GRAMMAR REVIEW Plurals vs possessives Modifiers Fragments vs. Run Ons

PLURAL: indicates more than 1 of something The seniors are about to graduate. The juniors want to drive next year. POSSESIVE: indicates ownership The seniors’ graduation date is June 15. (many seniors own that date) The junior’s parking permit will be awarded. (one junior owns a permit) The juniors’ fee for a parking spot is high. (many juniors have a fee).

DANGLING/MISPLACED MODIFIERS: Make sure the descriptive phrase describes what it is supposed to describe. INCORRECT: Jeff bought an old Jeep from a crooked dealer with a faulty transmission. CORRECT: Jeff bought an old Jeep with a faulty transmission from a crooked dealer. Dancing at the prom, my shoe became untied. Dancing at the prom, I noticed that my shoe became untied.

FRAGMENTS A fragment is an incomplete thought; it may be missing a subject or a verb and so does not count as a full sentence. Fragment: I checked my phone seven times already today. Starting as soon as I woke up. Fragment: When the weekend arrives, I have so much to do. Like doing laundry, cleaning my room, and finishing my science project.

How do you fix a fragment? OPTIONS Check to see if the clause is missing a subject; if so, add one. Check to see if the clause is missing a verb; if so, add one. Can you just combine the fragment with an existing sentence? That may be as simple as adding a comma, or it may require you to re-write the pair of clauses for a fluent, concise, full sentence.

Fixing a Fragment Fragment: I checked my phone seven times already today. Starting as soon as I woke up. As soon as I woke up this morning, I checked my phone, which I’ve now done seven times. Fragment: When the weekend arrives, I have so much to do. Like doing laundry, cleaning my room, and finishing my science project. I have so much to do this weekend, like laundry, cleaning, and studying. Doing laundry, cleaning my room, and finishing my science project are the many things I have to do this weekend.

Run-Ons Run-ons jam two or more full sentences together into one. Just a comma between two full sentences doesn’t fix the error. R/O=Current insurance practices are unfair they discriminate against the people who need coverage the most. R/O=The book review’s main critiques are harsh, they fail to recognize the stylistic merit of the writing.

How do you fix a run-on? Separate the two sentences with a period. Use a semi-colon (if the sentences are related in content). Add a comma + a coordinating conjunction after the first sentence. Note: Coordinating conjunctions include and, but, for, or, yet, nor, so

Fixing a Run-On R/O=Current insurance practices are unfair they discriminate against the people who need coverage the most. Current insurance practices are unfair; they discriminate against people who need coverage the most. Because they discriminate against the people who need coverage the most, current insurance practices are unfair. Current insurance practices are unfair, for they discriminate against the people who need coverage the most. R/O=The book review’s main critiques are harsh, they fail to recognize the stylistic merit of the writing. The book review’s main critiques are harsh; they fail to recognize the stylistic merit of the writing. The book review’s main critiques are harsh, for they fail to recognize the stylistic merit of the writing.