Notes
Words and sentences
- Eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection. Use decides the part of speech.
- Sentence types: simple, compound (independent + independent), complex (independent + dependent), compound-complex.
Sentence errors
- A fragment lacks a subject, a verb or a complete thought.
- A run-on fuses two independent clauses; a comma splice joins them with only a comma. Fix with a period, semicolon, comma + FANBOYS, or a subordinating word.
Commas
- Before FANBOYS joining clauses; in a series; after introductory elements; around nonessential information; in direct address, dates and addresses. Never between a subject and its verb.
Agreement and pronouns
- Verbs agree with their true subject; ignore prepositional phrases. Each, everyone and neither are singular. With or/nor, match the closer subject.
- Subject pronouns (I, she, who) vs. object pronouns (me, her, whom). Every pronoun needs a clear antecedent.
Apostrophes and confused words
- cat's (one), cats' (many), children's (irregular). No apostrophe in its, yours, theirs.
- Watch its/it's, your/you're, their/there/they're, than/then, affect/effect, accept/except.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Two independent clauses plus one dependent clause.
Two independent clauses are fused with no punctuation.
"Everyone" is singular.
Commas follow the introductory "Yes" and set off the direct address.
"Affect" is the verb meaning to influence.
Subject case is needed: "She wrote" and "I wrote."
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Read this student paragraph: "Me and my friends goes to the park every saturday. Because its close to our school. We play soccer, we eat lunch on the benches. Each of us bring our own ball, the park has a lot of space."
(a) Identify and correct the pronoun and subject-verb errors in the first sentence.
Show the answer and scoring guide
"Me and my friends goes" should be "My friends and I go." "Me" must be the subject pronoun "I," and the plural subject needs the plural verb "go." "Saturday" should also be capitalized.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Identify the fragment and the apostrophe error in the second sentence and correct them.
Show the answer and scoring guide
"Because its close to our school" is a fragment (a dependent clause alone), and "its" should be "it's" (it is). Corrected: "My friends and I go to the park every Saturday because it's close to our school."
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Identify the two comma splices and correct each a different way. Also fix the agreement error in "Each of us bring."
Show the answer and scoring guide
"We play soccer, we eat lunch" becomes "We play soccer, and we eat lunch on the benches." "Each of us bring our own ball, the park has" becomes "Each of us brings a ball. The park has a lot of space." "Each" is singular, so the verb is "brings."
Check off the points you earned: