CRT Grammar Review

Sentence Fragments

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. Fragments often have become disconnected with the main clause, so the easiest way to fix a fragment is reconnect it to the previous sentence. You may also need to add a verb or subject to make the sentence complete. Below is an example:

- A cake with frosting and decoration.

There is no verb in the above sentence. It can be fixed in several ways, below is one example.

- She made the cake with frosting and decoration.

Here is another example of a fragmented sentence:

- I need to buy a new bike. Because the bike I have now is broken.

The above sentence can be fixed by deleting the period between "bike" and "Because".

- I need to buy a new bike because the bike I have now is broken.

Run-on Sentences

"A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses (that is, complete sentences) are joined with no punctuation or conjunction.... A run-on sentence does not mean a sentence is too long; longer sentences are likely to be run-ons only when they contain more than one complete idea. A run-on sentence can be as short as four words—for instance: I drive she walks. In this case there are two complete ideas (independent clauses): two subjects paired with two (intransitive) verbs. So long as clauses are punctuated appropriately, a writer can assemble multiple independent clauses in a single sentence; in fact, a properly constructed sentence can be extended indefinitely."

Examples

A run-on sentence, with no punctuation or conjunction between "five" and "we":

It is nearly half past five we cannot reach town before dark.

A comma splice, which is considered a run-on sentence by some grammarians:

It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.

Ways to avoid run-on sentences

Write the two clauses as two separate sentences:

It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before dark.
Henry Whopper was a teller of tall tales. He even told them to his teachers.

Insert a coordinating conjunction (such as "and" or "but") after the comma:

It is nearly half past five, so we cannot reach town before dark.
Henry Whopper was a teller of tall tales, and he even told them to his teachers.

Insert a semi-colon between the clauses:

It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.
Henry Whopper was a teller of tall tales; he even told them to his teachers.

Insert a semi-colon and a transitional word between the clauses:

It is nearly half past five; therefore, we cannot reach town before dark.
Henry Whopper was a teller of tall tales; in fact, he even told them to his teachers.

From Wikipedia

Capitalization

Capitals

The following are some general guidelines for when you should use capital letters. Once you have read through the rules, complete the exercises.

You should capitalize in the following ways:

First word of a sentence:

If you drive up to the top, you can see the lake.

The pronoun “I”:

Whenever I come to your house, I start feeling hungry.

Proper nouns (names of specific people, places, and things):

Abraham Lincoln
India Ocean
Alberta, Canada

Family relationships (when used as a proper noun):

Give your present to Mom before she leaves for work.
I am going to give this present to my dad for his birthday.
It drives me crazy when Uncle Earl comes to our house.

Titles preceding names, but not titles that follow names:

President Lincoln is considered to be one of the greatest leaders of our country.
Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, was born in a log cabin.

Days of the week, and holidays, but not the season:

Next Sunday will be Easter.
My favorite season is spring.
My birthday is in October

The first word in a sentence that is a direct quote:

William Shakespeare once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.”

Periods and events (but not century numbers):

My grandfather lived through the Great Depression.
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the Constitutional Convention
The Civil War took place in the nineteenth century.

Trademarks:

I wish I could work at Google
I really enjoy trucks made by Toyota
I think I will buy a Dell computer

Abbreviations:

If you go to New York, make sure to visit the UN building.
I enjoy listening to NPR on my way home from work.

Do not abbreviate words that came from specific things, but are now used generally:

I don't like catchup on my french fries.
This milk has been pasteurized

The names of countries, nationalities, and specific languages:

I speak both English and Chinese
I love Mexican salsa.
My parents are French.

Apostrophe

The apostrophe is a punctuation mark. In English it has two main functions: it marks omissions, and it assists in marking the possessives of nouns and some pronouns. Below are some examples:

Apostrophe showing possession:

Jim's hair - the hair belonging to Jim
cat's whiskers - the whiskers belonging to the cat
sister's car - car belonging to the sister
Mr. Jones's house - the house belonging to Mr. Jones

Exceptions - Do not use the apostrophe for possessive pronouns. For example:

Correct

The group brought its van.
The book is hers.
The book is Jim's.

Incorrect

The group brought it's van.
It is his' book.
Its going to be a long day.

Apostrophe showing omission:

Can't - from cannot
I'll - from I will
It's - from it is
'70s - from 1970s
'twas - from it was
gov't - from government

Active vs. Passive Voice

Active vs. Passive

When using an active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. The following is an example of an active voice:

The woman carried the box.

When using a passive voice, the subject is acted upon. He or she receives the action expressed by the verb. So the following is the above sentence written in the passive voice:

The box was carried by the woman.

The passive voice should be avoided as it can create awkward sentences. You can recognize the passive voice by looking for the various form of 'be' such as; am, is, was, were, are, or been. However, just because there is a form of be in the sentence, don't assume that the sentence is passive. Sometimes the passive voice is necessary, or works better. Consider the following passive sentences:

You car has been scratched.
Rules were made to be broken.

In the first sentence we don't know who scratched the car, so a passive sentence works better.

If we were to rewrite the second sentence, it would be, “People make rules to be broken.” This version is not as powerful as the passive style.

Dangling Modifiers

In grammar, a dangling modifier (also called a dangling participle) attaches itself to a word different from the one the writer apparently meant. It may be intended to modify the subject of a sentence, but due to word order seems to modify an object instead.

Participles or participial clauses may be at the beginning or the end of a sentence and a participial clause usually is attached to the subject as in "walking down the street (clause) the man (subject) saw the beautiful tre es (object)". However, when the subject is missing or the participle attaches itself to an object in a sentence the clause is seemingly hanging on nothing or an entirely inappropriate noun. It thus becomes a dangling participle:

Walking down Main Street (no subject), the trees were beautiful.

Here the "walking down" participle seems to connect to "the trees" because it has no subject, when on reflection it really should connect to the invisible speaker of the sentence. He or she is the one walking down the street (and finding the trees beautiful).

Strunk and White's The Elements of Style provides another kind of example, a misplaced modifier (another participle):

I saw the trailer peeking through the window.

Presumably, the speaker means that he or she was peeking through the window, but the placement of "peeking through the window" makes it sound as though the trailer were peeking through the window.

As president of the kennel club, my poodle must be well groomed.

This gives the impression that the poodle is the president of the kennel club. Again the subject, in this case "I", is missing (as it is "my" poodle). The best way to improve this kind of sentence is to paraphrase it:

Because I am the president of the kennel club, my poodle must be well groomed.

From Wikipedia

Commas in a List

Commas in a list:

The comma is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text.

The comma is used in many contexts and languages, principally for separating things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comma comes directly from the Greek komma (?????), which means something cut off or a short clause.

This exercise will look at the comma as it is used regarding lists. Commas are used to separate items in lists, as in They own a cat, a dog, two rabbits, and six mice. In English a comma may or may not be used before the final conjunction (and, or, nor) in a list of more than two elements. A comma used in such a position is called a serial comma or an Oxford or Harvard comma (after the Oxford University Press and Harvard University Press, both prominent advocates of this style). In some cases use or omission of such a comma may serve to avoid ambiguity:

Use of serial comma disambiguating:

I spoke to the boys, Sam and Tom. – The boys refers to Sam and Tom (I spoke to two people).
I spoke to the boys, Sam, and Tom. – The boys, Sam, and Tom are separate units (I spoke to four or more people).

Omission of serial comma disambiguating:

I thank my mother, Ayn Rand and God. – The writer is thanking three people: the writer's mother, Ayn Rand (who is not the writer's mother) and God.
I thank my mother, Ayn Rand, and God. – The writer is thanking two people: Ayn Rand (who is the writer's mother) and God.

If the individual items of a list are long, complex, affixed with description or themselves contain commas, semicolons may be preferred as separators, and sometimes the list may be introduced with a colon.

From Wikipedia:

Commas

Commas are one of the most widely used punctuation marks in the English language. They are used in several places for different reasons.

1. Use a comma before the eight coordinating conjunctions (and, or, so, but, nor, yet, for, although). Examples:

He came early, but she came late.
I was ready to leave, but he didn't see my ride.
I was hungry, and I wanted to eat.
It was raining, so I walked him to the bus.

2. After a subordinate clause that comes before a main clause. Subordinate clause: has a subject and a verb, but is not a complete sentence. Subordinate clauses are often used to add information to another clause, especially to tell about specific circumstances. Examples:

When I'm hungry, I go to my favorite restaurant.
Despite the fact we were tired, we stayed up to watch a movie.

3. Around extra information that does not include a verb. Examples:

New Hampshire, a state with many tall mountains, is my home.
My son, Rick, is home from college.
My father, a good doctor, took care of me when I broke my arm.

4. With non-defining relative clauses. Similar to #3, non-defining relative clauses give additional information about something, but does not define it. Examples:

Professor Smith, who teaches the evening class, is at home.
Central Park, which was built by Olmsted, is one of the world's most venerated parks.

5. Between two elements or items in a list. Examples:

I like bananas, pears and peaches.
I took a several classes my first semester in college: English 1010, Theatre 1020, Biology 1010 and Math 1050.

