Proofreading & Editing

Grammar Skill Checks

Gayla S. KeeseeEducation Specialist

Mack Gipson, Jr.Tutorial & Enrichment Center

2/2007

Have You Ever?

Been penalized for too many errors on your paper? Sharpen your eye for correct English.

Make proofreading a habit. Learned something and then found

you couldn’t remember it? Practice and application of skills help you

remember.

Have You Ever?

Made a grammatical error but couldn’t explain why? Learn how to identify common errors and

ways to correct them—and why. Questioned whether you will ever use

what you are learning? You will be writing to communicate for the

rest of your life.

Errors = Social Markers

Speaking and writing errors signal Social background Educational background/level One's concern for correctness

Common Errors

Spelling Punctuation Capitalization Pronouns Verbs Sentence Fragments Run-on Sentences

Common Errors

Usage Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers Parallel Structure Homonyms

Spelling

Serious Errors: common words Be aware of your “enemies”

Words you often misspell Create mnemonic tricks

Help remember

Usage Errors

Usage—words often confused Accept, except Advice, advise Affect, effect Between, among Lie, lay Than, then Really, real Good, well

More errors A lot alot All right

alright Could have could

of From off of Regardless

irregardless Through thru

Homonym Errors

Homonyms—similar sounds; different meanings To, too, two Their, they’re, there Your, you’re Whose, who’s Coarse, course Complement, compliment Council, counsel Principal, principle

Capitalization

Titles—all words 4+ letters long First word in complete sentence

Including direct quotes Proper nouns Names with Titles—President Bush Sacred Names—God, Allah

Capitalization

Seasons Only when personified—Spring danced joyfully.

Directions When naming specific regions—The North won.

School Subjects Names of languages—French, English Numbered courses--Biology I, History 211

Review: Sentence Elements

1. Subject Who is doing the

action

2. Verb Action—State of

being

3. Complete Thought

Independent Clause—IC Stands alone

Dependent Clause—DC Must be

attached

Phrases

Prepositional phrase—most common Mnemonic trick: Preposition = anything a

plane can do to a cloud To, From Over, Under Through, Around Inside, Outside

The Subject will NOT be in a prep. phrase

Review: Sentence Structure

Who Did (What)Subj. Verb Obj.

Tom hit the ball.

Where?

When?How?Why?

Where?

When?How?Why?

(Optional)

Moveable

(Optional)

Moveable

Punctuation

Commas Apostrophes Quotation marks Underlining Semi-colons

Comma Usage

Compound Sentence IC ,conj IC (IC=Independent

Clause=sentence)

Coordinating Conjunctions—see mnemonic device F For A And N Nor B But O Or Y Yet S So

Tom hit the ball, and he ran the bases.

Comma Usage

Set off nonessential elements—not necessary to the meaning of the sentence Phrases/clauses

Mary, who has a great deal of talent, is a senior. Shaneka, wearing a jacket, walked into the room

Parenthetical expressions however, of course, for example

– Each student, however, expected a new computer.

Comma Usage

Separate items in a list—3+ The store sold potatoes, carrots, and beans.

Kevin ran, leaped, and pranced for joy.

She learned of her husband’s loss, of his great labor, and of other efforts to make amends.

Maintain Parallel Structure

Comma Usage

Who Did WhatSubj. Verb Obj.

Tom hit the ball.

WhereWhenHowWhy

Where,

When,How,Why,

At May Park,Saturday,With my bat,Because he was mad,

Separate introductory words, phrases, and clauses with a comma.

Parallel Structure

Items joined by a conjunction must be expressed in the same grammatical form. Word, word, and word

reading, dancing, and cooking Phrase, phrase, or phrase

over the hill, under the bridge, and into the cave

either move to Kansas or move to Texas

Parallel Structure

The new school is large, rambling, and it looks ugly.

The new school is large, rambling, and ugly.

All items needed to be adjectives. The last item was an IC.

Wrong

!

Parallel Structure

I enjoy reading, writing, and to dance.

I enjoy reading, writing, and dancing.

First two items end in –ing. The last item was an infinitive. (to + verb)

Wrong

!

Parallel Structure

Charlie is not only talented as a writer but also as an artist.

Charlie is talented not only as a writer but also as an artist.

Move verb to indicate both items. Items following not only and but also

must be worded exactly the same.

Wrong

!

