcancauseyoutooverlookhigherorderconcernslikethesisdevelopment.

▫ Correct:(getridofBy)Payingtoomuchattentiontogrammarandpunctuationcancauseyoutooverlookhigherorderconcernslikethesisdevelopment.

Run-on SentencesA blend of two or more complete sentences into one without proper punctuation and/or linking word.

DaVinci was a great painter, he was also an inventor.

How you can fix this run-on sentence: 1) DaVinci was a great painter. He was also an

inventor.2) DaVinci was a great painter; he was also an inventor.3) DaVinci was a great painter, and he was also an

inventor.

To Fix Run-On Sentences:

• Place a period between the two complete thoughts.

• Place a semi-colon between the two complete thoughts.

• Place a comma and a linking word between the two complete thoughts.

Pronoun Errors• Errors that occur when pronouns do not agree in

number with the nouns to which they refer.

• If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular.

• If the noun is plural, the pronoun must be plural as well.

Incorrect: Everybody must bring their own lunch.

Correct: Everybody must bring his or her own lunch.

Useful WebPages

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

• http://www.drgrammar.org/errors.shtml

• http://garbl.home.comcast.net/~garbl/writing/

• http://www.powa.org/

• http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/Tips/paragrap/