Sources http://www.scribd.com/doc/14819641/Rules-for-Using-COMMAS

Comma Splices

Comma splices, sometimes called "run-on sentences" or "fused sentences," are a common problem for beginning (and even advanced) writers. Comma splices most often occur when the writer trys to add two sentences together by simply adding a comma. The problem is that the sentence does not work unless a semicolon is used or a coordinating conjunction. Another option is to make each clause into seperate sentences. Examples:

Incorrect: I saw David outside of class, he gave me a book.

Correct: I saw David outside of class; he gave me a book.

Incorrect: She told me to look outside, I didn't see anything.

Correct: She told me to look outside, but I didn't see anything.

Incorrect: I looked outside, the mailman was nowhere to be found.

Correct: I looked outside. The mailman was nowhere to be found.

Note from the examples that there is no single way to fix comma splices. Which solution is chosen depends on the rest of the paragraph surrounding the sentence, and what type of effect you want to create. For example, a series of short sentences might be irritating in an information paper, but creates a certain mood in a short story.

A vs. An

A precedes all words that begin with a consonant. For example:

a car
a movie
a snake
a lantern

The only exception to this rule is when an h is unsounded. For example:

an honest man
an herbal garden
an hour

An precedes all words that begin with a vowel. For example:

an order
an alligator
an elephant
an udder

There are two exceptions to this rule: When a u makes a y sound (as in united), and when a o makes a w sound, as in one. For example:

a utopia
a used towel
a one-star movie

Parentheses

The following is a list of many of the uses of parentheses.

1) Parentheses to Enclose Numbers or Letters in a Series

Sometimes there are numbers or letters that need to be separated from the rest of the text in a series. There is some flexibility in how you use parentheses to do it, but make you should be consistent.

Examples:

Three elements to a story include (1) characters, (2) setting, and (3) plot.
Three elements to a story include 1) characters, 2) setting, and 3) plot.
Three elements to a story include 1.) characters, 2.) setting, and 3.) plot
Three elements to a story include (a) characters, (b) setting, and (c) plot.
Three elements to a story include a) characters, b) setting, and c) plot.
Three elements to a story include a.) characters, b.) setting, and c.) plot.

2) Parentheses to Enclose Supplemental Information

This "supplemental information" includes asides, tangents, and afterthoughts. In general, anything that can be removed from the sentence without altering its meaning can be enclosed in parentheses. Take a look at the following examples to get a better idea of what counts as extraneous material.

For the last five years (some say longer), the house on the hill has been haunted.
We read Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" (one of my favorite stories) this semester in class.

3) Parentheses to Indicate the Plural of Nouns

Sometimes you may not know whether or not you are dealing with a noun that is singular or plural. As a reminder, nouns are persons, places, things or ideas. At other times, you may actually try to hide from your audience how many (if any) of the nouns are present. The following are examples of both uses:

If anyone has any information about the person(s) who committed this crime, please call the sheriff's office.
In the following section of the exam, circle the grammatical error(s) in each of the sentences.

4) Parentheses to Indicate an Acronym

Acronyms are a combination of letters that stand for something. Examples of acronyms: FBI, NASA, CIA, MADD, HTML. Acronyms are used in situations in which spelling out the entire phrase or organization would be time-consuming and tedious. When introducing an acronym for the first time you will usually spell out the acronym first, then put the acronym is parentheses. Examples:

President Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.
The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is to stop drunk driving altogether.

5) Use Parentheses to Enclose Dates

When including the dates for a person or event, place them in parentheses immediately to the right of the person or event. This rule is pretty straightforward.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) is one of my favorite poets.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) is an inspiration to aspiring authors everywhere.

6) Use Parentheses to Enclose Citations

Parentheses also play a role in citation, but the exact way depends on the citation format used. You will learn more about citation later in this course.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (Dickens).
"Inherited ideas are a curious thing, and interesting to observe and examin" (Twain).

Sources

http://www.writingsimplified.com/2009/04/how-and-when-to-use-parentheses.html

Colons

Colons are used in the following ways:

Business salutations
Time
At the beginning of a list
Separate an independent clause
Miscellaneous usage

1) Business Salutation

The salutation is the opening part of the letter. For example:

Dear John Doe:

To Whom It May Concern:

To the Residents of 555 1st St.:

The colon is typically used in business letters only. It is not used in personal letters, which uses a comma at the end of the salutation.

2) Time

A colon is used in between the hours and minutes. Examples:

5:49 a.m.

3:30 p.m.

2:17 a.m

3) At the Beginning of a List

Colons are used to let the reader know a list is coming, especially lists that contain several items. Examples:

We packed everything into the car: the sleeping bags, tents, food and cooking gear.

There were lots of people at the party: Dr. Monroe, Jack, Daisy, Esther as well as other people.

The painting seemed to have every color of the rainbow: yellow, green, red, blue and orange.

Colons should not be used after "such as." Examples:

Incorrect: I want to see painting from all the famous artists such as: Cezanne, Renoir and Raphael.

Correct: I want to see paintings from all the famous artists such as Cezanne, Renoir and Raphael.

Incorrect: I think water conservation is more of a concern for states such as: Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

Correct: I think water conservation is more of a concern for states such as Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

4) Seperate an Independent Clause, such as a Quotation

A colon is used to help distinguish a sentence from a quotation.

Patrick Henry's words helped swing Virginian support towards the Revolution: "Give me liberty, or give me death."

The opening line from A Tale of Two Cities says it all: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

People always say the same cliched phrase to me: "Life isn't fair."

5) Miscellaneous Use

There are other uses for colons, such separating chapter and verse in religious texts. Examples:

Genesis 1:30

Mark 3:5

Obadiah 1:8

Semicolons

In addition to the colon, there is also the semicolon or ";". Knowing when to use semicolons can be difficult; some writers use them frequently, while others never do. However, writers are noticing that the semicolon is being used less and less. Still, you should understand when it is appropriate to use a semicolon just in case you need to use it in your writing.

Semicolons have three purposes:

Separate two independent clauses that are joined without a conjunction.
Before and a comma after an adverbial conjunction that acts as a bridge between two independent clauses.
Separate major and minor separations, using semicolons for major breaks and commas for minor breaks.

1) Seperating Two Independent Clauses

Use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses that are joined without a conjunction. Examples:

Al went to the store; he forgot to buy bread.
Nina chose to stay in the car; rodeos really didn't interest her.
The paper received an "A"; the teacher like her argument.

2) Before an Adverbial Conjunction

Place a semicolon before and a comma after an adverbial conjunction that acts as a bridge between two independent clauses. Examples:

Bob will determine the fees; however, he is open to suggestions.
Most people don't use grammar that well; however, I find it refreshing when people do.
I said I would go to the movie; however, if I start to feel sick, I want to leave.

3) Making Major and Minor Seperations

When a clause needs major and minor separations, use semicolons for major breaks and commas for minor breaks. Examples:

Joni will travel to Dallas, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts.
There are certain classes that everyone seems to take: English, 9th grade; Algebra, 10th grade; Biology, 11th grade; and Chemistry, 12th grade.
Everybody needs to write a part of the report: the introduction, Mary's group; history, John's group; and conclusion, Eliza's group.

Sources

http://www.thewritingteacher.org/writing-blog-home/tag/grammar

Adverbs

Adverbs are parts of sentences that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They often ask the answer "how?" Examples:

My sister sings beautifully.
He is a fast runner.
My mother works very hard.
Kim is never late for school.

Usually creating an adverb means adding an "-ly" to an adjective, such as changing "beautiful" to "beautifully."

Comparing Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Examples:

A hot day.
A happy camper.
A silly twit.
A big, bloody mess.

Many words have both an adjective and adverb form. Examples:

Happy kids - Playing happily
Smooth rock - Running smoothly
Good night - Eating well
Efficient workers - Working efficiently
Casual dress - Dressing casually
Quick meeting - Talking quickly
Hopeful children - Waiting hopefully
Real butter - Really hot

Comparative and Superlatives

Most adverbs and adjectives also have what are called "comparative" and "superlative" form. That sounds complicated, but you will immediately recognize them. Examples:

Simple: hot, good, exciting, careful

Comparative: hotter, better, more exciting, less careful

Superlative: hottest, best, most exciting, least careful

Simple sentence: The plate is hot.

Comparative sentence: My plate is hotter than yours.

Superlative sentence: That was the hottest plate I've ever touched.

Avoid Double Comparatives

Be sure to avoid double comparatives, which are using "more" or "most" with "-er" or "-est." Examples (all incorrect grammatically):

Yesterday was more hotter than today.
That was the most dirtiest shirt I ever wore.
You are the bestest teacher.

Using Adjectives When Adverbs are Needed

Incorrect: You did a real nice job.
Correct: You did a really nice job.

Incorrect: He did good.
Correct: He did well.

Incorrect: Fuel injection helps the car run efficient.
Correct: Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently.

Incorrect: Come quick!
Correct: Come quickly!

Incorrect: Hopefully, it won't rain.
Correct: I hope that it won't rain.

Avoid Needless Adverbs

Before using adverbs, check to see if they add meaning to the sentence.

