Week 2 – Grammar Refresher Erica Cirillo-McCarthy Assistant Director of Graduate and ADEP Writing

 Verb Tenses  Prepositions  Editing for Errors  But first – any questions on last week’s workshop – academic writing in English or the Writing Process?

 Present tense:  Singular:  I drive, You drive, He/She/It drives  Plural:  We drive, You (plural) drive, They drive  Past tense:  Singular:  I drove, you drove, he/she/it drove  Plural:  we drove, You (plural) drove, They drove

 Describes an action that began in the past and is still going on in the present (have or has + past participle):  Ex. I have attended CLU for almost three years. (I started attending in the past AND still attend).  Ex. The curriculum has been a topic for faculty meetings for quite some time. (Faculty meetings have focused on curriculum in the past AND still focus on curriculum)

 Describes an action that began in the past and has ended by the time of another past action (had + past participle):  Ex. I had written a strong draft of my personal statement before I met with a tutor.  Ex. The store had sold out by the time I arrived.

 (a little less common) – describes an action that will be completed before or by a certain future time (will have + past participle):  Ex. I will have mastered the English language by the time I complete my studies at CLU.  Ex. If we continue to wait any longer, the plane will have left the airport.

 Describes an action currently in progress or for future actions that are to occur at some specific time (to be + -ing verb):  Ex. Sula is studying for her exams.  Ex. CLU is preparing to expand their graduate writing services next semester.

 Describes past actions in progress (was/were + -ing verb):  Ex. Sula was studying intently before I interrupted her.  Ex. Before we discovered the free shuttle, we were walking to school everyday.

 Describes future action in progress (will be + -ing verb):  Ex. I will be taking part in my graduation ceremonies.  Ex. After her big promotion, she will be flying first class.

Verb consistency worksheet tense consistency exercise.docx

 Most commonly used prepositions:  at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, with  Denote or show TIME and PLACE.

 At – at a specific time: at 10:00am, at sunset, at lunch. Ex. We will meet at 2: 30 pm.  On – on a specific day or date: on Saturday, on Dec. 5 th. Ex. I defend my dissertation on Sept. 21 st.  IN – in a part of a 24-hour period: in the afternoon, in the day time, in a year or month, in a period of time. Ex. I usually tend to be my brightest in the early morning. Ex. 2. Robert gets most of his workout done in the evening right after work.  By – by a specific time or date: by 4:00pm. Ex. I will have this paper completely revised by next Friday.

 At – at a meeting place or location: at home, at the store. Ex. We can meet at the restaurant to save time. Ex. You can find me at my desk most mornings. Ex. Make a left at the corner of Olson and Moorpark Road.  On – on a surface, on an electronic medium. Ex. I know I put my keys on the table when I came in. Ex. I watched the debates on my laptop.  In – in an enclosed space, in a geographic location, in a print medium. Ex. In the attached document, you will find the necessary information for your trip. Ex. I was born in NY. Ex. I found this quote in Errors and Expectations, a book by Mina Shaughnessy.  By- by a landmark. Ex. I drive by Dodger Stadium every day on my way to work.

Preposition Worksheet PREPOSITIONS _time and place_worksheet.docx

 Come up with a plan that works for you ◦ print it out and read it aloud ◦ Have someone else read it aloud so you “hear” your writing for clarity and flow Consideration of audience Eliminate redundancy, in word choice, in ideas, in sentence structure Parallel structure Get to know your patterns of error and look for those Finesse the formatting, in text citation, and references page Go through and make sure all of your sources have a bibliographic entry and that you don’t have a bibliographic entry that you haven’t cited (use the “find” function in Word) Look for your writing ticks—over usage of certain transitions or phrases

 Understand that editing takes time and can seem tedious  But change your perspective: the heavy lifting is already done! Editing is the easy part!  Give yourself enough time to S-L-O-W-L-Y go over every sentence carefully  A solid editing can mean the difference between a ‘B’ paper and an ‘A’ paper  Graduate writing is all high stakes – meaning it’s worth taking the time to edit well!