Parallel Structure

The juniors decided that they neither found the dance nor the breakfast enjoyable.

The juniors decided that they found neither the dance nor the breakfast enjoyable.

Place neither and nor directly in front of ideas that are parallel.

Wrong

!

Apostrophes

Possessives ‘s singular noun dog’s Mary’s s’ plural noun or

ends in -sdogs’ Charles’

Contractions Did not = didn’t Are not = aren’t It is = it’s

Do Not Add an ‘ to a possessive pronoun—your’s

Do Not Add an ‘ to form the plural of a noun—paper’s

Quotation Marks

Direct Quotations Mary said, “You will be hungry because it’s

late.”

“You will be hungry,” Mary said, “because it’s late.

Are you going to New York?” asked Bernie.

“I remember that she said, “Turn here,’” said Al.

Titles

Underline the titles of long works Books Magazines Newspapers Movies

“Quotes” around titles of short works Short stories Poems Chapters Magazine articles Songs Essays

Semicolons

Between IC not joined by a ,conj Between IC joined by one of the following:

However, therefore, consequently, moreover Between series of items if those items

contain commas The Student Council elected its officers: Sarah

Long, president; Megan Wright, vice-president; and Peg Miller, secretary/treasurer.

Capitalization

Titles—all words 4+ letters long First word in complete sentence

Including direct quotes Specific nouns Names with Titles—President Bush Sacred Names—God, Allah

Capitalization

Seasons When personified—Spring danced joyfully.

Directions When naming specific regions—The North

won. School Subjects

Names of languages—French, English Numbered courses--Biology I, History 211

Pronouns

Pronoun Shifts Do not shift between person

I, we, us He, she, it, they, them

Pronoun Reference Make sure clear

She was one of those people who is always helping others.

YOU

Pronouns

Pronoun Agreement Agree with antecedent

Number—singular, plural Gender—masculine, feminine Case—subject, object, possessive

Pronouns ending in –one, –body, or –thing Always singular

Has everyone brought his/her book?

Verb Forms

Subject-Verb Agreement Problem areas—finding the subject

Prepositional phrases Sentences beginning with It, There, Here Questions—verb before subject Appositive phrases

Problem areas—deciding number Indefinite pronouns—anybody, few, some Collective nouns—faculty, team, class Compound subjects—Tom and Shaneka

Verb Forms

Verb Tense—indicates time of action Keep tenses consistent Past perfect tense (had done, had left…)

Indicates which of two actions took place earlier

1. When we entered the room, the fire started.

2. When we entered the room, the fire had started.

-ing verbs must have a helping verb

Sentence Fragments

Missing one or more elements of an IC. Phrase Dependent Clause

Corrections: Add the element(s) Attach the fragment to the IC before or

after it.

Correcting Sentence

Fragments She lived in China. Where her parents

were missionaries.

She lived in China, where her parents were missionaries.

Correcting Sentence

Fragments Our country has many famous

musicians. Such as Pearl Bailey and Bing Crosby.

Our country has many famous musicians such as Pearl Bailey and Bing Crosby.

Correcting Sentence

Fragments Because she was too tall.

Because she was too tall, Anna had to duck to enter the room.

Correcting Sentence

Fragments I saw him carrying a package. A big

one with a red bow.

I saw him carrying a package, a big one with a red bow.

Run-On Sentences

Two or more sentences joined together (usually with only a comma)

Corrections: Use a period to separate the two sentences. Add ,conj Use a semi-colon—esp. if they’re closely

related. Rewrite the sentence completely.

Usage Errors

Usage—words often confused Accept, except Advice, advise Affect, effect Between, among Lie, lay Than, then Really, real Good, well

More errors A lot alot All right

alright Could have could

of From off of Regardless

irregardless Through thru

Homonym Errors

Homonyms—similar sounds; different meanings To, too, two Their, they’re, there Your, you’re Whose, who’s Coarse, course Complement, compliment Council, counsel Principal, principle

Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers

Modifiers—adjectives & adverbs Adjectives + nouns/pronouns

Which one? How many? What kind?

Adj, Adj + noun The small, blue hat Driving down the street, I ran over a bag of

trash.

Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers

Modifiers—adjectives, adverbs Must be placed as close to word being

described as possible

1. Running down the hall, his jacket caught on a nail.

2. At the age of four, Alice’s family moved to Texas.

3. To improve our wrestling team, new weight equipment was purchased by the school.