I am really happy to see you.
Grammar is very boring.
You are absolutely correct.
Her language was extremely crude.
You are quite intelligent.

Compound Adjectives

Do not hyphenate the words when they come after the noun they modify.

Brad was well known along the boardwalk.
Brad was a well-known jerk.

His SUV was fully equipped.
He drove a fully-equipped SUV.

Brad worked full time on his tan.
Brad was a full-time chick magnet.

Misplaced Modifiers

Put adjectives and adverbs close to the words they modify. Notice how the meaning is affected by the improper placement.

Incorrect: An old pile of clothes is on the floor.
Correct: A pile of old clothes is on the floor.

Incorrect: I almost believe you are finished.
Correct: I believe you are almost finished.

Incorrect: The winners will only be contacted.

Correct: Only the winners will be contacted.

Incorrect: I can't quite do this as well as Fred.

Correct: I can't do this quite as well as Fred.

Sources

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6641153/Adjectives-vs-Adverbs

http://img.mappio.com/gillianmarie/adverbs-Medium.jpg?q=88713

Similes, Metaphors, Hyperbole

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Figurative language goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject. The most common figures of speech are simile, metaphor, and alliteration. We will cover simile, metaphor, and hyperbole this week.

Simile

A simile is a comparison drawn to how two things are similar. Similes often use "like" or "as" to make the connection between two things. In chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies, SamnEric are described using a simile: "The two boys, bullet-headed and with hair like tow, flung themselves down and lay grinning and panting at Ralph like dogs."

Here are some additional examples of similes:

"That shirt is like a lawn of grass."

"That ball is yellow like the sun."

"He fought like a bear."

"Her face shined like the sun."

Simile can also convey irony. This is done by saying a person or thing is like something, but then comparing them to something that is not like that at all. For example:

"He was as sharp as a bowling ball."

"He was smart as a brick."

"He was as smooth as a cactus."

Some similes are so well known, they have become cliches. These are phrases that many people have heard and are familiar with. It is better to avoid cliches when writing.

"Sharp as a tack."

"Clever as a fox."

"Strong as an ox."

Metaphors

Metaphors are often confused with similes because they are used in similar ways when writing. But where a simile say something is like something else, a metaphor is saying that something issomething else. For example:

Simile: The shirt was blue like the ocean.

Metaphor: The blue shirt was a deep sky-blue.

Simile: Love is like a flower blossoming in the Spring.

Metaphor: Love is never having to say you're sorry.

Simile: His chin was like sculpted marble.

Metaphor: He's a computer, only thinking logically.

A metaphor from Lord of the Flies is "For a moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside..." (21).

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is exaggeration. You can spot hyperbole easily when you see statements that aren't meant to be taken literally. Hyperbole is often used to convey emotion, and can be used for humor. Examples:

That test took 40 years to complete!
I must have walked a 100 miles.
That man was as tall as a skyscraper.
The hole was so deep I could see China.
These groceries weigh a ton.

When a statement is true, but may be mistaken for a hyperbole, the words "literally" or "actually" may be used. When these words are used, the speaker or writer is saying that the statement is not an exageration, but is actually a fact. For example:

We literally bought one ton of wheat.
He actually spoke for 6 hours straight.

Sources

Photo courtesy of RoyJr/Flickr

http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/figurative_language.htm

Root Words

The root is the base part of a word. The root carries the most significant aspects of of a word, and cannot be reduced into smaller parts. By knowing the root of a word, you can often guess at the meaning of the word, even if you have never seen the word before.

Root	Meaning	Sample Words
act	do	action, actor, react, activate
bio	life	biology, autobiography, biochemistry
clud	close	exclude, include, conclude
counter	against	counterattack, counterclaim, counteract
de	down	descend, demolish, deplete
fer	carry	ferry, transfer, chauffer
fract	break	fracture, fraction, refract
gram	writing	telegram, grammar, hologram
mar	sea	marine, mariner, submarine
mem	remember	memory, memoir, memo, remember
nav	ship	navy, navigator, circumnavigate
pop	people	population, popular, populate
port	carry	transport, portable, export
rupt	break	rupture, erupt, disrupt, corrupt
scribe	write	scribble, inscribe, describe, transcribe
sect	cut	dissect, section, intersection
sur	over	surplus, surpass, surcharge, surface
tele	far	television, telephone, telescope
tort	twist	contort, torture, distort
uni	one	unicycle, universe, united, union

Site:	MN Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum
Course:	English 9 (B)
Book:	CRT Grammar Review

Printed by:	Guest user
Date:	Thursday, November 21, 2024, 10:11 PM

CRT Grammar Review

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