Grammar Notes
   "It's not wise to violate the rules until you know how to observe them."    --T.S. Eliot

 ♡  Notable Topics 

Pesky Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases are found in almost every sentence. (They're ubiquitous!) However, they NEVER contain the subject or verb of a sentence.  For a basic review of what is a preposition and a prepositional phrase, click HERE.


♥ CCW's!
We start off the year with our unit on Commonly Confused Words. Our focus will be initially on the 20 groups listed in your CCW handout. Be sure to know them and be able to apply them in your writing. Also be on alert for other CCW's (such as aloud and allowed). We will supplement our list of CCW's as the need arises. Bring in any questions you have to class. In addition to your handout, be aware of the following resources:



Parallel structure


Employing parallel structure to express similar or contrasting ideas is one of the most effective ways to improve your style.
Here are some resources to review.


Title Capitalization and Punctuation
Whenever you are writing a title to a work--visual works (such as movies, paintings, or TV shows), musical works (such as songs, operas, or CD's), written works (such as books, essays, or magazines), or even electronic works (such as Websites, Web magazines, blogs, or Webpages), you MUST think of 2 issues:
  • How do the rules of title capitalization apply, and
  • How do I punctuate this title (italics, quotes, or neither)?
To answer these 2 questions, you must know the rules. Review the class handout  that sums up what you need to know. Click here if you need a copy of the handout.

Adding Examples
For a discussion of why examples enhance content AND a summary of the punctuation used for the transitional expressions that signal the addition of an example, click here.

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Colons
See SHHS Handbook page 120-1.


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Clauses and Run-on Sentences
Fragments and Run-ons are two of the most basic sentence errors. Appearance of these errors is often interpreted as a sign that the writer does not understand elementary sentence construction, which--I'm sure we all agree--is not a positive statement about someone planning on college level writing. Often creative writers intentionally use fragments and/on run ons, but when you're writing at an academic level, run ons are completely unacceptable, and fragments are risky business.  

CLICK HERE for WEB PRACTICE QUIZ for 5.17. For this quiz, a comma splice is grouped in the category of "run-on." Do sentences 1-10 on the quiz; sentence 10 is somewhat confusing, but try it.


Click here for a quick review of run on sentences.

Click here for a quick review of fragments.



Quote Punctuation
  • Review information at SHHS Handbook, pages 28-29.
  • For a more sophisticated discussion and analysis of the rules, visit a college Website by clicking here.
  • For a potentially spirit-crushing quiz to review the rules, click here.



Capitalization
Be sure to review class handout and SHHS Handbook 19-21.
Here's a helpful quiz to review: click here.


Possessives

Use an apostrophe to show a noun in possessive case. but don't use an apostrophe for possessive pronouns.

     Ex. = Sandy's paws were dirty, and his fur was matted.
☞ Here are some resources to check out
  • Evergreen pages 423 - 425.

♥ ♥ Pronouns and Antecedents

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Usually the pronoun substitutes for a specific noun, known as its antecedent. Remember that a pronoun takes its identity from its antecedent, so it (the pronoun) must agree with its antecedent in gender (male, female, or neuter) and number (singular or plural) . Here's an example:

  • The man walking a dog with a bandana around its neck smiled at the beautiful woman, but she did not see him.

In this example, "its," "she," and "him" are pronouns. The antecedent of "its" is "dog," the antecedent of "she" is "woman," and the antecedent of "him" is "man." Notice how the pronouns match their antecedents in gender and number.

Usually the rule that requires pronoun and antecedent agreement doesn't present a problem; we pick the correct pronoun automatically. However, sometimes we don't, and a very common trap occurs when we have to pick pronouns for generic nouns. 

Look at this example:
  • A student needs to turn their assignments on time.
Do you see how the pronoun "their" is plural, but its antecedent-- "student"--is singular? This is an error that needs to be fixed. Here are the options that you can use to fix the error:

  1. Make the antecedent plural: All students need to turn in their assignments on time.
  2. Make the pronoun singular: A student needs to turn in his or her assignment on time.
  3. Rewrite the sentence to avoid the problem: A student needs to turn in assignments on time. (If you eliminate the pronoun, you don't need to worry about agreement issues. This option may not always be available; sometimes you can't eliminate the pronoun if the sentence is to make sense.)


In case you need more review, here are some helpful resources: